Another Blown Lead

If the Celtics have proven anything in the past month, it's that they're not a second half team.

Last night, after outscoring the New Orleans Hornets 55-43 in the first half, the Celtics starters throw in the towel and let rookie point guard Darren Collison make a half empty New Orleans Arena forget about Chris Paul for 24 minutes. 

The Celtics played exceptionally well in the first half, and for a minute made Celtics fans all over forget about the teams recent trend of blowing double-digit leads in the 3rd quarter. But before you could say Darius Songalia, the Hornets had gone on a wild tare and had the Celtics on their heals. 

It didn't help that the Cs went 3-13 from the free throw line in the 2nd half, and were out-rebounded 47-37, which included 9-5 on the offensive glass. The turnaround jump shots that were falling in the first half were clanging off the rim. Darren Collison was penetrating the Celtics defense at will, scoring 13 of his 25 in the 2nd half.

Give Glen Davis some credit for being the only big man to crash the boards after halftime. Credit Marquis Daniels for keeping the C's on the board in the 3rd quarter. And give partial credit to Rasheed Wallace for making his most accurate Tim Duncan impression on the block. 

Even without Ray Allen, this Celtics team consisting of 3 all-stars shouldn't have lost to a fringe team in the Western Conference that is missing their best player. Now it's time for all-star weekend, and maybe on Tuesday this tea will be ready to play solid 2nd half basketball.