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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Oh hi Rajon Rondo

With all due respect to Deron Williams and Chris Paul, who are better players and more well-rounded, I would still say that Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is as important to his team as those two superstars or anybody in the NBA outside of maybe Kobe Bryant (ever hear of him?).

Without Rondo, the Celtics are an old bunch of guys whose best years are behind them. With him, they're the best team in the Eastern Conference and the biggest threat to break the Lakers' two year reign at the top.

Thankfully, Rondo's latest absence was only three games to nurse a minor hamstring injury. He was back with a vengeance last night as the Celts (12-4) beat the Toronto Raptors (6-10) 110-101 at the TD Garden.

After the Bruins' no-show in the afternoon, the Cs took care of business against a team that they lost to last Sunday (Rondo's first game out).

Rondo was a tad erratic with eight turnovers but he still put up 14 assists in 36 minutes. Kevin Garnett was the man with 26 points (3 alley-oops) and 11 rebounds. Paul Pierce and Glen Davis scored 18, Ray Allen added 17 and Shaquille O'Neal continues to prove the haters wrong with 16 points and nine rebounds (albeit against a team with no inside presence).

At one point, Toronto used a lineup with five foreign guys so clearly they love to shoot the 3-pointer. Linas Kleiza led the way with 18 points, Leandro Barbosa added 14 points, Peja Stojakovic scored 13, Jose Calderon had 12 points and 15 assists while Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson each had 11 points (a far cry from their win vs. Boston in Toronto).

Boston jumped out to a 30-21 lead after the first quarter but Toronto closed it to 58-52 at halftime. The Cs seemingly put it away in the third quarter (28-15) but as usual they got bored with closing it out (34-24 fourth quarter for Raptors) until the bitter end.

As a team, the Celtics shot 53.9% to Toronto's 45.1%. The Raptors made three more 3-pointers (7-4) but the Cs made four more free throws (24-20). Toronto had nine more rebounds (44-35) which is unexplainable but Boston made up for it with seven more assists (33-27), four more steals (6-2), six more blocks (8-2) and six less turnovers (17-11).

Boston needs to clean some things up if they hope to win in Cleveland on Tuesday. The Cavs are not very good but they beat the Celts in the second game of the season.

"He's on Fire!"

Remember back in the day playing NBA Jam with the hot spots? Once you started hitting a few 9-pointers, the game was yours. The NBA still only has 2 and 3-pointers but last night the performance put on by the Toronto Raptors reminded me of someone tearing it up on NBA Jam. Toronto won 114-112 over the Celtics last night at the Garden.

The Raptors (23-19) shot 58.0% from the floor, 71.8% from 3 (15 of 21) and a perfect 19 of 19 from the line. I don't even know how the Celts (33-7) almost stole this one.

Everyone on Toronto seemed to be draining shots from any part of the court, with a hand in their face. Jose Calderon led the way with 24 points, 13 assists and three steals. Calderon made a layup and the ensuing free throw to give Toronto the two point lead at the end. Chris Bosh (7 rebounds) and Anthony Parker both had 23 points while Andrea Bargnani (7 assists, 7 rebounds) had 20 points. Even Carlos Delfino hit all five of his threes for 15 points.

Down 47-45 at the half, the C's played a great third quarter, outscoring Toronto (36-27). The fourth quarter was their doom as they simply couldn't match the Raptors who were scoring on nearly every possession. Ray Allen hit a jumper to put the C's up one with 18 seconds left but then Calderon got the And-1. Boston tried a 3-pointer by Eddie House to win it which missed and Allen missed a short jumper that would have tied it at the buzzer.

Kevin Garnett had 26 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in the loss. When the final totals come out today, he's expected to be the top vote-getter for the All-Star game. Paul Pierce submitted 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds while Allen had 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. It looks like Pierce will make the Eastern Conference All-Star team too while Ray Allen is an outside possibility. Tony Allen had 15 points, four boards, two assists, two blocks and two steals off the bench and Rajon Rondo had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Glen Davis showed off his great hands around the rim as he had eight points in 12 minutes of action.

The Timberwolves come to town tomorrow night, the first regular season meeting since Garnett was dealt from Minnesota to Boston. The T-Wolves are the worst team in the NBA but they just won their second game in a row (first time all season) last night against the Suns so they should be fired up. Al Jefferson not surprisingly has been putting up huge numbers there and Ryan Gomes has been steadily improving as he finds his role on such a young team. The other former C's include Sebastian Telfair, Antoine Walker and Gerald Green. Should be fun.