CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Random Thoughts on the First Loss

The Celtics need to put out a wanted poster to try to find their defense. It has been missing for the past two games. After allowing the Wolves to shoot 52% from the floor, they allowed the Suns to shoot 50% from the field and 54% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to get back to their commitment to defense. They'll never be the best defensive team ever allowing teams to shoot over 50%. And what's worse, they won't win the championship without making defense a priority.

The Celtics offense wasn't all that bad in this game. They shot 52% from the floor. But, they shot only 22% from beyond the arc. It seems that their love of the 3 point shot came back to bite them. It is so true that you live by the 3 and die by the 3. In the last 2 games, they definitely struggled from outside.

Another worrisome stat is that they shot just 50% from the line. Championship teams make their free throws. And when the other team takes 12 more free throws than you do, then you have to make the few you do get.

There was something very bothersome about this game. On one of the Suns boards, one of the posters stated that the Suns would win by 7. He said that he knew that because he had a source. There were certainly plenty of questionable calls in the game and the Suns shot 30 free throws to just 18 for the Celtics. And, points in the paint were 60-36 in favor of the Celtics, so it wasn't that the Celtics weren't going to the basket. I'd say there's something fishy here.

Once again, the starters were all in double figures, but the bench scored just 19 points. Eddie House went scoreless, going 0-3. Quisy was 4-7. Sheed was 4-12. KG played his best game since coming back from the knee surgery, scoring 26 points on 13-20 shooting. He also grabbed 8 rebounds. Perk had another solid game with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Doc had Perk on the bench during crunch time however, going instead with Sheed for his offense, which incidentally wasn't there.

Now they face the Nets on the road. The Nets are still winless and should be just what the Celtics need to get back on track. Both teams are playing in the second of back to back games after a tough one the night before. Fatigue could be a problem. But then again, even a tired Celtics team should be able to beat the Nets. Let's just hope they find their defense again because they won't get very far without it.

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