It is starting to look like the wheels may be coming off in Boston.
The Celtics got blown out by the lowly Detroit Pistons yesterday, their second loss to the 11-22 team in less than a week. The Celtics are sitting at 15-15 right now, and with two tough games coming up against the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder, they could be falling even further down the standings if they do not get things together soon.
Not only are they losing, but the frustrations seem to be boiling over as well. During yesterday’s game, point guard Rajon Rondo did not agree with the referees not calling a foul on one of his drives to the basket. He has a legitimate case, but his reaction is definitely uncalled for. UPDATE: The league has suspended Rondo for two games because of the incident leading to his ejection Sunday.
Rondo gets up and clearly complains to the ref that it should have been a foul, and then flips the ball in the ref’s direction. Since we don’t know what his intention was, we cannot say he threw the ball AT the ref, but to me it looked like that is what he was trying to do.
Plus, we know how good and accurate of a passer Rondo is. I mean, look at how much velocity he gets on the ball with a little flick of the wrist.
So Rondo got a double technical which means an ejection from the game. He will most likely be facing a fine and possibly a suspension as well. The Celtics cannot afford to lose Rondo right now.
And he is not the only one that is frustrated though, Paul Pierce had some harsh words after the loss.
“Nobody likes to lose, but at the same time nobody likes to lose when you don’t feel like you’re competing,” said Pierce. “I mean, if you can go out there and say you gave your best effort and we lose to a better team, then hats off to them. But I think we’re a better team than Detroit. They just played harder than us tonight. And we should never come into the locker room being able to say that.”
Can the Celtics right the ship and get back on course? That remains to be seen but they clearly have an attitude problem that needs fixing. Their schedule over the next month is far from a cake walk, if they do not get it together soon, they may be missing the postseason.
