It took them a pair of late free throws from Von Wafer, with 19 seconds left in a game long decided, for the Celtics to eclipse their season low of 78. Against the Chicago Bulls, the C's offense had hit rock bottom.
If you want, you can chalk it up to coaching — Doc Rivers was up against his old assistant, Tom Thibodeau, and he wasn't able to outfox the defensive mastermind himself. For three years in Boston, Thibs had been the architect of the Celtics' championship-winning defensive schemes, and Rivers couldn't find a way to beat the Bulls' perfectly coached D.
Then again, that's not how Rivers saw it.
"I don't know if we were defended," the Celtics' coach said after his team's 90-79 loss at the United Center. "We were pretty awful. Let's say it was defense, let's give them the credit. But we were bad.
"That's the worst ball movement we've had all year. We've had one other game, I don't know what game it was, but the same thing happened — no ball movement. We basically bounced the life out of the game tonight. The bottom line is Ray Allen had zero shots in the fourth quarter, and Paul [Pierce] had one. When that happens, we really should not win the game. That was us."
Earlier this week, Rajon Rondo dropped 22 assists on the Spurs in a statement win; in the last two games, he's got a total of 15. He stacked up just eight dimes against the Bulls, faltering in his big chance to outplay rival Derrick Rose head-to-head in the Windy City.
But it wasn't just Rondo — the whole team suffered from an inability to move the ball and get open shots. A Celtics team that thrives on efficient offense couldn't generate any on Saturday night.
"We just had a bad night," Rivers said. "Offensively, we were awful, and defensively, they only scored [90] points, but the game was played at a snore's pace. They shot 48 percent, so they still played pretty well offensively, but the pace of the game was dictated by them."
The Celtics are known for ignoring their opponents tendencies and styles, merely playing their own brand of basketball. They're not worried about the other team — they're focused on themselves.
But on Saturday night, they tried to play like the Bulls. The Bulls win games because Derrick Rose has the ball in his hands and wreaks havoc, whereas the Celtics rely on ball movement and unselfish offense.
The C's tried to beat Rose at his own game, and it didn't work. There's only one Derrick Rose, and that's the guy who scored 36 points and annihilated the C's.
"Rose dominated the game," Rivers said. "He controlled the whole pace, he controlled the game. But that's how they play — they play with him with the ball. But we don't play that way. I thought we got into that and played that way. But I didn't think we had life in the game. We hadn't invested much in this game. You could just feel it. It happens, and you try to steal those games on nights like that. Tonight, we just couldn't."
The Celtics have had a long week, with five games in seven days, and they weren't able to sustain their level of play to the end. Perhaps they'll be refreshed and renewed after a day of rest Sunday, and Monday night back at the Garden will be another story. But for the C's to come out so uninspired in an Eastern Conference grudge match of this magnitude is disappointing. The C's won't easily forget this one.
