Celtics coach Doc Rivers sounded exasperated after his team's loss on Sunday. (AP)

After the Celtics suffered a 103-88 blowout loss to the Pistons in Detroit on Sunday night, coach Doc Rivers blasted his team for its lack of intensity and effort. He hinted at changes to either the lineup or the roster if the team continues the dispassionate play that the coach suggested had characterized not just the team’s three straight losses but even some of the victories towards the end of a six-game winning streak that preceded the current string of defeats.

“I think this team wants everything easy,” Rivers told reporters in Detroit after the Celtics fell back to .500 at 20-20. “They want the easy way out. They want to win easy. And I told them the only way you’re going to win easy is you’re going to have to play hard. The harder you play, the easier the games become. We’re taking the wrong approach. I’ve got to either find the right combination, the right guys, or we’re going to get some guys out of here. It’s the bottom line. Because this group right now, they are not playing right. It’s in them to play right. But right now they haven’t been — either because I’m not getting to them, or they are not getting to each other. But at the end of the day, either we’ve got to do that, or we’ve got to make changes.” Read the rest of this entry »

Avery Bradley

Avery Bradley will sit out Friday night’s game against the Bulls with sore ribs suffered in Wednesday’s loss to the Hornets. Leandro Barbosa will make his second start of the season in his place.

Friday’s starting five of Rajon Rondo, Barbosa, Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Paul Pierce marks the 11th different lineup coach Doc Rivers has used this season.

This is the first game Bradley has missed since missing the first 30 games as he recovered from shoulder surgeries. The team went 14-16 in his absence. With Bradley back, the Celtics are 6-2 and have improved their defense significantly. Bradley is averaging 8.1 points in eight games while the team has not allowed 100 points. The Celtics are allowing just 86.8 points in Bradley’s return.

For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said he was very happy for his players Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett to make the All-Star team. Before Friday’s game with the Bulls at TD Garden, Rivers said both were very worthy and deserving.

“I think it’s great,” Rivers said. “I think they both deserve it. It’s something Rondo, at this point of his life and age, really wants to do and make and probably Kevin wants the honor of it, especially with the fact Kevin didn’t make it last year and to make it this year is pretty cool.”

Rivers laughed when told that TNT NBA TV analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal said Garnett didn’t deserve to be starting on the Eastern squad in place of Tyson Chandler.

“I’ll let them talk,” Rivers added. “That’s fine. Kevin’s on it, right? That’s all that matters. There’s a lot of people that disagree with them.”

Rondo indicated before the game that he will target Garnett during the game in Houston, trying to feed him plenty of lobs to get him in the offense.

For the Celtics, facing the boy they watched grow into a top-10 NBA draft pick during his dad’s nine seasons in Boston, it was weird to finally see Austin Rivers looking back at them on the parquet in a Hornets uniform.

“It’s just a strange dynamic,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers after losing to his son, 90-78. “I didn’t enjoy it, honestly. I know it’s neat for everyone else, but as a father, I don’t know if I enjoyed that.”

“It was strange for everybody in here,” added Kevin Garnett. “If we didn’t feel old [before], we feel a little old [now], obviously, seeing a little kid that used to say absolutely nothing, dribble his ball and kind of be in his own little world to being a young man now in the league, trying to make something of himself, doing a good job of it, talking trash, running up and down, leading his team. It’s good. It’s good to see Austin doing real good.”

Garnett might have wanted to seem do a little worse, actually, since Austin’s eight points on 3-of-6 field goals — including a running layup during their momentum-stealing run in the second quarter — marked his best scoring and shooting night this month. His 23 minutes were more than he played in his previous three games combined.

Maybe that’s why it was the 20-year-old Rivers who felt the most comfortable in such a strange situation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Doc Rivers didn’t enjoy himself Wednesday. Not only did his Celtics see their six-game win streak end in a 90-78 loss to the Hornets at TD Garden, he had to coach against his son with incredible mixed emotions. Austin Rivers had eight points in 22 minutes off the New Orleans bench.

“You know, it was strange,” Rivers said. “It was funny, the one time he did something, I was about to say something and I didn’t say it – I caught myself – I forgot he was on the other team. Other than that, it’s just a strange dynamic. I didn’t enjoy it, honestly. I know it’s neat for everyone else, but as a father, I don’t know if I enjoyed that.”

Did his eye keep drifting to Austin?

“No, you detach from it, but you do see him,” the coach acknowledged. “I mean, you see your son run by you down the floor. I mean, that’s just different. The one time he made the layup in front of our bench and run right by you, you know I’m used to like, ‘Keep going!” and instead I’m yelling at my guy for letting him get to the basket. So it’s just different. George Karl this summer, we were laughing, and he said, ‘It’s going to be strange’ and he said, ‘your guy’s going to play more.’ And he was right.”

When Rivers got knocked to the floor by Paul Pierce at the end of the third quarter, Rivers said he didn’t fear for his son at all. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even flinch.

