"It was fool's gold, a 20-6 run to begin the third quarter that gave the Celtics a 3-point lead late in the period. In the old days, the Celtics would have dismissed a lesser opponent such as the Phoenix Suns with that run and coasted to victory.

The new Celtics, however, responded by going scoreless for 6 minutes and 3 seconds. And by the time Avery Bradley canned a 21-foot jumper with 8:14 left in the fourth, the Celtics were down 7 and on their way to another demoralizing loss, one which might expedite team president Danny Ainge's plan to rebuild the team dramatically.

The players gave him no reason to do anything else last night, including Paul Pierce, the team's most marketable of the Big Three. He finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting and reached the free throw line twice. Pierce is shooting 30.5 percent from the field in his past seven games, obviously a shell of himself because of the bothersome right heel injury and an abbreviated training camp."