I Know The Celts Like To Sleepwalk Thru The Regular Season But This Is Getting Ridiculous

Hey gang, remember that time the Celtics won six games in a row a few weeks ago, wasn't that wonderful? It seems like so long ago since Boston (20-21, 7-13 away) has followed that up with a four-game losing streak that seems to get worse each time they take the floor.

Cleveland (11-32, 5-12 home) has to be the low point of this debacle, yes even more depressing than the Hornets and Pistons-two other garbage teams that somehow have beaten the C's in the last week. The Cavs hung around and outscored the Celts 25-17 in the fourth quarter to win 95-90 tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.

Don't get me wrong, Kyrie Irving (40 points, 5 assists, 2 steals) is a great player (he should be an All-Star in February) but if you saw just his games against Boston, you would confuse him with Michael Jordan. They make him look like the greatest player in NBA history.

Tristan Thompson had 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists and I'm pretty sure it was almost all on dunks. The amount of layups and dunks that Cleveland (Cleveland!) got tonight was appalling. The immortal Alonzo Gee (10 points, 6 rebounds) was the only other Cavalier in double-figures.

It was actually very entertaining, except for the part where the Celtics blew a lead against a truly awful opponent. Rajon Rondo just missed another triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Garnett had 16 points, five rebounds and five blocks, Paul Pierce struggled (3 for 15) to get 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals while Jared Sullinger had 12 points and 10 rebounds in his home state, in front of his parents.

The good news, I guess, is that Boston has two more games against Cleveland. They beat them by 12 in December so hopefully they remember what that feels like when they meet again.

The Celtics will try to get back to the .500 mark as they unofficially begin the second half of the regular season on Thursday night (8 p.m., TNT) vs. the Knicks (25-14, 1st in Atlantic Division) at TD Garden. Ironically, the first time they played also got Boston back to .500 (17-17) while simultaneously delivering their best win of the season (102-96 at MSG on Jan. 7). It should be a great atmosphere with all the Honey Nut Cheerios references that Carmelo Anthony and LaLa can handle.

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Reports Of Paul Pierce's Demise Were Quite Premature As He Drops 40 On Cleveland

If it wasn't for one of the greatest games of Paul Pierce's soon-to-be NBA Hall of Fame career (statistically speaking at least), the Celtics very well could have lost to the Cavaliers. Instead after 40 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block from The Truth, the C's (13-12, 9-4 home) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 103-91 win over Cleveland (5-22, 2-14 away) tonight at TD Garden.

Boston led from start to finish and seemed to be cruising to a rare blowout when somehow they let up on Cleveland since the C's were up 20 (80-60). The Cavaliers hit them with a 20-2 run to make it pretty scary. This was coming from a team that might be the worst in the NBA (the Raptors are riding a four-game win streak) and didn't have Anderson Varejao. There is no excuse for Boston playing a back-to-back since Cleveland was in the same miserable boat.

He has obviously played in a million bigger games in terms of stakes but it's hard to figure out how Pierce could have cobbled together better numbers: 13 of 16 from the field, six of seven on 3-pointers and eight of eight on free throws. Rajon Rondo added 20 points and eight assists, Jason Terry scored 15 and Kevin Garnett notched 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks.

Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 22 points, rookie Tyler Zeller scored a career-high 20 points, another rookie Dion Waiters had 13 points while Tristan Thompson (11 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks) and Alonzo Gee both put up 11 points.

Along with Pierce's special output, you should frame some of these other amazing numbers by the Celts: they shot 59.7% to 40.9% for the Cavaliers; they made four more 3-pointers (9-5), six more free throws (20-14), handed out seven more assists (23-16), had two more steals (9-7), five more blocks (7-2) and 12 more points in the paint (18-6).

For the fourth time in a month and a half, Boston will meet Milwaukee (13-11, 2nd in Central Division) on Friday (7:30 p.m., CSN) at the Garden. The Bucks are 2-1 so far against the Celtics with two more contests remaining (including Friday). Most recently they beat Boston 91-88 on December 1 in Milwaukee.

UPDATE 12/21: Kris Joseph was recalled from Maine since Chris Wilcox (thumb) and Leandro Barbosa (personal matter) are both out tonight vs. Milwaukee.

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Fourth Quarters Are Not The Celtics Friend But At Least They Won This Time Around

Well it's safe to say that the Boston Celtics are sick of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After choking away an 11-point lead and losing on Sunday at TD Garden by one point thanks to Kyrie Irving's spinning layup, the Celts almost gagged away a 22-point lead tonight at Quicken Loans Arena but thank heavens that they pulled it out 93-90.