“No, I don’t,” Rivers said. “That’s one thing my kids know with me; when you go to the floor I don’t flinch. ‘Get the hell up.’ They all laugh at that, because that’s how I’ve always been. I never flinch. My wife would run out there; I’m not going out there. I mean, get the hell up.”

Austin Rivers scored just eight points in 22 minutes against the Celtics, but he walked out of TD Garden with bragging rights against his father. C’s coach Doc Rivers watched as his team blew an early double-digit lead and snapped a six-game winning streak in a 90-78 loss to the Hornets.

Five Hornets (12-27) reached double figures, led by Robin Lopez‘s 17 points, and New Orleans won the rebound battle, 47-33. Greivis Vasquez (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Anthony Davis each had double-doubles.

Kevin Garnett‘s 15 points led the Celtics. Paul Pierce (10 rebounds) and Jason Terry each scored 12. Rajon Rondo had 11 assists but just seven points.

WHAT WENT WRONG

First-half lapse: Mainly behind the starting five, the Celtics built a 21-10 lead in the game’s first nine minutes. Mainly against the C’s reserves, the Hornets slowly chipped away until a four-minute stretch midway through the second quarter, when the Celtics committed four turnovers and missed three jumpers. That’s when the young New Orleans squad snatched their first lead of the game, eventually taking a 44-43 advantage into halftime.

Painting a poor picture: The Hornets’ first lead, 33-32, came after a pair of layups from Greivis Vasquez and Austin Rivers and a Jason Smith dunk. That was quickly followed by an Al-Farouq Aminu dunk. The point? The Celtics allowed a whole lotta points in the paint (48 to be exact), and 22 of those first 33 points came in the key.

Too many freebies: Doc Rivers doesn’t want to see his team give up more than 14 turnovers, and he definitely doesn’t want them to allow more than 14 points off those giveaways. They turned the ball over 15 times, gifting the Hornets 21 points. Garnett, Rondo and Pierce were the biggest culprits, committing 10 between them. Of course, the C’s 6-of-16 free throw shooting didn’t help, either.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Bass first: It’s been five games since Brandon Bass last scored 10 points, and after his first half, he seemed prepared to snap out of the drought. Bass made four of his first five shots, including a trio of jumpers, to score nine points by the break, but he attempted just one shot after the half and failed to reach double figures. He’s already lost minutes to Jared Sullinger, and he’ll need more stretches like he had in the game’s opening 24 minutes in order to keep Chris Wilcox from taking even more.

Terry time: Likewise, Terry reached double digits after his first scoreless game of the season on Monday night. His performance was the lone bright spot off the bench, and it couldn’t have come at a better time, as he scored 10 of his 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting in the third quarter to keep the Celtics within five … against the Hornets.

3-point defense: The Celtics held New Orleans to just 2-for-17 shooting from beyond the arc, including 1-of-5 by former Magic sharpshooter Ryan Anderson. It might’ve helped had the C’s shot better than 4-for-18 from 3.

Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, right, hugs his son, New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Austin Rivers. (AP)

In a game that was billed as the father-son contest, it was a twin brother who spoiled the night for the Celtics and put an end to their season-high six-game winning streak. Robin Lopez – the twin of Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez – scored 17 points while Al-Farouq Aminu added 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Hornets to a 90-78 win over the Celtics Wednesday night at TD Garden. The Hornets pounded the Celtics on the glass, 48-33, and outscored them, 48-32, in the paint.

Austin Rivers, the son of Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, entered the game late in the first quarter, played 22 minutes and scored eight points. His highlight was drawing a foul on Paul Pierce with 0.4 seconds left in the third quarter. He made one of two free throws while the crowd booed.

Kevin Garnett had 15 points while Pierce had 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Celtics, who fell to 20-18 on the season. The Hornets, who were just 6-13 on the road coming in, improve to 13-26.

For the second straight night, the Celtics jumped out in front of an inferior opponent and appeared to be in for an easy night. But for a second straight night, the Celtics went mysteriously cold at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, allowing the Hornets back in the game.

The Celtics opened up a 21-10 lead in the first quarter as Brandon Bass had seven points in the opening period as the Celtics took a 25-20 into the second quarter. But the Celtics went cold in the second quarter and were dominated on the board by rookie Anthony Davis and the Aminu. With the Celtics leading 29-22, New Orleans went on a 16-3 run to take the lead. The Celtics responded to take the lead on a Pierce three with 28 seconds left in the half. But Ryan Anderson answered with his own 3-pointer to give the Hornets a 44-43 lead at the half.

The Celtics were ice cold to open the third, as New Orleans went on a 8-0 run to open the period to build a 52-43 lead. Pierce finally ended the drought when he hit an 11-foot turnaround with 8:16 left in the third. New Orleans, behind Aminu and Robin Lopez, built their lead to 12 twice, leading 61-49 when Jason Terry sparked a 7-0 run with a jumper and a three.

The Celtics, who trailed 68-63 after three, closed to within three in the fourth quarter but could get no closer and faded down the stretch.

The Celtics conclude their season-long five-game homestand on Friday when they host the Bulls at 7 p.m. at TD Garden. For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics.