C's In No Golden State After Loss To Warriors: 83-101

Well, at least they held it under 20 this time.

Okay, seriously...keeping this mercifully short...

As completely BS as this sounds, this was a blowout to be sure, but it was a different kind of blowout than the one the Celtics experienced against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The C's were down by 20 at a number of junctures during this game and I won't hem and haw on it: the Warriors played a good game. But, it was a game that the Celtics were able to climb back into even as late as the fourth quarter with some solid defense and shot-making. Unfortunately the shot-making -- or more accurately, the lack thereof -- is what really cost the C's the game.

The Celtics shot 36% from the floor to Golden State's 52.1% (and an NBA Jams-"he's-on-fire"-esque 63.2% from Threeland) making it a moot point that they got the Warriors to turn the ball over 19 times to their own 13, as well as rendering insignificant the points-in-the-paint disparity of 30 for the C's vs. 24 for Golden State.

True, it didn't help that Rajon Rondo was a scratch for the game with some hip and leg injuries (apparently sustained in Los Angeles) and the old plotline that features the Celtics getting outrebounded by their opponents (46-38 this time) returned like a dead soap-opera villain to add to an already heavy burden, but the Celtics just could NOT buy a basket for significant portions of this game. You can credit the Warriors "D" for some of it, but many of the missed shots were ridiculously open looks.

The glimmers of sunlight in this otherwise overcast performance were Courtney Lee's 18 points; Jared Sullenger's 12 points on 6-8 shooting, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and one strong statement about his grit as he sustained a whack to the nose but came back onto the floor with blood streaming down his nostril and over his lips before being summoned back to the bench to be worked on by cut man head trainer Ed Lacerte.

Jeff Green had a noteworthy 9 rebounds, but shot 2-11 as if trying to outdo Paul Pierce who shot a miserable 4-20. Jason Terry hit just 6-19 shots and Garnett -- one of the only Celtics to shoot 50% from the floor -- was the antithesis of aggressive, taking only 6 shots for the game.

The Celtics woeful road trip will come to a merciful end tomorrow night as they face the 10 and 19 Sacramento Kings. The C's will enter that game under the .500 mark for the first time this season since their 2-3 start.

Tale Of The Tape

Box Score

THE BUZZ

Boston Celtics vs. Sacramento Kings
Sunday, December 30, 2012

9:00 p.m.

@ Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, CA