Court Awareness: The Celtics' Slide, the Lone Granger, and the Rest of Wednesday

There are times when the best cure for an ailing team is adversity—even if conventional wisdom states the opposite. If you were to ask a team if they’d rather break out of a funk by beating up on one of the league’s doormats in the comfort of their own arena—or doing it on the road, without their best player, and against one of the league’s elite teams—it’s a safe bet to assume they would opt for the latter. Those were precisely the circumstances for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night in Boston. The Rockets, playing without Tracy McGrady, had lost six of their last ten games, including their last three. Meanwhile, the Celtics were hoping some home cooking would be all they needed to halt their own mini-slump. The world champs came into the game having lost five of their last seven, but their 13-game winning streak at home was still alive. Yao Ming had 26 points and eight rebounds, Ron Artest had 17 points and Aaron Brooks scored 19 points off the ... (link)