Doc Rivers' Late Christmas Gift To His Son Austin: A Win At TD Garden For The Hornets

I thought the Celtics had gotten past the point of losing to shitbum teams with some regularity this season. Apparently not, their six-game win streak was ruined tonight as Boston (20-18, 13-7 home) laid down 90-78 to New Orleans (13-26, 7-13 away) at TD Garden.

Rookie Austin Rivers (No. 10 pick of 2012 Draft) won the first ever meeting with his dad-Celtics head coach Doc Rivers-as he tossed in eight points off the bench (4th father-son meeting in NBA history). The Hornets are truly awful and losing to a bad team always leaves a particularly bad taste in a fan's mouth. Granted, this was New Orleans sixth win in their last seven games.

The immortal Al-Farouq Aminu had a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and two steals for New Orleans, Robin Lopez had 17 points and six rebounds, Greivis Vasquez added 15 points and 11 rebounds while No. 1 pick Anthony Davis notched 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Anderson had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Hornets in their disgusting teal road jerseys (maybe the worst look in the NBA).

For whatever reason (playing down to competition?), the Celts never seemed to be into it mentally or emotionally. Kevin Garnett led Boston with 15 points, Paul Pierce had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Rajon Rondo dished out 11 assists with three steals and Jason Terry (12 points) was the only bench guy to show up.

The C's led 25-20 after the first quarter but the Hornets outscored them in the final three frames. New Orleans was up 44-43 at halftime and they extended it to 68-63 after three quarters.

New Orleans was by far the more aggressive team, all you need to look at in that regard is three statistics: they made 20 more free throws (26-6) than Boston, grabbed 15 more rebounds (48-33) and pounded it inside for 16 more points in the paint (48-32). In their only other meeting of the season, Boston visits New Orleans on March 20. You have to believe the Celts will play much better then since tonight was basically a disaster.

The Celtics wrap up their five-game homestand on Friday (7 p.m., CSN) against the Bulls (22-15, 2nd in Central Division). The teams have split the first two matchups with Chicago most recently winning 100-89 at the United Center on December 18. These games are almost always close and entertaining.

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