After the initial solid play after Kevin Garnett got hurt a few weeks ago, the Boston Celtics are clearly missing their leader.
They lost their second straight game last night, 108-102 at the TD Garden to the Houston Rockets (who were missing Yao Ming and Kevin Martin).
Houston (17-21) shot lights out (52.7%) for the entire game, as evidenced by having seven players score in double figures: Aaron Brooks (24 including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers), Kyle Lowry (17), Chase Budinger (13), Luis Scola (12), Jordan Hill (12), Shane Battier (10) and Patrick Patterson (10).
It's easy to make excuses and say the Rockets hit ridiculous shots (which they did) but the Celts (28-9) also didn't play defense at all so therefore they didn't deserve to beat a team they should normally have no trouble smoking.
Marquis Daniels (19 points) and Ray Allen (19 points) seemed to be the only Celtics to really put up much of a fight. Paul Pierce had 16 points, Glen Davis scored 12 points while Rajon Rondo added nine points and 12 assists but none of them were really on.
The Rockets led 27-22 after one quarter and 50-49 at halftime. When they took the third (30-25), you had the feeling the Cs were in trouble since Houston was on fire. The fourth was even (28-28) but that was enough for the visitors since Boston could never get a stop.
The Celts shot 50.7% but the Rockets had twice as many 3-pointers (10-5) and grabbed seven more rebounds (38-31). Boston had eight more steals (13-5) and 26 more points in the paint (48-22) but it wasn't enough against a jump-shooting team that couldn't miss.
Boston had practice today and then they'll try to get it right tomorrow night when they host the Sacramento Kings, one of the NBA's worst teams.
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