The Celtics, however, got a lump of coal the size of Dwight Howard‘s forearm. It was a Christmas nightmare, in the form of a 15-1 run from the Orlando Magic in crunch time to seal an improbable comeback win.
The C’s lost for the first time in over a month on Saturday afternoon, and they’re right back to the same 23-5 start they had last season. They’ll try to make the most of it.
Here’s what we can glean from the Christmas Day massacre.
1. So the Celtics snapped their month-long winning streak at 14 games. It’s a bittersweet ending for the team’s remarkable run. It’s sad to see the streak go, but the C’s can take comfort in knowing they’ve had the NBA’s longest streak so far this season. Aside from the Celtics, only three other teams have had double-digit runs this year: the Spurs (12 straight wins in November, then another 10 straight in December), the Mavericks (a 12-game streak between Nov. 20 and Dec. 11), and the Heat (a 12-game run that ended a week ago against the Mavs).
2. A number of Celtics gave stinkbomb performances on Christmas Day, but one in particular assumed responsibility for the loss — Nate Robinson, who tweeted late Saturday that he “could not throw a rock [in] the ocean” against the Magic. True, Robinson’s game was bad — he shot 2-for-15, and he was supposed to be guarding Jameer Nelson when the Orlando point guard went off and hit two big jumpers in the final minutes — but a number of other C’s were to blame as well. In any event, Robinson deserves praise for being accountable.
3. Shaquille O’Neal has earned something like $291 million in his NBA career, and that’s just his salary as a player. So he probably won’t feel the sting too much after being fined $35,000 Monday for criticizing official Bob Delaney. But even if his bank account isn’t wounded, his pride should be — O’Neal’s 12-minute foul-out didn’t happen because Delaney was a “control freak.” It happened because he couldn’t hang with Howard physically, and he had to resort to hacking him. Shaq could take a lesson in humility from Nate.
4. Jermaine O’Neal returned Saturday, but he’s still got a ways to go before he can be a real contributor at center. If you watched J.O. on offense against the Magic, you saw more than just rust — the guy looked lost and confused. He’d see an entry pass in the low post and not know what to do with it. Part of the problem is it’s really tough to face Howard in your first game back, but part of it is that J.O. needs some more work to be a potent player offensively.
5. Lost amid all the negative storylines coming out of Saturday’s loss: Ray Allen hit a major career milestone down in Orlando. By going 1-for-5 from 3-point range against the Magic, the Celtics’ shooting guard made the 2,500th 3-point field goal of his career, becoming only the second NBA player ever to make that mark. Allen now sits just 60 treys behind the other sharpshooter, Reggie Miller, on the all-time list. There’s a good chance that Allen breaks the all-time record this year, probably in early March or thereabouts.
6. While Robinson wasn’t exactly keeping up with the Magic’s guards defensively, there’s one guy who was — Avery Bradley. You wouldn’t know it from Bradley’s stat line (zero points, zero assists, one rebound in five minutes), but this was the best game of the season for the 20-year-old rookie out of Texas. He was masterful defensively against Gilbert Arenas, which is saying a lot for a raw kid playing his ninth NBA game. There’s now a glimmer of hope that Doc Rivers puts more trust in Bradley as a key defensive stopper this season.
7. But let’s be honest, come Friday, the hope is that Doc won’t need Bradley against Chris Paul in the Celtics’ New Year’s Eve showdown with the Hornets. If the C’s are lucky, they’ll have Rajon Rondo back in action for the best point guard matchup in the NBA this season. Danny Ainge said on Dec. 16 that Rondo would miss “a couple of weeks,” so by my calculations, that means a return this week would be right on schedule.
There’s nothing better than hoops on New Year’s, and there’s nothing better than Rondo versus CP3. Maybe the Celtics’ next holiday will be better than Christmas.
