As he has done in previous seasons, Sonics forward Rashard Lewis erupted as Seattle lost 118-103 in Boston.
While everyone else spoke in hushed tones and doled out inane responses that made little sense, an emotional Lewis questioned the heart and desire of his teammates. He wondered if the Sonics are really serious when they talk about the playoffs or if it's just lip service. And he questioned why he wasn't a bigger part of the offense.
"I only had 11 shots tonight, and when you look at the stat sheet, everybody took more shots than me except for Damien [Wilkins]," said Lewis, who finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting. "I thought we pretty much [played poorly] the whole first half even though we had the lead by 12. I knew we were going to go into the second half not playing hard, and all it took was for them to get their little run. And they did and they got the momentum."
The Sonics were instructed to double-team Al Jefferson in the low post, but he finished with 31 points and 16 rebounds, both game highs.
They were supposed to deny Paul Pierce on the pick-and-rolls, but the Celtics forward had 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
And they failed to account for Rajon Rondo (20 points) and Gerald Green (19 points), who repeatedly got behind the defense for easy baskets.
"We were lackadaisical on the game plan," Lewis said. "We just didn't do nothing that was on that board tonight."