Recap: C's head home having won 3 of 4 on the road.

Here's what we learned: Sacramento has plenty of promise for their future, but they're not there yet. They have budding star power, in Tyreke Evans and Demarcus Cousins (he's admittedly really good... but he's also leaning towards pompous. He's one of those guys you hate to play against, but love to have on your team), who will become quite the formidable duo in time. They boast additional young talent, in Donte Green and Omar Casspi, and also have solid talent in Samuel Dalembert and Carl Landry. They're just not there yet. The Celtics came in and played at a higher level of basketball, executed the second half in a machine-like fashion, and out savvied the Kings. 

Ray Allen had a strong game, connecting on four of seven three point attempts. He scored 22 points, and is now three pointers away from breaking Reggie Miller's record. KG seemed to be even more intense then usual, if that's possible. Maybe it's the after affect of that knock to the head he took in LA, and he found additional inspiration in the large band-aid he sported. In any case, he put up a nice line of 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks... And sent Dalembert and Cousins home extremely annoyed. 

Image C/O Chris Forsberg's twitter page.

Paul had a solid effort, and hit some big shots in the 4th frame, on his way to 15 points. Rondo continued on from his strong second half effort in LA. I thought he was really great last night- 17 points, 10 assists, 4 steals. He was aggressive from the opening tip, and attacked the basket more than he has in recent outings. He's almost impossible to stop when he's going to the rim, because his defender is scared he's going to magically find the open person, and because he has the ball handling ability to break anyones ankles. I've almost gotten used to watching him take it to the rim and then try to force it to someone down low, but last night he did a really great job of taking it all the way himself. 

HUGE shout out to Nate Robinson. Early on in the game, he came in and jacked up some ill advised shots, after which, he promptly returned to the bench. When he made his return to the floor, he did so with a huge focus on defense. He closed the game for the Celtics, and it wasn't because they were ahead by a comfortable margin. It was because he was playing well enough that it was okay for Doc Rivers to keep Rondo on the bench. Nate was in the middle of everything defensively, diving for loose balls and coming up with 5 steals.