Once again, the Celtics fail to play defense. Once again, the Celtics blow a lead. Once again the Celtics lose. It was our failure to defend once again that sealed the fate of this game.

There were some good individual performances as always. Pierce had 7 assists at the half, doing a great job of finding the open man when he was doubled. He finished with 19 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds but he once again turned it over too much for our veteran leader with 3 turnovers.

PIAB: How is your foot?
Perk: Sore. I haven’t been practicing cause it hurt me a lot, and it’s still sore. So, I think I might sit out for a few games, cause I can’t run on it, and it hurts me to even jump.
PIAB: How many games do you think you will sit out?
Perk: About two-to-three at the most. You really can’t tell, because for the simple fact man… It’s a pain that’s just gotta go away on its own, and there’s nothing really…You can ice it to make it feel better, and take medicine… But it’s just a pain that’s gotta go away on its own. Some people have it for months…a year or a year and a half, or something like that.

Last night we lost a game we should have won. The Nets came in on a 6 game losing streak. They were tired from a West coast swing, from playing the night before and flying into Boston on game day. All that should have added up to a win. It appeared that we were on our way to one with a 15 point lead and playing well for the first 3 quarters.

It's game day finally. I know the team needs these breaks to practice and heal, but they sure do seem long for me. I always worry about these breaks, though. Often they don't play as well after they have had 2 or 3 days off. Wally says it breaks their rhythm and that may be true. The Nets are on a 6 games losing streak and will be coming in desperate for a win. But, they are also coming in tired after a long west coast trip and playing last night. We should be able to run them and if we commit to playing defense from the beginning should be able to take control of the game early as being tired, their jump shots may be flat and we will need to keep them outside. Having Perk and Powe in the center would certaingly help. As I anxiously wait for the game tonight, here is what is going on around the Celtics Nation today.

The best article this morning was in the Nashua Telegraph.

What can Rivers possibly do to make the fans happy, short of calling more timeouts to allow for more appearances from the vapid new dance team, a collection of fine-looking young ladies whose dance routines are, truly, routine?

He should just play the kids. Let Perkins and Jefferson get all the minutes 12 fouls will allow. So far Green is getting roughly 10 minutes a game. Why not double it?

Play Delonte West, but keep Scalabrine and Tony Allen on the pine. Why Ainge chose to exercise the team option on the contract of Allen, the dribble-challenged guard, is another mystery.

Rivers may not be the Celtics’ long-term answer as coach. His substitution patterns, if you can find a pattern, continue to baffle. But look what he has to work with and you begin to understand why it seems like a game-by-game experiment.

But if the future of the team is Jefferson, Perkins, Green, Telfair, Gomes and Rajon Rondo, play them as much as possible because Celtics fans might be patient with them. They have no patience or desire to watch the Brian Scalabrines of the world.

We’ve all heard the phrase: “defense rules” and have always associated that element of play with championship teams. Oddly enough, most observers will credit pride and desire, not talent and inherent skill that actually cause the manifestation of the concept.

Another element of the team’s defensive energy has to come from the zebras.
When our young players, particularly the bigs; Perkins and Jefferson get two early fouls, you can concede the lane for the rest of the game. For better or worse, they know that they are being judged, not on their effort, so much as their ability to stay out of foul trouble.

When trying to determine if the Celtics can keep up this defensive pressure, as the season and their maturity as a team moves forward, the way the referees call the game is the big wild card.

According to an article on Celtics.com, Rondo is out of the PG lineup for now and Delonte is back in the PG lineup.

Coach Doc Rivers explained that Rondo is out of the point guard mix for now because he hasn't yet proved to be an offensive threat. Rivers did say that Rondo will be more utilized in certain games for his defensive and trapping abilities, but for now, the backup role belongs to West.

As for some struggles with his shot in recent games, West is confident better days are ahead, and he spends 15-20 minutes after practice working on his shot with the coaching staff. Today he was coming off imaginary screens, set courtesy of a plastic trash barrel, catching a shooting baseline and elbow jumpers from about 20 feet.
"It's early in the season," said West. "I know my shots going to fall, I've just got to keep shooting."
I think it is a mistake to put Rondo on the shelf because he doesn't look for his own offense. He changes the game when he comes in. His energy and defense are so good that he really doesn't have to shoot to make a difference and change the whole complexion of a game. He is very good at getting to the basket and doesn't need a jump shot to score. Delonte is a valuable player but I would rather see him get minutes at the 2 and Rondo back up the PG spot.

Celtics are in a 2 way tie with the Nets for the Titanic division lead, with a woeful record of 5-8. The Nets play tonight which will break the tie one way or the other. If the Nets lose, we will be alone atop the division. Pretty scary. Actually it is pretty scary that we are anywhere near the top of the division with a losing record. Amid reports of a good practice yesterday and Perk still resting his sore foot, we can only hope to play well tomorrow and beat New Jersey to start another winning streak. In the meantime, here is what is going on around the Celtics Nation today:

Mark Murphy reports that the Celtics aren't impressed with leading the division. Wally says that standings are the worst thing to pay attention to this time of the year and Pierce admits that he would rather be playing well than in first place. I have to agree with both of them. One positive about it is that we aren't completely left behind in the East. We got off to a poor start, but then so again did the rest of the East so there is hope that we can turn it around and make the playoffs.

