Celtics Have Fallen From Glory at the Top

March 16, 2009

The Boston Celtics have fallen from the top team in the NBA to a team jockeying for position against the Lakers, Spurs, and Cavaliers.

MILWAUKEE – Lowlights of the Celtics’ regular season thus far include road losses against such struggling teams as the Pacers, Clippers, Warriors, Knicks, and Bobcats, being dominated in Cleveland, and a home setback to Denver.

But the way Rajon Rondo sees it, you could put the Celtics’ 86-77 matinee loss to lowly Milwaukee at the Bradley Center yesterday at the top of the list.

The Celtics scored a season low in points on 37.7 percent shooting from the field. Boston allowed 27 points on a season-high 25 turnovers. The Celtics missed 11 of 12 3-pointers and 11 free throws in 35 attempts. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had 15 and 8 points, respectively, and combined for 10 turnovers. The Bucks shot 20 more times than Boston and earned a Celtic opponent season-high 21 offensive rebounds.

“It’s probably No. 1 for me,” said Rondo, who had 5 points, 8 assists, and 5 turnovers. “As bad as we played, we still had a chance to win and we didn’t get the job done.

“It’s hard to win a game with all those missed free throws, 25 turnovers, and all those offensive rebounds [allowed]. That’s the worst we played all season. They outworked us, basically.”

Center Kendrick Perkins, who had a career-high 26 points, said, “There were a lot of [bad losses]. But it’s up there. It’s up there.”

The Bucks were ahead, 80-69, with 4:42 remaining after a 3-point play by Charlie Villanueva (19 points, 7 rebounds), but the former University of Connecticut star fouled out 36 seconds later.

The Celtics trimmed their deficit to 80-77 with 3:01 left after a Perkins dunk. Boston, however, didn’t score the rest of the way.

With about 50 seconds left and the shot clock winding down for the Bucks, Rondo knocked the ball away from Charlie Bell. But Milwaukee’s Luke Ridnour recovered and got it back to Bell, who nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that put Milwaukee ahead, 84-77.

“I thought I had it,” Rondo said. “Luke took it right back, then [Bell] knocked down the shot.”

“We deserved to win,” said Bell. “That shot was a prayer. I think Rondo made a great defensive effort to [try to] get the steal. But we finally got a ball to bounce in our direction and we finally got a break.”

Perkins had his best offensive game of the season by making 9 of 16 shots and eight free throws while grabbing 12 rebounds. But despite his game high in scoring, the loss didn’t leave him in a celebrating mood.

“When you have a good game like that, it’s hard to even be happy about that when you take a loss,” Perkins said. “It really doesn’t even matter.”

Pierce entered averaging a team-best 20.2 points, Allen 18.6. Pierce, however, missed 11 of 15 shots and 5 of 12 free throws, and had seven turnovers. Allen missed 9 of 11 shots, including all five 3-point tries, and had three turnovers. The loss delayed Boston clinching its second straight Atlantic Division title.

“They did a pretty good defensive job on me,” Allen said. “They made me rush everything, and offensively we did a terrible job on them. We didn’t move the ball. We didn’t create any type of rhythm. So for myself, that’s two things working against me.”

“[The Bucks] didn’t do anything special,” said Boston coach Doc Rivers. “They just played great defense.”

The game was tied at 41 at halftime after the Celtics were limited to 16 points in the second quarter. Leon Powe, who had averaged 26.5 points the previous two games, picked up his fifth foul with 5:34 left in the third quarter and Milwaukee ahead, 54-50. Rivers sent Mikki Moore to the scorer’s table to replace Powe, but before Moore could come in, Powe received his sixth foul on the defensive end 18 seconds later.

“I saw Richard Jefferson come at me, so I thought I would just get in his way and put my hands up,” Powe, who finished with 5 points and six rebounds, said. “I thought it was a no-call at first. But they called it late. There was really nothing I could do about it unless I moved out of the way and let him score.”

Despite 10 turnovers in the third quarter, the Celtics finished it trailing only 65-63. But the hungry Bucks, fighting Chicago for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, ground out the victory by outscoring Boston, 21-14, in the fourth.

“I don’t go into a game looking at a team’s record,” Allen said. “They still play good basketball. They’re going to fight for the eighth spot the next 10-15 games.”

Added Perkins, “They played like they were desperate. Obviously, they’re trying to make the playoffs. They outscrapped us in every way.”

With Cleveland leading the Eastern Conference, and Orlando on the Celtics’ heels, the Celtics need to be desperate for wins now, too.

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