Pretty soon this could get awful ugly

The Celtics went on a six-game winning streak, turned around their season, and won 49 games. They are in need of a similar 180 here and now, before "Destination Secaucus" becomes the title of the 2003-04 Celtics highlight film.

After last night's mystifying 110-106 loss to the Suns, a loss that saw them lose a 29-point lead (and a 26-point halftime lead), the Celtics, already basically irrelevant in this city, are moving perilously close to NBA irrelevancy, a spot they haven't inhabited in a while. Even with the combustible Pitino around, the Celtics were newsmakers, not always in the right way.

The danger now, especially with tough road games ahead in Denver and Utah, is that more losses accrue and things start to spiral out of control and we start calling MIT for the lottery formulas. Sure, it's early. But it was early, too, in 2001 when O'Brien challenged the fellows and for good reason -- he wanted to avoid what his team is going through now.

You see a train wreck coming, you take the plane. Sometimes, that's easier said than done.

"We don't want to get into a situation where we stop believing in ourselves," O'Brien said. "I think this team has a great deal of resilience and it will show it."

It had better. Otherwise, things could get ugly. O'Brien isn't any worse of a coach than he was last year, or the year before, but he's not getting the results he did last year, or the year before. Neither did Doc Rivers. The attention always focuses on the coach in these kinds of situations. In many cases, it's patently unfair. But that's life in the NBA and O'Brien knows it.

This is the fifth different team O'Brien has had to coach since he replaced Pitino. He had the 2000-01 team, two teams in 2001-02 (the team before and after the Joe Johnson-Rodney Rogers deal) and he had last year's team. We don't have to tell you that this year's team mirrors last year's team in name only.

He has two new starters. He has a big man (Raef LaFrentz) who he said he couldn't use last night when the Suns went small in the second half. A big man who was the supposed key to the Antoine Walker deal, who is making a ton of money, and who has to be seen as vital to any success the Celtics may achieve this season. A big man who played eight minutes last night. What's that all about? Counting the two Celtics on injured reserve (Kendrick Perkins, Brandon Hunter), there are seven new Celtics. Counting the recovering Vin Baker, there are eight. Plus, there's a new style of play, a new boss looking over O'Brien's shoulder, anxious new owners, and no point guards -- again.

There are games that define seasons. The past two years, most of those games for the Celtics have been big wins; the comebacker at Memphis last season, the victory in Los Angeles over the Lakers, two wins in Portland. Sure there have been losses -- O'Brien has never beaten a Texas team home or away -- but the success the Celtics enjoyed the last two seasons inevitably led to mild expectations of more this season.

We all figured it might take some time for this particular unit to jell, especially after the lateness of the Walker trade. We figured that the Celtics might even take a step back before moving forward again. That still might be true. Last night's devastating and humiliating loss might be the catalyst to turn around a season -- or it could be a backbreaker from which the still-fragile Celtics fail to recover.

You could see things slipping for the Celtics last night when they started relying on 3-point shots to bail them out. They hoisted 29 of them last night, 18 in the second half and 11 in the fourth quarter (they took 18 shots in that final period). Meanwhile, they took only 21 free throws.

That was their identity last year. That got them to 44 wins and the second round of the playoffs. It also made them patently unwatchable. This is a new year, a new team, a new system, and a new set of problems. There's still a lot of time left, which, right now, is both good news and bad. O'Brien was here for the dark days and he doesn't want to go there again. It's no fun.

The NBA is a league without mercy. If O'Brien still has another season-defining chat left in him, today is the day he should deliver it.