In the Celtics Notebook, Doc says that he senses a disconnect between the fans and the players and coaches. He sees it as a result of the bloated salaries that players get these days. The article also mentions that the Celtics had a good practice yesterday with mostly healthy players. Pierce has his wrist wrapped but it is nothing serious. Perk is resting his sore foot but is expected to play on Wednesday.

Peter May comments on the sad state of the Eastern Conference. Not just the Celtics are struggling but almost every team in the East. While only 3 teams in the East have winning records, only 3 teams in the West have losing records. The Celtics benefit from an easy early schedule in that they don't start their first West coast trip until December 25 and by that time let's hope they have begun to gel and will have a better trip than the other Eastern teams that have ventured out west so far.

The Globe Notebook starts with Perk sitting out practices to rest his plantar fasciitis and expecting to play in Wednesday's game. Other than Perk, the rest of the active players had a good practice. Telfair drew praise from the Bucks' coach for his inspired play in the second half of Saturday's game. The Nets are coming off that West coast trip and are playing tonight at home which may give us an advantage against them tomorrow night if we run and play decent defense, we should have a chance to win.

Celtics Blog has a developmental check on Perk. It is no secret that Perk is my favorite player. I just love his work ethic and intensity. Here is Jeff's conclusion:

In just about every category, he’s improved his game. In some cases, he’s improved dramatically. He was the 27th pick of the 2003 draft and played only a handful of minutes his first year. Now he’s a starting NBA center with excellent rebounding ability and the potential to be a defensive force. If he can move his feet and make the right rotations on defense, he’ll stay out of foul trouble and stay on the floor, where he will help this team win ballgames.

"I have often said that I like it when we get into a routine when we play every other day because then you get in a rhythm," he said. "We got into a situation where we won three in a row, then we broke our rhythm with the three days off."

The debate over whether to win now or develop our young players has been going on ever since Danny started drafting high school players with Perk in the 2003 draft. Perk got all of 19 minutes his first season, which gave him time to work on his strength and conditioning. Since that first season, he has gotten 9 minutes per game and 19 minutes per game, with players like a very underwhelming Mark Blount and Raef LaFrentz getting playing time ahead of him. I can't help but think that if he was given more playing time, he would be a much better center today. As it is, he has steadily improved and continues to improve game to game. But who knows what he would be doing now if he had been given more time all along. I wouldn't hesitate to wager that if we had Ratliff and Kandi healthy, Perk still would be getting 19 or less minutes per game.

It isn't just Perk, either. Gomes didn't get a chance to play until the 47th game of the season last year and then he moved into the starting lineup and hasn't left it. Could we have won a lot more games if Gomes had been given a chance earlier? Why wasn't he playing? Would he be even better if he was given minutes earlier? I guess we will never know. And this year we have a player who promises to be dominant in the post in Leon Powe. But even after dominating in the two games he did get to play in, he has been on the bench with only cameo appearances. With the injuries to all of the other big men, it would seem that playing Powe makes sense. Doc says he doesn't get the offensive sets. But when he got a chance to play, he didn't show any signs of not getting it. So his being kept on the bench continues to be a puzzle, especially since he brings everything to the game that this team needs so much. He is also a better player than Scal, even as a rookie, who is getting minutes ahead of him. I have read too much about Powe's work ethic to believe that he isn't working hard enough to earn minutes.

Rondo is a very exciting young player. He has all the tools it takes to be a dominating point guard in this league. He has speed, instincts, and an already developed defensive mindset. But, he needs minutes to bring that game from the college mindset to the NBA mindset. 19 seconds playing time in a game isn't going to do it. As it is, he makes very few mistakes but the ones he does, he learns from and chances are, we won't see him make the same mistake twice. Doc needs to play him and we will reap the benefits by the end of the season. Gerald Green is getting more minutes lately, but he too could have improved a lot quicker with a few more minutes playing time.

Derrenmatts has a good post on this over on Celtics Green.

We have so many young players who are talented basketball players, but yet have been lagging in the developmental department. Its not because they aren't as good as we think they can be; its because they're not being given the playing time to assimilate the speed and quick rhythm of the NBA, or get comfortable in their roles.

If you look around the league at guys who were drafted during the time our players were drafted, who are also about the same potential level; they are much more advanced than our guys in the same amount of time they've been in the NBA. And the difference is they've gotten the playing time to adjust to the NBA game and learn from their mistakes.

Take JR Smith for example. He's not a big time talent, but he's currently a big time contributor in Denver's offense. He's helping the Nuggets reach the upper echelon in the NBA. Is he that much better than any of our young wing players? No, he's not. But he was given a lot of playing time in his 1st two years in the league, whether he was playing well or not and now in his 3rd year, he's finally putting it all together.

