Celtics Blog Appreciates The Other Allen: Tony Allen

Want to find an unsung hero for the Celtics’ 104-102 win over the Wizards last night? How about the much-maligned Tony Allen?

Allen’s final numbers don’t jump out at you, but he scored eight points, grabbed three rebounds and notched two assists in 17 minutes of play. The Celtics outscored the Wizards by 14 points with Allen on the floor, a significant number considering the 104-102 result of the game.

It was enough for Celtics Blog to take note of his play.

Tony Allen is an easy target on this blog. He’s known for his maddeningly low basketball IQ and frequent boneheaded plays. But he’s on this basketball team and in the NBA for a reason. He’s athletic, aggressive (which is important: see Gerald Green), and he gets after it on defense. When the stars align and he is focused on what he needs to do to help the team win, good things can happen like they did last night.

The Celtics are going to need more of this from Allen with Marquis Daniels sidelined for 6-8 weeks.

Speaking of Celtics players whose last name is Allen, Ray Allen also had a historic night. He scored his 20,000th point, fittingly on a three-pointer, and had this nasty dunk on Andray Blatche in the second quarter. Who says that Ray Allen no longer has hops?