By Brendan Lynch

In case anybody didn't notice, the Boston Celtics suffered a franchise worst 52-point HOME loss to the Detroit Pistons last Friday. This came after suffering a then franchise worst 45-point loss to the Washington Wizards earlier in the season. The Pistons fiasco was the 2nd in a 4 game losing streak and exposed the shortcomings of a flawed team that at times plays exceptionally well.

The final score last Friday was 118-66. The Pistons, who because of Ben Wallace play 4 on 5 on offense, and who rank 25th in the league averaging 90.7 points per game, scored 118 points. 118 points! We're not talking about the Kings, Mavericks or 1983 Nuggets here. The brutal, embarrassing loss serves as a microcosm of the C's season, which looks to be neither great nor awful, but somewhere in the "they're OK" middle.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the Celtics need to rely on Herculean efforts from Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce most games. The all-star pair play 42.1 and 40.5 minutes a game, respectively, and dominate all of the Celtics’ major statistical categories. There's a good reason for all of that, being the unspectacular supporting cast, but at times it gets ridiculous. The 2nd Detroit game was Walker's 1st game back with from a knee injury. Wearing a gigantic brace and sleeve, he went 1 for 15 from the field. Think it might have been a good night to spread the ball around? Earlier in the week against the same Pistons, a Walkerless Pierce scored 30 points on 31 shots. I don’t care who your teammates are, pass the ball! Better passing, less one-on-one improvisation and more rest for Pierce and Walker might lead to a bump in the win column. Of course, if I was Coach Jim O'Brien, I wouldn't want to take them out of the game either, so my point might be moot.

On to that supporting cast. Since this column seems to be dedicated to stressing the obvious, I'll beat another dead horse into the ground. Vin Baker is awful. I'd feel bad for the guy if he wasn't in the middle of an eighty-million dollar noose of a contract that will continue to hang the Celtics for years to come, but he is, so I'm just angry. Last week GM Chris Wallace told the Boston Herald, "I don't think the last chapter's been written on Vin yet. He's been a very significant player in this league at times in the past, and he can go on in the future and help us." Presumably, he was dead serious. Maybe Baker will help out the Celtics by totally preventing any free agent signings or trades for the next few years. Tony Delk has been injured of late after a promising start, and Tony Battie has given up practicing due to ongoing knee troubles. That can't be good, but Battie is playing well nonetheless. Shammond Williams, though healthy has been alternating between poor shooting nights and DNP-Coach's decisions. After coming back from early injury, Kedrick Brown has shown flashes of effectiveness and amazing athleticism, but has yet to do anything on a consistent basis.

On the bright side, JR Bremer has played well since becoming the staring point guard after Delk went down. The undrafted rookie is averaging 13 points and 4.4 assists as a starter, in addition to shooting almost 38% from the 3-point line. Most importantly, Bremer has been consistent for a Celtics team that is constantly searching for, finding, losing and searching again for a 3rd option. Eric Williams and Walter McCarty have been Eric Williams and Walter McCarty, providing tough defense, energy and a bit of scoring and rebounding help here and there. McCarty is averaging 23 minutes a game, probably a sign that things are not working out the way that O'Brien had planned.

With all of that said, The C's are still in 2nd place in the Atlantic, only one game behind last year's pace, and any game can basically go either way. Orlando, Philly and Washington, have been nice enough to play just as badly as the C's of late, so the season can still be saved. I just hope that Wallace has another trade deadline deal up his sleeves to bump the team up from "OK" to "wicked good."

Brendan Lynch is a writer in Boston, and can be reached at bmolynch@hotmail.com


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