There was the December 19, 2007, game against the Detroit Pistons. It was the first time Garnett, Pierce and Allen faced the Pistons as the members of the Boston Celtics. The Pistons won, handing Boston its only loss during nineteen-game span last season.You could call that a statement game. I called it a feeling-out process between two great heavyweights.
In my mind, Doc Rivers was batting 100% in statement games until tonight. Regular season sweeps against the Texas teams and the Lakers, wins at home in games one and two of the first two rounds of the playoffs, the road win against the Pistons in the ECFs, and, really, any of the four wins in the Finals. Plus a 27-2 start this year that included a couple of headliners as well.
It couldn't last forever.
The loss drops the green to a still otherworldly 27-3. The losing team was bound to cry "the beat goes on," and I see no reason not to join the crowd on this one.
Tomorrow night brings Golden State. Doc and the Big Three have been pretty good at turning single losses into the next winning streak. Let's see if we can grow from this loss.
4 comments:
To me this wasn't a statement the ones so far have been reserved for teams that have given or think they can give them trouble - pacers hawks blazers all the teams that lost home games last season. They've beat them all played their best D.
They've already proved their dominance over the lakers and know they're insecure. You know how good teams struggle with mediocre teams on the road because they play down to their level it almost seems the Celts couldn't bother to show up - think of how they started the games in Houston, Detroit, Toronto and Atlanta. I think the next statement games are in Portland and Cleveland
That being said its disappointing loss but I'll take a loss like this when they clearly didn't play well because they'll definitely learn from their mistakes. Here's hoping tomorrow is the start of another steak. Merry christmas :)
We proved our dominance last year.
All we've done this year is go 27-3, mostly against below .500 teams.
We've now played 12 games against above .500 teams, and lost two. Not particularly impressive.
The statement to be made was "we've still got your number."
Instead, the answer was "no you don't."
Honestly I doubt the Lakers feel much better after the victory than they did before. What I took from this game is that the Lakers still wouldn't win a 7 game series. This should have been a blowout - Celtics did not play with their usual focus, defense was shaky, reffing was questionable, Kobe hit tough shots, great games from Odom, Gasol, Walton and Vujacic. If the two teams meet in Boston and in the finals its unlikely all these things would happen again.
Lakers needed this win and they played like it. If they win in Boston then I'd be concerned.
Celtics say they want to get better and it seems they try harder for teams they think pose a threat. Maybe I'm overly optimistic but that's how I see it :)
I'll agree it's time to move on.
Let's see how we do against some other teams.
And let's see what Danny can do in the front office.
It's still December 2008
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