Cavaliers (7-11) at Celtics (9-9) 1/29

[theswitch]

I didn't get to catch most of this game (second half) but the one thing that jumped out at me from the box score (other than Bradley getting killed) was that Chris Wilcox was 2-3 for 4 points, 6 rebounds, a block, a steal and a huge +15, by far the most for either team. I'm not sure if he had particularly good defense or screens or what it was, but the numbers suggest we did great with him on the floor.

Otherwise, sounds like we played fine and just had a last 3 minutes complete meltdown. Sucks, but I doubt it happens again.

[TenaciousD]

Ray had 36 mins, KG had 31 and PP had 35 mins. The production of the others suffered once again Doc, you are destroying all the positives that the team were getting from recent games.

Am concered this might be the case. Wait til JO comes back, it will be business as usual.

[mqtcelticsfan]

All I can say is that I cannot wait until this team has an inside game again.

Probably won't happen until the Big 3 are long gone, though.

Let's be fair, here. There aren't many teams with a true inside game.

teams with bigs that can actually get points in the paint?  there are plenty of teams that do that.  the Celtics don't even have a single player on the team who can get 10+ points per game in the paint, other than perhaps Rondo, who is wildly inconsistent as a scorer, and disappears late in games.

the Cavs have a better inside game just by having Anderson Varejao.  

not many teams have a legit post-up threat, but you don't necessarily need a go-to post scorer to have an inside game. you just need to have guys that can slash to the rim and also finish high-percentage shots inside reliably.

Inside scoring just isn't something that there's much variation in statistically. The difference between top 5 and top 20 is usually a matter of 3-4 points a game. Boston has been average in the Big 3 Era in terms of points in the paint.

[PosImpos]

All I can say is that I cannot wait until this team has an inside game again.

Probably won't happen until the Big 3 are long gone, though.

Let's be fair, here. There aren't many teams with a true inside game.

teams with bigs that can actually get points in the paint?  there are plenty of teams that do that.  the Celtics don't even have a single player on the team who can get 10+ points per game in the paint, other than perhaps Rondo, who is wildly inconsistent as a scorer, and disappears late in games.

the Cavs have a better inside game just by having Anderson Varejao. 

not many teams have a legit post-up threat, but you don't necessarily need a go-to post scorer to have an inside game. you just need to have guys that can slash to the rim and also finish high-percentage shots inside reliably.

Inside scoring just isn't something that there's much variation in statistically. The difference between top 5 and top 20 is usually a matter of 3-4 points a game. Boston has been average in the Big 3 Era in terms of points in the paint.

The Celtics have been able to score in the paint okay by getting guys open during most of the game, but late in games they always go back to jumpshots and can't seem to buy a bucket inside to save their lives.

The problem is just exacerbated this season because they're starting two power forwards and only have one legit center on the roster.

[mqtcelticsfan]

The Celtics have been able to score in the paint okay by getting guys open during most of the game, but late in games they always go back to jumpshots and can't seem to buy a bucket inside to save their lives.

The problem is just exacerbated this season because they're starting two power forwards and only have one legit center on the roster.

This I can agree with. However, I think that the problem of not having a Center is at least negated by the fact that having two quality PFs on the roster is more helpful than having a poor Center on the floor, which is going to be a sad reality in the NBA where the demand for starting caliber Centers greatly outweighs the supply of them. What they should be doing, in my opinion, is running plays where they get inside and draw contact rather than settling for jumpers in crunch time. This is just unfortunately a thing that a lot of teams refuse to do, including Boston.

[SHAQATTACK]

DIdn't see the game, recorded it, guess I won't watch it now. 

I has thought we had got over that hump and could beat the lower teams.  These are the must win games,   If we can't get to the point of where we can take out the teams below .500 . I don't see how we'll beat the  Heat , Bull, Mavs , OKC , Spurs , ect. 

I'm not feeling so good again, losing to poor teams at home is just bad news.

[Tgro]

I'm not going to read a lot into this game. It was a flukey game. 1 more basket by us or 1 less by them and we're sitting on a 5 game winning streak and thinking we're not that bad but nearly let one get away. In this case we did. I DON'T think the better team won. I thought we were the better team the whole game! We just kept leaving them in it and we didn't finish them off when we could have 3 or 4 times. We lost focus and thought we had them beaten when we didn't. Hopefully we learn from this. We're the same team that we was yesterday minus 1 losing basket tonight. The Cav's wanted it and they got it. We just choked.

