<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>By Peter May, Globe Staff | January 28, 2007How to accurately assess the damage? There have been heartbreakers. There have been blown leads. There have been comebacks that have fallen just short. There have been losses -- 10 straight -- to the good and the bad. It has been 23 days since the Celtics won a game. They have not discriminated in where they have lost -- five at home, five on the road -- or to whom they have lost -- 0-5 against teams with winning records as of yesterday and 0-5 against teams with non-winning records. (Toronto was at 22-22 entering last night's game at Indiana.) They've lost in two countries, but in only one time zone. They have lost with nine men, 10 men, and 11 men.The average margin of defeat in the 10 games: 6.8 points. Only one of the losses has been by 10 or more points (97-84 to Indiana Jan. 10) and six have been by 6 points or fewer (although none was closer than 4). They've been pretty much equal opportunity losers."We just keep coming up empty," coach Doc Rivers said matter-of-factly after the latest setback, a 96-90 loss to Toronto Friday night. "It's tough. We're doing the best we can. But we are so mistake-prone because of who we are."No Celtic team has gone through such a drought since the 1999-2000 edition dropped 10 in a row in March and April, putting the kibosh on what turned out to be a delusional run at the postseason. No Celtic team ever has lost more than 13 in a row, but with games this week against the Wizards, Pacers, Lakers, and Clippers, these Celtics will need a victory over a decent team to snap the skid.You could make the case that with three of those four at home, the chances are promising, but then you see that no team in the NBA has a worse home record (4-16, including eight straight losses) than Boston. Only one team, Memphis, has a worse overall record.Asked how he thought the team was responding to the slide, veteran Brian Scalabrine said, "They're the AAU generation. They play 100 games in the summer. They don't even know what their [AAU] record is." Scalabrine paused, then continued, "Some guys handle losing differently. People who put their life into basketball look at a loss as the end of the world."Tonight, eight days after inflicting Loss No. 7 in the current streak, the Wizards make their first appearance of the season in Boston. (Only Milwaukee, Chicago, and Miami remain as Eastern Conference teams yet to grace the parquet.) The Washington loss Jan. 20 was the only one of the 10 that went into overtime, and that was after Boston erased a 21-point deficit in the third quarter.In that game, the Celtics rallied to take a 6-point lead in the fourth quarter but allowed Washington to force overtime with a 9-3 closing run. The Wizards then scored the first 5 points in extra innings and never looked back.Friday night, the Celtics also fought back from a deficit (14 points) and had a 6-point lead in the fourth quarter. Toronto then went on a 19-0 run to effectively end competition well before the final horn, even though the Celtics made it look closer with an 11-point outburst in the final 56.4 seconds.No time for this Sebastian Telfair logged only five minutes against the Raptors and has played only 28 minutes in the last four games. It was against Washington eight days ago that his minutes started to drop dramatically, as Rivers went with a small lineup that featured the two point guards ahead of Telfair at the moment, Delonte West and Rajon Rondo . . . Paul Pierce accompanied the team to Toronto but did not join it for the shootaround Friday morning . . . The Celtics had yesterday off and will come to work a little earlier than normal for tonight's game (a 6 p.m. start). "We just saw Washington," Rivers said by way of explanation. "Plus, we've only got 10 guys who are available to practice. I'm going with the [saving the] legs theory over the [using the] minds."Out of sight Whither Wally? Who knows? Wally Szczerbiak did not make the trip to Toronto. He hasn't played since Jan. 7 because of pain in his right ankle. Asked if he was surprised Szczerbiak was missing so much time, Rivers said, "Yeah. But I think with Wally, it's still too early because he wants to make sure it's right." Szczerbiak has said the same thing . . . Weird Stat Dept.: The Celtics are 2-19 when Gerald Green plays 18 or more minutes and 10-10 when he plays fewer than 18. (Green did not play in the season opener, a loss.)</div>http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/ce..._the_fall_line/Wow, that stat about Gerald is pretty surprising, to me at least, and I had no idea of that. I also think its good to note, especially for our future, that we've only lost one game by more than ten through all of this. They're staying in the games, they just can't pull through, and that will come as Pierce and Wally come back, and the kids get better.
That stat on Gerald is just another bullsh** stat out there. You could also say that when Gomes starts the 3, we are 0-10! OMG! BENCH GOMES!!! Give me a break. We have such a bad record when Gerald plays because the team has never been that good to begin with, and most of those losses occured when Pierce has been out (the last 17 games).
the main reason for that stat with gerald is because the times he played 18+ minutes is when pierce and/or szczerbiak were out. so it's not really gerald's fault.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nba dogmatist @ Jan 28 2007, 02:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>the main reason for that stat with gerald is because the times he played 18+ minutes is when pierce and/or szczerbiak were out. so it's not really gerald's fault.</div>I know. Its not his fault, I just found them to be... surprising? shocking?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (yankshater213 @ Jan 28 2007, 02:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I know. Its not his fault, I just found them to be... surprising? shocking?</div> I found them to be meaningless. Again, it has nothing to do with Gerald personally, it's the team in general with all the defensive lapses, turnovers, youth, and injuries.
