The Celtics just aren't playing pretty basketball right now. Blame fatigue. Blame injuries. Blame boredom. Blame whatever you want... it doesn't matter. It's just not an entertaining brand of basketball.
Tonight their sloppy, lazy play cost them a very winnable game against the Nets. Chalk up another loss in a back-to-back game... 88-79.
I might as well get this ball rolling now. What the hell is wrong with Rajon Rondo? 1-10 shooting, 2 points, 9 assists. He left the game briefly in the second half with a twisted ankle, but he's been sluggish for a while. He's got to be banged up... which means Delonte is coming back at just the right time. Sit this kid down and fix whatever his problem is. Doc says he's fine. I don't believe him.
The C's D was just God-awful in the third and most of the fourth. They gave up 31 points in the third and spent a lot of time just staring at New Jersey's shooters... almost as if the hard glared would be enough to throw off their shots.
It didn't work.
They shot 11 of 25 from 3... while the C's countered with a 2-10 showing. Quick math... that's a 33-6 advantage from deep.
Might as well bring this up too: New Jersey shot 24 free throws to Boston's 8.
But even WITH that huge disparity, the C's had the game down to two points with 4:28 left. But the only basket the C's scored after that was a Glen Davis jumper with 3:09 left. Meanwhile, New Jersey ripped off a 7-0 run to close things out, including a Deron Williams dagger 3 with :35 left.
A great example of how inept the C's looked was their out of bounds play with 1:35 left. Ray inbounded to Glen Davis... sorta set a pick and then bounced around... KG sorta set a pick and kinda posted up. Paul Pierce was just strolling around the sideline. And the end result was a Rondo jumper... the absolute worst option on the floor.
A team that is typically crisp out of timeouts and an example of how to execute freshly drawn plays just half-assed whatever play that was and settled for the worst option available. I couldn't even tell you if Doc drew up a good play because no one really did anything that resembles executing anything that might have been drawn up.
Jeff Green had some slick moves but finished 3-11 for 7 points and 3 rebounds and was a -7 on the night. Nenad Krstic was going Nads again early but disappeared and finished with 6 and 2. The Celtics gave up almost as many points in their last 3 quarters (64) as they did in their last 5 quarters (70). The loss puts the C's in a virtual tie with Chicago for first in the East.
On the plus side: Glen Davis put up 16 points and 14 rebounds. Carlos Arroyo looked ok in 17 minutes.
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
