Sadly, The Celtics Still Remain Stuck In NBA Purgatory

The unfortunate reality of today's NBA is that your favorite team is going nowhere unless they have multiple All-Stars and/or reside in a sunny location like LA or Miami. Even worse, places which should be attractive to free agents like Boston or New York are not at all, meaning that one of the league's marquee franchises-the Celtics-will be nothing more than a slightly above average team until they can hoodwink a former player to trade another franchise guy (thanks again Kevin McHale for Kevin Garnett).

Armed with four draft picks last week (2 in each round), we hoped that Boston would move up to get an impact player. Instead, GM Danny Ainge stuck with all four to get a mostly uninspiring group: Louisville guard Terry Rozier, Georgia State guard R.J. Hunter, LSU power forward Jordan Mickey and William and Mary (yes they play basketball there) Marcus Thornton (the other one). Free agency began last night at midnight and as expected, the Green and White have been pretty quiet thus far. There has been whispers about free agent power forward Greg Monroe (who would be perfect for the C's) but that died down rather fast as he got wooed by more likely suitors.

All Boston has done so far is sign former Raptors power forward Amir Johnson (2 years, $24 million) and re-sign power forward Jonas Jerebko (2 years, $10 million) and swingman Jae Crowder (5 years, $35 million). Don't get me wrong, these are all decent players that will help but truthfully, they don't bring the Celtics any closer to that elusive Banner 19. They are all role players and that'll probably never change.

Johnson is quite a success story since he skipped college and was drafted late in the second round (56th overall by the Pistons) in 2005. He's 28 and he's coming off of a six-year run North of the border. Last season, he averaged 9.3 points per game, 6.1 rebounds and he shot 57% from the floor and 41% on 3-pointers. He's 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds but not the most physical guy so you won't see him battling too much down low (a big issue for the undersized Celtics last season). He is a good shooter with decent range for a big guy.

Jerebko was a complete unknown when he was traded here last season for Detroit. At 28, he is a perfect bench player as he showed in 29 games with the Celts (7.1 points per game, 4.8 rebounds per game, 41% on 3-pointers). Likewise, Crowder seemed like a throw-in from the Mavericks to complete the Rajon Rondo deal (remember him?) but he can really play. A versatile and tough defender, he brought an edge to the C's as they made that surprising run to the playoffs before they were swept by the Cavaliers in the first round. After not getting much of a chance to show what he can do in Dallas, Crowder made the most of his opportunity last season: averaging a career-best 9.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and one steal per game for Boston in 57 games. He turns 25 on Monday so a longer contract makes sense since he is currently one of the Celtics' best players (really).

Where else does Boston go from here? Your guess is as good as mine; just don't count on them bringing in any big names. With head coach Brad Stevens and a bunch of coachable, hard-working, team-first players, the C's are destined for another playoff spot and a quick exit once again when they go up against one of the East's best teams like Cleveland, Chicago or Atlanta. Are you having fun yet?

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Huzzah, The Celtics Are Fun To Watch Again

Say this for the Celtics without Rajon Rondo (and Jared Sullinger), they might not be nearly as talented but they sure are enjoyable to watch. Rather than having one guy dribble for most of the 24-second clock then figure out a play, they share the basketball, play defense and everyone seems to pull their weight more equally. Tonight, Boston (25-23, 8-14 away) won 99-95 at Toronto's (17-32, 12-13 home) Air Canada Centre, their fifth straight victory since Rondo went down.

Kevin Garnett had a season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, Courtney Lee added 15 points, Paul Pierce struggled from the field (2 for 11) but still had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Avery Bradley scored 11 points and even Brandon Bass found his way into double figures with 10 points. That's right, all five Celtics starters plus Leandro Barbosa (14 points off the bench) all scored 10+ points. Not something you saw much earlier in the season.

Even though they had lost three of their last four in Toronto, beating the Raptors isn't normally worth a damn but this was at least notable because Toronto was up 10 (79-69) heading into the fourth quarter. After getting smoked in the third quarter (34-19), the C's rallied for an excellent fourth quarter (30-16).

Former UConn star Rudy Gay, acquired from Memphis last week, filled the stat sheet with 25 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Kyle Lowry had 18 points, seven assists and four steals, Amir Johnson had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) and DeMar Derozan put up 13 points. Andrea Bargnani notched 13 points off the bench for the Raptors.

This game was just an appetizer for the main course tomorrow night back in Boston: Celtics vs. Lakers (23-26). It's the first of two meetings between the bitter rivals and it gets the full primetime experience (8 p.m., TNT) despite the fact that LA has been the NBA's biggest disappointment so far this season. Pau Gasol hurt his foot last night so he'll be out but Kobe Bryant is still on the Lakers so it should be a great atmosphere as Boston goes for their sixth win in a row.

