Celtics Lay Absolute Stinkbomb Against Lakers On Eve Of NBA Trade Deadline

As everybody knows by now, the Celtics have a flair for the dramatic (which is not always a good thing) so I guess in some bizarre way they had to go down as hard as they did tonight in Los Angeles. Boston (28-26, 8-17 away) lost their second game in as many nights, 113-99 to the Lakers (26-29, 17-11 home) in a game that truthfully wasn't that competitive. This only adds to the anxious feelings until 3 p.m. (EST) tomorrow when another NBA Trade Deadline mercifully passes.

The C's are 0-7 on the road this season against Western Conference teams and they fell to 1-4 in their last five games against the Lakers. The loss wasn't that surprising, since they are awful on the road, they played last night and LA is decent at home. The shocking part was how easily the Lakers rolled since Boston beat them like a drum 116-95 on February 7 at TD Garden.

Wrapped up like a mummy, the ghost of Dwight Howard stopped by to get 24 points and 12 rebounds. Kobe Bryant had 16 points and seven assists, Earl Clark put up 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds (really), Steve Nash added 14 points and seven assists while Ron Artest notched 12 points. Even Antawn Jamison (15 points, 5 rebounds) and Steve Blake (10 points, 5 assists) had memorable nights off the bench for Los Angeles in the year 2013, not 2003.

If not for Inglewood, CA native Paul Pierce (26 points, 5 assists) this could have been uglier. Courtney Lee was the only other bright spot for the Celts with a season-high 20 points. Kevin Garnett had 12 points while Jeff Green (15 points, 7 rebounds) and Jason Terry (12 points) reached double-figures off the bench.

Just like last night in Denver, the Lakers owned the three most important hustle stats: made free throws (22-12), total rebounds (49-34) and points in the paint (54-30). Hey, at least we got to see Terrence Williams' (2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) Celtics debut and Fab Melo (2 points, block) threw down a garbage time alley-oop, woo!

As fans, we're all sick and tired of reading the endless rumors of unlikely trades so I can only imagine what it's like for the players and coaches in the middle of all this crap. I'm sure for most of them, tomorrow is the worst day of the season as they try to get through what could be an insane afternoon. We shall see, at least by tomorrow night we won't have to read anymore false reports.

Boston's next game is Friday (9 p.m., CSN) in Phoenix (18-37, 5th in Pacific Division). The Celts have three games in four days (Phoenix, Portland on Saturday and Utah on Monday) to get something positive out of this West Coast trip (0-2). So far, it's been depressing and forgettable. Still, they play three teams now that they should beat assuming they keep this team intact.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Wanted: a big guy that can score off the bench

Heading into this four-game West Coast swing, I think most people expected the Celts to go 3-1, maybe even 4-0.

Can't say anyone was guessing 1-3 but that's the way it turned out as the Celts had another fourth quarter meltdown (though it certainly wasn't as drastic as the Warriors game) in a 91-86 loss to the underrated Portland Trailblazers at the Rose Garden last night.

Playing without star Brandon Roy, the Blazers (20-12) used a fired up home crowd to pull off the upset.

Steve Blake led Portland with 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge notched 20 points and seven rebounds. Travis Outlaw (one of the best sixth men in the NBA) had 17 off the bench while Greg Oden had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

For the Celts (28-5), Paul Pierce scored a game-high 28 points, including 14-of-15 from the free throw line. Kevin Garnett added 17 points and eight rebounds and Rajon Rondo filled the stat sheet with 13 points, eight boards, seven assists and three steals.

Ray Allen managed to get 12 points but he shot a Larry Hughes-esque 2-of-11 from the floor.

The story of the game was the Portland bench which outscored Boston 29-9.

Jeff Van Gundy pointed it out during the Lakers game on Christmas and it gets more clear every night what the C's biggest hole is at this moment. They need another big guy, preferably one that can score off the bench. P.J. Brown was perfect in that role late last season and especially in the playoffs.

He seems content in retirement and the Rockets just brought back Mutombo, a name that had been floating around for a while (not that he can score at all anymore). Antonio McDyess would have been exactly what they needed but he returned to the Pistons after being traded to the Nuggets.

Boston came out strong and led 23-13 after the first quarter. The Blazers started to wake up in the second and only trailed 45-40 at the half.

Portland took the third (29-24) and fourth (22-17) both by five points as Boston came unraveled in crunch time.

The one good thing about the outcome is that it the Blazers didn't win by one or two points. Late in the first half, Portland had six men on the court (something I've never seen) and scored a hoop. Naturally, Boston stopped playing and the shot shouldn't have counted but for whatever reason, the refs allowed it to stand. Uh, Really? Somewhere Tim Doneghy nods his head in approval from his jail cell.

Eddie House had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left but he shot an airball over Oden.

Portland shot 45.2% to Boston's 40.3%. The C's were 3-of-14 on threes but 29-of-31 at the line. The Blazers killed the Celtics on the glass (44-29) which is something that never happens to this team.

After what was no doubt a long, quiet flight home, the C's get back to action on Friday night with a gimmee when the worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards limp to the Garden.