Why the blown leads???

[Spicoli]

Is it Doc? Is it the players? Is it fatigue? What is it?

[PosImpos]

Well tonight it was 2 things:

1) Fouls.  We couldn't play defense without racking up tons and tons of fouls, whether they were legitimate or not.  The Magic shot 28 more free throws than us.  We're darned lucky they only made 26 of them.

2) Rebounding.  This team continuously gets killed on the glass.  We get very, very few offensive rebounds and we give up a ton of them.  Against a good rebounding team like the Magic or the Lakers, that's lights out.

It's very, very difficult to maintain a lead with those two problems, even if you are shooting over 50% from the field.  Eventually the law of averages catches up with you, and you start missing.  That happened tonight, and we lost.  No surprise.

[celticinorlando]

rebounding and turnovers...this is just another game (GS. Philly, the bulls, Dallas, Clippers, Pistons, Atlanta twice) where they have had a nice lead in the second half and choked it away

[Spicoli]

I think you guys are dead on about the rebounding. At first, i thought well, we're still winning games despite the poor rebounding, but i think now it's obvious that the rebounding has a huge impact on how we're finishing these games. We're getting creamed in the 3rd and 4th quarters of just about every game, and i'm just looking for answers. Wow, tonights loss was heartbreaking. Worse loss of the season for me.

[pengaloo]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

[Change]

Sheed is allergic to rebounds. If you thought Glen was bad rebounder, Sheed is something else on the boards.

[PosImpos]

I think you guys are dead on about the rebounding. At first, i thought well, we're still winning games despite the poor rebounding, but i think now it's obvious that the rebounding has a huge impact on how we're finishing these games. We're getting creamed in the 3rd and 4th quarters of just about every game, and i'm just looking for answers. Wow, tonights loss was heartbreaking. Worse loss of the season for me.

It's not the most frustrating game of the season for me, in part because I had a feeling we were going to lose from the very beginning.  The worst loss in my opinion was our last game against the Hawks, when the refs really were the deciding factor.

This game is more disheartening though because I feel like there's no good excuse.  The Celtics just didn't have enough down the stretch the win this game.  The Magic were younger, more athletic, and deeper.  We did well in the first half because of some hot shooting and cold shooting on their part but then it evened out in the second half.

Right now we're looking at a Celtics team that is 1-2 versus the Magic and 0-3 versus the Hawks.  We may make it 0-4 against the Hawks tomorrow night and then 0-1 against the Lakers on Sunday.

I haven't seen a championship team out there on the floor for more than a few quarters at a time anytime this year.

[Spicoli]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

[PosImpos]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Yes.  It makes me want to stop watching these games altogether.  But unfortunately I'm addicted to the Celtics and can't help myself, even though I know I'm in for disappointment.

Being a sports fan is strangely masochistic in that sense.

[Spicoli]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Yes.  It makes me want to stop watching these games altogether.  But unfortunately I'm addicted to the Celtics and can't help myself, even though I know I'm in for disappointment.

Being a sports fan is strangely masochistic in that sense.

So very true. Me and my buddy were watching the game (he's not a big fan of the NBA) and he was saying stuff like "oh man, this game is over. Let's do something else. Look how big that lead is!" While the whole time i just kept thinking "yeah right, you obviously haven't seen this Celtic team all season." After we jumped out to the big first half lead, i just knew in my gut that the game wasn't nearly over.

[jadams5214]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Great point about the epic collapses.  It would be one thing if teams were blowing the Celtics out every night and ther weren't able to compete.  But to see them lose big leads night after night and utterly fail to execute down the stretch is much worse.  This team has no killer instinct, is too old and tired to play good basketball for 48 minutes and chokes down the stretch which is a recipe for disaster.

[Spicoli]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Great point about the epic collapses.  It would be one thing if teams were blowing the Celtics out every night and ther weren't able to compete.  But to see them lose big leads night after night and utterly fail to execute down the stretch is much worse.  This team has no killer instinct, is too old and tired to play good basketball for 48 minutes and chokes down the stretch which is a recipe for disaster.

The choking down the stretch is what i really don't understand. During the title run, i vividly remember the playoff game when Detroit was up like 7 or 8 with a few minutes remaining. The boys pulled it together, and closed out the game in dominating fashion to take the series. They were super clutch. Same thing against the Lakes in the finals. Where has the clutch factor gone? I'm shocked that the same guys who closed out the Lakers in 6 games are now the same guys who can't win a single 3rd or 4th quarter with any consistency.

[pengaloo]

We're playing "no one else gets injured" basketball. Once we have a lead in the first half, we stop playing physical, we play less strenuous defense, we walk up the ball, we stop driving inside and getting fouls, we stop moving off the ball... it's cruise control gone wrong.

Definitely could be right. Even though we were rebounding poorly, we still had a 14 point lead going into the 4th. These epic collapses are worse than if we just never led in the game.

Great point about the epic collapses.  It would be one thing if teams were blowing the Celtics out every night and ther weren't able to compete.  But to see them lose big leads night after night and utterly fail to execute down the stretch is much worse.  This team has no killer instinct, is too old and tired to play good basketball for 48 minutes and chokes down the stretch which is a recipe for disaster.

I don't think they're too old or too tired. I think they need to fix where they are mentally. Remember in the beginning of the season when Doc kept saying that they were at a great place mentally? I haven't heard him say that in quite some time now. Sad thing is that even our youth have bought into that. Rondo in his pregame TNT interview said something along the lines of "we're a little banged up right now." I think it's time for the players to stop feeling sorry for the team and just play.

[celticinorlando]

i for dont buy the fact that this team can 1. just show up and beat teams and 2. they can just tread water until april and magically turn it on.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

great all-star performances tonight by our three "all-stars"