3 MAJOR TESTS; 3 MAJOR FAILURES

CELTICS LOSE SECOND (OF TWO) HIGH-PROFILE MATCHUP OF THE SEASON; WILTER IN SECOND HALF; BENCH CONTRIBUTES ZIPPY, SKIPPY!

Doc Rivers keeps on saying, over and over again, that the Celtics haven't won anything yet. That's not true. They've won 20 of 23, but unfortunately they have won ZERO games against top-tier conference talent. They have fallen to Lebron and the Cavs (not counting the Lebron-less Cavs), the Magic, and the Pistons.

Tonight, the bench contributed nothing for the Celtics. Paul Pierce, who was a sizzling 5-16 from the floor, wound up taking the potential game winner because clearly he still has a nearly unmatchable ego, and for some reason Tony Allen was guarding floptastic former Celtic Chauncy Billups on the final play. If you don't think coaching matters in this league, I can guarantee you stayed back a grade, or at least was in special ed reading class or something. Doc saves his best for the final stretches of games against the Pistons, and this was a marvel to behold.

However, it's difficult to pin this whole loss on Doc, even though I enjoy doing it. The major flaw of the roster, the experts said before the season, was the bench, and great sassy molassy were they right about that tonight. They combined for 52 minutes and 5 points. Subtract Eddie House, and they scored ZERO points. Scott Pollard looked like he was playing wearing leg irons. James Posey was running around like a kid with ADHD after drinking a case of Red Bull. Eddie House admittedly hit a clutch 3 down the stretch but that's pretty much the ONLY redeeming play the bench had all night.

The good news is that the Celtics almost won despite their monumental failures. The other good news is that the starting lineup is pretty friggin' legit if they can hang with arguably the best team in the East with no help from their coach or their bench. (The Pistons didn't get much from their bench, true, but they STILL tripled the C's point output.)

Enough rambling. Let's look at the positives versus negatives.

NEGATIVES
1) Celtics blew a large lead in the second half.
2) Celtics had no bench help whatsoever.
3) Paul Pierce had a terrible shooting night, Ray Allen had a great one, yet Paul Pierce had the final shot. Pierce had two of the worst f****** shots I have ever seen down the stretch. The final shot was an off-balance fadeaway from the baseline with a man in his face. When was the last time you saw Pierce drop a fadeaway from the baseline? Trick question, because it has never happened, ever. DAMMIT!!!!!

Here's are the things Doc was going for when drawing up that final play.

First, he had to get the ball in the hands of the guy that just shotputted a three off the backboard then got beaten down the floor with an immediate baseball pass for the biggest lead of the game. After all, he had gone 33% from the field at that point.

Second, he had to make sure that the ball didn't get in the hands of Ray Allen (9-13 from the floor, just tied the game with a miracle 3), Eddie House (miracle three down the stretch), Kevin Garnett (9-15, getting hacked all over the place), or Rajon Rondo (taking everyone off the dribble at will).

Third, he had to make sure that his the worst shooter that night got the ball in the worst possible position on the floor going in the worst possible direction. (In the corner moving away from the basket.)

Fourth, he had to make sure that after the miss, there was plenty of time for the Pistons to call a timeout and go for the final shot.

PERFECTLY EXECUTED. There's your coach of the month, or week, or whatever it was, ladies and gentlemen!!

4) Defensive breakdown on the final play gave me flashbacks to the "don't guard Rip Hamilton strategy" employed last year.
5) Tayshaun Prince had the worst game I have ever seen him play and the Pistons still won.
6) Doc Rivers was outmatched by a dude named Flip.
7) Celtic starters were only marginally better than the Pistons' starters.

POSITIVES
1) Rondo's legit.
2) Ray Allen is back on track.
3) No one got seriously hurt.
4) Chauncy Billups luckboxed their way into that final play. Flopper.
5) C's defense is still really, really good.
6) Um... it's a long season. DAMN!!!

This game was incredibly frustrating and disheartening. It's weird how last year the team sucked so hard I would just be making Scalabrine at the vending machine jokes... now losses actually piss me off and ruin my evening. DOUBLE DAMN!!! Christmas is ruined, Hannakuh has been retroactively cancelled. This sucks.Source URL: http://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2007/12/3-major-tests-3-major-failures.html
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