Same with Monta Ellis and Andres Biedrins. Under Don Nelson, these guys have been given the green light to play their games and they have rewarded him with very impressive numbers for such young guys. They were allowed to develop their games with a lot of playing time and that's the quickest way to get the nervousness out of young players.

Any one of these guys, if they were on our team, would be buried on the bench and given only 6 minutes of playing time for the 1st few years of their careers. Even a guy like Josh Smith would be sidelined, wasting away his vast talents and potential. Maybe even Dwight Howard or Emeka Okafor would be far behind the level they are playing at now if they were on our team.

If Gerald Green were on the Warriors, he'd be pushing Jason Richardson. If Leon Powe or Al Jefferson were with the Lakers, they'd be the talk of the town.

Its time to give our young players the playing time they need. We are 4 - 8 right now and I'd rather have that record with Gerald and Jefferson playing a ton of minutes and Telfair and Rajon running the show. At least that way, they'll be more advanced next year and ready to take on much bigger roles and responsibilities.

Celtics resume practice today after a day off and hopefully will have all of the active players healthy enough to practice. The buzz around the web this morning has to do with the rumors about Danny going after Gasol. He would certainly be a nice addition to the team, especially if we could get him for a couple of young guys, Ratliff's soon to expire contract and some draft picks. I was both pleased and totally amazed to see that we are in a 3 way tie for the lead in the Atlantic division with just a 5 and 8 record. New Jersey has lost 5 in a row, Philly lost their last game and Boston won their last game putting us in the 3 way tie. Very interesting.... We seem to do better when we don't play than when we do. Here is what is going on around the Celtics Nation today:

In the Herald Notebook, Bulpett remarks on the fact that Telfair took over and led the team to the comeback win in Milwaukee. It sure would be nice to have a PG who can direct the team in crunch time. I think Rondo is capable of that as well and I think both PGs are just going to continue to get better. Also in the article is the fact that Gomes has become expert at quietly great performances. He is just steady and does many things well and very rarely makes mistakes. Doc and Danny contribute our poor performances last week to injuries and the lack of practice with the whole team. We will see this week since we have 2 days of practice before Wednesday's game with the Nets.

The Globe Notebook reports that the Celtics are just trying to put together longer stretches of good play than the stretches of bad play. We have been inconsistent so far but I think that this team is going to eventually put it all together and be more consistent.

"What I tell the guys is that we need to play solid defense every night regardless," said Pierce. "That's going to help us develop consistency on a night-in, night-out basis when our shots aren't falling. We've got to be more consistent on defense and keep our turnovers down. If we can do those two things, it gives us the best chance of winning every night.

"Teams that have been together for a while with veterans have more consistent stretches. When you have a lot of new guys and young guys, you're going to have a lot of good and bad stretches.

It is a happy Sunday after the Celtics win last night. Danny is defending Doc, Vescey is predicting a trade for Gasol, and there is once again hope among Celtics fans. The team showed heart last night and came from behind to win convincingly and all is well with the world. We now have 3 days off until we face the Nets to savor the win. In the meantime, here is what is going on in the Celtics Nation today.

Bulpett reports that Danny is standing behind Doc and he feels the problem is more the players than the coach. He feels that the players are not playing up to their individual capabilities. He also says that he is still checking the market for a trade but won't rush into anything if it isn't an upgrade for the future. This could fit with Vescey's report today that his sources are reporting that Danny is close to bringing Gasol to Boston.

Shira also reports that Danny is standing behind his coach. She also discusses Green's improvement behind the arc and his desire to become a defensive force for the team.

The Herald and Projo both have reports on the Celtics win last night. Doc, the players and the reporters all realize that it is defense that keyed the win.

“It’s all about our defense,” said Rivers. “When we play defense, we score a lot of points.

It started out like another blowout and another lackluster performance by the Celtics. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Bucks victory... The Celtics found some heart... and some defense. The green team rallied from as many as 16 down to take control in the third quarter and never look back. It started with the Celtics finally putting out some effort on defense, which got the rest of their game going.

Apparently the league expected it to be the other way around because when I went to the NBA.com box score this morning, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. They had the Bucks beating the Celtics 111-98 instead of the other way around. The whole box score is messed up with Pierce having 28 points instead of his 34. Very bizarre. I thought maybe I had been dreaming about the win until I went to the Yahoo box score and all was well again. The Celtics really did beat the Bucks 111-98.

Keep in mind that this comes from Peter Vescey, but he seems to think that the Celtics are close to making a deal for the Grizzlies' Pau Gasol. He mentions this in his column today:

No wonder, an enlightened source revealed to Hoop du Jour, Ainge has offered anybody and everybody for Pau Gasol and anyone else the Grizzlies want to discard in the deal to make it happen.

Again, until then, the Celtics, probably the Grizzlies, too, are on their own, while Rivers and Fratello coach from weakness. Should Ainge start to warm up in the bullpen (a la Gregg Popovich replacing Bob Hill when Tim Duncan joined forces with David Robinson), I suspect Boston may be on the brink of acquiring Gasol.