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The Bobcats knew they would have their work cut out for them on Wednesday when they traveled to Boston to face a Celtics team struggling on its home court as of late. After back-to-back losses at TD Garden to Cleveland and New Jersey, Boston was looking to avoid its first three-game losing streak in Boston this season. Charlotte had to play the perfect game against the Celtics if it wanted to win its second-straight road contest, but it was Boston who could do little wrong in its 104-80 win.

Tyrus Thomas led the Bobcats (28-31) with 15 points and 10 rebounds, followed by D.J. Augustin’s 12 points and 10 points apiece from Theo Ratliff and Boris Diaw, but it wasn’t enough to counter a Celtics team clicking on all cylinders.

Paul Pierce led all scorers with 27 points on just 13 shots, including four 3-pointers, while Nate Robinson chipped in with 16 points off the bench. Robinson also added four treys of his own as Boston (38-21) outshot the Bobcats 10-16 to 0-9 from 3-point range.

“I don’t think anybody could have played in that environment,” said Bobcats Head Coach Larry Brown. “They played great, they made shots, they executed great – we played hard, but there were too many obstacles. They were great. At one time I think they were 10-for-12 from three, they shot 60 percent in the first half and shared the ball. Their bench was great – if we would have played our best, I don’t know if that would have been good enough.”

The Bobcats found themselves down 31-21 at the end of the first quarter, forcing them to play catch-up the rest of the way. They kept the deficit at nine points at halftime, but were outscored 28-16 in the third quarter as Boston pulled away on its home court.

“I don’t buy all this stuff that they’re in trouble,” Brown said of the Celtics recent struggles. “They’ve had some injuries and are just starting to get healthy. They’ve got some new players like (Antonio) Daniels, Nate (Robinson) now and Rasheed (Wallace) – they’re going to be fine. They have a great coach and great chemistry… A lot of obstacles and a lot of mountains to climb tonight. Hopefully we learn from that. A game like tonight, I got this gut feeling that we’ll be better because of it.”

Charlotte now returns home for back-to-back home games against the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors on Friday and Saturday at Time Warner Cable Arena®.