Celtics look for answers

Right now everyone has an opinion.

Rajon Rondo [stats], fresh off Wednesday night’s second-half collapse against the Pistons, identified the Celtics [team stats]’ greatest opponent as “ourselves.”

Paul Pierce [stats] equated these dangerous habits the Celtics have developed to “playing with fire.”

An especially subdued Kendrick Perkins [stats] stared into his touch phone and said, “At the end of the day, it’s about heart.”

Amazing. A Celtic, one whose entire game is based on brute force and passion, just questioned the heart of his team.

They still have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, and an above-even chance of winning homecourt advantage through most of the postseason.

But they won’t get there like this.

And the issue, for now, has nothing to do with the return of Kevin Garnett, presumably for tonight’s game.

KG’s return date still could change. But the Celtics have to change.

“He’s a huge void we have to get back,” Eddie House said of Garnett. “We need him now for so many different things - his scoring, his passing, his help defense, his on the ball defense. He affects the game in so many different ways that it will be great to have him come back.”

But it would be a mistake to think that Garnett is an automatic cure.

A dismissive Doc Rivers said, “I’m not waiting on him.”

House agreed when he said, “We have to take care of what we can take care of. Last year, he wasn’t with us and we played pretty great. We just fell short in the playoffs. We know we can do it, it’s just a matter of dealing with it in the second half.

“I don’t know (what the problem is), man, I can’t call it,” he said. “But it’s an ongoing trend now, and it’s killing us.”

But until they find the solution and put it to use, all the Celtics are left with are theories.

They led by 12 points with five seconds left in the second quarter on Wednesday night, before a wild Austin Daye 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer changed the game.

They led the Mavericks by nine at halftime on Monday before capitulating over the last 24 minutes.

“We feel we’re better than we are,” said Rivers. “We get a lead, and we just put it on cruise. In the NBA, you can’t do that, and that’s what’s so troubling to me. It’s something that will be fixed, but what troubles me is that it’s something that shouldn’t have to be fixed. I know it’s the dog days and everybody is going through stuff right now, but we’re self-imposing our injuries.

“It’s clear right now,” he said. “When we get a lead we go to individual ball, guys trying to get numbers, and loss of focus.”

Witness 20 turnovers by the Celtics [team stats] Wednesday, including seven in the third quarter. Witness zero second-chance points.

“We have to get down to the bottom of it and develop some urgency,” said Ray Allen. “It’s tough to say. There are so many different stretches of the season when you have bad starts to the game, or bad quarters and finishes. At halftime, we have to get back on the floor and pump the energy back into games.”

Garnett isn’t the only player who has to carry that energy.

“We’re all at fault,” said Rasheed Wallace. “We’ve been leading by eight points or more heading into the half. Right now, we’re a team that can’t (turn it on and off). . . . I think sometimes we think we’re the Celtics and we go into other teams’ buildings and think they’re going to back down. But we have to go out and prove it.

“I know we’re a good team on paper,” he said. “But other teams get up for us like we’re their measuring stick.”