Lose after having an 18 point lead?

[rav123]

Well..at least we didn't lose a lead like this in the Playoffs or in "Game 4 of the 2007-2008 NBA Finals", lol....

I just don't think LA has recovered from that..even now. And I think this will give us a psychological edge when we meet them in June.

I'll take one like this on the chin now, vice May or June. Doing this then would certainly be demoralizing.

The Lakers did win the NBA Championship last year, and beat The Celtics on Christmas day so I think they may have recovered a bit.

Also, in response to the OP I am going to be lazy and repost a reply of mine from a similar thread:

January 9th, 2008: Bobcats 95 - Celtics 83

The Celtics looked like they were in for another easy night at home when they opened a 35-24 edge midway into the second half, but the Bobcats responded by scoring the next 14 points en route to a 45-41 halftime edge.

January 12th, 2008: Celtics 78 - Wizards 85

The Wizards rallied from a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit to hand the Celtics their second loss in three games and only their fifth defeat of the season

January 14th, 2008: Wizards 88 - Celtics 83

Trailing by 14, the Wizards went on an improbable 19-4 run to take an 82-81 lead with 40.1 seconds remaining capped off by a Butler lay in and foul shot after being fouled by Kendrick Perkins.

January 23rd 2008: Raptors 114 - Celtics 112

Tony Allen scored 14 straight points for the Celtics early in the second quarter, single-handedly delivering a 12-2 run that gave them a 43-32 lead. But Boston soon went cold, giving up 12 straight points to allow Toronto to tie it 49-all, and then take a 57-51 lead on Parker's 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the half.

(14 straight pts by TA!  )

February 20, 2008: Celtics 117 - Warriors 119. Largest C's Lead: 12.

March 22nd 2008: Celtics 106 - Hornets 103

David West scored 37 points and the New Orleans Hornets overcame an early 15-point deficit to beat Boston 113-106 on Saturday night...Boston shot 75 percent in the opening period and was up 60-45 in the second before New Orleans closed to 65-55 at halftime...Boston committed 21 turnovers, leading to 32 Hornets points.

(The Hornets were a decent team, but still, same issues in the '08 squad)

March 24th, 2008: 76ers 95 - Celtics 90

Andre Iguodala scored 10 straight points during a 19-0 run that brought Philadelphia back from a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit Monday night, and the 76ers beat the Boston Celtics 95-90...House hit another 3 early in the fourth to make it 78-68, and he added a left-side jumper to give the Celtics an 80-69 lead with 8:20 left. The Sixers scored the next 19 points -- five by Young, four by Louis Williams and a steal and emphatic breakaway dunk by Iguodala to tie it.

Good Point..LA did win the Championship last year..against the Magic. Great team, but they didn't win it against US. No disrespect to either team last year, but Boston wasn't there.

The Celtics played The Lakers twice last year. They lost both times.

Orlando defeated the Lakers in both of their matchups last season. I believe it was a different story in the Finals though.

We shouldn't read too much into individual regular-season results, due to all the different factors involved - especially if these games are quite close (as the LA-Boston and LA-Orlando games were).

[Bahku]

Against a team like the Warriors, (who are one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA), a first quarter 18-ponit lead is not a lot to give up, especially when missing your core leader and Captain. Yes, they should have trounced Golden State even without Paul, but every team has down times and lapses in their performance.

If they're going to have bad games, I prefer they do it against teams like GSW and in the regular season, rather than during the playoffs. There are always kinks to work out along the road to a championship season ... better to work them out now. Frankly, I think they needed a wake-up call or two, and this is the time to have them ... when it doesn't spell the early end to your season.

[slamtheking]

I agree with the OP -- this should not happen to a good team.  It only happens because they lack the killer instinct to put the competition away when they have the chance. 

Instead of getting the lead into double digits and coasting in the first half, they need to push the lead higher.  Crush the other team's spirit before the 4th quarter and then let the end of the bench get some time.

