Boston falling apart in basketball

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/16271/bobcats_deconstruct_the_mighty_celtics

So the Celtics lost again, this time 114-106 in OT to the piteous Bobcats. At this point, their downfall is hardly news; even getting bested by Charlotte is par for the nightmare. In these dark times, a team like Boston can't fall back on their past glories, or their press clippings. It's a full-blown existential crisis, where all you can do is look deep inside your soul and return to what really makes you tick.

Unless, of course, super freak Adam Morrison manages to snatch it out your chest first. From The Boston Herald:
Among the glut of instructions scrawled on the Charlotte Bobcats' locker room greaseboard before last night's game was the following advice regarding Kevin Garnett: "Don't get punked."

Yes, the biggest-talking team in the NBA was in town, and beyond the Celtics' obsessively vocal leader, whose favorite target for barbs and a couple of late elbows vs. the Bobcats was Adam Morrison, who returned the favor, the Bobcats weren't in the mood to take nonsense from anyone in the defending champs' lineup.
That was the sound of complete and total identity deflation, or something like that. Swagger is easy when you're on top. It's when things get rough that it's a source of strength, not just a byproduct of hype or logical extension of facts on paper. If the Celtics can get out-swagged by Adam Morrison, then they've got to rally themselves on all sorts of levels before they'll return back to that upper echelon. It's not just about winning some games, but recapturing confidence that can light the way when that shield of dominance comes crashing down.
Posted In: Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, NBA