For 3 quarters, the Celtics looked really good. We were playing defense and the offense was clicking on all cylinders. Then the Cavs started playing defense and the Celtics fell apart. Once again, we are left to look for positives in a loss.

The Celtics were playing without Wally Szczerbiak who announced just before the game that he would be unavailable for the game. Ratliff is once again out with his bulging disc. Al is out with appendicitis. It seems like the team is picking up where they left off last season with a rash of injuries one after another. Last year, the injuries gave us Ryan Gomes. I have a feeling that if Telfair wasn't out last night, Rondo would still be on the bench. Now would be the time to give Powe some playing time with Ratliff possibly out for awhile with his back. However Doc seems to think that Scal is a crunch time player so Powe will probably continue to sit on the bench.

The Herald Blog has some good news and some bad news.

Sebastian Telfair will, indeed, be playing tonight, but Theo Ratliff and Wally Szczerbiak will not.

Ratliff, who missed the first three games of the season with a back problem, could be out a while with this latest flare-up.

Szczerbiak walked by Doc Rivers a little less than an hour before tipoff and let him know that a right gluteus strain would make him unavailable. Szczerbiak hopes to be back by Monday’s game against Orlando.

Last night the Celtics were up and down against the Jazz. The first half was fairly evenly played and were the Celtics best two quarters of basketball so far in spite of not defending well and allowing the Jazz to shoot 59% for the half. Then the wheels came off in the third. The Celtics came out flat and the Jazz went on a 15-0 run to put the Celtics in a big hole.

"That makes it a lot easier knowing the ball is going to be in my hands, and we're going to play an up-tempo game, which stresses my abilities. Now it's just a matter of going out there and doing it."

"I like both of them. They have great vision and great speed. I like the fact that for 48 minutes we can play at the same speed,"

"The second unit is the energy team," he said. "A lot of people don't know this, but on the second unit we run totally different plays sometimes from the first unit. We have our own little selection of plays that we run that fit for us."

"But you look at our starting lineup and it's really not a speed lineup. You have Sebastian [Telfair]. You have [Rajon] Rondo. You have Delonte West, but you have me on the wing and Wally [Szczerbiak]. We're pretty athletic guys, but we're not some of the fastest guys in the world along with Theo [Ratliff] and Ryan Gomes. So, I think with that lineup, we've got to be an opportunistic running team. The second unit is going to be more of a running team because they're a lot faster and more athletic."

Rondo, the coach explained, is a victim of position limitations and the fact the Celts no longer are playing the up-tempo style that fits his talents.

It wasn't pretty, but the Celtics will take it. In a game that was marked by turnovers and a lack of defense, it took an overtime and a shot at the buzzer from Delonte to get their first win.

The Celtics started out slowly, falling behind quickly, but fought back behind the play of the bench to come within 4 at the half. Wally woke up for the 4th period and hit 4 straight 3's to get the Celtics on a roll. They led by as many as 10 before blowing an 8 point lead over the final 1:29 of the game. Our defense has got to improve or we are in for a long year!

Celtics forward Al Jefferson underwent an emergency appendectomy this afternoon, according to Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge.

Jefferson experienced severe stomach pain overnight and attended this morning's shootaround at Health Point in Waltham, but upon arrival, trainer Ed Lacerte sent Jefferson immediately to a hospital.

Ainge did not place a timetable on Jefferson's return, though the forward will be out at least 2-3 weeks. This is another setback for Jefferson, who is hoping to have a breakout season after suffering a pair of ankle injuries last season and undergoing surgery Aug. 3.

This was just posted on Celtics.com:

What started out as a joking bet between Brian Scalabrine and Gerald Green turned into one of the one of the craziest things you'll ever see after practice, and if it could be replicated, a first ballot Hall of Fame dunk contest winning slam.

Scalabrine and Green were talking about dunks after Tuesday's practice wrapped up, and Green jokingly threw the ball about 30 feet up the wall behind the basket and watched it drop to the floor, measuring with his eyes where it landed. After Allan Ray tried the same thing, Scalabrine told Green he'd have three chances to convert the dunk off the wall for $100.

