Celtics continue to stumble in 112-100 loss to Spurs

BOSTONNBA championships are not won or lost in the first month of the season, which is a good thing for the Boston Celtics.
Because where the C's are now isn't anywhere close to that of a title contender, a point driven home by the San Antonio Spurs who handed the C's a 112-100 loss on Wednesday.
Tony Parker led all scorers with 26 points to go with six rebounds. Tim Duncan had a solid night as well with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
Boston (6-6) has now lost three of its last four games, and are in serious jeopardy of falling below-.500 with the Oklahoma City Thunder invading the TD Garden on Friday.
Rajon Rondo led a Celtics' rally in the fourth quarter which trimmed San Antonio's 16 point lead down to as little as six points. But the Spurs, as they had done all night, responded with a surge of their own to leave no doubt as to who the better team was on this night.
Rondo finished with a team-high 22 points along with 15 assists. The 15 assists extends his franchise record for double-digit assist games to 35 which is the third-longest such streak in NBA history.
The Celtics' problems began in the first quarter, and they were essentially a carbon copy of what has plagued them throughout this season -- poor rebounding and too many easy baskets given up.
Boston was especially bad on the offensive board where they only grabbed a single offensive rebound.
Not one.
Despite those issues, the C's held their own for most of the first half. But the offensive lulls this team tends to go through, creeped up at the worst time - at the end of quarters.
And that kept the Celtics in perpetual catch-up mode.
In the first, Boston led 25-20 with 2:36 to play. San Antonio closed out the quarter with a 10-2 run to lead, 30-27.
It was more of the same in the second quarter.
After a 16-foot, step-back jumper by Paul Pierce tied the game at 42, the Spurs finished the half with a 14-6 spurt to lead by eight.
San Antonio spent the entire third quarter with the lead, but the Celtics had their chances.
Trailing by two points with the ball, Courtney Lee was called for traveling. On the ensuing Spurs possession, Danny Green hit a 3-pointer.
It was that kind of game for the Celtics who continued to get close, but failed to get that one big stop or knock down that one big shot to take over control of the game.
Meanwhile, the Spurs seemed to ratchet up their play at both ends of the floor whenever they needed to, which was a big part of their 82-74 lead going into the fourth quarter.