The Celtics Slip to No. 3 seed

After Sunday’s 100-77 loss to Miami, the Celtics are third in the Eastern Conference. They hold the tie breaker over the Heat, and would get the higher seed if the teams finish with the same record.

Miami dominated the boards last night they were 15-3 in offensive rebounds, resulting in an 18-3 edge in second-chance points. The Heat, whose weakness all season has been on the interior, outscored the Celtics 44-26 in the paint. Miami’s bench, another Achilles’ heel, outscored Boston’s bench by 32-12.

When we take a look at some more numbers, we can see the zeroes next to Jermaine O’Neal’s name: 0 points and 0 rebounds in 14 minutes from Boston’s starting center. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were the only Celtics who had it going this afternoon, and Pierce wound up with the most impressive performance of the two. He finished with team-highs of 24 points and seven rebounds (tied with Glen Davis) while shooting a very efficient 9-of-14 from the field. Pierce canned three of his five 3-pointers and also made all three of his free throws.