I don’t know where to start, so I’m just going to get to the point: other than Paul Pierce, the C’s basically could not hit a shot to save their lives for most of the 2nd half and OT. Monta Ellis and the Bucks hung-around all evening and finish the Celts off 99-94 in OT. The Bucks even tried to give the game back to Boston by blowing a 7 point lead with under a minute left in the 4th that allowed a Pierce trey with 2 seconds left to send this to OT. But a combination of bad defense, non-calls and Boston’s 3 of 10 shooting in the OT doomed them.
The Green: Paul Pierce. For those of you who’ve been clamoring for Ainge to trade him and calling him “done”, he kept Boston alive again tonight. Without Paul’s 35 and 12, this easily could’ve been a blowout loss at home. Pierce is doing all he can to keep any hope alive for the C’s right now. Jeff Green also played well. Green was very aggressive and all-over the floor. He put in 14 pts, went 6 of 6 from the line and had 4 steals. Late in the OT, Green was hit square in the eye/face with an Ilyasova elbow. (which appeared incidental but still was missed by the refs) After being down for a few minutes, he was helped off the floor by Ed Lacerte & Dr. McKeon. Trags tweeted postgame that Jeff has a bruised left cheek and chipped teeth.
The Gross: There’s just so much..but the obvious was the atrocious shooting . Guys other than Truth tonight were 23 of 71 from the floor. The starters were 10 of 45. Jet was the worst of all shooting 1 of 15 FG and 1 of 8 from downtown. Rajon Rondo did not appear focused this evening. Granted, he had some nice plays near the end of the night, but he was hit with a tech early on and spent much of the game jawing back & forth w/Ellis & Jennings. But his biggest stat? Rajon took zero FT’s tonight, as opposed to 10 in the win over Cleveland. He simply was not aggressive at all. And I’m adding the refs here too. Now don’t get me wrong, they are not to blame for Boston’s loss, but they played a part in it. Bucks got a whistle it seemed anytime a Boston defender breathed on them tonight. I could fill “the gross” section all night with this game, but will spare you.
The Greenlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka5QWRA6eE0
The Grid: (quick stats)
- Bucks shot 36 FT’s to Boston’s 20
- Celtics only mustered 24 points in 4th and OT combined
- Celts gave up 99 points to Milwaukee, who are 21st overall in points scored
- Boston was 5 of 23 from 3-point range
- Larry Sanders once again killed us with 20 boards and 17 points and ESPN True Hoop reports “Sanders is the first Bucks player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975” to tally 17 and 20 against the Boston Celtics.
- This was the first time that Paul Pierce scored 35+ points in consecutive regular-season games since March, 2009. (via ESPN Stats)
We still have not seen anything close to 48 minutes of complete Celtics basketball from this squad. At this point, I am as puzzled and frustrated as everyone else. We now get 3 days to let this one sink in, as Boston is off until a Christmas rematch in Brooklyn with the Nets. Happy Holidays folks. Egg nogs on the house-make mine a double.
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