Tonight's game was a game of runs. We came out flat and let the Warriors get to the basket at will and dug a hole early. Then we fought back behind some tenacious defense to cut the lead to 1 and finished the half down 5. We came out in the second half and let them build a lead again but kept fighting back. Unfortunately our lapses won out and we finished the game down 10 losing to Golden State 110-100.

Delonte started the game and played well, filling the stat sheet with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. Telfair seemed sluggish on defense and shot just 2 of 7 and finished with 5 points and 3 assists in 28 minutes, often playing at the same time as West. Rondo only came in for the last 2 minutes and finished with 1 assist.

The Herald reports that Delonte took part in the Celtics shoot around this morning and plans to play tonight. He is not 100% but feels he can still contribute. Wally reportedly tweaked his ankle on an upfake but said he sas still good to go tonight. There was no mention of Perk but I assume that no news is good news there.

The highlight of the morning was Gerald Green and Leon Powe dunking after throwing the ball off the back wall in the tight gym. After Powe put down a two-hander after the catch, Green caught his carom and threw in a windmill dunk.
“Don’t try this at home,'’ Green announced.

Game Day as we face the Golden State Warriors. We lost to them by 1 when we played them at home as Pierce froze and never got the shot off. We won't have Pierce tonight so will have to depend more on our young players who need to grow up in a hurry.

Speaking of one of our young players, the Globe has a good piece on Leon Powe today. I really like this kid and was happy to see that Red also liked him.

Red Auerbach, who always appreciated the kind of character instilled by a difficult upbringing and looked for instigators, was enamored with Powe. The 6-foot-8-inch, 245-pound forward may prove a steal in the second round. In just less than 10 minutes a game (which many observers argue is far too little time), Powe has shown the ability to rebound (2.6 rebounds per game) and score (3.3 PPG). His constant hustle makes good things happen.

The Celtics packed a four-game losing streak for their trip here yesterday, but they remain just two games out of first place in the Atlantic Division, where grading is done on the curve.

The news today centers around the return of Perk, Kandi and Wally and the loss of West along with the ugly loss to the Clippers.

First up are the reports on last night's game from the Herald and the Globe. I know that this team depends on Pierce, but that isn't the reason they shot 32% last night. I know we had 11 shots blocked and that may have made some of the players tentative but I know we have better shooters than that. Wally was evidently rusty and still doesn't have his legs under him but we should be shooting better than that. Defense also continues to be our achilles heel. We can't seem to get stops and that isn't something that is due to Pierce being out, either. We should be better than this.

The Herald Notebook reports that West feels he can play tomorrow night in Golden State. In spite of West being injured due to his hard play, Doc wouldn't have him change and says that if we had 12 players with Delonte's passion and heart, we would be tough to beat. Is that Doc calling out the rest of the team for lack of passion and heart? Also mentioned is Powe's plan to have the team over to his family home for dinner. At least they will get some good home cooking on the trip, even if they don't get a win.

The Globe Notebook also discusses Deltonte's play and heart. It is his heart that sets him apart along with getting him injured. Jefferson has been seeing more and more double teams as the team plays without Pierce but he doesn't give up on the plays and stays with them. He is getting better at passing out of the double team to the open man. He is also increasing his efforts on the boards. Allen Ray has been seeing more time and has been playing well for the most part.

Shira has a little piece on Pierce and the fact that he wishes he could help. He isn't sure how his injury is progressing because he never had anything like it before. He plans to stay at home and rest it as much as possible and hopes to join the team at home when they return from this road trip.

The Green Room covers the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from this road trip so far. The Good is Al Jefferson and Gerald Green who have both been improving with each game and responding to the increased minutes. The Bad is our point guard play and Ryan Gomes. I don't know if it is an injury problem or a sophomore wall, but Gomes hasn't been giving us much lately. He had just 1 rebound last night and his play has been very lackluster. Why Doc doesn't put Powe in I will never understand, especially when Gomes isn't producing. The Ugly is the team defense and you will get no arguments on that. We seem to have completely forgotten how to play defense and we are losing because of it.