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Tonight, I'm Ashamed To Be A Celtics Fan

Sure there have been worse losses in terms of point differential in the Big Four era but sitting here in the aftermath, it's hard to remember a much more pathetic defeat than the one experienced by the Boston Celtics tonight.

The Celts (14-12) lost 86-74 to the Toronto Raptors (9-19) at Air Canada Centre in a game that truthfully, wasn't even that close.

Boston lost its second in a row and from the opening tip, they had absolutely no pulse after losing to an average Lakers team last night in overtime at the Garden. The Raptors improved to 3-17 in its last 20 games against the Celtics.

For basketball fans, the best news to come out of this shitshow is that after playing three times in less than a month, these teams won't meet again until the last month of the regular season (Apr. 13 in Toronto). With any luck, Dr. James Naismith will stop rolling over in his grave by then.

This was such a bitter loss since the C's had already beaten the Raptors, one of the worst teams in the NBA, by 23 and 36 points respectively earlier this season. I will allow a hiccup to most teams once in a while but as I said last night, Boston should never lose to Toronto under any circumstances.

I thought the Big Four had more pride than this; they all "played" tonight but this is the type of setback that can be the precursor to big changes on a squad.

DeMar Derozan had a game-high 21 points for Toronto. Jose Calderon (17 points, 14 assists) and Amir Johnson (12 points, 12 rebounds) both had double-doubles, James Johnson scored 14 points and Aaron Gray grabbed 11 rebounds (in 18 minutes!).

Boston was playing short-handed, without Jermaine O'Neal, Keyon Dooling and Sasha Pavlovic not that those three guys would have made any difference whatsoever. Kevin Garnett had 17 points and eight rebounds, Paul Pierce scored 12 points and Brandon Bass put up 10 points and seven rebounds. Mickael Pietrus added 11 points off the bench.

Rajon Rondo was MIA, maybe they left him at the border since he only could manage five points, seven assists, five rebounds and five turnovers. I don't know if he's still hurt, mad because of trade rumors or the All-Star Game snub but he appeared completely disinterested tonight.

Let's all hope that things turn around on Sunday afternoon as the Celtics return home to face the Chicago Bulls, who I think are the best team in the Eastern Conference. Boston will put forth a much better effort but it's going to take their best execution of the season thus far to have a shot at knocking off Derrick Rose and Co.

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Business as usual with Rajon Rondo back on the court for the Boston Celtics

As spoiled as we are with the Boston Celtics the past few years, a two-game losing streak is truly a cause for alarm.

Yes, NBA teams can successfully go through the motions of the monotonous 82-game regular season (see: Celtics 2009-2010) but if Boston is relatively healthy, they should win most games that they play, no questions asked.

That equation was proved once again last night in Canada as the Cs (25-7) beat the Toronto Raptors (11-22) 93-79 at the Air Canada Centre.

Rajon Rondo returned from his ankle injury and played 34 minutes but only contributed four points, eight assists and five turnovers. However, just his presence alone allowed things to open up for the Celts. For example, Paul Pierce dropped a game-high 30 points with seven rebounds and four assists while Ray Allen added 23 points.

Even Glen Davis, who looked completely lost on Friday without Kevin Garnett, managed to snap out of his funk (starting 1 of 7 last night) with a near triple-double: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists.

Toronto is not good but they are young and athletic which can always make for a tough matchup for our lovable group of old men that play basketball.

DeMar DeRozan apparently is becoming a star now as he had 27 points while Joey Dorsey (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Amir Johnson (10 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles.

After a tight first quarter (24-23 Boston) and halftime (43-42 Celtics), it looked like it could be a close finish but Doc Rivers and his staff (mostly excitable midget Lawrence Frank) convinced them to play some defense and as a result, they managed to hold the Raptors to only 37 points in the second half.

When you look at the numbers, it's easy to see why the Celtics pulled away. They shot 54.3% to Toronto's 37.8%. The Celtics had five more 3-pointers (6-1) which offset a big deficit in rebounds (49-37 Toronto).

And what a shock, Rondo made for much more ball movement (30-20 assists for Celtics) and less hero ball. Toronto had four more steals (9-5) but thanks to Shaq (4 blocks), Boston had four more blocks (6-2). The Raptors used their speed to almost double up the Celts in fast break points: 29-15 and gain 10 more points in the paint (42-32).

Boston comes home to host Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at the TD Garden. Minnesota is exactly the type of team you want to face in the second half of a back-to-back, a squad that you can beat even if you play you're B or B- game.