Bull

So... our guys blew another double digit fourth quarter lead last night, at home to the sub .500 Chicago Bulls, who happen to be between us and the free-falling Philadelphians.

Quoth my buddy Frank Laske:

"Celts...what can you say...10 point lead going into the 4th quarter...Have we heard this before? Do we want to hear anymore? Where's my 'done fork?'"

Right on Frank.

Can we please stop talking about the playoffs now? Pumping up some drive to get executed by the Pistons in four games was garbage to begin with, and it clearly hasn't inspired the team, particularly the youngsters. In fact, it really isn’t even fun to watch the kids anymore. Jefferson’s out (again). Perkins had 14 boards last night and Gomes 15 the nightbefore, but otherwise, both have been thorougly underwhelming over the past couple of weeks. Delonte's consistent. Green is still non-existent.

The Globe's Shira Springer makes a great point in her account of the loss. All this stuff about developing the kids and team progress seems pretty ridiculous in March when you're losing games in exactly the same ways you did in November and December.

Organizational rhetoric aside, I don't know how they bring Doc back next year. It was painful, but gratifying last Sunday to see SOMEONE in the media other than Bill Simmons take notice of the fact that Rivers' career coaching record is mediocre at best. The Globe's Peter May made the point that no one in the NBA has coached more games without a playoff win. And it ain't gonna start this year.

The take here is that if Rivers is back next year, he'll be on a short leash. If the team starts off with more of the same inconsistency and softness, Ainge will pull the trigger, can Rivers and either take the reins himself or go with Tony Brown, who actually has some pretty good experience and the respect of the players. We all love Doc and want to see him succeed, but watching the Celts this year has been like watching a car crash in slow motion over and overand over...