At the Garden, the Celtics were relatively abysmal. As bad as a bona fide NBA Finals contender can be. They went 24-17 last season in Boston, tied with Miami and Chicago for the worst home record among the NBA's 16 playoff teams.
A lot of the 17 losses weren't pretty.
On Dec. 18, the C's were winners of 11 straight games, playing the Philadelphia 76ers, who had just lost 12 straight. But on their own home floor, they collapsed in the fourth quarter and let the Sixers win a wild one, 98-97, on an Elton Brand tip-in in the final seconds.
On Feb. 27, they lost to the historically bad New Jersey Nets. They put the Nets at the free-throw line 41 times to their 11. Three Jersey starters went off for 20-plus points. Keyon Dooling had 11, including three 3's. Keyon Dooling! Who knew he was still in the league?
On March 10, the Celtics lost to the Memphis Grizzlies so brutally that their fans booed them off the Garden floor. Rudy Gay lit them up. The final score was 111-91. It was ugly from start to finish.
On April 9, they lost a messy one to the Washington Wizards. A late scoring outburst from Nate Robinson was the only thing keeping the C's from being completely blown out of the water.
There were a lot of messy slip-ups over the course of the Celtics' long 82-game grind, and for some reason, a lot more of them seemed to come at home than on the road. What made the Celtics so bad on their own parquet? Why could the C's only seem to make themselves at home when away from home?
The most likely explanation is that during the regular season, the Celtics' veteran leaders became bored and disenchanted with playing meaningless winter games. The season became mundane to them — it was all one big blur, and they needed the scenery change of road basketball to wake them up and make them play better.
The Garden went from monument to monotony. Every night the same locker room, the same bench, the same hoop. For some teams, it's a chance to find your rhythm; for the Celtics, it was a place to fall asleep at the wheel.
Boston isn't a friendly place to play. The weather is cold; the fans are harsh and unforgiving; the media is critical to a fault. Play one bad game in February, and it's doomsday.
It was only on the road where the Celtics really shined. Maybe they enjoyed the thrill of being in enemy territory; the C's are one of the NBA's most hated teams with their well-paid veterans and proud reputation. Every night, it was a new arch-enemy, with 20,000 fans backing them up. Nothing gets you fired up quite like being despised. But next season, the Celtics should try playing with that same fire every night. Regardless of setting.
NESN.com will answer one Celtics question every day in July.
Monday, July 26: Will the Celtics stop blowing second-half leads?
Wednesday, July 28: Will the Celtics still dominate the Atlantic Division?
