Excuse Me, Has Anybody Seen The Celtics' Defense? They Seem To Have Misplaced It

It is pretty easy to figure out why the Celtics are struggling so much at the moment: they've allowed 102+ points in three of their last four games (all losses). For whatever reason, the defense that they've been famous for since Kevin Garnett (14 points) came aboard in 2007 has been mostly non-existent this season.

San Antonio (9-3, 5-1 away) came to TD Garden tonight and laid a 112-100 beating on Boston (6-6, 3-3 home) that truly wasn't that close. The Spurs shot 58% and had six guys in double figures. They led from start to finish, outscoring the Celts in three quarters and tying them in the third.

For the Celtics, it's hard to come up with an excuse since they are healthy and hadn't played since Sunday's no-show in Detroit. The Tony Parker (26 points, 6 assists) vs. Rajon Rondo (22 points, 15 assists) matchup didn't disappoint but basketball remains a team game and the Spurs helped Parker more than the Celtics performed well around Rondo.

Ageless Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds and the mysterious Tiago Splitter scored 23 points off the bench. San Antonio's superb role players did their part: Gary Neal had 12 points while DeJuan Blair and Danny Green both had 10 (they both start, amazing).

Paul Pierce scored 19, Brandon Bass had 16 and Jason Terry notched 12 points. Along with defense, Boston's other major issue is rebounding. Would you believe that they had one offensive rebound all game-by Bass late in the fourth quarter? San Antonio crushed them on the glass (41-25) which led to a 58-34 advantage for points in the paint.

With Darko Milicic leaving the team today for good to be with his ill mother in Serbia, Danny Ainge has a roster spot to play with. You have to think he'll look search far and wide for any available big men with a pulse. Hello Kenyon Martin!

The C's might have flunked their first test against one of the Western Conference's elite squads but they have another chance to redeem themselves on Friday (7:30 p.m., CSN) as Kendrick Perkins and the Thunder (9-3) visit. They only play each of those teams twice this season so you have to savor them. We'll probably never get a Celtics-Spurs NBA Finals (last season was mighty close with both in their conference finals) but we can still dream about that or Celtics-Thunder (halfway true last June).

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Gregg Popovich's face will haunt your dreams

I'm not saying Popp isn't an incredible coach, a connoisseur of fine wine or a sly, intelligent man but damn son, does your mug have to be on HD?

The Celts went into San Antonio last night and knocked off the Spurs 90-83 for their sixth straight win. It wasn't a game that would have been called pretty (even with Eva Longoria in the Tex-Mex crowd) but Kevin Garnett led the C's (15-4) with a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Ray Allen had 15 points, Rasheed Wallace scored 13 off the bench and Rajon Rondo added 12 points, 12 assists and three steals.

For the second straight game, Paul Pierce scored less than 10 points (8 this time) but Boston still found a way to win. The Captain gets off the hook too since he carried the team earlier in the season when Ray and KG were finding their games.

As it has since the stone age, San Antonio's (9-7) fortunes still rest on the shoulders of Tim Duncan (16 points, 15 assists). The Spurs big three of Duncan, Tony Parker (17 points, 7 assists, 1 smokeshow wife) and Manu Ginobli (11 points) are still formidable although Ginobli is looking more and more like Bailke (sp?) from Perfect Strangers both in resemblance and basketball skill.

I will give the Spurs credit though as they picked up DeJuan Blair in the second round of last summer's draft. Anybody who likes the Big East could have told you this kid was a baller.

With that said, he killed the Celtics last night with a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Boston is the second worst rebounding team in the NBA (I have no idea why) and they won last night despite being just pummelled on the glass (55-32). How you can win a game like that? Not sure.

It did help that the Spurs shot a Rondo-like 7-for-17 from the line.

With one more win tonight in Oklahoma City (don't sleep on Kevin Durant and the Thunder), the Celtics will come home with a perfect road trip.

Friars for life

One of the main beauties of sports is the possibility (no matter how far-fetched) of the upset.

That's also what makes college basketball my favorite sport and without a doubt, the NCAA men's basketball tournament is by far the most exciting postseason in all of sports (year in and year out).

For those reasons and many more, last night was one of the best of my life. My great friend (Kevin O'Brien) and I took a night off from work (me) and studying for law school (him) to go see our alma mater, Providence College, probably get embarrassed by the Pittsburgh Panthers, the newly-crowned number one team in the country.

That never happened though as PC (17-11, 9-7) led from start to finish and wrapped up a 81-73 win that will look great on its tournament resume. It also marked the first truly signature win of the Keno Davis era at Providence.

The win moved the Friars to 2-10 all-time against No. 1 teams, the first win being in 1976 against Michigan.

After the fact, special moments often have an amazing serendipity in them and this particular game was no different. We had both been in Providence over the weekend for alumni weekend and saw the basketball team lose a must-win to Notre Dame, 101-83. It was a depressing loss to a team that's NCAA hopes were quickly circling the drain.

By falling on a Tuesday night, it would have been easy to blow the game off and cut our losses with a team that has too often disappointed us in the four years we were in college and the three years (in my case) and two years in Kev's case since we've moved on from the idyllic world of college.

The big plays were too many to count and I won't get into too much play-by-play. Pitt's (25-3, 12-3) trademark tough defense and dominance inside never really materialized as the Friars played inspired basketball on Senior Night.

Providence's five graduating seniors (Geoff McDermott, Weyinmi Efejuku, Jonathan Kale, Jeff Xavier and Randall Hanke) all fittingly stepped up in one of the biggest games of their lives.

It's a talented but madly inconsistent group that has yet to make the NCAA tournament (or win a postseason game for that matter) since they stepped foot on campus. The last time PC made the tourney was in 2004 and you'd be forgiven if you don't remember it: they were upset by No. 12 seeded Pacific in the first round.

Pitt's formidable duo of DeJuan Blair (17 points, 8 rebounds) and Sam Young (16 points, 8 rebounds) got their numbers but it was the lack of a supporting cast, outside of Ashton Gibbs' 15 points that sealed the Panthers' fate.

Cop puncher and oompa loompa body double Levance Fields managed just seven points and three assists as PC successfully shut him down, a key to defeating Pitt. It also helped immensely that Blair was in foul trouble throughout and fouled out late in the second half.

PC led by 18 at the half (44-26) but we never felt comfortable until the final horn sounded. This is a team that has been normally allergic to defense and Pitt beat UConn in Hartford last weekend so we knew they'd make a run.

The Panthers cut it to five with under a minute left but 3-point shooting (and playing without the widebody of Blair) are not their forte and they couldn't comeback all the way.

It's hard to single out one Friar since they all made plays. Efejuku led PC with 16 points, Curry added 15 points and Kale notched 13. McDermott had a nice all-around game with 11 points, six boards and three assists while Hanke was outstanding off the bench with 10 points.

Seeing the students rush the court after the game was a great way to end one of the most meaningful wins in program history.

Providence has two more games left in the regular season (at Rutgers on Sunday and at Villanova next Thursday). They'll need to win at least one of those and also a game or two in the Big East tournament to feel comfortable on Selection Sunday.

PC basketball is relevant again which is all that we ever wanted.