The Seven Sayings: Bobcats 94, Celtics 91

It wasn't going to last forever.

All good things must come to an end.

Tonight was a case of the Celtics having nothing left in the tank. They came out of the gates pretty strong, but just could not sustain it throughout the course of the game.

Boston's seven-game winning streak is over, and Charlotte's seven-game losing streak is over as they defeat the Celtics, 94-91.

Here's a recap:

The good:

* Jeff Green had a huge game tonight. He had a team-high 18 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. 7 of his 8 shot attempts came inside the paint. The only one that wasn't? A three-pointer to put Boston up 78-77 early in the fourth quarter. In the month of February (6 games), Green is averaging 15.5 points and 3.8 rebounds and is shooting 54.4% from the floor. Green is now -- finally -- the player the Celtics thought they were getting.

* Boston's bench was great. They scored 42 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out 9 assists. I already mentioned Green's performance. Jason Terry scored 12 points and hit a big three late in the fourth quarter. Chris Wilcox brought a lot of energy, and Jason Collins did his job.

* Kevin Garnett turned in another solid game. He had 16 points and 13 rebounds, giving him back-to-back double-doubles. Garnett hit a couple big jumpers in the final minutes, but could not convert on a jumper -- it was the same one he hit last night to tie the game at 103 in the second overtime! -- that would have given the Celtics a 93-92 lead with 17.8 seconds to go.

The bad:

* While Garnett had a nice night, Paul Pierce looked tired. His jumpers were flat and a lot of them hit the front rim. His numbers looked nice -- he finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists -- but only 2 of Pierce's 12 shots came in the paint. All of that points to tired legs. That's what I'm chalking it up to, and that's that.

* The Celtics slept-walked through the third quarter. The Bobcats had a 7-2 run to start the quarter and a 14-5 run in the middle of the quarter. Charlotte eventually won the quarter, 33-24. They were the aggressors while the Celtics appeared lackadaisical.

* Byron Mullens burned the Celtics badly. No one was able to match up with him at any point in the game. He finished with a game-high 25 points and 18 rebounds, including going 4-of-5 from three-point land. Mullens posed problems for the Celtics bigs all night, and they weren't able to do anything about it.

* Leandro Barbosa left tonight's game with what the Celtics called a "left knee injury." The injury did not look good at all. Doc Rivers did not have an update on his condition after the game. Barbosa's injury seemed to spark the Celtics, as they went on a 12-2 right after Barbosa went down.


The Celtics will travel back to Boston for their final game before the much-deserved All-Star break on Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls.