Celtics (29-13) at Magic (29-16) 1/28

[Who]

Strange loss ...

I'm fairly happy with I saw from this game. The Magic did not look capable of beating Boston in a seven game series ... not without Vince Carter playing at an All-Star level.

[Las Vegas Asian]

If the C's win tomorrow I won't even think twice about tonight. I think the best we can hope for at this point is a close win because the C's just don't handle teams anymore.

I'm pretty much conceding the game tomorrow night and just hoping for a win on Sunday. Very depressing!!! 

[RJ87]

Can't wait to see the positive comments after this latest Celtic COLLAPSE where are they.

Let's see what the Celtics did tonight ---

Blow a big lead in the 4th quarter AGAIN --- CHECK
Get killed on the boards --- CHECK
Get a 3 point lead with under a minute left and still manage to lose the game --- CHECK
Fail miserably on both ends of the floor down the stretch --- CHECK

Pitiful collapse tonight and there is absolutely no excuse for it.  A veteran team simply has to execute down the stretch of games and this team has failed consistently to do so.

Doc refuses to foul when up 3 and it cost the C's against the Clippers and once again tonight.

A complete and utter collapse once again by the Celtics.  If this game in which the C's dominated doesn't show how far they have fallen then nothing else will.

PITIFUL...

Attempt to single handedly make me and many others stay away from the game threads:

check

Pretty much.

[Fafnir]

Strange loss ...

I'm fairly happy with I saw from this game. The Magic did not look capable of beating Boston in a seven game series ... not without Vince Carter playing at an All-Star level.

Our offense in the fourth quarter worried me.

[Who]

To me this is once again squarely on Doc's shoulders. This team is good enough to win a championship, and the good quarters prove it. But the fact is that once the other team makes a minor adjustment to the way they play, Doc simply can't respond within the same game. We are abusing the hawks, but they take Bibby out and put Horford in and Doc doesn't adjust. We are abusing the Magic, but they put Gortat and Howard in and Doc simply can't adjust. That, for me, is the most disappointing thing.

What would you have liked Doc to do?

[Tr1boy]

We need Daniels back, get a legit PG and backup Center.

Never thought i say this but i do miss Powe. Shelden Williams stinks. What was danny thinking?

[Fafnir]

To me this is once again squarely on Doc's shoulders. This team is good enough to win a championship, and the good quarters prove it. But the fact is that once the other team makes a minor adjustment to the way they play, Doc simply can't respond within the same game. We are abusing the hawks, but they take Bibby out and put Horford in and Doc doesn't adjust. We are abusing the Magic, but they put Gortat and Howard in and Doc simply can't adjust. That, for me, is the most disappointing thing.

What would you have liked Doc to do?

Especially when Perkins isn't playing well at all.

[RJ87]

We need Daniels back, get a legit PG and backup Center.

Never thought i say this but i do miss Powe. Shelden Williams stinks. What was danny thinking?

He didn't even play tonite, lol.
When he does play, he does good things 89% of the time.

[Who]

Strange loss ...

I'm fairly happy with I saw from this game. The Magic did not look capable of beating Boston in a seven game series ... not without Vince Carter playing at an All-Star level.

Our offense in the fourth quarter worried me.

Yes, but it's difficult to tell how much of that was Orlando's defense and how much of it was Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett having terrible games.

I also think Orlando's offense, with Gortat and Howard, won't fare nearly as well in the future ... which will also lower that lineup's effectiveness despite their superlative D.

[jdpapa3]

To me this is once again squarely on Doc's shoulders. This team is good enough to win a championship, and the good quarters prove it. But the fact is that once the other team makes a minor adjustment to the way they play, Doc simply can't respond within the same game. We are abusing the hawks, but they take Bibby out and put Horford in and Doc doesn't adjust. We are abusing the Magic, but they put Gortat and Howard in and Doc simply can't adjust. That, for me, is the most disappointing thing.

What would you have liked Doc to do?

Yea, Doc was constricted by the fact that Perk had 5 fouls.

And Powe isn't playing yet...how does that deserve a "what was danny thinking?"

[Las Vegas Asian]

Danny has to do something, he can't stand pat with this group.

We need young athleticism off the bench and a point guard.

Its so obvious.  I still shake my head at the fact that we are the only team in the NBA who has only 1 natural point guard on their roster.

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce each played over 40 minutes tonight.......again!

There is no reason why they should be playing over 40 mintes in January! This is ridiculous, and I have been saying this for the longest.

Danny needs to completely retool the bench. As far as I'm concerned their are only 6 untouchable guys on this roster right now, our starting 5 and Sheed. Everyone else is on the block!!!!

At the very least we need a big body that can REBOUND!!! Giving up 17 offensive boards is down right offensive!!! 

[Billz401]

FTA
Magic- 40
Celts- 18

yes we did take more jumpers than them but many times we took it to the hole, got contact, and no whistle. This game wasnt even supposed to be this close, let alone have a chance to win or tie at the buzzer. The league really needs to look into some of these games with such unbalanced free throws. I understand they were the home team but still its rediculous when we always lose these close games against contenders with such similar stats..

[Who]

To me this is once again squarely on Doc's shoulders. This team is good enough to win a championship, and the good quarters prove it. But the fact is that once the other team makes a minor adjustment to the way they play, Doc simply can't respond within the same game. We are abusing the hawks, but they take Bibby out and put Horford in and Doc doesn't adjust. We are abusing the Magic, but they put Gortat and Howard in and Doc simply can't adjust. That, for me, is the most disappointing thing.

What would you have liked Doc to do?

Especially when Perkins isn't playing well at all.

I liked having Garnett and Wallace matchup against Gortat and Howard. It's important to have that jump shooting ability to stop those from completely clogging up the paint, which they'd be able to do against Perkins. I think that's the Celtics best matchups against that duo.

[Fafnir]

Strange loss ...

I'm fairly happy with I saw from this game. The Magic did not look capable of beating Boston in a seven game series ... not without Vince Carter playing at an All-Star level.

Our offense in the fourth quarter worried me.

Yes, but it's difficult to tell how much of that was Orlando's defense and how much of it was Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett having terrible games.

I also think Orlando's offense, with Gortat and Howard, won't fare nearly as well in the future ... which will also lower that lineup's effectiveness despite their superlative D.

True enough, still the breakdown of ball movement and inability to get to the paint bothers me.

Then again given the FT disparity I can understand how the C's would hesitate to drive.

[jadams5214]

no real excuses...up 14 points to start the 4th quarter should be plenty. but this team has an issue of blowing big to decent leads with or without KG...i just dont see any improvement on the flaws from game to game like rebounding, FTs and shot selection. no excuse to give this game away to a magic team that didnt even want to compete....and it was not even the stars that did it...jason williams? gortat? just sad

Exactly there just aren't any excuses for this latest collapse but it's becoming the norm for this team.  Championship caliber teams don't blow large leads night after night and get killed on the boards.

And to be up 3 then allow the tying 3 pointer again was pitiful.  KG and Sheed were the two perimeter defenders on that Redick shot!  Then to come down and get a poor shot on offense to follow it up.

This team has no killer instinct and has set a dangerous precedent.  Teams no longer fear the Celtics and know they can play poorly for 3 quarters and simply make it up by simply playing well for one quarter per game.

The only good thing is Danny has to see this and hopefully will come up with a couple moves to improve the teams depth...