POST GAME NEW ORLEANS

GAME STATS

SCORE – CELTICS - 86 / NO - 87
REBOUNDS - CELTICS 28 /NO 45.....Offensive - CELTICS 4 /NO 11 ......Defensive - CELTICS 24/NO 34
POINTS IN THE PAINT - CELTICS 40 /NO 42
FAST BREAK POINTS - CELTICS 14 / NO 6
FG - CELTICS - 33/72 ( 45.8%) NO 31/71 ( 43.7 %)
3PM - CELTICS 4/14 ( 28.6 %) NO 5/16 ( 31.3 %)
FTM - CELTICS 16/17 ( 94.1%) NO 20/26 ( 76.9%)
TO - CELTICS 13 / NO 18
ASSISTS - CELTICS 20 / NO 20
STL - CELTICS 13/ NO 7
BLK - CELTICS 6/ NO 7
PF - CELTICS 18 / NO 17
BENCH POINTS - CELTICS 17 / NO 39
TOTAL TEAM TURNOVERS (Points off turnovers) – CELTICS 14 (15) /NO 20 (26)

NEXT GAME FRIDAY - AWAY - DALLAS - 8:30PM - CSNE/NBA LEAGUE PASS

POST GAME RECAP

ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid Reaction: Hornets 87, Celtics 86

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid reaction after the New Orleans Hornets defeated the Boston Celtics 87-86 on Wednesday night at New Orleans Arena:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Hornets rookie Anthony Davis tipped home an Eric Gordon miss with a fraction of a second remaining as New Orleans stunned a Boston team that had rallied back late in the fourth quarter. Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 21 points off the bench for the Hornets, while Gordon added 18 more. Paul Pierce scored a game-high 28 points -- fueling Boston's rally from a nine-point deficit with under six minutes to go -- but it wasn't enough for a Celtics team that didn't score over the final 1:54. Kevin Garnett, back on the court after missing the last two games, registered 20 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes, while Jeff Green scored 11 of his 13 points in the first quarter and promptly disappeared (he did not score in the second half).

TURNING POINT
The Celtics were down nine and their offense was iced cold with under six minutes to play. That's when Pierce took over, spearheading a 10-0 run over a two-minute span as Boston surged ahead. Pierce scored 11 points over a 3½-minute span and a 3-pointer from the captain had the Celtics out front 84-81 lead with 2:34 remaining. The Hornets wouldn't go quietly and, with a chance to win it on a late possession, Davis crashed for a tip over Garnett (and Green nearby) with 0.3 seconds remaining. Boston never got a final shot off.

C'S TAKE EXTENDED INTERMISSION
After shooting 60 percent (21 of 35 overall) in the first half, the Celtics' offense forgot to come back out for the third quarter as Boston scored only 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting (27.8 percent). The only player with multiple field goals was Pierce, while the rest of the team was 3-of-15 shooting for just seven points. The Celtics also turned the ball over five times (leading to six points) and the Hornets rallied from as much as 13 down to tie the game at 67 heading to the final frame.

WHAT IT MEANS
Many wondered if the Celtics would have a bit of a letdown after an emotional Miami game. Boston started strong and had multiple double-digit leads in this game. Alas, a dismal second half spelled the Celtics' demise. Even with a tightened rotation, Boston simply sputtered in the offensive end in the second half, shooting 32.4 percent overall (12-of-37 shooting). The Celtics get a day off Thursday before embarking on a back-to-back in Dallas on Friday and Memphis on Saturday. Road woes continue to plague this team and its quest to shuffle up the Eastern Conference playoff ladder.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

CSNE

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WEEI 93.7 FM

STUNG AGAIN: CELTICS BLOW 13-POINT SECOND-HALF LEAD, LOSE TO LOWLY HORNETS 03.20.13 at 10:35 pm

Paul Pierce and the Celtics blew past the Hornets in the first half before blowing the lead and the game in the second half. (AP)

Anthony Davis – the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft – tipped in the go-ahead basket with 0.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter to allow the Hornets to nip the Celtics, 87-86, Wednesday night in New Orleans. The Hornets were able to sweep the season series with the Celtics this season. The Celtics could managed just 31 points in the second half and lost their second straight, with road games in Dallas and Memphis on tap for Friday and Saturday nights.

