(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

It wasn’t pretty, but the Celtics managed to jump back into the win column against a lowly Nets team who only dressed eight players for the night. The Celtics have played more games than anyone else in the NBA, and it has really shown. For the last three games we have watched a different team than the guys who showed up for the first five. Through five, the Celtics were 5-0 and winning by an average of 25 points per game. Since, it has been a struggle both offensively and defensively as four of their main players are on the back nine of their careers (Pierce, Ray, KG, and Sheed). The C’s have managed to win two of those three games, but even my 11 year old sister can tell they are playing on tired legs.

The game plan last night according to Doc Rivers was to stay in the game until the fourth quarter, and then pull away.

“I didn’t think we had a lot in the tank. I could see that, that’s why I sat our starters long stretches today,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said. “I was just trying to milk the game as long as I could get it and then play at the end, and we had enough to win.”

The guys were sloppy through three quarters and entered the final period down two. They then went onto outscore the Nets 27-15 and win by 10 in a game that we should have won by forty. Rajon Rondo lead the offense going 8/11 with 16 points. We are going to need to rely on the young guys like Rondo during tough stretches like this, and so far he has proven that he can lead the offense when needed.

The schedule eases up this week and the Celtics only have three games over the next nine days. You can bet your ass they will look much better going through this stretch than after playing five games over a seven day period.

- Chris