The Celtics Hit A New Low In The Kevin Garnett Era: Lose To Kings By 22 Points

So what stage of grief are you in with the Celtics these days? I find that the current most common ones are either anger at seeing them repeatedly blown out or acceptance that they are just a bad team so what can you do?

Getting rolled by quality opponents like the Clippers or Warriors is one thing but Boston (14-16, 5-11 away) was embarrassed by Sacramento (11-19, 10-7 home) tonight, 118-96 at the Sleep Train Arena (haha yes that's really what it's called). The Celts went 1-3 on their nightmarish road trip, capped off by three straight humbling defeats in California.

The Kings hit 10 3-pointers and scored 30+ points in the last three quarters. Six guys scored double figures including three who had 20+. Isaiah Thomas had a game-high 27 points and five rebounds, Celtics killer John Salmons added 23 points and six rebounds, Jason Thompson put up 20 points and six rebounds while DeMarcus Cousins notched a triple double (12 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).

James Johnson had 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks off the bench for Sacramento while folk hero Jimmer Fredette checked in with 10 points and five assists.

Rajon Rondo returned and had 10 assists with five rebounds but only two points. Jason Terry and Paul Pierce both scored 20 points, Kevin Garnett had 16 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, Jeff Green tallied 16 points off the bench and Jared Sullinger completed his fine road trip with 10 points and six rebounds.

Perhaps a new year will bring Boston some better fortune. They are off until Wednesday (7:30 p.m., CSN) when they host Memphis (19-8, 2nd Southwest Division) at TD Garden and Avery Bradley is expected to make his season debut. It is a very tough week as the Celts play the Pacers on Friday then go to Atlanta on Saturday to face the Hawks, three teams that are all well over .500 and in either first or second-place in their respective divisions.

UPDATE 1/2: The Celtics recalled Fab Melo but it was only to have their medical staff treat his concussion that he suffered over the weekend with the Red Claws. Apparently it's a weird rule that guys in the D-League have to be treated by the NBA teams.

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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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