That was a hard loss to take. The Celtics had it right in their grip but it slipped away.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were a combined 8 for 28 in regulation tonight, so it fell to Rajon Rondo to carry the offense. He was up for the task, with a season high 30 points (with 5 assists to boot).

Boston played from behind for most of the night but stayed close and had the lead in the closing seconds. A bad no-foul call led to a jump ball which led to a lucky bounce which led to Kirk Hinrich hitting a jumper to send the game into over time.

Rondo fouled out, as did Jared Sullinger, but Garnett, Pierce, and Terry did their part by giving us a one point lead in the final seconds. Then as luck would have it, another seemingly broken play at the end of OT resulted in a falling down Belinelli shot that won the game for them.

Ugh. So close.

Some good stuff happened, but it hurts to lose a winnable game like this. Gotta tip my hat to the Bulls. I really dislike a lot of their players, but they played well and of course they'll be that much more dangerous when Rose is back. Respect Thibs.