By: Dan Massar, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

Was Saturday’s loss to the Nets the worst in franchise history for the Celtics?  Channel 5 sports anchor Bob Halloran said on the air following the loss that an argument could be made that it was.  There’s no argument that it was one of the worst losses of the Pierce-Garnett-Allen era.  (I refuse to call them the Big Three anymore, that title belongs to the Bird-McHale-Parish trio that won 3 titles in the 80’s).  The Nets came into the game with a 5-52 record, by far the worst record in the league and it puts them in position to potentially become the worst team ever, the 1972-73’ 76ers hold the mark at 9-73.

But just how bad was it?  Pierce didn’t play, but the Celts still had two All Stars on the floor in Rondo and Garnett and a former All Star in Allen.  This was an embarrassing loss.  The Celtics had just been beaten by 20 by the Cavaliers on Thursday in a game they led by double digits.  Danny Ainge called the team out before the Nets game.  He especially went after the starters saying to reporters, “I think the onus is on the starters.  The good news is we are getting double-digit leads, but we are not doing a good enough job of finishing games.”  That apparently didn’t light a fire under anyone in green.  The Celtics jumped out to a 12-2 lead, only to squander it and trailed by as many as 18 at one point in the 4th Quarter.  They made Brook Lopez look like Hakeem Olajuwon in his prime.

The Celtics look disinterested in the regular season.  Not terribly surprising for a veteran team that has won a title before.  They are just waiting for the playoffs to begin.  But the problem is this team isn’t good enough to just turn it on in the postseason.  They need to reestablish their defensive intensity and chemistry on offense.  With a month and a half left of the regular season, there’s time to get back to basics.  We’ll see if Saturday’s loss to the Nets wakes the team up or puts them into a permanent slumber.

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