Standing behind the three point line in the right elbow area of the court, Green tossed the ball off the bottom of 1986 NBA Championship banner, which hangs about 35 feet over the floor, and when the ball came back to the floor, Green elevated from just outside the free throw lane, caught it off the bounce with his right hand, grabbed the rim with his left, and tomahawked the ball through the rim, sending the gym into hysterics.

Scalabrine just fell backwards to the floor while Green walked out of the gym slapping high-fives with players and media members.

"You cheated," said Scalabrine. "You grabbed the rim."

"I would have hit my face on it," replied Green.

Sadly, there is no video footage. You'll have to take our word for it.

The Herald, The Globe, and The Daily News Tribune all have articles on Ratliff's return to practice. It is interesting that Ratliff has seen the problems with our defense and has been working on fixing them from the practice floor.

"It's about communicating on the floor," Ratliff said, talking about Defense 101. "I think we get up on our man too much and lose position a lot. And that's why people are running right down the middle on us and getting layups. We've got to curtail that to be a better team.

"I can be a helper on that, but everyone has to learn how to communicate on the floor. When you're doing that, that's the sign of a great defensive team. People who talk on defense, [who let] people know if you're getting back-doored or if you need help where the ball is. So everybody's alert."

While most of us Celtics fans are eagerly awaiting our first win and agonizing over our coaching and lack of defense (some are hoping for Greg Oden and don't want to win), I figured I would look on the brighter side and share some of the more unique records that the Celtics hold from a great book I have been reading: "The Unofficial Guide to Basketball's Nastiest and Most Unusual Records by Kerry Banks. Here are several that I thought you might enjoy.

Most derogatory nicknames handed out by a broadcaster
Dozens: Johnny Most

On October 30, after reading article after article on Red's coaching theories I wrote this article on Loy's Place that puts forth the premise that Red's legacy to Doc should be to keep it simple. It was becoming more and more obvious that Doc is over coaching. We had two complete sets of plays depending on who was on the court. We had no less than 8 defensive sets. And, no one on the team seemed to get them. I have been talking about the need to simplify things in just about every post after that article also. On Celtics.com today, I read this:

After a tough 0-3 start, the Celtics have taken a step back and simplified the offense to keep their running game going and help some of the younger players concentrate on making plays rather than remembering them.

"We've been simplifying the offense and running two plays. [If] they make a shot, we run one play, if they miss a shot, we run another play," said Wally Szczerbiak, who noted that it's easier to play a running style in the preseason because most teams just aren't in shape yet. "We're just trying to simplify things so the young guys can pick everything up and stop turning the ball over."

Coach Doc Rivers said that aside from the last 20 minutes, Monday's long practice was satisfying. And that might just be because while the veterans on the team probably don't need the game simplified, younger players are generally more effective when they don't have to go deep into the playbook.

"It allows the young guys to play on instinct and at full-speed instead of playing while thinking," said Rivers. "In some ways it can hurt you but I think the benefits outweigh the negatives."

One of the benefits of simplification should be a reduction in turnovers; the Celtics committed 20 turnovers in Saturday's loss to Washington, 15 against Detroit and 19 on Opening Night against the Hornets.

Ratliff admitted that he's still a little rusty and his timing might be slightly off, but teammates and coaches alike seemed impressed with Ratliff's effort on Monday. And everyone seemed to notice that he's still blocking shots.

"We could see the immediate impact defensively," Rivers said of Ratliff. "It was amazing because White (the second team in practice) stopped driving. They were tired of getting their shots blocked."

ESPN Rankings are out for the first week and they have the Celtics ranked #30 out of 30. Here is what Marc Stein has to say about the Celtics

If you're tempted to say Celts never would have started 0-3 under Red, be advised that it did happen . . . once. In '50-51, Red's first season in Boston.