On CelticsBlog, Eric Weiss has a good article on our point guard play past and present. A good read.

The SF Chronicle has a good piece on Leon Powe. I really like this kid. He is tough, works hard and plays hard. I just don't understand why he doesn't get more minutes. He produces when he is on the floor but yet only gets a few minutes each game. Pierce has this to say about Powe:

"He's a hard worker and I think that goes back to his college career," swingman Paul Pierce said. "He's not playing much, but every time he does, he gives us what we need, a hard-nosed banger and an inside presence."

We’ll get their thoughts on the status of the team and the play of Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, and Tony Allen taking more prominent roles due to injury and opportunity. We’ll also discuss the recent benching of Sebastian Telfair in favor of Delonte West for what Doc Rivers has said will be for the remainder of the season. If you have a question for either guest you can call our toll free number up to an hour before the show and leave us a voicemail. As always we’ll be taking your calls between guests and monitoring the chat wars in The Pit.

Is Doc tanking?

Watching the games, it has seemed to me that Doc makes some very bad decisions in the games. It is especially obvious in his substitutions. At times, the starters will get off to a very slow start. Doc will put the bench in and they up the tempo and get us back into the game. Just as we get rolling Doc will put the starters back in and we slow down and lose the game. Other times one player will play very well and Doc pulls him. I thought I may have been imagining it until a couple of posters on CG echoed my thoughts.

Here are some thoughts from Derrenmatts on the Denver game:

Powe was doing really well out there, and then he gets yanked. Gomes has been a disappointment lately, and I really wanted Powe out there because he played with more hustle and energy and he was making things happen. But Doc insists on taking away what works, and after putting the starters back in, we begin to play junk again and lose whatever momentum the 2nd unit built.

I don't know why, but Doc chose not to use Tony Allen for a big part of the 2nd and 3rd quarter, precisely when we started to fall apart. Tony was a big part of the reason why we fought back in the 1st quarter, but was relegated to the bench. Foul trouble or not, Doc could not afford to keep him out for that long and it costed us dearly.

Powe needs to play. All Gomes is good for right now is knocking down 18 footers. I appreciate it, but we need physical rebounding in the paint and some blocked shots more than 18 foot jumpers. On a night where Jefferson could have used help on the boards, all Gomes could muster was 1 measly rebound. That's unacceptable.

And that's that almost every time if something is working Doc stops it. It's like clockwork. It's very predictable. Too predictable. In fact it happens so often it isn't random any more. I think one of two things is happening. Either Doc is tanking for some unkown reason. Maybe since he figures he's here for the season and they can't win a championship he thinks he'll tank and get a better draft pick cause he thinks he has a good relationship with DA (and I kinda think they do) or DA has told him to tank, or he is purposely affecting the outcome because (seriously now. It has happened before) there are some shenanigans going on on the side. Pete Rose did it. Would you be shocked if you found out Doc was doing it? I wouldn't.

It seems that these days the best cure for a struggling team is to play the Celtics. Tonight it was the struggling Clippers who looked like a contender dominating the Celtics throughout the game and winning big 100-77.

Celtics lost the first game of their 5 game road trip as they fell to the Denver Nuggets 116-105. The biggest loss wasn't the game, however as Delonte West went down hard in the second quarter as he flew in trying to block a shot. He landed on his back and had to be helped off the court. He was in for just a few seconds to start the third period and then went to the locker room for the rest of the game. Reports were that he was having back spasms. It was back spasms that sidelined him for much of training camp and preseason. He finished with 11 points and 1 rebound.

The Celtics start their western swing tonight with the Denver Nuggets. They will face 5 games in 7 nights and will be a much different team when they come back home afterwards than they are now. For one thing, we may have Perk, Kandi and Wally all return to action some time during the trip, possibly tomorrow against the Clippers. Speaking of the Clippers, Cassell is battling his own bout with plantar fasciitis and may have to miss time with it. Sending my prayers and best wishes to Tommy who is home recovering from back surgery. Hope everyone is recovering from Christmas and will be ready for some basketball. Here is what is going on in the Celtics Nation today:

Mark Murphy in The Herald discusses the start of the road trip against Allen Iverson and the Denver Nuggets. He also runs down the teams we will face on the rest of the trip.

