What happened to the Celtics' defense?

Boston Celtics fans were thrilled when the Celtics managed to go 7-2 during Kevin Garnett's time on the sidelines while he recovered from painful abdominal injury. Unfortunately the post All-Star west coast road trip has proven tougher than expected with the Celtics dropping back-to- back games to the Denver Nuggest and Golden State Warriors this week. Should Celtics fans be worried? In a word, yes. During the last two games, the Celtics defense has been awful. In both games, they Celtics defense has allowed over 119 points per game! They even let the lowly New York Knicks score 103 in the last game before the All-Star break. Compare that to Celtics defensive stinginess that was yielding only 90.67 points per game at the All-Star break. Something is going on here and it's not good. First, experienced NBA teams have a tendency to not play hard during the first half of the season. They mail it in and do just enough to win. However, this year's Celtics came out aggressive and ready to play. The ... [link]