As much as I hated the Magic's Lakers in the 80's, that was the one thing I admired about them.  Magic would push his team to knock down the competition and then keep kicking them while they were down.  Used to aggravate the hell out of me when the C's didn't do the same to a lot of lesser teams.

[Fafnir]

I agree that its unacceptable, if you asked any of the Celtics they'd tell you as much.

But I think our expectations for this team are still based on the 2007-2008 Celtics, who were quite possibly the best defensive team in NBA history. The current C's aren't at that level.

[thirstyboots18]

Yet

[ScoobyDoo]

Well, I've played enough to understand the psychological edge that weaves it's way through a game. But to me, this type of thing should happen less as the talent level gets higher, not more. These guys are men, not boys.

Losing a game like that is unacceptable. To me it doesn't make it "ok" that in the NBA it "happens" all the time because their is alot of talent on other teams and teams like Golden State have "big firepower". All excuses...

Golden State sucks.

You don't lead by 18 and lose. Period. I don't care what "other teams do". These guys are "supposed" to be championship caliber.

What bothers me about these Celtics is that they seem to do it against crap teams and it's a pattern. Even the guy who posted all the times we lost big leads, they were all against very subpar teams, except maybe Phoenix. The rest were teams that wouldn't sniff making any noise in the playoffs.

That means it's mental, it's not a talent issue. Great teams don't lose games like this. Once maybe, 2,3 times, 6 times in a season? No.

Look at our current losses. 4 of 7 are against Indy, Philly, Clippers and GS. Expect to see any of these gusy in the playoffs?

It's the mental aspect that bothers me, not so much the loss.

When a team is down 18 and on the floor, that's when you start aiming for the teeth.

It's not when you start getting sloppy like two year old kids on a playground, turing the ball over on completely ridiculously lazy passess and plays.

It's a pettern with this team 

[nickagneta]

Well, I've played enough to understand the psychological edge that weaves it's way through a game. But to me, this type of thing should happen less as the talent level gets higher, not more. These guys are men, not boys.

Losing a game like that is unacceptable. To me it doesn't make it "ok" that in the NBA it "happens" all the time because their is alot of talent on other teams and teams like Golden State have "big firepower". All excuses...

Golden State sucks.

You don't lead by 18 and lose. Period. I don't care what "other teams do". These guys are "supposed" to be championship caliber.

What bothers me about these Celtics is that they seem to do it against crap teams and it's a pattern. Even the guy who posted all the times we lost big leads, they were all against very subpar teams, except maybe Phoenix. The rest were teams that wouldn't sniff making any noise in the playoffs.

That means it's mental, it's not a talent issue. Great teams don't lose games like this. Once maybe, 2,3 times, 6 times in a season? No.

Look at our current losses. 4 of 7 are against Indy, Philly, Clippers and GS. Expect to see any of these gusy in the playoffs?

It's the mental aspect that bothers me, not so much the loss.

When a team is down 18 and on the floor, that's when you start aiming for the teeth.

It's not when you start getting sloppy like two year old kids on a playground, turing the ball over on completely ridiculously lazy passess and plays.

It's a pettern with this team 

Maybe you weren't reading closely enough. The guy that posted all those losses posted losses that occurred in the 2007-08 season. The 2007-08 Celtics were a great team. Yes, even great teams that win championships lose to bad teams and lose after leading by double digits.

Your expectations of this team as being super human or somehow above mere human traits like letting down or becoming complacent are, quite honestly, off. They let down versus lesser talent teams and play to their level because they are so supremely confident in their abilities. It's a flaw. But to win a championship they will have to play good to great teams in the playoffs. How many times have we seen them lose their composure against a good to great team this year? I think the answer is zero.

[ScoobyDoo]

It's true, I do have unrealistic expectations fo this team. That's true, can't help it.

I'd much rather see us lose tight games to the good to great teams in the league because of a few unlucky bounces, than play like we don't give a crap against teams we should trounce and lose ground in the standings for overall homecourt because of it.

