(Yahoo Sports)

Pacers 113 Celtics 104

If you are looking for a word to sum up the Boston Celtics performance tonight, try the word atrocious. Apparently the team did not move on from last nights loss against the Hawks, they came out and played just as bad, if not worse than they did Friday night. For the first time this season the Celtics have dropped two straight games, not something we expect from a team that we were possibly calling the best team in NBA history.

There were a number of things that I noticed throughout tonights game that may have been the cause of the Celtics dropping this game against a team they should be beating by twenty points. Here is a list I compiled during and after the game:

• Lack of perimeter defense. The Pacers made night shots behind the arc during tonights game. This was caused by blown defensive assignments, players leaving their feet early, and focusing too much on defending penatration.
• Lack of hustle and motivation. During tonight's game the Celtics gave up 27 fast break points, yes I said 27. This stat shows that the Celtics were not hustling to get back on Indiana fast breaks. Fast break points combined with no perimeter defense resulted in teh Celtics giving up 113 points.
• Lack of quality offensive possesions. Throughout the game tonight I noticed the Celtics settling for very poor shots. Instead of playing like we did against Utah wednesday night, running the offense through Rondo, we continued to try to go one on one and did a lot of standing around on offense.
• Lack of temper control. I kind of threw this one in here as a joke, but in all reality these tech's aren't helping us. The Celtics had three of them tonight (Sheed, Perk, and Doc), this usually figures to be free points for the opposition.
• Lack of good referees. Yes I know, it is always easy to blame a loss on the refs, but tonight they did not help out at all. I am usually not one to complain about calls, but tonight there was some very ticky tack fouls called by my boy Joey Crawford. I suggest you don't bring up Joey's name to Doc anytime soon.
• Lack of a defender to guard Danny Granger. Before tonight's game Danny Granger guranteed a Pacers win, let's just say he did his part. Granger scored 29 points, 18 of those coming on three pointers. I believe this is because we did not have someone that could efficently guard him. Don't get me wrong, KG is a great defender, but I don't think he can matchup with Granger. KG had to give Granger some room everytime he was on the perimeter, as a result Granger knocked down three after three after three.

 Overall, this game was a disaster for the Celtics. After two straight losses the Celtics have me questioning who they really are. Are they the team that can blow out Chicago by 30 points, or are they the team that looks old and looses to the Hawks and Pacers in back to back games?