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.

Boston 102, Philadelphia 78

An outstanding performance on both ends from the defending champs. The Celtics held the Sixers to 28 points in the first half -- our best defensive half of the season, and Philly's worst offensively -- and the 76ers final total is only somewhat respectable thanks to the work of Louis Williams and Marreese Speights in a 31-point fourth quarter against our second- and third-stringers.

[recap] [box score]

Scoring in the NBA really doesn't get any more balanced than this. We scored 102 points tonight despite having just four guys in double figures, and no one had more than Ray Allen's 23. But all 11 guys who played scored -- Patrick O'Bryant's sweet jump hook on the second-to-last possession took care of that. Four guys off the bench had at least eight points: ten each for Leon Powe and Tony Allen; nine for Glen Davis, and eight for Eddie House.

Rajon Rondo again played great; he set the tone with three quick steals and finished with 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins also got off to a fast start, and had four blocks. Ray continued his torrid shooting, and Pierce didn't force anything (he shot just 1-for-6 in 27 minutes).

A few quick thoughts:

-Doc used a new substitution pattern in the first quarter tonight -- at least, I don't remember seeing it before. The first sub off the bench was Glen Davis, and he came in for Garnett. Usually, Doc removes Perk from the lineup with a few minutes remaining in the first, leaving KG out there to finish the quarter. That very well could be because Perkins is often in foul trouble, but I like the idea of resting Garnett in the first quarter if possible. It manages his minutes a bit better and gives us the option to go to him earlier in the second if the bench gets in trouble.

-Brian Scalabrine looks like he's made his way into the regular rotation. He's been playing pretty well, and I commend him for playing within himself despite the fact that every time he touches the ball the crowd yells for him to shoot. Still, if he's going to play meaningful minutes, he needs to be a little more aggressive, a little more like an NBA player. Too often, he's playing without conviction offensively. (On the defensive end, he's always playing hard).

-Tommy Heinsohn was back on the broadcast tonight, and late in the game, he mentioned the importance of the Celtics not being complacent when they play in Philly, because the Sixers were bound to be steamed about this blowout. He made reference to the next game being in Philadelphia, but it's actually back in Boston on December 23rd (look for me in section 312!). I think Speights' bush-league flagrant-two on Scalabrine in the waning moments took care of any concerns about complacency. Scalabrine was driving to the bucket for a reverse layup when Speights just reached out and shoved him in the back. It led to an ejection for Speights and a jawing match between Powe and Reggie Evans (this incident reminded of how much I hate Evans, by the way). I'm sure Boston will be plenty fired up on the 23rd.

-Tony played well tonight, but again he made the boneheaded play of the game. With time winding down in the third quarter, Boston was holding for one shot, though the shot and game clocks weren't quite synched; there was maybe a second and a half difference between the two. Tony drove for a layup and missed, and as the ball was coming off the rim, the shot clock buzzer -- which is quite discernible from the game clock horn -- sounded. Tony, who was in a great position to grab the rebound and lay it back in, apparently heard the buzzer and thought the quarter had ended, as he grabbed the ball and sort of tossed it over his head while walking backward. No harm, no foul, but it still bugs me to see stuff like that.

-Next game is Saturday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. Eastern, no national TV). Despite the fact that Friday's 115-108 overtime win at Indiana moved them to just 5-10 on the year, the Bobcats should have our attention. Though we went 3-1 against them last year, the one loss was in Boston in January, and we needed that miraculous House steal and Ray three at the horn to beat them in Charlotte in November. Of the other two wins, one was closeish and the other wasn't. And the Bobcats only had Gerald Wallace for one of those games due to various injuries.

In addition to Wallace, there are two Bobcats who are most concerning. The first is point guard Raymond Felton. Rondo has some trouble against quicker point guards, and Felton is one of the quickest. He averaged 17 points and nine assists in the four games against us last year, a few ticks above his season averages in each category.

The other is Jason Richardson, who averaged nearly 30 points per game in the first three contests with Boston last year (he was held to nine in the final game in April). Richardson is the brand of two-guard (think the Hawks' Joe Johnson) that Ray Allen has trouble with: a decent shooter with a good mid-range game who can get to the rim. That's the key matchup.

With Sean May and Adam Morrison continuing to disappoint, Bobcats coach Larry Brown has been going to some small lineups, with rookie D.J. Augustin joining Felton and Richardson on the perimeter. The selection of Augustin in this summer's draft left many scratching their heads, as Augustin and Felton are similar players and there aren't too many NBA teams who have been successful playing two guys who are each six feet tall, if that, alongside each other. I'm looking forward to seeing this lineup, and not a little bit because I have something of a financial interest in Augustin's development (I need him to average 24 mpg or more in a full NBA season after his fourth year in the league).

Perhaps the best news for the Cs is that while Ray Allen was the only starter to play more than 30 minutes against Philly, the Bobcats' big guns logged heavy mileage in the overtime win at Indiana. Felton played about 48 minutes; Richardson and Wallace each played around 42.