Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Rivers, whose expression loses a little more humor with each one of these games, pointed the finger at himself as well as the rest of his locker room. ‘I always point the finger first at me, and I told them that I’m obviously not doing something,’ Rivers said. ‘So I have to go, watch film and figure it out. I just thought we gave up a horrible 3 (by Austin Daye) at the end of the first half. Bad defense hurt us on that play. I think that carried over into the first four or five minutes of the third quarter, and all of a sudden we had a fight on our hands and we couldn’t get it going. It is very difficult to turn the switch on and off right now, and that is what we are doing. We are dropping games because of it, too.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “A veteran, battle-tested team that’s pre-ordained by most to be among the NBA’s best of the best. That same team, once in season, plays as though it simply needs to show up for a quarter or two and that should be enough to win. It was that kind of play that torpedoed at least one title run for the Detroit Pistons when Rasheed Wallace played for them. Now with the Celtics, it appears as though Wallace’s latest battle-tested crew is on a similar path.”

Zach Lowe, CelticsHub – “The Celtics played what was unquestionably their worst half of the season in the 2nd half tonight. They shot 9-of-34 from the field. They turned the ball over 10 times. They scored 30 points in two quarters of play, with an offensive efficiency of about 65 points per 100 possessions. I used to date a girl whose little sister played in a pee-wee basketball league. We went to some of their games. I’m pretty sure her team put up at least 65 points per 100 possessions in a half or two. The Nets score 97.6 points per 100 possessions. By the way, three of Detroit’s six best players missed tonight’s game.”

Gary Washburn/Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Perhaps if you were watching last night’s Celtics-Pistons game on television or listening on the radio, you heard an expletive yelled out. That was Boston’s Glen “Big Baby’’ Davis shouting at a Detroit fan who kept calling him “fat boy’’ during the first half. Davis’s graphic remark stunned fans sitting behind the Celtics’ bench. The fan, Scott Zack, was warned by arena security about his heckling but was determined to press the issue about Davis’s remark. Zack said he filed a complaint with NBA security.”

Mark Murhpy, Boston Herald – “After running through a full practice on Tuesday in Waltham, the Celtics forward, recovering from a hyperextended right knee, reported no complications yesterday during the walkthrough at the team’s hotel before the 92-86 loss to the Pistons. ‘He’s fine, good, so he’ll be able to do something if we (have practice) Thursday,’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, as pleased as ever with the team’s conservative approach to bringing Garnett back. Plans remain in place to have him play in tomorrow night’s game against Portland at TD Garden.”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “Simply put, the Celtics were a third-quarter team. But that was then, and unfortunately, this is now — a reality that’s far less ideal. To this point in the season, the Celts are only 21-8 when leading at the half. This means that they’ve owned the halftime lead in 75 percent of their losses. On those eight occasions the C’s have lost the third quarter seven times, and have been outscored by a combined 63 points. Overall on the year, Boston’s giving up more points in the third (24.5) than in any other quarter, and their +.3 average point differential is second worst, only to the fourth.”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “‘I think we think we’re better than what we are,’ Rivers told reporters after the game. ‘We get a lead and we feel like we can just put it on cruise. In the NBA, you can’t do that. And we’ve never done that and that’s what’s so troubling to me.’ And for a team whose last championship was won on the foundation of Ubuntu, it was surprising to hear Rivers talk about individualism. The mantra of ‘we, not me’ was a central theme en route a title. According to Boston’s coach, losing sight of that philosophy has gotten the team into trouble. ‘It’s clear right now,’ Rivers explained, ‘When we get a lead, we go to individual ball, guys trying to get numbers, and then just loss of focus.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “‘I really feel like we have good chemistry,’ said Ainge. ‘I just feel like we have been experiencing some of the problems I worried about at the beginning of the season. We haven’t been healthy this year and I feel like we’re going to be. It just happens that we put it on cruise control a little bit too often. But I think that our team is very talented and we have a good mix of players. The [defensive] lapses do concern me because I know we’re capable of more. Sometimes I feel like our team thinks they can win without playing 100 percent at the defensive end for the entire game. I just think we need to bring more intensity, and we usually do that.’”

Detroit Bad Boys – “‘Sheed’s return to the Palace was a tale of two halves, much like a split of his 5 1/2 years with the Pistons. The Celtics shot 58% in the first half, outscoring Detroit 56-48. If it weren’t for an Austin Daye buzzer-beater, the Pistons would have trailed by 11. A completely different Pistons team took the floor in the second half, putting the clamps down on defense and holding the C’s to just 30 total points on 27% shooting. Detroit scored less in the second half (44) than they did in the first, but much better defense, ball control (five turnovers compared to 14 in the first half), and outscoring the C’s bench 43-12 on the night made the difference overall.”

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