Paul Pierce scored a game-high 28 points while Kevin Garnett returned to action after a two-game absence to add 20 points. Jeff Green, who had 13 points in the first half, was held scoreless in the second half.

Green picked up where he left off Monday night, when he scored a career-high 43. Green hit 4-of-6 shots in the first 24 minutes, scoring 13 points from his more customary spot coming off the Boston bench.

Garnett, showing no rust or residual effect from his left leg injury and flulike symptoms, was 6-of-9 from the floor and had 14 points. Pierce added 12 points, as the Celtics used an 11-1 run to build the lead to 12 before settling for a 55-45 halftime lead. Boston shot a blazing 21-of-35 (60 percent) in the first half.

The third quarter was a brutal one for the Celtics. They scored just 12 points and turned the ball over seven times, allowing the Hornets to erase a 13-point lead.

Courtney Lee‘s midrange jumper broke a drought of nearly 4 1/2 minutes late in the third quarter and put an end to an 18-5 run that saw the Hornets come all the way back from a 60-47 Celtics advantage.

The Celtics’ ship continued to take on water in the first four minutes as Ryan Anderson hit a pair of free throws that made it 76-69 with 7:39 left. Anderson hit a jumper to build New Orleans’ lead to nine, 78-69, with 6:25 left.

The Celtics – at one point – were outrebounded 26-9 as the Hornets attacked at will in the paint.

But the Celtics responded with a 10-0 run, including four straight free throws by Pierce over a 20 second span. But Anderson responded with a three with Pierce dunk 3:14 tied the game at 81-81. The New Orleans defense collapsed on Garnett, who found Pierce with 2:34 left. Pierce drilled the three-ball to put the Celtics back up, 84-81.

With just under two minutes left, Brandon Bass followed his own miss and tipped it in to put Boston up, 86-81, finishing off a 17-5 run. Bass got another key offensive rebound on an Avery Bradley missed three with 50 seconds left.

Pierce was called for fouling Ryan Anderson on a baseline three attempt with 35.5 seconds left as Anderson had the chance to tie the game. But Anderson, an 85 percent free throw shooter, missed the first one before making the next two to draw the Hornets within one.

The Celtics caught a break when Green called timeout just before getting whistled for a five-second violation.

Pierce missed a 15-foot fallaway with 17.9 seconds left, giving New Orleans a chance to win the game in regulation.

112288

No other words need to be posted.

Crap!

112288

Sadly another devastating loss for this team. No reinforcements coming. This will be a short road trip, but one that has spawned yet another downward spiral. Anthony Davis played sick and yet the C's still couldn't muster a win.

MD!

Cowens and I went out to dinner at Noodletown - site of the New York board party a few years ago - and then watched the game on tape delay at my apt. We were stunned by the C's woeful second half performance, not just by the ending, but by the lack of offensive cohesion for practically the whole second half. Bradley and Jet were a combined 2 for 15 and 0 for 7 on three-pointers. And what exactly did Courtney Lee add offensively? 37 minutes, five points and 1 assist (he also had 0 rebounds). 92 extremely unproductive minutes from our three main guards.

Add Jordan Crawford's minutes and our four guards played 113 minutes, shot 6 for 23, had 14 points and 10 assists. 113 minutes is the equivalent of playing three 38 minute games where in each game you contribute 5 pts and 3 assists. Pathetic.

As Sam pointed out in the game on thread, this was a Rondo game. Boy did we need leadership. PP tried to rescue us but didn't get enough help. Very discouraging.

If we can't beat the lowly Pelicans on the road, who can we beat away from the parquet? We know we're not getting homecourt advantage in any round of the playoffs.

Unless of course, Milwaukee and us both get the the Eastern Conference Finals. What are the Vegas odds on that??

Jeff Green disappeared. How the hell can you score 43 points and be unstoppable to this in just one game?

You mess with the game and the game messes with you.


bob


.

As Danny Ainge talked about Green in the WEEI interview....Green needs more then 25minutes a game.


