What's Old Is New

john1981cr · Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 111

By Marty Gitlin
Inspin.com/WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

All that worry over nothing.

Boston coach Doc Rivers moaned, groaned and complained to the league office about a lack of opportunity to practice with the reinstated leather ball, which bounced back to the hardwood Monday.

His Celtics, you see, played with the rejected synthetic ball Sunday. Portland, their opponent the following night, did have a chance to practice with the leather one, which Rivers believed put his team into a disadvantage.

But no sweat. The Celtics won in Portland anyway, 89-81. They won not because of the leather ball, but because off-guard Tony Allen has developed into the steady scorer they desperately need, particularly with Paul Pierce out with a foot injury.

Allen scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting in the defeat of the Blazers. He has shot 56 percent from the field and tallied 20 points or more in each of the last three games.

Meanwhile, Minnesota all-star forward Kevin Garnett has been highly critical of the synthetic ball throughout the season. He only hit 9 of 29 from the field in the two games combined previous to the return of the leather ball.

Garnett backed up his complaints by nailing 12 of 18 from the field and scoring 32 points in a 102-96 comeback win at Charlotte on Monday night.

The Bobcats were missing forward Gerald Wallace (separated shoulder). Wallace, who is averaging 13.3 points a game, will be sidelined for at least a week.

GO EAST, YOUNG MEN: How much stronger is the Western Conference than its Eastern counterpart? Bettors tell the story.

Two matchups in particular Tuesday night highlight the gap in talent. Two of the premier teams from the West travel to play two of the best of the East as San Antonio plays at Cleveland and Chicago hosts Phoenix. Yet the Spurs and Suns are rather significant favorites despite playing on the road.

WagerWeb.com lists San Antonio as a 3.5-point favorite against the Cavaliers and the Suns as 4-point favorites against the Bulls.

DRIBBLES: Miami center Shaquille O'Neal is targeting a game against one of his former teams, the Lakers, on Jan. 15 for his return from knee surgery. ... Torrid Washington guard Gilbert Arenas must be getting tired scoring all those points. He is complaining of a sore shoulder, but said he is 75 percent certain he will play Wednesday night. ... Detroit guard Chauncey Billups will have an MRI done on his strained right calf Tuesday. He is hoping to play Saturday night against Chicago. He is most likely out for Thursday night's game against New Orleans.

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