Projo Sports Blog

BOSTON -- Rather than have him sitting on the bench and not getting any playing time, the Celtics announced today that they decided to assign forward Bill Walker to the Maine Red Claws where he will get more playing time and have more of an opportunity to work on his game.

Walker is the team's first assignment to the NBA Development League this season.

Walker, a 6'6" forward, has appeared in one game for the Celtics this season and has logged two minutes of playing time. The Kansas State product has posted career averages of 2.9 points and 1.0 rebound in 7.2 minutes per game over 30 games with the Celtics.

In 15 games with the D-League's Utah Flash last season, Walker averaged 18.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in 30.5 minutes per game.

The Orlando Magic survived a furious second-half Celtics rally attempt to beat Boston, 83-78, at the Garden.

It was an uphill battle for the Celtics right from the start as the Celtics fell behind by 16 after one quarter of play.

But the Celtics refused to be embarrassed on their home court. The Celtics clawed their way back into the game and cut the Magic lead to 75-74 after a Kevin Garnett (13 points, 11 rebounds) jumper, followed by a Rasheed Wallace (9 points, 13 rebounds) steal and a Paul Pierce (21 points) layup with 5:16 remaining in the game.

Vince Carter (26 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) answered with a jumper and free throw to give the Magic a 78-74 cushion. The Celtics missed three consecutive shots on their next possession, but got three offensive rebounds and scored on their fourth shot, a Garnett layup with 3:26 to go.

After getting a stop, Wallace tied the game up with an 8-foot jumper with 2:54 remaining, but Carter came right back with a jumper after an Orlando timeout stopped Boston's momentum.

Rashard Lewis (16 points, 10 rebounds) extended Orlando's lead to 82-78 with two free throws with 58.4 seconds left, and the Celtics called a timeout.

Ray Allen (15 points, 6 assists) tried to take the ball to the basket, but it was stolen by Jason Williams (7 points, 6 assists), who made a free throw with 10.5 seconds left to ice the game.

Orlando improves to 10-3 with the win and the Celtics are now 9-4.

Despite nine points from Paul Pierce in the third quarter, the Magic increased their lead to 66-59 after three quarters of action.

Pierce has 19 points for the game and Ray Allen has 11.

Boston center Kendrick Perkins, who limited Dwight Howard to just five points in the first half, picked up his fifth foul just 4:36 into the third quarter.

Rashard Lewis (14 points) and Vince Carter (16 points) are Orlando's top scorers.

The Celtics rallied from a 29-13 first-quarter deficit to slash the Magic's lead to 43-40 at halftime.

After allowing Orlando to shoot 64.7 percent from the floor in the first quarter, the Celtics held Orlando to just 4-of-18 shooting in the second quarter.

The Celtics outscored the Magic, 27-14, in the second quarter.

Mickael Pietrus (11 points), Vince Carter (10 points), and Rashard Lewis (9 points) have been Orlando's go-to guys, while Paul Pierce (10 points) and Ray Allen (9 points) have kept the Celtics in the game.

Look for Rajon Rondo (4 points, 5 assists) to be more aggressive in the second half.

-- The Celtics couldn't have gotten off to a worse start in this game, and the Magic couldn't have asked for a better start. The result has Orlando leading, 29-13, after one quarter of action.

Boston began the game by missing 11 of its first 14 shots. They missed layups, tip-ins, and wide open jumpers.

The Magic, meanwhile, knocked down seven of their first eight shots, and nine of their first 12 (4-for-5 from 3-point line) to set the tone and jump out to a 24-10 lead before the Celtics knew what hit them.

Mickael Pietrus (4-for-4) 11 points and Rashard Lewis (9) points) have been Orlando's go-to guys.

Kevin Garnett (5 points) leads the Celtics.

BOSTON - Who does the best center in the NBA, Orlando's Dwight Howard, hate facing more than anyone else?

Boston center Kendrick Perkins, who held Howard to just 13.1 points per game in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

Howard says that nobody guards him as well as Perkins does. He credits Boston assistant coach Clifford Ray for making Perkins into one of the best defensive centers in the game.

"He's very smart, and I worked with Cliff from the time I got into the league until the time he left to come to Boston. He was a big help for me and he's really helped Kendrick's game. I'm real happy to see the progress that Kendrick has made, not just defensively, but offensively, since he's came into the league.

"We worked out together and when we came out, we he got drafted, and to see him now, I'm just happy to see that he's grown [under] Clifford Ray, who has done a good job of just pushing him to become better every day so I'm really happy for him."

Perkins received four votes to be named to one of the NBA's two All-Defensive teams last season.

"With Perk, we want him to be a deep-post guy," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "When he catches it in the paint...Perk gets a lot of his post-action after he sets a pick for Paul [Pierce] or Ray [Allen] where the bigs on the other team has to help, and that allows him establish himself in the paint. When he catches it outside of the paint, he struggles a little bit. But when he gets it in the paint, he's very difficult to [defend]."

Rivers said that in Perkins' first three years in the league, he wanted to be an offensive player. But after the Celtics signed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, Perkins decided to become the best defensive player he could be because that is where he can help out the team the most.

"Perk has accepted his role and he is trying to master that role to make him a great player," Rivers said. "He's a defensive player and he knows that."

-- Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy believes that Boston guard Rajon Rondo is the fastest point guard in the NBA.

"I don't know if there is anybody in the league faster [than Rondo]," Van Gundy said. "[Rondo] and Derrick Rose are pretty quick and we saw them matched up in the playoff last year. It's tough keeping him out of the paint with his speed, and defensively he can disrupt you with his speed too."