Blog

Our Boston Celtics are far from elite at the moment, and there are serious doubts as to whether this year’s edition will ever work out the kinks, and on this night, at home against Milwaukee, the boys in green-and-white squandered a 10-point lead and an outstanding shooting night by Paul Pierce to lose in overtime and cast more doubt.  It wasn’t pretty.  It was painful.  It was the kind of loss that will stick in the crawl and won’t go away anytime soon, even in a sport where there are 82 games and plenty of opportunities to forget.

What do we make of this loss to the Bucks?  Is it a matter of getting Avery Bradley back and working out the kinks?  Is it a matter of kicking it into gear once the proper sense of urgency finally lands on these Celtics?  Or is this simply a flawed team with too many deficiencies to sweep under the rug?  Are the problems so far-reaching that even a world class coach like Doc Rivers can’t make them go away?

Whatever the case, these Celtics can’t continue to rely on throwback performances like what we saw from Pierce tonight – his 35 points and key three kept the C’s in the game and got us into OT – because it simply can’t happen night in, night out.  For Pierce to shoot his age, just two nights after putting up 40 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, is simply amazing.  But it’s not going to get it done.  The C’s need consistent effort and output from guys like Courtney Lee, Jeff Green and Jason Terry.

Green and Lee solid enough off the bench in this game, but Terry was nowhere to be found.  His 1-15 shooting, including key misses late and in OT, highlight a player who is seriously struggling since coming to Boston from Dallas this off-season.  Only Terry knows what’s wrong with Terry, but from a physical standpoint he looks fine.  From the couch, all of Terry’s problems seem to be happening between the ears.  Maybe that Celtics championship tattoo and all of that smack talk has proved to be too much for him to back up mentally.

Whatever the case, Terry is killing us out there right now.

Just call Terry the poster child for this year’s Celtics – lost boys who can’t get it in gear and who seem destined to slug it out for the last and final playoff spot and a first round exit against either Miami or New York.