The Boston Celtics played the Miami Heat without Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett, and still won the game by 30. The Celtics' leading scorer was Leon Powe who came off the bench for 25. Their second-leading scorer was Rajon Rondo who poured in 23; their third-leading scorers were the other Allen, Tony, and Eddie House who each put up 20. Paul Pierce, the other member of the vaunted Big 3, only had 7 points.
Pierce was the only star who showed up for either team. Shaquille O'Neal remains on the shelf for Miami with a bad hip, and Dwyane Wade...he played, but only scored 7 on 1-9 shooting, and had to leave early with the flu.
Pat Riley blamed the loss on general flatness. "It's almost as though the ending of the losing streak pulled the plug," Riley said. "Because we didn't bring anything."
The losing streak got to 15 games before the Heat broke it against Indiana. Now they've lost 16-of-17, and have usurped the Knicks as biggest disaster in the NBA.
Pat Riley says he'll keep coaching, but why? And why should the Heat want him to keep coaching? A catastrophe this enormous demands action. The Heat should dump Riley, and also tell fat Shaq to take a hike. Both are dinosaurs. Dwyane Wade is still young, though oft-injured and apparently distracted by off-the-court activities. The Heat need to blow up this shipwreck and rebuild around the one decent part they have left.
The Celtics, meanwhile, have to feel giddy as schoolgirls. They lost two of their stars and still put up well over 100 points, albeit against a dismal team. It's good news for a championship-caliber squad any time they can get their bench guys some extended action during the season. This experience will only help them when the playoffs roll around.
Permalink | Send To A Friend | Linking Blogs | Digg this!
Filed under:
NBA
