Stephon Marbury to Possibly Join Celtics

Nearly one year since Stephon Marbury last played in a regular-season game, and all signs are pointing towards the former Knick outcast will eventually make his comeback with the Boston Celtics.

Sources told ESPN.com this week that Boston is Marbury’s preferred destination if he becomes a free agent and that the Celtics are indeed hopeful of signing him.

Celts Roll Over Raptors

Ray Allen scored 21 points and Boston led from the start in winning its fifth straight game, 118-103 over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Rondo, Kevin Garnett and Tony Allen each scored 15 points for the Celtics.  Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and Paul Pierce and Eddie House each had 11 in the win.

Celtics Hand A.I. and Pistons the Loss

Rajon Rondo had 18 points and eight assists, outplaying Allen Iverson and the Pistons and leading the Boston Celtics to a 98-80 victory over Detroit on Thursday night.

Iverson had 16 points and four assists for Detroit, which fell to 4-3 since he was acquired from Denver for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess. Those two helped the Pistons reach the conference finals, where they lost to Boston in six games as the Celtics went on to win their 17th NBA title.

Rivers calls Garnett Suspension ‘Ridiculous’

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers wasn’t too happy about being forced to play without All-Star Kevin Garnett against the New York Knicks.

Garnett was suspended for one game for hitting Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut in the face near the end of Saturday’s game.  Rivers said Garnett was hit in the face twice from the side and he flailed out an arm as a reflex.

The suspension didnt matter much as the Celtics went on to beat the Knicks anyway on Tuesday night.

Celtics Win, Move to 10-2

Starting in place of Garnett, Brian Scalabrine came up big, hitting a 3 pointer with 1:14 left to help Boston go onto victory. Paul Pierce scored 22 with eight rebounds, Kendrick Perkins had 16 points and eight rebounds and Rondo had 15 points, eight boards and seven assists.

Wilson Chandler scored 23, and Zach Randolph had 18 points and eight rebounds for New York. The Knicks tried to move closer in the Atlantic Division race but instead lost to Boston for the seventh straight time.

Boston Ends ATL’s Undefeated Season

The Hawks came into the Garden Wednesday night with a perfect season intact for a rematch of their Playoff series last year with the reigning champs, the Boston Celtics.

It was one hell of a game and came down to the wire.

Pierce scored 34 points in all, Kevin Garnett had 25 with 12 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists for the Celtics.  Joe Johnson scored 28 for Atlanta, finding an open Marvin Williams for the go-ahead 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left before Pierce answered at the other end, faking out a pair of defenders and sinking the game-winner.

Boston moves to 8-1 on the season as Atlanta falls to 6-1.

Sixers Season Preview

Yourrrrr Philadelphia 76ers open up a new campaign tonight against the Toronto Raptors (game time has been moved to 6pm due to the potential Phillies Game 5 with high hopes and great expectations coming off last season’s playoff run and off-season moves.

A Brand New Era starts tonight as free agent signee Elton Brand makes his debut.  Brand brings great optimism to the run and gun Sixers off their playoff run last year.  “Anything less then the 2nd round this season is a disappointment” Brand recently said.  Look for Band’s low post ability, more importantly combined with his defensive rebounding to spark the up tempo Sixers into even quicker outlets and fast breaks.  Throughout the season the Sixers will look to wear out teams with running style offense and intense defense.

The Sixers are one of the handful of up and coming teams in the not so JV Eastern Conference anymore.  They are in an Atlantic Division with the defending world champion Boston Celtics, and Toronto Raptor team that also was in last years playoffs, and added all-star center Jermaine O’Neal to form a nice front court tandem with power forward Chris Bosh.

This team has a nice mix of veteran leaders at the right positions, point guard Andre Miller is a floor general, with emerging young starts at other positions.  I feel the Sixers can live up to the pre-season expectations they’ve set for themselves.  While I do not see them beating out the defending champs for the division title, I think the Sixers will be in the 4,5 seed battle all season, advance to the conference semifinals losing to the repeat champion Celtics in a 7 game epic.

Final Record: 48-34, 2nd Atlantic Division, 5 seed in East

Celtics Waive Darius Miles

Facing a 10 game suspension without pay for violating the league’s anti-drug program, the Boston Celtics have waived forward Darius Miles.

Miles, who missed the past two seasons with knee injuries signed with Boston as a free agent Aug. 22. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in six preseason games.

Celtics Pick Up Rondo’s Option

The Celtics announced Tuesday that they will exercise their $2.09 million option on point guard Rajon Rondo’s contract for the 2009-10 season.

Rondo averaged 10.6 points with 5.1 assists with the Celtics last season, his second in the NBA.

Sixers Beat Defending Champs

YOUR Philadelphia 76ers opened the pre-season with a thrilling victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics in Beantown on Wednesday night.  To my dismay, this game was NOT televised (WTF Comcast?), a freakin’ Meet and Greet with the Flyers over THIS, the first game of the ELTON BRAND era in the 215.  Christ.

Lou Williams scored 27 points and Thaddeus Young added 21 to help the Philadelphia 76ers beat the NBA champion Boston Celtics 98-92 on Wednesday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Williams was 7-of-12 from the field and 12-of-13 from the line.  Leon Powe led the Celtics with 12 points and Tony Allen had 11.  The Celtics’ Big Three: Jesus Shuttlesworth, The Truth and KG — got off to a fast start, but played limited minutes. Allen had nine points, on three 3-pointers in an opening burst, while Pierce had eight and Garnett six.

Elton on the win:

This was an important game for us.  Boston has those three great stars. This gave us a barometer to see where we are.