Shamrock Roundup: Celtics end five-game winning streak
After winning the last five games, the Celtics started to struggle on the road.
On March 10, the Celtics traveled to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder. Unfortunately, the Celtics could not come up with a win, falling 91-79.
Paul Pierce had 20 points but only two of those came in the fourth quarter. Point guard Avery Bradley, filling in for the injured Rajon Rondo, had 12 points. Kevin Garnett picked up another double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Coach Doc Rivers said after the game that he was very disappointed in his team.
“I thought our shot selection was awful,” Rivers said. “We missed some open shots and we got stuck a lot on one side of the floor. We saw matchups that we had advantages on and I give them credit for fighting, but at some point you have to get the ball to the other side and we refused to do that.”
Hoping to find a win after such a hard loss, the Celtics remained on the road on March 12 and traveled to Charlotte, where they suffered another loss to the Bobcats.
The win for the Bobcats broke their 10-game losing streak by winning this game 100-74 over Boston. Pierce did not play in this game in order to rest. Although they still had Garnett in the lineup, it didn’t prove to be efficient. Garnett finished the night with only five points.
“We approached the game with the wrong mentality. We laid an egg,” said Rivers. “We could never get it started. They played really hard. We just couldn’t match how hard they played tonight for whatever reason. That’s on me. That’s disappointing that I couldn’t get that out of our guys. They were clearly so much more competitive than us the entire night.”
The Celtics finally returned to their winning ways when they returned home to face the Raptors on Wednesday. Boston dominated the court with a 112-88 win.
Jeff Green had a game high 20 points. Six other Celtics scored in the double digits, securing their impressive win. This is the 10th-straight home court win for the Celtics, all of which have come since losing Rondo.
Pierce’s 15 game points were enough for him to pass Charles Barkley for the 20th in the NBA all-time ranking in points scored.
“I just come here night in and night out and do the things I do to make history. I’m happy. And when you pass a guy like Barkley, one of the greatest players that ever played the game, says a lot,” said Pierce.
Teammate Garnett said he was happy for Pierce as well.
“We make a joke around here that every other two days someone’s making history. It’s not a bad joke to be a part of, though,” said Garnett.
On Saturday night, the Celtics will host the Charlotte Bobcats at 7:30pm. The Celtics go into this game 35-29. Catch all the action on CSN-NE or listen live on WEEI 93.7FM.