DANNY AINGE: JEFF GREEN ‘DESERVES TO BE ON THE COURT MOST

By Ben Rohrbach

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge joined Salk & Holley in his weekly Thursday afternoon appearance to face questions about his team’s tough losses to the Hornets and Heat, Jeff Green‘s (lack of) playing time and the NCAA tournament.

C’s coach Doc Rivers, who ripped his team’s performance in New Orleans, only played Green 26 minutes and resorted to another off-balanced Paul Pierce isolation jumper in the 87-86 loss. Even Ainge seemed to have questions about those decisions.

“I think Jeff is starting to prove and has proven to Doc that he deserves to be on the court most minutes of the game,” Ainge said. “Doc needs something off the bench, and I think he’s trying to figure all that out.

“And he will. He’s played Jeff at the 2 and the 3 and the 4 this year, and so I think that last night might’ve been a good opportunity for Jeff to play more at the 2. They had two big guys in there. They were killing us on the glass in the second half. I think in one stretch it was 27-9, and that just shows you lack of effort.”

Ainge stopped himself before including Green’s second-half performance as part of that lack of effort, but he did cite Brandon Bass‘ improved play in defense of Rivers’ decision and eventually blamed the loss on the backcourt.

“I think that last night maybe [we needed] some Jeff at the 2 guard,” said Ainge, who watched Avery Bradley and Courtney Lee combine for eight points in 39 combined minutes, “because our guard play was not good last night.”

While Ainge commended Anthony Davis‘ effort in what he termed “a bad loss” — calling the Hornets rookie “a Spiderman” and “a young, athletic KG” — he also expressed disappointment in his team’s late-game execution.


“I think that it’s a pattern,” Ainge said. “We’re not such a good team that we have a lot of room for error, and we can’t do what Miami does — get down 27 points and come back. We don’t have a LeBron James type of player. We have to play more consistent and more solid, and I can see [late-game failures] happen often with us.”

“I love our guys and their makeup, because I know what they’re made of and what they’re capable of doing, but this happens to every team through the course of the season — you let your guard down, and it’s been a pattern.”

Speaking of the Heat, Ainge thought the Celtics took their feet off the gas pedal in that one, too.

“It’s something that we’re trying to get away from,” he said. “Habits are hard to break, and Doc is trying to coach the guys through playing with pace and playing with tempo. We played with pace the whole game, and then with five or six minutes to go and the lead, we slowed our game down.

“And when we slow it down, we just don’t have that superstar to just throw the ball to like Kevin Durant or LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony that’s a high-percentage scorer. Paul can still do it some nights against some matchups, but that’s just not the kind of team we are anymore.”

It sounded an awful lot like he’s just as tired as most Celtics fans of Pierce’s end-of-game elbow jumpers.

“At the end of a game, if it’s Jason Terry or Jordan Crawford or Jeff Green or Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett or Avery Bradley, it doesn’t matter,” Ainge said. “Any one of those guys are capable of taking the last shot, and that’s the kind of team we’ve got to be — as opposed to, ‘It’s got to be Paul making a play for us down the stretch.’ That’s just not the kind of team that’s going to be successful for us.”

Once he settled that debate, Ainge addressed the hottest topics in the basketball world, starting with LeBron during the Heat’s 24-game winning streak that stormed through Boston earlier this week.

“This guy is a cross between Michael [Jordan] and Magic [Johnson],” Ainge said. “He’s a beautiful passer, a great ball-handler, a great defender, a great rebounder and he’s becoming a great finisher, a great shooter and scorer. That was the only thing he’s really been lacking from the time he came into the league, and we can see him just getting better and better with that. It’s scary for the rest of the league.”

As for the NCAA tournament, Ainge likes Indiana, Louisville and Florida, but, “I think Duke will win it this year.” His staff watches every game in order to see all the guys they’ve scouted over the year compete against each other.

“What the public knows and what the NBA people knows is a lot different,” he said. “We don’t put a whole lot on a bad performance or a great performance. We try to analyze why they played well. What it a great matchup or were they double-teaming a guy to take him out? I remember Mark Price slipped in the draft after a game against Georgetown. They really did a number on him. He had a terrible game, and he slipped a little bit, but I think generally speaking there’s not a lot of stock put into what they do in the NCAA tournament.”

112288