CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics at Blazers in Pictures 12/30

Paul Pierce had a good game with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in almost 40 minutes.

KG finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in almost 37 minutes. Doc has been saying that KG would play fewer minutes, but with the bench not producing, Doc kept his starters in longer. The Celtics got only 9 points and 2 rebounds from the bench in this game.

Perk struggled at times in this game trying to defend inside and finished with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist. Rebounding was the Celtics' Achilles heel in this one as they were out rebounded 44-29. Rebounding usually shows the effort of a team and in this case, the Celtics didn't work very hard to get rebounds. They got only 5 on the offensive end.

Leon really struggled in this game and had nothing to show in the box score for 8 minutes of play. Big Baby fared just slightly better with 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 block in over 13 minutes of play.

Ray had an off night with 12 points on 2-11 shooting along with just 2 rebounds. The fatigue shows up first in Ray's shooting as he doesn't have his legs under him.

Tony isn't the answer to replace James Posey. He just isn't consistent enough. He finished with 4 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist. Eddie House also isn't the answer as he had just 3 points on 1-5 shooting and airballed a big 3 that would have tied the game. The most important thing that Posey brought was consistency. We don't have anyone off the bench this season who has been consistent.

Rondo had another solid game, finishing with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.

The Celtics had a 12 point lead in the first half when one of the most bizarre plays I have ever seen happened. The Blazers had 6 players on the court. In the replay you could see Perk trying to tell the refs and KG was standing right in front of a ref with 6 fingers raised trying to tell him and they let play continue until the Blazers scored. They allowed the basket and gave the Celtics a technical free throw afterwards. That play seemed to deflate the Celtics and they never got the momentum back. It doesn't seem right that they should have allowed a basket that occurred when they had 6 players on the court, all participating in the play.

The Celtics finished their trip 1-3, which wasn't at all the way they wanted it to go. They definitely need to do something to bolster the bench. They just aren't getting the job done. They don't play again until Friday and hopefully can regroup and get back on track against the Wizards at home. Thankfully the Cavs finally lost again as the Heat held on for a win against them.

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