Christmas Day Lost

The Boston Celtics fell to the New York Knicks 104 to 106 on Christmas Day 2011.


You could say the Celtics lost this game more than the Knicks won it.  Or you could resort to the old cliché and say that the team that wanted it the most won it, but I believe that the Celtics gave the game to the Knicks by making crucial mistakes down the stretch, which is a shame because the Celtics played very well in the 2^nd half, it was theirs to win, and it’s too bad that they let it slip away, for it was an important game and, it was important for this year’s Celtics to get off on the right foot.  A very winnable game it was.

The Celtics blew the 10 point lead they held at the 10:29 mark of the 4^th quarter.

The two crucial mistakes; at the 4:24 mark Rondo inexplicably threw up a 3-pointer that clanked off the rim with the score 98 – 94, Celtics, allowing the Knicks to narrow the lead to 98 – 97.

The second mistake came on an out-of-bounds play at the 1:46 mark with the score tied 102 -102, which ended up with Ray Allen taking an off balance baseline jumper from 20 feet out, a shot that missed so badly one would be hard put to believe that Ray Allen had shot it.  I don’t know what play Doc called or how that play broke down, but I doubt that it was supposed to culminate with an off balance shot by Ray.

From that point on the Celtics scored only once more, on a Daniels layup from a Rondo pass. The final score being 104 – 106 with the C’s on the losing end.

Enough with the bad news. There is plenty of good news to take away from this game if we forget about the slop ball that was played in the first half sometimes, the good part of that being that we scored half of our 104 points in a first half where the C’s looked out of sync for long stretches of time.

Let’s start with Rondo.  Rondo dominated the game on the Celtics side with his aggressive play, operating as a one man fast break at times, hitting some open jumpers and free throws.  Rondo shot 58% from the floor and 75% from the line and we’ll take that any day from our much maligned (most undeservedly so) point guard.

Today, Rondo truly was the little engine that could and was the driving force behind the Celtics that they feel short in the end.  Rondo finished with 31 points, 5 rebounds, 13 assists, and 5 steals in a game high 41 minutes...

Another highlight for Celtic fans, newcomer  Brandon Bass opened eyes with his aggressive rebounding and his ability to hit clutch mid-range jumpers.  Bass served as a game changer during the Celtics 3^rd and 4th quarter surges.  Bas finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, five of them off the offensive boards in 28 minutes of play.

Ray Allen and KG played like their usual selves with Ray coming alive in the 2^nd half and ending with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, while KG contributed 15 points 8 rebounds and a blocked shot.

Sasha (What’s wrong with him?) Pavlovic started in place of Paul Pierce and contributed zero points on zero for zero shooting. He had one assist and one rebound in 15 minutes of play.

Trying to stay positive, we did have an Avery Bradley sighting, he played 9 minutes and for some reason continues to look lost and out of place, going 0 for 2 with a turnover.

Jermaine O’Neal played solid defense in his 17 minutes of play with two blocks, two rebounds and six points in his 17 minutes.

Marquis Daniels, how nice it was to see him back out there, looks like he could use some minutes to get his timing and his confidence back to where it was before his freak injury side-lined him last season leading to neck surgery.  Daniels contributed 30 minutes, six rebounds, five assists, one steal, and a block.

And this from the Elias stat keeping bureau: Rondo joined Larry Bird as the only Celtic to have over 30 points, over 10 assists and 5 steals in a single game.

Of course without Captain Paul Pierce playing it is impossible to gauge how this game would have ended if “The Truth” had been there.

Doc reported post game that Paul may come off the bench beginning Tuesday in Miami.

Check out the BoxScore.