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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The bench comes alive for the Celtics

There was an endless amount of story lines surrounding the Boston Celtics as they began the last 30 games of the season last night in Sacramento.

Most pertinent, it was the last game before the trade deadline (which is tomorrow afternoon) so was this the last time we'll see Ray Allen, Eddie House, Tony Allen or Glen Davis in a Celtics uniform?

Will the C's improve or continue to struggle against good teams, building up to the inevitable second round loss in the playoffs this spring?

The good news for one night was that they won 95-92 against a very green Kings (18-35) team featuring the favored rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans (17 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists).

Paul Pierce had 17 points for the Celts (33-18) and Ray Allen scored 15 points but Rajon Rondo (4 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists), Kevin Garnett (9 points, 9 rebounds) and Kendrick Perkins (6 points, 5 rebounds) were all invisible.

So how did they win you ask? Boston's bench had perhaps its finest performance of the season as they 44 points, led by Rasheed Wallace (17 points), Eddie House (12 points), Marquis Daniels (7 points, 6 rebounds) and Glen Davis (6 points, 8 rebounds).

Games like that will be rare but if the Celtics stand still at the trade deadline, those bench players will need to all bring their games up to gloss over KG, Ray and Perk.

Omri Casspi led the Kings with 19 points, Jason Thompson added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks off the bench while Kevin Martin (another constant trade rumor) was held to 11 points.

The game was tight throughout, with the teams tied at 30 after one quarter and the Celts holding a slim 57-52 halftime lead.

Boston didn't fall apart in the third (19-17) and made enough free throws down the stretch to offset the 3-pointers Sacramento kept hitting.

The four game West Coast trip gets real for the next three games as Boston goes to the Staples Center tomorrow night for a TNT game with the Lakers, Portland on Friday and Denver on Sunday afternoon. Honestly, two wins out of those three would be a miracle considering LA and Denver are the West's two best teams and the Blazers are fighting for a playoff spot.

Eddie House will tell you when he's had enough

I don't think I've ever seen a shooter in the NBA as hot as Eddie House is right now.

He had a season-high 28 points last night, including a blistering 8-of-9 on 3-pointers as the Boston Celtics put away the Sacramento Kings, 119-100 at the Garden for its ninth straight win.

In three of his last four games, he's combined to shoot 22-of-31 on threes. He's making a late case to be included in the 3-point shootout at the All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.

The Celts (38-9) actually started out slowly as the Kings (10-37) hit 10 of its first 11 shots from the field. No problem though as Sacramento led 30-28 after the first and Boston came back with a 40-19 second quarter sparked by House's in the zone shooting.

The third quarter (29-24 Kings) and fourth, 27-22 Celtics were just semantics as the second quarter was enough to put away the NBA's second-worst team (I'm looking at you Wizards).

Besides House, the other revelation during the win streak has been the much-improved play of the Boston bench. Tony Allen returned last night and had 10 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists. Glen Davis also added 14 points.

Rajon Rondo also stated his case for a spot in Phoenix, in the All-Star game, by scoring 24 points and dishing out nine assists. Kevin Garnett had 14 points, eight boards and five assists while Ray Allen notched 12 points. Paul Pierce was held to eight points and eight assists.

John Salmons led the Kings with 22 points while impressive rookie Jason Thompson had a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Martin scored 18 points, Bobby Brown (the other one) had 13 points off the bench and Brad Miller posted 11 points in the loss.

For the game, the C's shot 55.0% to Sacramento's 44.0%. They also had seven more rebounds (40-33) and 12 more assists (30-18). Finally, the Celts had nine steals to the Kings' two.

Boston hits the road tomorrow night to face the struggling Detroit Pistons.