Athanasios Armenis

Journal Staff

The Boston Celtics have been consistently inconsistent. Since the second half of the shortened NBA lockout season has began, the green have posted an 8-4 record capped off by an encouraging five game winning streak where the season finally looked like it was taking a turn in the right direction.
Rajon Rondo was playing at a high level, Paul Pierce was finally scoring with a purpose and Kevin Garnett continued to anchor an unpredictable defense that seemed to give hope to Celtics fans around the league that even on the fifth year of a three year “experiment” Danny Ainge signed up for, maybe just for a second, things could actually pan out.
After back-to-back overtime victories against the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, it looked like Boston was putting their disappointing first half behind them.
Rondo’s 18-point, 20-assist and 17-rebound performance against the Knicks put an end to the constant trade rumors and with St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, the luck of the Irish seemed to creep its way into the aging locker room.
Boston was rolling and on the verge of re-capturing the top spot in the Atlantic Division. For the first time in the season the Celtics held the right cards in their hand and looked to swap positions with the young and talented 76ers, who were on a cold streak, having lost 8 of their last 10 matchups, entering the March 7th showdown against Boston.
The assumed clash between the two clubs turned into a walk in the park for Philadelphia, as the Celtics only chances of winning the alleged, “critical” matchup, were immediately eliminated as soon as they stepped foot on the court.
The 76ers, led by young sensation Evan Turner, quickly jumped on Boston’s back, as the career-high 26 point performance by the Ohio State product diminished any hopes of the Celtics getting back into first.
Boston was embarrassed, 103-71 and Pierce and Co. once again found themselves on the losing end of a meaningful game.
“This was one of them that you just throw away, said Pierce. “You don’t even go back to it, reference it, nothing. Just throw this one away. You can’t explain it. We know this team isn’t 30 points better than us. We know we’re a better team than we showed.”
For Celtics fans though, it’s just one game right? Wrong. The Celtics are 1-6 when playing the second games of their back-to-backs on the road and constantly produce lack-luster efforts when having to travel.
The former champs are in the midst of an eight game road trip where they have found themselves on the losing end of three of their five matchups including a nail bitter against the archrival Lakers.
In this game, Rondo missed an acrobatic attempt at a game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds and an old-fashioned 25-point, butt whooping where the 15-29 Sacramento Kings outscored Boston 68-44 in the second half, handing them their 20th loss of the season.
The only way to describe the Celtics season to this point has been up and down. They are on a roller coaster ride and find themselves scrapping and clawing to remain an elite team in playoff contention. Yes, the Celtics are suffering from injuries. Yes, they face a compact and grueling schedule that demands an excessive amount of traveling, but the veteran Celtics know they have no excuse.
Every team in the league faces the same hardships Boston is currently dealing with and the winning teams in the league typically are the ones who can find a way to handle adversity while playing at a high level.
Boston needs to produce more wins and with three important games remaining on their mid-season road trip. Paul Pierce needs to gather his troops and prepare for one last postseason push.
“We are all fighting for playoff position,” said Pierce. “Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philadelphia. We just got to finish out this road trip on a good note.”
If the Celtics have any chances of making noise in May, they have to cut down on their turnovers, rebound the basketball better and pray that come seeding time, they get a little bit of luck in avoiding both Miami and Chicago in the first round.
Here’s to hoping, right?