Charlotte 94, Boston 89

Excuses, anyone?

[recap] [box score]

The most obvious excuse for the loss is that Monday's contest was a classic "trap" game, the day after a big game with Orlando, with the Lakers and Heat on the horizon. Throw in the fact that this was a road game on the second night of a back-to-back -- CelticsBlog reports that the Cs are now 2-7 in such situations this season -- and yeah, we should have seen it coming.

Another possible excuse is that five Boston bench players -- fully one-third of the roster -- were out with injuries. Sure, we've gotten used to life without Delonte West and Jermaine O'Neal, but this was the first game since Marquis Daniels' freak neck injury, and the team was missing a couple other centers, too (Shaquille O'Neal and Semih Erden -- by the way, is there another NBA team that has four centers?). We can't expect to win games at the same rate we were winning -- even against the Bobcats -- with such limited personnel. Right?

The thing is, Boston's bench was okay tonight. Not great; just okay, and admittedly, we'll need better than "okay" from the second unit now and in the playoffs if we're going to reach our goals of another chip. But it was the Celtics starters that lost this game, not the bench. What's even more interesting is that Boston's starting five -- a group that includes four Eastern Conference All-Stars -- was outplayed down the stretch by Charlotte's reserves.

Gerald Wallace was the only Charlotte starter to play meaningful minutes in the fourth quarter. Running the point was 6-7 Shaun Livingston, whose size made him a much tougher matchup than the man he backs up, D.J. Augustin. Livingston finished with 18 points. At the shooting guard spot, Gerald Henderson -- yes, the son of that Gerald Henderson -- replaced Stephen Jackson (abruptly ejected in the second quarter for protesting too much) and used his size and fresh legs to repeatedly burn Ray Allen on his way to 15 points on a variety of pull-ups and drives to the basket. Eduardo Najera came in for Boris Diaw (who was having one of those inconsistent, nearly invisible nights that make him Boris Diaw) and in addition to providing his trademark toughness, hit a huge three-pointer that pushed the lead from three to six in the closing minutes. And Nazr Mohammed manned the pivot in place of Kwame Brown. Mohammed didn't do a whole lot, but one of the things he didn't do was shoot one-for-nine, which Brown did do. At one point in the second half, Brown airballed an unconsted ten-foot jumper, missing left by at least a foot; at another point, he managed to leave a one-foot jump hook short. It's called addition by subtraction. (To his credit, Brown did grab 12 rebounds -- though this isn't much of an accomplishment for someone 6-11 who played in a basketball game in which 91 shots were missed.)

So, you know, all credit to the Bobcats. They responded well to the Jackson ejection, even though Captain Jack had carried the scoring load in the first quarter. Henderson and Livingston were mighty impressive. And credit coach Paul Silas, too. Under Silas, the Bobcats have gone 13-10 after a 9-19 start doomed the fate of Larry Brown. I like Silas, in part because he's a former Celtic (albeit a former Celtic I'm not old enough to have seen play), but mostly (and relatedly) because he's a fairly random basketball person that my mother recognizes when she sees him on TV. It's always unexpected when Mom pulls out an "Is that Paul Silas?"

From Boston's perspective, they lost this game because they weren't aggressive on offense. Rajon Rondo looked to be picking up where he left off against Orlando, scoring ten points in the first period, but then didn't score again. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen settled for too many jump shots. For whatever reason, it was a lazy offensive performance.

At any rate, the Celtics should be well-rested by the time the Lakers take to the parquet on Thursday, though they'll still be undermanned. (Of the sidelined Celtics, Erden is the only one about whom I have not heard anything that suggests that he won't be available on Thursday (or Sunday against the Heat, for that matter.) It's safe to say that the Lakers will be fired up and looking for a measure of revenge for Boston's win at their barn last month. Yes, Boston will need a stronger performance from its bench for that game. But it will also need a better, more focused performance from the starters, as well.