he telltale signs of a bad loss were present at the FleetCenter last night. Many of the 16,473 fans exited with 5 minutes 56 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Most of the Celtics changed clothes and fled the locker room before it was opened to the media. After Miami dismantled Boston, 89-66, no one wanted to linger and mourn the end of the Celtics' seven-game home winning streak.

While those players who remained threw out the cliches about bouncing back and learning from losses, the defeat led to more questions than answers. Figuring out what happened was easy. Determining why it happened was more difficult, especially considering the disparity between the way the Celtics played last night and how they had played 48 hours earlier against the Magic. The Miami game was a disaster filled with new lows, while the Orlando