SAN ANTONIOThere's little argument that Rajon Rondo and Tony Parker are among the NBA's top point guards.
But who's better?
That all depends on what you want in a playmaker, but on Saturday night it wasn't even close.
Parker had the better floor game, more points and most important, his team came away with the win as the C's go 0-for-Texas following a 103-88 loss to San Antonio on Saturday.
The 6-foot-2 all-star point guard led all scorers with 22 points in addition to tallying eight assists while turning the ball over just one time.
"Tony Parker got on a roll," said Rondo who added, "they outplayed us."
San Antonio played a solid all-around game, winning just about every individual matchup on the floor - including the battle at the point between these two all-star playmakers.
"Obviously Tony was unbelievable down the stretch," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "But a lot of guys like Gary (Neal), Danny (Green), and Tiago (Splitter) played very solid basketball."
But as Popovich pointed out, it was Parker who down the stretch proved to be the difference-maker for the Spurs who snapped a two-game losing skid with Saturday's win.
Meanwhile, the Celtics (12-11) will not take to the court again until Tuesday at Chicago.
With all that time to practice, it could not come at a better time with the Celtics seemingly in need of as much time to work out their problems on the floor, as possible.
The two losses come after what has been a solid stretch of play that had the C's winning three of their four previous games.
Many problems have surfaced in the last two games, including an unusually high number of turnovers committed by Rondo.
Because he racks up so many assists, it's a given that he will pick up his share of turnovers.
But Saturday's game was his second straight in which he turned the ball over seven times - a trend that the C's need to see come to an end soon.
Rivers isn't sure exactly why Rondo's turnover numbers have been so high lightly, adding that he wouldn't rule out that the 27-year-old might be dealing with some level of fatigue as well.
"We shouldn't be fatigued, really," Rivers said. "Kevin (Garnett)? Yeah, maybe. Paul (Pierce)? Maybe. Other than that, we shouldn't be fatigued."
But as much as the turnovers committed by Rondo hurt the team, even more troubling on Saturday night was the missed shots - one missed shot in particular - that were just as problematic.
With the score tied at 55 in the third quarter and the game's momentum clearly sway in the Green Team's favor, Rondo missed what would have been a go-ahead basket.
San Antonio responded to his miss with 11 straight points that gave the Spurs their first double-digit lead of the game.
Boston continued to battle throughout the rest of the night, but failed to get any closer than five points afterward.
A big part of keeping the Celtics at bay was Parker who consistently managed to break down Boston's trapping defense and either score or set up his teammates for easy baskets.
"He's able to beat the traps. He's so quick getting around a big guy. He takes them on," said Boston's Paul Pierce. "A lot of guards accept the trap and swing it. He takes it on. He's been in those situations many, many times and he understands when to take on the trap and knows when to get rid of the ball; he has a great in-between game. That's what makes him one of the premier point guards in the league."