After being on pace to challenge 70 wins, suddenly Boston has dropped back-to-back games (for this first time this season) and three of four. Boston is coming off a home-and-home sweep against the mediocre Washington Wizards, including blowing a 14-point fourth quarter lead in Monday's home loss.
Offense has been the culprit, as the C's have failed to reach 90 points in four straight basketball games.
"We're not making shots," said Coach Doc Rivers. "I think that makes us press a little bit. Hey, you go through it."
Since their road win over the Detroit Pistons last Saturday, the Celtics are shooting just 43 percent from the field, including 28 percent from 3-point range, and averaged 82.5 points, dropping their season average to 98.3.
A big reason for that is the health of point guard Rajon Rondo.
Rondo has a bad back and bad hamstring and was held out of practice Monday; Rivers said it was "50-50" whether Rondo would play Wednesday night against the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers, while Rondo said it was the proverbial "game-time decision." (NBA Injury Report)
Rondo missed Saturday night's loss to the Washington Wizards and was clearly not himself in 21 minutes against the Wizards on Monday. It's not a coincidence that the Celtics put up a season-low 78 points in the first loss and only 83 points in the Monday loss, with one field goal in the final 6:22.
The Celtics have no reliable backup for Rondo."It's been that way all year," Rivers said.
Though Rivers has considered giving Eddie House his first start of the season against the Blazers, "I have to think about that more."
The other option is Tony Allen, who has been the emergency backcourt spot starter. Neither brings Rondo's speed to the offense.
"They can handle the ball OK," Rivers said of House and Allen. "But they don't do a great job of running out stuff. (Monday) night we started (sets) on an average of 12 or 10 seconds (left on the shot clock).
"Before (with Rondo) we'd almost never start lower than 17. We were sprinting up the floor."
Things don't get any easier for Boston on Wednesday as it hosts the hottest team in the NBA in Portland, which has won 18 of 20 games; the Blazers are 8.5-point betting underdogs on WagerWeb.com.
Portland has five players averaging in double figures, led by reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy's 19.0 points per game. Roy has shot 19-of-35 from the field, including 6-of-8 from the arc for 49 points in his past two games. LaMarcus Aldridge (17.9 points, 7.5 rebounds this season) has been the other star for Portland.
"They're playing better than anyone in the NBA right now," Rivers said. "Our record is better. But Portland is playing better. So, it's a good test."
However, the Celtics are 10-0 against the Western Conference this season and have won the last four meetings from the Blazers.
No comments:
Post a Comment