The only explanation for why the Celtics (10-10) coughed up a huge advantage Orlando Magic-style is that they started settling for jumpers and not driving to the basket. The Cavs (8-12) are not filled with talent but they're scrappy and as they showed in these last two games, they don't give up as easily as most NBA teams.

Anderson Varejao put up what has to be the first 20-20 game of his career with exactly 20 points and 20 rebounds. Sideshow Bob has added a decent shot to his hustle arsenal and it took Boston more than two quarters to figure that out and adjust accordingly. Irving (21 points, 6 assists) almost stole another one as Cleveland cut it to two points late in the fourth but it wasn't to be.

The ghost of Antawn Jamison had 12 points while Alonzo Gee scored 11 points with four steals off the bench and Ramon Sessions had notched 10 assists off the bench (when do you ever see that?).

Paul Pierce led Boston with 20 points, six assists and three steals. Kevin Garnett had 13 points while Jermaine O'Neal and Ray Allen (8 assists) each added 12 points. Brandon Bass had 13 points and six rebounds off the bench as the Celts improved to 5-2 in games without Rajon Rondo this season.

The C's were up 28-24 after the first quarter and 51-39 at halftime. They played well in the third too (25-19) so this was all a near meltdown in the fourth (32-17 Cavs).

Boston shot better (50.7-45.3%) but Cleveland hit two more 3-pointers (7-5), one more free throw (15-14), grabbed 11 more rebounds (39-28), handed out two more assists (27-25) and made one more block (3-2). The Celts had two more steals (9-7), two less turnovers (16-14), three more fast break points (7-4) and four more points off turnovers (21-17).

It's a quick turnaround, as always this season, with the Toronto Raptors coming to the Garden tomorrow night. No excuse though, the Raptors are awful and the Celtics should never lose to them under any circumstance.

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Cavaliers Steal One From The Celtics 88-87 On Kyrie Irving's Basket With 2 Seconds Left

I wasn't alone in thinking that the Boston Celtics had a five-game win streak all but sealed tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden.

The C's (9-10) were up 87-76 on the Cavs (8-11) with 4:26 left. To say the rest of the game was a disaster for Boston would be too kind; they went scoreless which allowed Cleveland to end on a 12-0 run, capped off by Kyrie Irving's (23 points, 6 assists) layup with two seconds left, for a humbling 88-87 loss.

This was the first game in 2011-12 that Boston had totally let slip through its hands. It was a sobering reminder that at this stage, they can't assume anything even against rather mediocre opposition.

The loss snapped the Celtics' four-game winning streak and dropped them under .500 while putting them at 6-6 in Boston.

Ray Allen was back after missing three games with an ankle injury and it was like he never left. He scored a team-high 22 points. Paul Pierce had 18 points but he missed a potential game-winner at the buzzer, he didn't get it off in time. Kevin Garnett had 14 points and Brandon Bass scored 13 as the Green went for the fifth straight game without Rajon Rondo. Jermaine O'Neal and Keyon Dooling were also still out.

Anderson Varejao had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers while the ancient Antawn Jamison scored 10. Alonzo Gee posted 14 points off the bench for Cleveland who will probably struggle until they can find a suitable running mate for the impressive Irving (2011 No. 1 overall pick).

Boston led 24-23 after one quarter but Cleveland went ahead 44-43 at halftime. The Celts opened it up in the third (70-62) but their offense went missing in the fourth (26-17).

The Celtics shot much better (52.2-43.0%) and hit two more 3-pointers (5-3) but the Cavs hit seven more free throws (17-10) and grabbed four more rebounds (37-33). Boston had nine more assists (21-12) which was a product of Cleveland going 1-on-1 almost exclusively but the Cavs made five more steals (11-6), scored 13 more fast break points (15-2) and dominated inside (54-32 points in the paint).

The best news for Boston is that they play Cleveland on two more occasions, including the next time that they suit up (on Tuesday in Cleveland). That's the beginning of a busy week for the C's since they host the Raptors on Wednesday, the Knicks come on Friday and they face the Grizzlies in a Super Bowl matinee on Sunday in Boston.

After Tuesday's game in Cleveland, Boston is home for five consecutive contests. It is a favorable schedule against mostly teams that they should beat so they need to take advantage.

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