Frankly, this admittedly brutal back-to-back went about as badly as it could have gone.
Boston led by as many as 15 at the Magic on Thursday, and held a three-point lead with less than a minute left, but blew the game late. It was the team's first loss after leading by double digits in the fourth quarter during the Kevin Garnett/Ray Allen era. And it was a soul-crushing defeat for a team that entered the game with already shaken confidence.
Friday night in Atlanta went exactly the way you wouldn't want the second game of a very tough three-in-four-nights stretch to go: A very physical, exhausting game; an early deficit followed by a big third quarter rally; and then a fourth quarter in which the Hawks made all the big shots. The result has negative psychological consequences, too: It completed the first regular season sweep by Atlanta in eleven years, and Boston has now ceded second place in the East to the Hawks.
There are reasons for optimism. Orlando shot 40 free throws to Boston's 18 and yet still didn't lead until fewer than five minutes remained; Boston was still in the driver's seat in the last minute and easily could have won despite the free throw discrepancy. Against Atlanta, the Celtics played terribly all night and still were within one possession of the lead as the fourth quarter dawned. But there are too many negatives right now to dwell on the positives without being a typical fan blogger, a role I'm desperately trying to fight off after being told that lately I've been viewing the officiating, Tommy Heinsohn-style, through green-shaded glasses.
The biggest concern may be Kevin Garnett's health. A recap of The Big Ticket's last 11 months: Boston's title defense is apparently temporarily derailed when he injures his knee in Utah on 2/19/09; after sitting 13 games, he returns for four games under a strict minutes cap; he's held out of the next several games as his return gets pushed back over and over;fans are told he'll definitely be back for the championship run; on the eve of the playoffs, we learn that he won't be back for the postseason; he has surgery in the offseason; he returns in time to start 2009-10, only with a noticeable hitch in his gait and diminished explosiveness; he gradually shakes the rust off, looking more or less like a slightly elderly version of his old self; he hyperextends the knee after Christmas; what was supposed to be a few-game absence stretches to ten games as his return is again pushed back; and he shows few ill effects in wins over the Blazers and Clippers in his first two contests back.
Here's what's worrisome: Against Orlando, KG was back to being the player he was at the beginning of the season -- which is to say, not KG. Twice he failed to get high enough to convert one of his signature alley-oops, and he was outjumped for rebounds on a number of occasions. Against Atlanta, he looked a bit better, throwing down a couple of ferocious dunks, but he again lost out on a couple of boards he would have easily snared two years ago. It's debatable if Boston is a legitimate title contender even with a healthy-as-he's-gonna-be KG; if he's not even that, we have no shot. (Celtics Blog ran this excerpt from John Hollinger regarding KG that more or less sums up my feelings on the situation.)
Speaking of, now is as good a time as any to address the question of whether Boston has realistic championship hopes at this stage. The Celtics are not, I don't think, a full tier below the Lakers, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Orlando. They may well be a player short, however, of being better than those squads. Rasheed Wallace was supposed to be that player, but his inconsistent scoring and tiresome act vis-a-vis the officials have minimized his impact.
It could be that that player is Marquis Daniels. Boston misses Daniels' play on both ends of the floor; he's a strong defender on the wing and he organizes the second team offensively, subordinating his own offense for the benefit of others. That latter quality is lacking in most of the bench guys. We need him around to get better looks for Eddie House, to coax the most out of Glen Davis, to get Wallace into the post. If it's not Daniels, then Danny Ainge will have to make a move, though it's not clear to me who that trade would be for or even who might be included in such a deal.
Sunday we host the Lakers (12:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC). LA's on the seventh game of an eight-game roadtrip. Even though I know Doc won't do it (and rightly so), part of me wants Boston to treat this one like a post-season game and go all out. We need the confidence, we need the swagger, we need to re-establish our home floor as a nearly impossible place to win.
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