I didn't have time to get this up yesterday, but JB over on CelticsStuff Live had a piece about Scott Souza that was good. All summer long, Scott kept us informed of what was really going on with the Celtics who were in town, while the main media outlets failed to do so. Scott has had excellent articles with information we aren't getting elsewhere. A big thank you to Scott for continually working to keep us Celtics fans informed.

In Bulpett's Notebook, the theme from all the players is that they have to get stops and play better defense. I am becoming more and more convinced that Doc doesn't know how to coach defense. With all of his 8 or so defensive sets that he has introduced, we still can't defend the pick and roll and as a team are woefully deficient in that area. All of the players and all of the fans know that this is where we need to improve, but does Doc?

“We’ve got all the tools to go out there and win some games, but we’re just not winning,” Telfair said.

"I really think he's close to playing," the Celtics coach said last night before tipoff. "He's maturing in front of my eyes. Right now he's not maturing in front of your eyes, but I think soon enough you'll see him. I think he's going to find his way on the court sooner than most think."

When asked if the team "not meshing" hinted at a possible trade, Ainge said no. He merely wanted to highlight that some players spent little game time together during the exhibition season. Ainge mentioned that the starting lineup in the opener (Paul Pierce, Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Sebastian Telfair, and Kendrick Perkins) played only a few minutes together during preseason because of injuries to Pierce and West.

I know it doesn't change anything to think about what might have been, but sometimes I like to punish myself and think about what could have happened if we kept certain players or if rumored trades went through. The last two games starting me thinking along these lines.

"I'm just saying there was probably more to it that had to do with Wally that we have chosen not to talk about," Taylor said. ". . . I am just going to say that no matter what I say, people are going to deny it. But I would say some things came to a head that forced us to get into something we didn't necessarily want to do. I think it would have been pretty dangerous for Kevin McHale not to do the trade."

But few around the Wolves on a regular basis failed to see the uneasy alliance, at best, between Szczerbiak and Kevin Garnett. It dated probably as far back as 1999, when Szczerbiak, just out of college, was added to the Team USA qualifying team on which Garnett played. Several members of that squad didn't like playing with ultra-confident Szczerbiak and reportedly razzed Garnett about his team's new lottery pick.

A locker-room skirmish, with Garnett punching Szczerbiak an hour after a perceived slight on the practice court flushed the tension into the open. An ESPN magazine piece cited more Szczerbiak critics within the Wolves' ranks. After which, the matter was repeatedly downplayed and denied. Season after season after season.

As last season's 12-6 record started to unravel, Szczerbiak grew less willing to defer to Garnett. He was ready to meet any friction head-on, a line in the sand that would have polarized the locker room and shredded any pretense of chemistry. The trade did enough damage in those areas, but the team's two best players, throwing down? Intolerable.

Celtics seem to have fixed their offense, sort of, but forget about the defense. The Celtics shot 52% from the floor, but then, so did the Wizards. The difference is that the Wizards took care of the ball and the Celtics didn't with 20 turnovers once again. The Wizards seemed to play with hustle and toughness and the Celtics seemed sluggish and tentative. Perk came out playing tough but was rewarded by 4 quick fouls and a 4 stitch gash over Wally's eye and he sat the rest of the game after only 10 minutes. It seemed that the Wizards hustled for every loose ball and went for every pass and they ended up with 11 steals to only 2 for Boston. We just weren't aggressive on defense.

Another sad tale is that the Wizards had 27 fast break points to only 14 for the Celtics. So much for our alleged transition game. We were stuck in a half court game for the most part with the occasional fast break thrown in. We didn't run, we didn't press and for the most part, didn't defend. We did out rebound the Wizards 43 to 28 but then turned those rebounds over for the most part.

Wally played much of the game with 4 stitches over his eye courtesy of a collision with Perk.

Still, the coach is looking for Jefferson to be a better teammate offensively and more physical overall. "He's playing much better as far as when he gets the ball on the post," said Rivers. "Where he has to improve is to get other people shots . . . Even though when he gets it, it's good, there's times when he doesn't follow through getting others their shots. That's his first job, to get Paul [Pierce] and Wally [Szczerbiak] open.

Gomes and Al both had solid games