CelticsLife Awards: Best Performance in Defeat

Honorable Mention: The Celtics fell to the Wizards in Washington on December 8, 133-132 in double overtime.  It was the second game of a back-to-back home-and-home series, with the C's knocking off the Wiz 101-93 in Boston the day before.

On this night, Washington led 88-65 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.  However, the Celtics closed the game on a 45-22 run, with Evan Turner hitting a last-second step-back three to send it to overtime.

Boston held a seven-point late in the first OT, then built another seven-point lead in OT No. 2--unfortunately the C's couldn't hang on either time.

This game was one of the first signs of what was to come for the 2014-15 Celtics.  Brad Stevens sat Rajon Rondo for the final 27 minutes (including the entire fourth quarter and both overtimes), primarily using a bench lineup down the stretch that featured Turner and Marcus Smart.




Winner: On March 1, Boston dropped a 106-101 home decision to Golden State.  In the midst of a three-game winning streak and with confidence building, the C's got off to a torrid start.  Following a pair of back-to-back three-pointers by Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, the Celtics held a 56-30 advantage over the NBA-best Warriors midway through the second quarter.

The Warriors were still the Warriors though, and they battled back.  The deficit was down to 16 at halftime and 11 after three quarters.  Golden State went ahead 96-94 with three and a half minutes to go, but Boston didn't fold.  A three from Smart put the C's back in front, 99-98, before the Warriors eventually took the lead for good.




Previous 2014-15 CelticsLife Awards:
Best Performance by a Duo
Best Individual Performance
Best Win of the Season



Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan