Paul Pierce couldn't get it going as the Celtics fell under the .500 mark. |
The Celtics hung around to make things interesting, but they could never got close enough to scare these young Sixers. They never cut the deficit to less than 6 at any point in the second half and eventually fell to the Sixers 106-100.
The good:
* Kevin Garnett had another solid game. He now has double-doubles in back-to-back games as he tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds. As always, Garnett led the charge -- or somewhat charge -- of the defense.
* Here's one area the Celtics have definitely improved in: they are boxing out. After being the worst rebounding team in the league, you gotta start somewhere, right? So why not go back to the basics, and at least it's a start. Garnett, Brandon Bass, and Jared Sullinger are all doing a good job of boxing out in the past few games.
* Rajon Rondo passed John Stockton for most games with at least 10 assists. He now has gone 29 games with at least 10 assists, passing Stockton. He only trails Stockton (again) and Magic Johnson. He did a nice job defending Evan Turner at the end of the game.
* Chris Wilcox is quickly taking over the backup center position. He looks better and better every game. He still needs to get accumulated and get caught up with the pace of the game, but Wilcox is off to a good start. As he showed last season, he has good chemistry with Rondo, particularly on pick and rolls and fastbreaks. He hooked up with Rondo on layups off screens twice in the second half.
* Jason Terry is starting to look like the Sixth Man of the Year candidate we all expected him to be. He had 13 points on 5-of-7 from the field and played well defensively for the second straight game, applying fierce ball pressure and helping to force turnovers. He helped energize for what was for the most part a quiet crowd tonight at the TD Garden.
The bad:
* Going into the fourth quarter, the Sixers were outscoring the Celtics in the paint, 46-26, and on fastbreak points, 23-6. That won't help.
* The Celtics missed 9 free throws, compared to the 4 the Sixers missed. That's the difference in the game.
* Where did Courntey Lee go? After scoring 6 quick points right out of the gate, the shooting guard was never heard from. In fact, Lee did not even play in the fourth quarter. He only played 18 minutes tonight.
* Paul Pierce did not look good at all. He willed himself to 22 points, but everything seemed like a struggle. Midway through the second quarter, Pierce went up for a layup and came up gimpy, and he was favoring his right knee. Maybe that had something to do with his performance, but Pierce looked out of sync all night. He made bad passes, did not have enough lift on his jump shot, and could not explode while driving to the hoop. What seemed absolutely erroneous to me was when Celtics color analyst Tommy Heinsohn gave Pierce one of his famous Tommy points. It happened on three-point play in fourth quarter. Rajon Rondo turned the ball over, and Thaddeus Young drove to the hoop, and Pierce chased him down and fouled him, but he let him score the basket and gave a chance to convert the three-point play.
* The fact that the Sixers were the worst scoring team in the league coming into the game and scored 106 points is flat out disgusting.
Miscellaneous:
* Both Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo appeared to injure themselves. Rondo appeared to favor his ankle while Pierce injured his right knee. It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back tomorrow.
* Why did it take until the 4 minute mark in the fourth quarter for the Celtics to make the switch to have Rondo on Turner? Rondo is arguably the second-best defender on the team, so with Turner having a big night -- he scored 25 points -- why not do that earlier to give yourself a better chance of winning the game?
The Celtics are in Milwaukee tomorrow night for a rematch with the Bucks. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m.
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