Only one game of relevance on tap for last night.
The Ugly
Boston Celtics 75 @ Denver Nuggets 89
Thanks for nothing Boston. I realize that you were without Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels, Semih Erden, and Luke Harangody due to trades, but still. Denver also had their traded-for players for the first time.
But still.
The Celtics lost the game on a 16-0 run by the Nuggets to close things out. 16-0 to finish the game? I guess even the best teams have off nights, but still. Only KG and Pierce showed up offensively. Rondo had 5 & 8 while Ray Allen had just 10 points on 4-10 shooting.
According to CelticsBlog, the Perkins trade made the other vets livid. It could be that had an impact on their play. They also don't buy the 9-player excuse,
And when it mattered tonight, the Celtics couldn't cut it. Only one starter,Kevin Garnett (14 pts, 13 rbs) shot 50% from the field, and the happiest guy to be out there tonight was a D-Leaguer nobody has ever heard from before. The Celtics lost tonight, they in what is admittedly a knee-jerk judgement, lost today, and yet life goes on.
The game was ugly from beginning to end, despite the Celtics leading for most of the way and well into the second half, and you never really got the feeling that the Celtics wanted the W. The Nuggets controlled the paint (52 boards for the Nugs, 38 for the C's), they brought the energy, and they got the win on the back of a late 16-0 run in the 4th.
The Nuggets are now 2-0 since the Melo trade and by all accounts are looking very good. Crap.