Emotional loss

Whatever optimism greeted the Celtics was tempered by their poor execution at both ends and wandering focus. Fans headed toward the exits with 46.1 seconds remaining, even though the home team still had an outside shot at winning. Maybe they left before the final buzzer because they had seen this act too many times last season.

There was Pierce trying to do it all down the stretch, though there was ample reason to believe he could do just that as he played his way to a game-high 29 points and career-high 19 rebounds. There was enough talent on the floor to draw close, but never enough consistency to take the lead, or even tie the score. There were missed defensive coverages, particularly by the young big men. There were missed free throws at crucial moments. There was a loss where Doc Rivers and the players all saw ample chances to win.

"I don't know if it's a lot of people being nervous or a lot of us trying to do too much or a lot of us trying to make the home run pass, but it seemed like we never got into the flow," said Kendrick Perkins (2 points, 2 blocks, 6 rebounds). "We never ran plays all the way through. We messed up a whole lot on the defensive coverages . . . We had a lot of one-pass shots or no-pass shots that triggered turnovers or [the Hornets] getting into the transition game."

Perkins took responsibility for failing to trap the ball on a few occasions, allowing Chris Paul (20 points, 10 assists) to get to the basket and spark the Hornets. But the fact that Perkins recognized the error of his ways, as did others in the Celtics' locker room, bodes well for the future. Since the Celtics have a lot of experience with the kind of problems that lead to losses in games they should win, they might be able to make quick corrections. If not, it could be a long season.