Celtics Struggle Offensively as They Fall to the Bulls 94-78

The Celtics stayed with the Bulls in the first half but struggled offensively in the second half and allowed the Bulls to get some easy baskets and came up short, losing to the Bulls 94-78. The Celtics turned the ball over 17 times and shot only 38% from the field while allowing the Bulls to shoot 51%. The Bulls won the battle of the boards and outrebounded the Celtics 43-39.

Leon Powe was a bright spot tonight, making the most of his playing time as always. he played 17 minutes and scored a career high 11 points on 4-5 shooting to go with 7 rebounds and 1 block. He was the player of the game and also won the Tommy Award. In his post game press conference Doc said that Powe doesn’t always get the offensive sets but he plays so hard he makes up for it. He also said that he loves having Leon on the floor which makes me wonder why Powe gets so few minutes. Perk also played well defensively and finished with 2 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Al had an off night and finished with only 10 points on 5-10 shooting, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. Scal played 20 minutes and had 6 points, 0 rebounds and 2 steal. I still think Powe should be getting more minutes than Scal.

Rondo started at the point for the second straight game and played very well. He wasn’t as strong offensively as he was in the last game shooting only 5-15 from the field. But he had 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals. Telfair played well off the bench finishing with 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 24 minutes. Ray was solid off the bench with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 13 minutes.

Pierce had an off game hitting only 2-14 shots for 8 points to go with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal. He held the ball too much trying to beat double teams, resorting to old bad habits. Green also had an off night shooting 5-14 for 15 points with 3 rebounds and 1 assist. He tried to do too much and instead of shooting off the catch that is his strength, he either held the ball or tried to dribble in closer, which often resulted in a turnover. Although, Gerald did have a dunk that should make the top 10 plays of the night where he came up under the basket and slammed it with authority.

We face the Bulls in Chicago on Tuesday night. We will probably have West back by then. With the way Rondo has been playing, I would much rather see him continue to start at the point and have West start at the 2 as we need his offense and Rondo has been running the point very well. The Bulls play terrific defense and we will have to play much better if we expect to get a win there.

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