In the Globe, Shira reports that the team took some time off to prepare for the upcoming trip where rest will in short supply. It sounds from this quote that West is planning on guarding Iverson:

"It doesn't matter what uniform he's in," West said. "That's still Allen Iverson. It means one thing: You're guarding one of the quickest guys, one of the most talented scorers in the league. I've got to get my rest the night before."

Merry Christmas to everyone in the Celtics Nation. Celtics have the best fans in the world and I would like to take this time to wish you all a very merry Christmas and that all your wishes come true this Christmas season.

Not much going on in the news today but here are the links for those of you like me who have to have your Celtics fix every day, even Christmas.

First of all I want to wish everyone in the Celtics Nation a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I would love a few more Celtics victories for Christmas!! The Celtics are off until the day after Christmas and then we face the Denver Nuggets with Iverson. Hopefully the Celtics will get some defense for Christmas. Here is what is going on around the Celtics Nation today:

Mark Murphy's Herald article tells us with no trade on the horizon and Pierce out, the Celtics young players have a chance to prove themselves. This is an interesting quote from Danny:

“I saw strides in our players when we were 5-13, before we had the streak,” Ainge said last week. “Obviously, Al and Tony have really stepped up, but I’m not surprised. The difference is that they’re getting minutes now. Our problem has always been that we have too many guys, not who we have."

“Now we have to be doing this much more as a unit. We have to get out there every night - especially on the defensive end - and let things come. We really have to be precise, really execute. “The thing that hurt us in the defensive end (against Philadelphia) was that with Paul out, we all tried to fill that void first,” Gomes said. “But if we’re going to win games, then we have to get stops, and then use that to our advantage. I think we actually have more of a fast break side to things with Gerald (Green) and Tony (Allen) out there. There’s no reason for it, but (against Philadelphia) we all got beat one-on-one.
“It’s all about what’s effective, and if you can’t do the job on defense, then you won’t be out there.”

We are not outscoring anybody with what we have. We have to play great defense and we have to play with great energy. We can't get outhustled, we can't get out-rebounded.

Have you noticed that Al Jefferson's distinctive offensive game is finally getting noticed by the officials?
That's because the Celtics made sure that the referees knew that Jefferson's nifty footwork was not traveling -- a violation he had been called for on numerous occasions -- by sending a tape into the league.
"Al does that reverse-pivot move and it is not traveling," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "We sent a tape to the league recently so that they could see what we saw.
"And it was interesting in the Charlotte game [Dec. 16 ]. One of the referees was watching Al and saying, 'Is that traveling?' And I turned to him and said, "It isn't traveling. We've got it on tape.' "

But as Gerald Green agreed later, while nursing a plate of hamburgers, ice cream and pecan pie across the room from Brian Scalabrine, who sang Christmas songs and introduced Santa Claus: ``People are always happy when they are getting something. But I am happy that I can give away because I have received so much.''

It seems that a lot is being said lately about confidence. The Celtics gain confidence as a team when they win. They lose confidence as a team when they lose. Our young players need playing time to gain confidence.

Big Al seems to be gaining confidence with every game as he is more aggressive on offense and more consistent on defense. But the confidence didn't come until he started getting consistent minutes.

Gerald got the start against Philly and at first, he seemed tentative but as the game wore on, he seemed more comfortable and was more aggressive. In his post game comments he said that he feels confident in his ability and wouldn't shy away from taking the last shot.

Tony Allen has recently begun to play more like the pre-injury Tony. He credits his awakening to confidence in his surgically repaired knee. He finally feels confident that it will hold up when he goes hard to the basket and when he dunks.

This brings me to the point of this piece. In Summer League and the beginning of the season, Rondo seemed very confident and was making things happen on the court. Then Doc suddenly stopped playing him and made the announcement that West would be the back up PG because Rondo didn't go for his own offense enough. In his recent brief appearances recently, it seems that he plays tentatively. I am worried that Doc is killing Rondo's confidence.