Celtics (41-14) at Nuggets (33-25)

[JohnBagleyValueMeal]

Are these threads always like this after losses?

Ha. During and/or after wins, sometimes.

[ACF]

Can't wait for the ESPN "statement win" (or whatever) headline 

[zerophase]

Celtics had 9 players 2nite. give'em a break. I didn't really expect them to win.

i won't pass judgement on this team until everyone is healthy and we see what this team can actually do.

[Adelaide Celt]

Ahead 75-73 and lose 75-89... One very bad stretch cost us.

Should be OK once things have had a chance to settle.

[Greenbean]

Talk about a choke.

Not a choke.  A veteran team on a short rotation ran out of steam at the end.  Understandable, but still disappointing.

Pierce has played 28 minutes, Allen -- 33 minutes, and they still can't buy a bucket. It's a choke job alright.

If those guys only played that few minutes, that means our non existent bench played to many minutes. Why are you ignoring the fact that we are shorthanded?

Because it is irrelevant the way the particular situation was.

We had the lead in crunch time, and our best scorers, who haven't played much all night, failed to get anything going. That's it -- we had this game and we gave it away to a mediocre Denver squad.

Technically you are right. They couldnt buy a bucket late and Denver wouldnt miss. I would just never call this a choke. They looked tired at the end whether its minutes played or just emotions. If they had their full compliment of players maybe they would have had a 15 point lead to choke away. The back half of this team was just blown up. I didnt even expect any effort tonight and they played hard for most of the game.

[aporel#18]

Ok, ok, they lost because they got no bench, and because they were taking jumpers all night. At the end they were tired and the shooting percentage went down. They didn't attack the basket as Doc likes to ask them, so they lost.

I'm proud of the team, and emotions aside, with 6 rotation (7 if you count Von) players they could certainly do worse. Then you have to add the emotional impact of the trade deadline and things don't seem so bad.

Next game will be different, hopefully a win.

Go Celtics!!

[houseonfire09]

Can't wait for the ESPN "statement win" (or whatever) headline 

Nah, a "statement win" is when Miami almost beats the Celtics when the Celtics are playing with an injured Pierce and a 7 man rotation.  A win by Denver tonight... everyone will forget about it next Tuesday.

[Kid Holla]

Didn't expect the Cs to win this game. We had only 9 players and everyone was down about the Perk trade. Let's just get ready for Griffin.

[GreenFaith1819]

Can't wait for the ESPN "statement win" (or whatever) headline 

lol...don't worry it will come.

ESPN has hyped up MIA and LA all season, so with this trade I am sure they are waiting to throw Boston under the bus.

[fairweatherfan]

Barkley is very complimentary of this trade, thinks it's a great move for us. 

I'm not sure whether to be happy or very, very worried by that.

[kozlodoev]

Technically you are right. They couldnt buy a bucket late and Denver wouldnt miss. I would just never call this a choke. They looked tired at the end whether its minutes played or just emotions. If they had their full compliment of players maybe they would have had a 15 point lead to choke away. The back half of this team was just blown up. I didnt even expect any effort tonight and they played hard for most of the game.

Actually, Denver missed plenty, even late into the game -- and instead of breaking their backs, we settled for jumpers and shot clock violations... Ah well.

[Q_FBE]

Both teams played very poorly, one team was flat the whole night, the other team was sloppy until 6 minutes left in the game and then finished nicely with a 16-0 run.

This was not a good day at all for Celtics fans. We lost our enforcer and run the risk of being bullied and brow beaten out of contention. This is absolutely sickening.

[The Walker Wiggle]

From the post game via ESPN's Chris Fosberg:

"Tough day to play basketball, you know? Very tough day to play basketball; To even concentrate, to be bluntly honest." - Kevin Garnett

And from NESN's Evans Clinchy:

"Perk, Luke, Semih, Quis, everybody who was here, those are brothers for life." - Kevin Garnett, tellingly forgetting Nate Robinson.

L.A. Blogger Nate Jones:

Just read Rajon didn't speak to the media tonight. I don't know if Ainge really understands what he did by moving Perk.

[jimmywolfrey]

Probably should have gone with Delonte down the stretch instead of one of the other guys..maybe Rondo.  He seemed really out of it.  His best friend on the team and a definite fan favorite gone.  

Delonte seemed like the only one not affected by everything.  Paul had starry eyes, Rondo looked scarred, Ray Allen was frustrated, Big Baby sucked but I guess KG played decent.  He came out when the score was like 74-73 or whatever..and then the letdown happened.

Hopefully they recover and see that Jeff Green is pretty darn good.