The Celtics Are In A World Of Trouble Without Rajon Rondo

Capping off this night of suck for Boston sports teams (3 games, 3 blowout losses), the Celtics clocked in for the most costly setback of all since they are the only ones in the playoffs at the moment. The Knicks beat the Celtics 87-71 in Game 2 tonight at Madison Square Garden, giving New York a commanding 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

If you thought only scoring 25 points in the second half of Sunday's loss was pathetic (and it really was), Boston somehow sunk even lower with 23 points in the second half this evening. This was almost a carbon copy of Game 1: Boston led 48-42 at halftime and seemed in control. That is until New York hit them with a 32-11 third quarter. Game over.

The Knicks might have the most predictable and boring offense in the NBA-give the ball to Melo and J.R. Smith then get out of the way-but it is doing more than enough against the overmatched Celts. Anthony had a game-high 34 points, 6th Man of the Year Smith added 19 points off the bench (including a crazy 3 from nearly midcourt at the end of the 1st half) while Raymond Felton scored 16 points and Kenyon Martin (who Boston could have signed during the season) posted 11 rebounds and four blocks.

Paul Pierce was decent with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists but Kevin Garnett (12 points, 11 rebounds) was in foul trouble all game so he could only play 24 minutes. Where's Eddie F. Rush when you need him or Kenny Mauer? Jeff Green had 10 points, Jordan Crawford added 10 points off the bench and Brandon Bass grabbed 10 rebounds. Call off the search party because Jason Terry reappeared with nine points (after going scoreless in Game 1) but of course he did all his damage in the first half.

Our only hope is that David Stern wants this series to go more than four games since right now, the C's don't appear capable of winning once. That means, he has to send some crooked refs (like the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph) because Boston needs a victory on Friday (8 p.m., CSN) or the dream is over. It should be a great atmosphere at TD Garden for Game 3, the question is if the Celts can beat the Knicks without Rajon Rondo?

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You Win This Round Carmelo

Bet the NBA wishes it had flex scheduling for TNT Thursdays

It's hard to remember a regular season marquee matchup on TNT that fell apart worse than last night's meeting between the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics from the Pepsi Center.

Denver had just traded franchise player Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks while Boston shipped five players away, most notably Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson.

So yeah, the fact that the Celts (41-15) dressed only nine players (including D-League callup Chris Johnson) meant this one was over before it began.

Boston actually led 75-73 midway through the fourth quarter but from there, the Nuggets (34-25) went on a 16-0 run to take it 89-75.

To call this game ugly would be an understatement on par with saying Chris Anderson and J.R. Smith enjoy the occasional tattoo.

Denver was led by Kenyon Martin's game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Haha K-Mart capped off the weird contest with a 3-pointer. New Nugget Wilson Chandler scored 16 points off the bench while Nene (12 points, 10 rebounds), Smith (12 points), Aaron Afflalo (13 points) and Ty Lawson (10 assists) all had decent showings.

For the Cs, Paul Pierce led the shorthanded squad with 17 points. Kevin Garnett had 14 points and 13 rebounds while Glen Davis (11 points) and Ray Allen (10 points) were also in double figures. The one positive to come out of this throwaway game was Delonte West (10 points) had a nice game off the bench.

The newest Celtics Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic will make their debuts tomorrow night in front of Bill Simmons as Boston visits the Los Angeles Clippers and Blake Griffin.