CLEVELAND - With nothing to play for - Eastern Conference seedings had been settled the previous night - the Celtics simply did not compete yesterday against the Cleveland Cavaliers in suffering a 107-76 beating, their worst loss in more than two years.
But the Celtics did not lie down completely.
Guard Ray Allen, usually the most poised of Celtics, showed the team is ready and willing to fight, even in a losing cause.
Allen tangled with Brazilian forward Anderson Varejao late in the third quarter and the two were separated by officials. Varejao sent Allen to the court while positioning on a Paul Pierce free throw attempt, and Allen appeared to retaliate with an elbow to the groin. Double technicals were issued.
"It was a dirty play, when he threw me to the ground," Allen said. "He locked my arm in and threw me to the ground, but I wasn't going to allow him to think he could just do whatever he wanted . . . I'm always going to stand up for myself and anybody on this team.
"So, from that nature, it's one thing if a team is beating us, but they are not going to walk all over us. I had to make a statement. It was embarrassing for us to get beat that way, playing on national TV, but we just have to lick our wounds, be ready to play [tomorrow], and start getting tuned in. But we know what we did wrong. I love the adversity, with teams, you know all things aren't going to be great for us and we know we have to come and win in this building if we want to get another ring."
Celtic players insisted they came into the contest motivated. If so, they soon seemed to lose interest.
The Celtics (60-20), who visit Philadelphia tomorrow, were out of contention after being outscored, 31-9, in the opening quarter. They shot 3 for 20 and were scoreless from the field for the final 4:32 of the opening quarter (outscored, 15-1).
LeBron James (29 points) led the way for Cleveland (65-15), which improved to 39-1 at home, a win short of tying the 1985-86 Celtics for the league record for home victories.
The game might have been over before it started for the Celtics. But the Cavaliers are still fighting the Los Angeles Lakers for the overall best record, and they were focused for long periods of time, finally celebrating the moment with a James-led dance session during a timeout with 2:04 remaining.
Before that, James was dancing on defenders, converting 5 of his 8 field goals from 3-point range, and adding two 3-point plays on drives. James muscled off the grips of both Glen Davis and Rajon Rondo on an impressive move to the basket early in the third quarter. And the Cavaliers had enough points to win as James launched an improbable-looking 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer for a 79-55 advantage with 59.5 seconds left in the third.
"They played great, give them credit," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said of the Cavaliers. "I thought they attacked us early. We didn't have great focus. I thought we had one stretch in the second quarter where we did fight back. But they jumped on us.
"The only thing that is upsetting me is the trend now for about four or five games where, in the first quarter, we're getting smashed, and the second unit comes in and bails us out. Against a team like the Cavs on the road, that isn't going to happen. But we'll be all right."
The Celtics, whose previous low-scoring game this season was an 86-77 loss at Milwaukee March 15, clinched the No. 2 seed in the East when Orlando was defeated by the New Jersey Nets Saturday night.
"We were going too fast," Rivers said. "Everbody was quick, taking quick shots. That is not our team. I don't know if it ever changed. I thought the ball stuck a lot. We don't do it often but it happens to all teams. Every guy thought, 'You know what? I am going to win this game for us.' I told our guys I understand that you want to win but that's not how you win. You win by playing together."
And, in the case of the Cavaliers, by playing and celebrating together.
"I'm always in tune with that, when teams celebrate," Allen said. "That's why, the other end of the spectrum, if I beat a team, as happy as I'll be in victory, I'm going to always stay humble and always remember there's going to be another day. You see teams going up and you see them going back down. We play each other too much and those things are a great motivation."
