Without Rondo, Celts no match for Warriors

The Celtics fell below .500 (14-15) for the first time time in almost two months after dropping a 101-83 decision to the Warriors in Oakland Saturday night. With the defeat the Celts have been outscored by 47 points in their last two games.

Not helping matters for the Celtics was the absence of point guard Rajon Rondo, who sat out of the game with a bruised right thigh and hip. Rondo suffered the injury during the C's loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles Thursday night.

While the Celtics only shot 36 percent from the floor, with Jeff Green (2-for-11) and Paul Pierce (4-for-20) both struggling mightily, much of the talk after the game coming from the C's lamented the team's lack of defense.

"We're getting beat a lot on on one-one-one defense," Celtics coach Doc Rivers told reporters.

The Warriors, who improved to 21-10 after going 12-4 in December, shot 52 percent fro the floor. Leading the way for the hosts were Stephen Curry (8-for-13 from the floor, 4-for-5 on three-pointers, 22 points) and David Lee, who went 10-for-15 on field goal attempts to finish with 20 points.

The game was rarely close, with Golden State jumping out to a 57-40 halftime lead. And while the Celtics closed the gap to nine heading into the fourth quarter, they managed just 16 fourth-quarter points on the way to the rout.

Filling in for Rondo, Courtney Lee and Jason Terry each played 40 minutes apiece, scoring 18 and 13 points, respectively. Kevin Garnett led the team with four assists.

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