The Celtics just lost to the Pistons at home and that doesn't bother me. They are after all missing three players from their top 11 players with one of those players being one of their biggest stars. So I know they are bound to lose some games as they get healthy.
What does bother me is how they lost this game. That being, they blew it from the 4 minute mark until the end of te quarter for the last three quarters of this game. I noticed this because when I coached it was a pet peeve of mine always to win the last minutes before a break to take the momentum, to set te pace and to prove that when it counts you'll be ready to succeed.
Here's what happened today:
With 3:55 left in the 2nd quarter the score:
Boston 44 Detroit 41
At the half:
Detroit 55 Boston 47
With 4:00 left in the 3rd quarter:
Boston 66 Detroit 66
End of the 3rd:
Detroit 77 Boston 70
With 4:00 left in the 4th quarter:
Boston 89 Detroit 88
Game final:
Detroit 105 Boston 95
So for that combined 11:55 the score was:
Detroit 42 Boston 13
That's an amazing total of -29 for the last part of the last three quarters before breaks or the end of the game. That hurts. The defense fell apart, the offense had zero ball movement, tons of Pierce iso stuff, bad turnovers, bad decision making and an utter lack of poise.
And I think that's what bothered me about this game more than anything. It just appeared like the Celtics lost their oise when the Pistons ratcheted it up before the end of every quarter. After nearly two years of outstanding basketball it was just kinda shocking to me to see these guys lose it during such critical times of the. game