Blowing the lead to the championship-contending Cavaliers was bad.

Blowing the lead a team that came into the Garden with five wins was worse.

“I’ve got nothing to say,” Kevin Garnett proclaimed after the game. “I feel disgusted.”

On Saturday the Celtics suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory, 104-96, to the Nets in Boston. The C’s jumped up 12-2 early in the first quarter and let the game slip away from there. They trailed by as many as 18 points and were outscored 102-84 after their initial lead.

Some of the Celtics pointed to aggressiveness as a problem -- the Nets got to the free throw line 30 more times than the C’s. Others pointed to defensive lapses -- the Celtics gave up 10 more points than their season average.

The Celtics know there is a problem. Now it’s a matter of figuring out how to fix it. As they search for answers, here are three things we learned from their stunning loss to the Nets.

ALL SIGNS POINT TO UBUNTU

A new sign hung next to the door in the Celtics locker room. It was posted some time between the Celtics loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday night and Saturday morning.

The players have to pass by it every time they head out to the court, and it is a message for them to carry with them into the game.

"Individuals win games but teams win titles."

The Celtics have said all along they have to play unselfish basketball, give up their own personal accolades for the betterment of the team. But there has been a disconnect on the court this season. Problems like blowing late leads and losing to teams like the Nets were uncommon in the past.

It’s a situation that has to change, and the Celtics have said all along they hope to resolve it by getting back to fundamental team basketball.

“I think sometimes you need reminders, and then sometimes it needs to be said,“ said Ray Allen. “Sometimes the information has to travel differently from the sources, whether it comes from us, whether it comes from the coaches. Whether it’s a reminder you hear in the locker room or it’s a video, it changes.”

The Celtics are open to the reminders and any other criticism that comes their way from the coaching staff. They understand that the responsibility to execute ultimately falls on the players on the court, not Doc Rivers on the sidelines.

“The guys on this team, we have to go out there and talk amongst ourselves, make decisions out there because we’re the ones out there on the floor,” said Rasheed Wallace. “Doc can only do but so much. So we can’t sit up here and say it’s Doc’s fault because we lost or Doc’s not doing this or Doc’s not doing that. Ok, but Doc’s not out there on the floor. It’s the five guys that’s out there, so we’ve got to come up with ways to win.”

Allen finds that accountability to be a silver lining amid the struggles.

“The one thing I can say that is encouraging is that we’re all trying to figure this thing out,” he said. “There’s no dissension, there’s no bad air out in the atmosphere around the locker room. We all talk about it and we all want to figure out what we need to do. Everybody wants to figure out what they can do to be better. So everybody’s ears are open, ready to listen.”

KG LOOKING FOR KG

Kevin Garnett doesn’t care about his stat line. But in spite of his “disgust” with the end result, he actually had one of his best offensive performances of the season.

Garnett scored 26 points in just under 28 minutes. He led all scorers and tied his season-high posted back in November. It was the most effective he has been since returning from a hyperextend knee this season.

Rivers was so pleased by Garnett’s performance early on -- he had eight points in the first quarter alone -- that he drew up plays to find him the ball. It’s something that, in spite of Garnett’s insistent to be unselfish, he would have liked the team to do more often down the stretch. 

“Early, especially, I liked that he was aggressive,” Rivers said. “Kevin is so unselfish, as everyone who’s been here knows. One of the things we have talked to him about is, I know what he’s trying to do. Kevin is so one-hundred percent about the team. He’s always thinking ball movement early.

“And one of the things we told him, ‘We are moving it to you, and we want you to look at it.’ And I thought he did a great job of that early on. And then I thought he went a long stretch without touching it, and that’s on us. 

THE TRUTH ABOUT PIECE

Even on a team-centric ball club like the Celtics, there is no denying the impact of one individual’s absence.

The Celtics fell to 5-5 on the season without Paul Pierce. They are 1-2 during his recent bout with a sprained thumb. They’ve had to battle LeBron James without him, leaving a flu-stricken Marquis Daniels to guard the star. And on Saturday, the C’s were outscored 34-9 at the line without their leading free throw shooter. 

While Pierce helps this team, waiting on him doesn’t.

“We play with injuries, we play with guys out,” said Garnett. “The guys on the floor have to get it done. Period, point blank.” 

Daniels echoed, “We can’t make excuses. We’ve been battling, playing through injuries the whole year. Paul is one of our keys out there but we also have other guys out there who are capable and need to step up and do other things.” 

Those players are willing to fill the void left by Pierce if it means their captain will return healthy. While Doc Rivers is hopeful Pierce could play on Tuesday in Detroit, the Celtics would rather play without him now to have him around down the stretch.

“It’ll definitely be good to have Truth back out there. We’ll be full-throttle again,” said Wallace. “But once again, you can’t rush an injury. I’d rather for Paul to sit out as many games as he needs to get his hand right in order him to come back and play good than him rushing back and re-injuring it or it could be worse.”