[CelticSooner]

I'm not going to read a lot into this game. It was a flukey game. 1 more basket by us or 1 less by them and we're sitting on a 5 game winning streak and thinking we're not that bad but nearly let one get away. In this case we did. I DON'T think the better team won. I thought we were the better team the whole game! We just kept leaving them in it and we didn't finish them off when we could have 3 or 4 times. We lost focus and thought we had them beaten when we didn't. Hopefully we learn from this. We're the same team that we was yesterday minus 1 losing basket tonight. The Cav's wanted it and they got it. We just choked.

Pretty much how I see it. Every team loses a game or two like this. It sucks but it happens. Just go out and get the W on Tuesday. Do not lose that game!

[mqtcelticsfan]

I'm not going to read a lot into this game. It was a flukey game. 1 more basket by us or 1 less by them and we're sitting on a 5 game winning streak and thinking we're not that bad but nearly let one get away. In this case we did. I DON'T think the better team won. I thought we were the better team the whole game! We just kept leaving them in it and we didn't finish them off when we could have 3 or 4 times. We lost focus and thought we had them beaten when we didn't. Hopefully we learn from this. We're the same team that we was yesterday minus 1 losing basket tonight. The Cav's wanted it and they got it. We just choked.

Agreed. The Thunder lost to the Wizards, the Clippers got pounded by the Jazz, the Bulls lost to the Warriors, the Heat lost to the Bucks, the Spurs lost to the Kings, the Lakers lost to the Bucks, the Mavs lost to the Wolves (twice), the Nuggets lost to the Hornets, the Pacers lost to the Kings, the Sixers lost to the Nets. Will none of those teams win the title this year?

[vinnie]

I'm not going to read a lot into this game. It was a flukey game. 1 more basket by us or 1 less by them and we're sitting on a 5 game winning streak and thinking we're not that bad but nearly let one get away. In this case we did. I DON'T think the better team won. I thought we were the better team the whole game! We just kept leaving them in it and we didn't finish them off when we could have 3 or 4 times. We lost focus and thought we had them beaten when we didn't. Hopefully we learn from this. We're the same team that we was yesterday minus 1 losing basket tonight. The Cav's wanted it and they got it. We just choked.

Agreed. The Thunder lost to the Wizards, the Clippers got pounded by the Jazz, the Bulls lost to the Warriors, the Heat lost to the Bucks, the Spurs lost to the Kings, the Lakers lost to the Bucks, the Mavs lost to the Wolves (twice), the Nuggets lost to the Hornets, the Pacers lost to the Kings, the Sixers lost to the Nets. Will none of those teams win the title this year?

Interesting thing is, I believe every example you listed, the team that had that fluke loss has a better record than the Celtics, in some cases much better, and all are above .500 for the year.

[Who]

The offense was really poor in the fourth quarter. No penetration in the halfcourt. Everything was in front of the defense. Easy to defend.

Bad loss. Shouldn't lose a game when you are up 10-12 points with four minutes left. Choked.

[Celtics4ever]

We lost because we played to the level of our opponents.  We took them lightly and we payed the price.

Donny is full of it.  With Bass starting we got zero pop from the bench tonight.  We got 14 points off the bench folks.  Cavs got that many from Gee and more from Sessions.  Pietrus was cold tonight.  Wilcox played ok off the bench but he and Moore were the only + guys off the bench and Ray was only starter + in eff.

Irving was 10-14 from the field.  If your stopper ain't stopping your going to loose

[Celtics18]

They didn't play a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but they certainly played well enough to win for 44 minutes of it.  Then, I think they thought the final buzzer rang 4 minutes before it actually did.

It's 48 minutes, guys.  48, not 44.

[Drucci]

What a bummer... I thought we let the Cavs too close during the entire game but didn't really ever thought they could win. Guess I was wrong, we paid the price of not killing them when we had to, kudos to them for showing poise down the stretch. Too bad we didn't...

It's inacceptable to lose a game like this at home, when you get Ray back, are on a 4 winning streak and finally have the chance to get over 50%. Total momentum breaker.

[Kuberski1]

Arghh!!!   We go from just about the best type of win - overcome an almost insurmountable lead against a good team on the road, to the worst type of loss - a game just about wrapped up at home, riding a win streak, only to see the other team score the last 12  points of the game, with the winner on a drive with 2 secs left.  Geeeezzzz....