Wanted: a big guy that can score off the bench

Heading into this four-game West Coast swing, I think most people expected the Celts to go 3-1, maybe even 4-0.

Can't say anyone was guessing 1-3 but that's the way it turned out as the Celts had another fourth quarter meltdown (though it certainly wasn't as drastic as the Warriors game) in a 91-86 loss to the underrated Portland Trailblazers at the Rose Garden last night.

Playing without star Brandon Roy, the Blazers (20-12) used a fired up home crowd to pull off the upset.

Steve Blake led Portland with 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge notched 20 points and seven rebounds. Travis Outlaw (one of the best sixth men in the NBA) had 17 off the bench while Greg Oden had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

For the Celts (28-5), Paul Pierce scored a game-high 28 points, including 14-of-15 from the free throw line. Kevin Garnett added 17 points and eight rebounds and Rajon Rondo filled the stat sheet with 13 points, eight boards, seven assists and three steals.

Ray Allen managed to get 12 points but he shot a Larry Hughes-esque 2-of-11 from the floor.

The story of the game was the Portland bench which outscored Boston 29-9.

Jeff Van Gundy pointed it out during the Lakers game on Christmas and it gets more clear every night what the C's biggest hole is at this moment. They need another big guy, preferably one that can score off the bench. P.J. Brown was perfect in that role late last season and especially in the playoffs.

He seems content in retirement and the Rockets just brought back Mutombo, a name that had been floating around for a while (not that he can score at all anymore). Antonio McDyess would have been exactly what they needed but he returned to the Pistons after being traded to the Nuggets.

Boston came out strong and led 23-13 after the first quarter. The Blazers started to wake up in the second and only trailed 45-40 at the half.

Portland took the third (29-24) and fourth (22-17) both by five points as Boston came unraveled in crunch time.

The one good thing about the outcome is that it the Blazers didn't win by one or two points. Late in the first half, Portland had six men on the court (something I've never seen) and scored a hoop. Naturally, Boston stopped playing and the shot shouldn't have counted but for whatever reason, the refs allowed it to stand. Uh, Really? Somewhere Tim Doneghy nods his head in approval from his jail cell.

Eddie House had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left but he shot an airball over Oden.

Portland shot 45.2% to Boston's 40.3%. The C's were 3-of-14 on threes but 29-of-31 at the line. The Blazers killed the Celtics on the glass (44-29) which is something that never happens to this team.

After what was no doubt a long, quiet flight home, the C's get back to action on Friday night with a gimmee when the worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards limp to the Garden.

Luck of the Irish? Not so much

I had meant to write a little draft preview going into tonight's NBA lottery but I forgot/didn't want to jinx the Celtics chances. Well, as we can all see by now, the Celtics are completely screwed. For the second half of this past terrible season, Celtics fans were banking on finishing with one of the worst records (second-worst, check) so that they would have the best shot of landing either Kevin Durant-forward from Texas or Greg Oden-center from Ohio State. As both were eliminated from March Madness and cryptically declared for the draft, things seemed to be turning up the C's way. The Boston Globe the last few days bombarded readers with the odds of the Celtics getting picks 1-5(the worst possible spot they could get). So what happened? As I waited anxiously for the cards to be drawn in beautiful Secaucus, NJ (the NBA bunker's headquarters), the NBA hit Boston with a low blow: the fifth pick.

I was in seventh grade when the Tim Duncan fiasco occurred (the Celtics had two lottery picks, a 44% chance to get no. 1 and only ended up with #3 and #6) so while I have memorized all of its key elements after the fact, I didn't really pay too much attention to it at the time. Durant-Oden is my initiation into Celtics fan hell. I can't say I'm a die-hard Celtics fan-who can these days?-since the only real above average squad in my formative years was the 2001-2002 version led by Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers. They were up 2-1 in the East Finals on the Nets after having the greatest fourth quarter comeback in playoff history and then they proceeded to lose their next three. Thereby eliminating the possibility of a Lakers-Celtics Finals reunion (a 80's rivalry for the ages). Since then, the Celtics have gotten progressively younger and worse. Not to mention the fact that the NBA is pretty terrible as a whole. Too many games, dead crowds, all one-on-one play, music during play and uninspired players would be the initial gripes off the top of my head. This was supposed to be the night that turned the franchise around.

I love college basketball-my favorite sport (ie. I can watch any game, any time)-and watching Durant and Oden to a lesser degree was a privilege and an honor this year. They both have incredible games, upside, demeanor, etc. They will both be All-Stars for years to come, they transcend the sport. People that know little about baskeball already know these two. For practical purposes, Oden would have been a better fit since the Celtics biggest weakness is interior defense. His offensive game is still developing but he can already play low-post d with the best of them. And Durant is just a player. He can fill it up like few I've seen yet he's unselfish and can do pretty much everything else on the court.

I go to multiple Celtics games a year but lately it's just gotten pathetic. They have talent (Pierce) and budding stars (Jefferson) but they're so young (Gerald Green) and have made so many bad moves (signing Scalabrine to a $30 million dollar deal; trading the pick that ended up being Brandon Roy for Sebastian Telfair) not to mention the fact that Danny Ainge is utterly incompetent. And Doc Rivers? The jury is still out on him. Good guy for the media and no one could have done much with the borderline NBDL team they had in the late part of the season but still, he has never consistently won in the NBA. As terrible as the Celtics are, a healthy and motivated Pierce, Jefferson + Durant or Oden would have made them a playoff team in the East. Don't believe me? Did you see the Nets in the playoffs? They won a series. And the Cavs are in the East Finals, anything is possible in this joke Conference.

I won't play the woe is me card, I'll leave that to Bill Simmons. While the Celtics past 20 years have been horrific, Boston as a sports city has nothing to complain about with the Patriots and Red Sox outstanding play in the last six years. All we wanted was for the Celtics to be relevant again. I've heard the stories, seen some of the games and vaguely remember the final days of the Garden. It's clearer now than ever that those times are gone forever and it's best just to move on with our sporting lives. With the Suns controversial exit last week in the playoffs and this latest setback for the Celtics, the NBA continues to slide in my eyes.