I just think these games are an easy way to pad your lead and should not having homecourt be the difference in a series come playoff time we might well look back at 5-6 gimme games and wonder why we couldn't seem to muster the mental discipline  to win them.   

[nickagneta]

It's true, I do have unrealistic expectations fo this team. That's true, can't help it.

I'd much rather see us lose tight games to the good to great teams in the league because of a few unlucky bounces, than play like we don't give a crap against teams we should trounce and lose ground in the standings for overall homecourt because of it.

I just think these games are an easy way to pad your lead and should not having homecourt be the difference in a series come playoff time we might well look back at 5-6 gimme games and wonder why we couldn't seem to muster the mental discipline  to win them.   

Not trying to pick on you but didn't we have home court versus Orlando last year? That didn't really help us out to well in that game seven.

Point I'm making is that this team, unlike the 2007-08 team, might not absolutely HAVE to have HCA. They might not be as good a team as that 2007-08 team but I believe they are a better,, more prepared road team against good opponents than that team. Time will tell.

Overall, these were just two bad road losses in December. We had a bunch after Christmas last year and then went on a streak in late January and early February, before KG went down, that was dominant. Things will straighten out. Have patience. Have faith. Their just two losses.

[BballTim]

It's true, I do have unrealistic expectations fo this team. That's true, can't help it.

I'd much rather see us lose tight games to the good to great teams in the league because of a few unlucky bounces, than play like we don't give a crap against teams we should trounce and lose ground in the standings for overall homecourt because of it.

I just think these games are an easy way to pad your lead and should not having homecourt be the difference in a series come playoff time we might well look back at 5-6 gimme games and wonder why we couldn't seem to muster the mental discipline  to win them.   

  I'd just as soon beat Orlando and lose to the Clippers as the other way around. It's a marathon, not a sprint. We lost those 3 early games and made it back up to the top of the standings. We'll hit our stride again. I'd rather peak at the end of the season than now. And I'd rather be us losing to the crappy teams than the Lakers who beat everybody BUT the good teams.

[Spicoli]

These losses are quite disheartening, but with the way we've been playing on the road this season (with Pierce in the lineup) maybe not having home court isn't such a bad thing. Seems like the team is more focused on the road than at home anyway.

[ScoobyDoo]

No worries. But Nick, I think we lost the Orlando series last year because we were completely toast ( especially Pierce and Ray ) after having played heavy minutes the last 3rd of the season with KG out, the brutal Chicago series and then being down Powe as well..not to mention KG being out.

You put a healthy KG in that series, we beat Orlando 4-2, worst...Worst. That we lost that series having homecourt shouldn't let us think it's not important. We obviously lost that sereis for the reasons above.   

Homecourt is always important. To say it's not come playoff time, isn't realistic IMHO.

But that aside, I do agree that if this team is 100% healthy with all it's pieces humming, we could probably play all 7 games of any series on the other team's court and have a pretty good chance of winning it all. I do think they have shown they are "that good" on the road and will be even bettercome year end if healthy.

Still, I want every advantage I can get. Winning "gimme games" to pad your standings lead to secure homecourt is part of that.

But I admit I expect too much and do actually think we'll be just fine. These two losses are a blip in a long season. I get all that.

I also like the fact we're beating the good teams.

But losing to these crap teams after having the huge leads is like just shooting yourself in the foot for no good reason, regarding the standings...

[ScoobyDoo]

TP to Vinnie and that's exactly my point. What is so hard to understand, Nick, is when it happens over and over again. Does that make it more simple for you?

If it happens once in a blue moon, then it's not much of a big deal. If it happens three times in a few weeks, it's indicative of a porlbem with mental discipline and toughness.

And it's one thing if you're a run of the mill team and it happens to you but when you call yourself a championship team, it shouldn't happen three times inside of a few weeks.

That is not hard to understand, is it?