Another one bites the dust.

LeBron James was unstoppable at home against the struggling Boston Celtics.
(David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Celtics got PWN3D on the road yet again. This time in Cleveland. The defending champions have struggled to chalk up a win, all thanks to LeBron James and Co. The MVP front runner scored 38 points as the Cavaliers won 98-83 over the visiting Boston Celtics. King James never held back and showed no mercy until the final buzzer sounded.

"We want to continue to protect our home court and we want to continue to get better. Tonight I think we got better,'' James said. "We don't want to take a step back because we got a big picture and a big goal. You don't want to waste a game. We got really better tonight.''

The Celtics' lacked intensity in their defense. They even resorted to the "Hack-a-Ben" strategy, reminiscent of the San Antonio Spurs old playbook on center Shaquille O'Neil. That play made Ben Wallace pissed as hell. Who can blame him? The Boston Celtics now have 7 losses in their record. Celtics forward Paul Pierce was only held to 11 points and was surprisingly optimistic despite the loss to the Cavaliers. At least, he was quite honest about it.

"We're good,'' Pierce said. "That's the God's honest truth. Nobody likes losing, but we're going to stay positive. That's our strength as a team.''

Kevin Garnett had another 18-point performance and grabbed 15 boards for the C's. Despite KG's double-double, it wasn't enough to pull off a win against the Cavs. Rajon Rondo dropped 13 dimes but only scored 5 points, shooting horribly at 41 percent. Like Paul Pierce, he has also struggled offensively throughout the game. Clearly, the Celtics have been at their worst since losing to the LA Lakers on Christmas day in '08.

Celtics fans are wondering what's really making Celtics lose. Have they lost their will to win? Is their swagger really gone? Whatever it is, the Green Gang have a whole lot of reflecting to do. They have to pick up the pieces and move on.

For Celtics coach Doc Rivers, staying on top of the mountain is a lot harder than they thought and it's already sinking in:

“This team hasn’t gone through anything,” Rivers said. “It’s been very easy for us. Sometimes you have to go through something to get to something. This team hasn’t. Last year we didn’t have this at all. And I was extremely concerned going into the playoffs. That was my one concern. We hadn’t been tested. We breezed through the season."

“Well, we can’t say that this year. We have gone through something. You find out a lot about your guys when you go through stretches like this … who wants to fight … who folds. So, it’s good for everybody.”

The question is: are they still up to the challenge? The Celtics should be concerned on how to snap their losing skid. Once they've done that, they should work on getting as many W's as they can to make the playoffs and vie for homecourt advantage. If all those have been accomplished, repeating as champs should be their next major concern.

The Celtics better start waking up from this mess. Indeed, losing can be a harsh reality to accept. A tough pill to swallow.