Motored: Pistons 103, Celtics 83

Doc Rivers is a smart man. He always seems to sum things up perfectly. When asked what his thoughts on the game were, he responded, "Dead men walking." A perfect way to describe the performance of your Boston Celtics tonight, as they fell to the lowly Detroit Pistons 103-83 in a very poor performance. The Celtics had no gas in the tank, and that was clearly evident as they game progressed. From missed shots to bad defense, nothing was going right.

As Tommy Heinsohn put it best, "It's the ebb and flow of the NBA." That's the way the cookie crumbles, peaks and valleys, ups and downs, whatever you want to call it, that's what tonight was. It was a valley, a down, it just wasn't the Celtics night. But hey, it happens.

Nonetheless, here's a recap:

The good:

* Probably the only positive from a single player tonight was Rajon Rondo extending his streak of 10 assists in a game to 34 games. He is now only 3 games behind John Stockton (37) for second on the list. Number one is Magic Johnson with 46.

* It's only game number ten of the regular season. No one should get worked up over one loss (although tonight's game was very frustrating to watch).

* The Celtics shot 62% in the first quarter. Whatever happened after that is beyond me.

* There are two guys you can always count on night in and night in for a good effort: Jared Sullinger and Kevin Garnett. Sullinger made the 20-foot jumper to give Rondo his 10th assist of the game. He finished with a team-high 16 points and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes As he has always done, he battled Detroit's bigs on the post and fought for rebounds. Meanwhile, Garnett had an efficient night, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 from the field in only 20 minutes. The limited minutes is another positive and will pay off down the road.

The bad:

* The two areas that the Celtics got annihilated in? That would be points in the paint (44-30) and fast break points (20-4). This is a reflection of the tired legs. They were too tired to battle down low and made lazy passes and couldn't get back on defense.

* Tons of missed shots tonight. Tons. This is also a direct result of tired legs.

* The fact that Doc Rivers kept Rondo in for the rest of the fourth quarter just to give him a chance to get to 10 assists could've cost the Celtics big time. What if Rondo had gotten injured? The game was already decided, and there was no reason for Rondo to be out there besides the assist record. I get records are nice, I understand all of that, but team success and working towards a championship is nicer. Just saying.

* The Celtics had five field goals in the third quarter. Five. Wow.

* Coming into tonight's game, the Celtics were number one in the league in assists with 25.3 a game. Tonight, they had 12 on 32 made baskets, and Rondo had 10 of them. You're not going to win games in the NBA without ball movement and getting others involved.

* In the fourth quarter, Rivers put the Celtics in a zone defense. It didn't work. Jared Sullinger looked lost and continually left the paint wide open. It was one of the few times the Celtics have played zone all year, so it was obviously not going to be perfect. The zone is something that takes time to get used to and takes some practice, which the Celtics should get this week. The zone was a great weapon for this team last year, and it would be good for Rivers to have in his back pocket if necessary.

* Paul Pierce appeared to injure his right ankle on a drive to the basket in the fourth quarter. He went to the locker room for good with 2:30 left in the game. Something to keep an eye on.


The Celtics finally have a bit of a break. They have two days off, then they're back in action at the TD Garden on Wednesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the San Antonio Spurs.