Post by FLCeltsFan on Mar 15, 2008 7:54:24 GMT -5
www.patriotledger.com/sports/pros/x1555990113
Jazz do a tune on Celtics’ winning streak
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By Mike Fine
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Mar 14, 2008 @ 11:25 PM
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QUINCY — BOSTON – Coach Doc Rivers was talking about the crummy games his Celtics have played, and won, this season.
“There’ve been about 10,” he said early Friday night. “We’ve gotten away with it because at the end of the day they play hard.”
The Celtics played very hard against the visiting Utah Jazz later on Friday, and came close to erasing a 14-point first-half deficit, but with Ray Allen exiting after a quarter with a jammed left ankle and Paul Pierce managing only eight points on 1-for-7 shooting, Boston didn’t get away with anything. Unable to overcome their early defensive shortcomings, the Celtics were hit with a 110-92 loss.
“It was one of those games where, man, you had to feel like a little kid in the park and the bully snatched the ball,” said Pierce, whose game was affected by his five turnovers. “It was an old-fashioned butt-whooping.”
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak, and an 11-game win streak at home. It also cost the Celtics a chance to clinch the Atlantic Division title, although probably only momentarily: Toronto was losing by 30 points in Friday’s fourth quarter at Denver.
If ever the Celtics appeared to take a team lightly, this looked like Exhibit A. The Jazz were 15-20 on the road, but they’d won at Detroit, Orlando, Phoenix and Houston, so they aren’t chopped liver.
“You could tell off the bat that energy-wise we weren’t our normal selves,” said Kevin Garnett, who didn’t grab a first-half rebound and finished with only 15 points, four boards and six assists (and four blocks), “We were probably spoiled because we usually come out with good energy.”
Point guard Deron Williams picked Boston apart, scoring 32 points on 17-for-18 free-throw shooting with eight assists, but the real story, beside poor defense, might have been the Celtics’ lack of offensive efficiency. The C’s shot .492, but made only three of 15 from 3-point land.
“No excuses,” said Garnett. “We got our butts kicked.”
The Celtics started badly, getting beaten early and often in the paint, giving up 10 second-chance points in the first quarter alone, when the Jazz took a 13-5 rebounding advantage. Utah continually found the open man, drew fouls and got calls that few of the crowd of 18,624 thought were deserved. By the end of the half, Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo all had three personals.
Pierce was merely 0-2 from the field, reverting back to his unproductive early-game form of late (except for the previous game against Seattle, when he scored 14 first-quarter points and none thereafter). That would have been OK if not for the fact that Allen went down hard and jammed his left ankle, tehn headed for the locker room after the first quarter. He’d scored nine points. Plus, Garnett was having a hellish half, going 1-for-7 with no rebounds while Mehmet Okur was burning him for eight points and seven rebounds. Boozer had 15 points with seven rebounds himself.
After having held the Jazz to 6-for-20 shooting in the third, the Celts were within four with 5:25 to go before letting it slip away in a flurry of offensive fouls, and a flagrant foul by Kendrick Perkins.
