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Celtics wilt vs. Heat to hit new low
The X's and O's have not worked. The rotations haven't worked. Let's face it, nothing has worked in the last 16 games, all of them losses for the Boston Celtics. Last night, the Celtics managed to decisively lose a game in which they took 31 more shots than their opponent. Last night, the Celtics lost another player to injury (Wally Szczerbiak) when he sprained his ankle by stepping on the foot of a teammate who was not even in the game. Last night, Shaquille O'Neal looked like Mark Eaton in snowshoes and it didn't even matter.
And Doc Rivers has a dentist appointment today. (Insert your own punch line.)
The losing continues, unabated, for Rivers and the fellows, who dropped a 91-79 decision to the defending champion Miami Heat before 17,088 at TD Banknorth Garden. We are now at 16 and counting in the consecutive losses department, moving into record-book territory that once was the exclusive purview of teams like the Clippers, first-year expansion teams, the pre-Mark Cuban Dallas Mavericks, and the Washington Generals. The home record fell to 4-20 with their 12th straight setback in the Garden. The NBA record is 19 (the pre-Cuban Mavs of 1993-94).
Words like "tough" and "frustrating" have become part of the everyday vocabulary, so much so that Wyc Grousbeck, one of the team's owners, distributed some inspirational reading to the lads, according to the team. In each player's locker after the game was a copy of "The Adversity Advantage: Turning Everyday Struggles Into Everyday Greatness." It was ranked 67,548th in sales on amazon.com as of last night -- which is roughly the same number of hits that gregoden.com got last night from Celtics fans.
This one was not the wire-to-wire pistol whipping administered the night before by the Pistons, but it was close. Miami took its time getting out of the blocks, falling behind by 12 in the first quarter and by 10 after one. "A little slow," acknowledged Dwyane Wade. "It's freezing in that gym. You have to weather the storm."
The Heat then opened the second with a 10-0 run over 2:12 and that signaled they had decided to start competition for the evening. Miami led by 4 at the break, expanded the lead to 12 after three, and then turned it into a rout in the fourth, building the advantage to as many as 23 before the now-obligatory futile flurry from the Celtics made the final score look somewhat respectable.
"We didn't exactly beat them with our effort," conceded Miami coach Ron Rothstein. "We beat them with our talent."
Duh. When all else fails, talent is a nice thing to have. Wade ho-hummed his way to 30 points and nine assists. It was the 16th consecutive game he has scored 20 or more points. Jason Kapono -- that guy must have some Lithuanian blood in his family history -- added 19 on 7-of-11 shooting (and the four misses looked good). The only other Miami player in double figures was Gary Payton with 10. Shaq moseyed his way to 9 points and four rebounds in 25 hey-it's-just-my-eighth-game-back-from-rehab minutes. Old friend Antoine Walker was 1 of 7 for 2 points in 27-plus minutes. He missed all five of his 3-pointers.
That was still more than enough against the Celtics, who needed a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Ryan Gomes (15 points) to avoid shooting their worst percentage of the season. As it was, they shot 32 percent, which helps explain the huge difference in field goal attempts. The other is that Miami shot 51.5 percent. Szczerbiak had 14 points before rolling his left ankle on Leon Powe's foot in the third quarter. He said the sprain wasn't as bad as the others, but the others have kept him out for long stretches (he's missed 18 games). Powe said his foot was fine.
Miami won its season-best fifth straight game, is now only a game under .500, and, despite the record, is making itself part of the conference championship discussion. As Rivers noted before the game, "They have to be. They have Shaq and Wade. That's 1-2 in the league, or at least in the East, and they're on the same team. They'll be in the thick of things." They've also got two more games against the Celtics, which can't hurt.
As for the hosts, they'll be back again tomorrow night in what has become their own charnel house, trying to end this grisly streak against the Nets, who have issues of their own (such as injuries and chemistry). Hey, it has to end sometime.
Peter May can be reached at P_May@globe.com. 