Boston Celtics fumble away 13 point lead, lose to New Orleans Hornets 87-86
What a mess. After a strong first half the Celtics fell apart in the third quarter, getting outscored 22-12 and fumbling away a 10 point halftime lead. The Celtics were able to rally, but Anthony Davis scored off a tip-in with 0.3 seconds remaining and the Celtics weren’t able to get off a shot before the final buzzer sounded. Honestly that game was disgusting so lets try to get through these bullet points and pretend it never happened:
- Kevin Garnett played well in his return, after missing his first two jumpers KG found his groove and ended up scoring 20 points on 9-16 shooting.
- Paul Pierce played well, finishing with 28 points on 17 shots and five assists. Pierce was bizarrely uninvolved on the glass (only two rebounds), but he wasn’t alone in that respect as the Celtics got absolutely crushed 45-28 on the boards.
- Brandon Bass had a really solid game, including 11 points on 5-8 shooting, six rebounds, and two assists including some really nice post-passing with Kevin Garnett. Nothing special, just the kind of game you’d hope to see from Bass on a nightly basis, and a notable performance on a night where many of the Celtics role-players played poorly.
- Jeff Green started off hot but missed all his shots in the second half and finished with 13 points on 4-8 shooting. Green’s second half collapse was unfortunate, but it’s hard to complain with his contribution compared to the rest of the bench.
- Besides Jeff Green the rest of the Celtics bench contributed four points on 2-10 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers in a combined 48 minutes. Crawford and Terry were both a mess tonight and Wilcox barely got on the floor, playing only 6 minutes. The New Orleans bench scored 37 to Boston’s measly 17.
- Avery Bradley struggled offensively (2-10 from the floor) and Courtney Lee was barely involved (just three shots, and assist and two steals in 37 minutes of floor time), a very bad night for the Celtics guards as a whole.
“We stopped making passes, we started dancing around, stopped defending, laughing. You could see our guys laughing and joking.” Doc Rivers said afterwards. ”Whether we won it or not, we deserved to lose the game.” That pretty much sums it up, the Celtics played lazy uninspired basketball during the second half, and it shows in the rebounding differential (17) and the free throw numbers (just five attempted in the second half).
I don’t really want to talk about this anymore, the numbers speak for themselves. The Celtics will face the Mavericks on Friday.
Follow Jordan on Twitter: @HiggsOnHoops
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Celtics Blog | Jordan Higgs | March 20, 2013
Cs 4 rebs in 3rd qtr. (17 for NO)…yes, read that again – 17-4 in rebs, NO advantage in Q3. PP & JG 4 rebs in game. Cs 31 pts in Q1 and 31 pts in the 2nd half. If you aren’t going to give the effort, like they did vs Miami in the first half, then this is what will consistently happen; as it has all season vs the sub .500 teams (also the sub .400, .300 teams, etc.). You have to do more than just show up. Again, Doc is also culpable in this as he did not have his team ready to play, never benches anyone, and apparently can no longer motivate. Go Cs…too bad we can’t make the lottery!
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This is what we do and this is what we have done against sub 500 teams like Charlotte,Detroit,New Orleanes,Cleveland,Sacramento we are 4-8 against teams we should beat FRUSTRATING is an understatement.If we went 11-1,heck maybe 9-3 heck we be 42-29 or even better we are 20-20 against teams over 500(the playoffs teams)tied for 3rd beat in the east.And since I know you make good points about rebounding in a close game teams always teams get second chance points worst part about both losses at halftime of the last 2 games offensive baskets by Bron and Davis. We had the rebounding edge in first half of both games and we got smoke in the second half.As bad as it looks for some reason a first round matchup with a New York or Brooklyn and a second round at Indiana somehow I feel we would win but a best a 4 against the Detroit Pistons we will get swept in 4 badly what I am saying might not sound smart but it truth.GO CELTICS
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The ghost of Rondo is starting to show its ugly self.We need a guard to penetrate and make plays and handle the ball when we are in the half court.
Terry and Crawford are turnover prone and make horrible decisions.Pierce can only do so much,he is not a point guard.I can’t fault him.
Bradley and Lee need to drive more since they are streaky jump shooters.They need to put more pressure on the defense,instead of settling.
Lee is the best ball handler and does not turn the ball over like the rest of them.He should be handling the ball as much as possible and set up other people since he is also the best driver besides Green.Press and attack and that will open up the floor.
Green needs to play 40 minutes a night.He’s young.He doesn’t need any rest.Play him as much as possible.
Crawford and Terry should never be on the floor together,since they are redundant,don’t compliment each other and are turnover prone which muddles the offense.
Green should play the 3 when he is on the floor with Pierce,and Pierce should play the 4,since he is the better rebounder.
Pierce is strong down there on the block and can post up and is savvy around the basket.
Green is better at attacking at the top of the key.
Rebounding and turnovers and tempo are the keys to victory.
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I think you are basketball smart.
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about Green/PP
you might be right, but this way we’d be giving away the mimatches: Pierce is stronger on the post than most SFs, and Green is faster than most PFs, but that’s the only mismatch: PP is not faster than 3s and Green not stronger than 4s, and PP can’t post up againts 4s and Green has a harder time driving past 3s.
So it doesn’t’ really matter who’s playing what, but rather the offense should adapt to the kind of defense it’s facing.
both players should rebound and block out, both should attack the basket.
about the guard lineup: it’s a riddle.
we miss a PG, so your suggestions might work, but we must be aware that’s a second best. I still don’t believe we’re going far away inf the post season, but I’d love to se the players play like they give a rat’s ass
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The bullet points omit that Jason Terry sucked, again.
Doc should have pulled Crawford off the floor long before he did, he obviously had nothing.
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I’m glad this was not the playoffs. Pierce gives away two games in a row, and KG doesn’t block out at the buzzer. This is mindless, nonchalant ,fake hustle. (except for the under gifted Bass and the headless chicken Crawford). I wish I could get paid that much to fluff off.
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