Sports Redux: Double Whammy

Pity the crew that was responsible for staffing the TD Garden on Monday. Not only were they responsible for not one, but two games on a holiday Monday, they weren't given the option of leaving early. Instead, they had to endure every painful moment of one terribly lousy Garden day.

“I’m not saying our team didn’t show up,’’ Claude Julien said after a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in the afternoon matchup. That's OK, coach - we'll say it for you. With the exception of a feisty David Krejci, the Bruins did not show up for Monday's game. Listless play allowed the Senators to jump out to an early and decisive lead and lack of engagement lead to a massacre.

We get that the team's injuries have been crippling and we understand that players are tired, but we're recommending that this team be checked for a pulse. Describing it as a poor showing would falsely suggest that there was at least some form of effort demonstrated on the ice.

Thank goodness we had the Celtics waiting to save the day for the Boston faithful. A team that knows how to win...

...anywhere but at the Garden. The Green's Garden woes continued during the evening matchup against the Mavericks, as Boston lost their fourth straight home game. The 99-90 Dallas win demonstrated the extent to which Boston is missing Kevin Garnett, how good solid defense continues to be an issue (as foul trouble landed Rasheed Wallace a spot on the bench in the third quarter) and how Boston fans really aren't getting their money's worth right now.

Paul Pierce led Boston scoring with 24 points, but Dirk Nowitzk was on fire for Dallas, scoring a brilliant 37 points in his team's winning effort.

Across town, Theo Epstein's arbitration-free streak might be coming to a close today. While there are four players (Manny Delcarmen, Jeremy Hermida, Jonathan Papelbon and Ramon Ramirez) eligible for arbitration at noon today, it's the closer who is most likely to lead to a hearing. All we're going to say is that we hope he's been training like nobody's business over the course of this winter, as we're still smarting.