How often did Hubie Brown say "outquicked and outworked" in the 4th quarter? 13 times? I wasn't counting, but he said it every time the Spurs beat the Celtics to a loose ball or grabbed an offensive rebound. And that was a lot.
Manu Ginobili (28 points, 7 assists) and Richard Jefferson (16 points, 11 rebounds) destroyed the Celtics.
The Celtics trailed by just one at halftime. But the guys came out with ZERO energy in the 3rd quarter.
On defense, the Spurs were passing the ball around the perimeter like the Globetrotters and the Celtics were chasing like the Washington Generals. On offense, the ball was "sticking" as Doc likes to say. The Celtics shot 37% and 7% (1-14) from 3. They scored 30 points in the 2nd half.
The lone bright spot for the Celtics was Shelden Williams - 13 points, 5-5 FG in 11 minutes.
The Celtics effort was so weak and the shooting was so poor tonight, they wouldn't have beaten the Nets.
The first quarter was so promising. Paul Pierce and KG each had 8 points as the Celtics led 23-19. Fourteen of the team's 23 points came in the paint.
The warning signs appeared in the streaky 2nd quarter. The Spurs came out strong and found themselves up 10 after a 16-3 run. The Celtics closed the half on a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to one.
Rasheed Wallace had 7 of his 8 rebounds in the 1st half.