to the pain was the death of another Celtics legend, Dennis Johnson, who suffered a heart attack on February 22 at the age of 52 while coaching the Celtics NBDL affiliate, the Austin Toros. After Pierce had returned in early February after spending 7 weeks on the injured list, the Celtics played better and won 5 of 6 games in late February and early March. A few weeks later on St. Patrick's Day, the Celtics stunned the eventual NBA champions San Antonio Spurs 91-85 on the road, making it the first time the Celtics won against Tim Duncan, whom they missed out on during the 1997 Draft Lottery. But nagging injuries would continue to hamper Pierce, who sat out all of April, as the Celtics finished with a horrible 24-58 record that earned them the worst record in the Eastern Conference and 2nd worst record in the league, only marginally in front of the Memphis Grizzlies. Afterwards, the Celtics turned their focus to the draft lottery, where they had good chances of landing a Top 2 pick, allowing them to select either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. However, even the draft lottery came out all wrong for the Celtics as they were assigned the 5th overall selection, which seemed to guarantee another disappointing season. Draft picks Roster Regular season Standings Record vs. opponents Game log Player statistics Regular season |- | | 33 || 18 || 24.4 || style=";"| .514 || .242 || .784 || 3.8 || 1.7 || 1.5 || .4 || 11.5 |- | | 73 || style=";"| 60 || 31.2 || .467 || .381 || .811 || 5.6 || 1.6 || .7 || .2 || 12.1 |- | | style=";"| 81 || 26 || 22.0 || .419 || .368 || .805 || 2.6 || 1.0 || .5 || .3 || 10.4 |- | | 69 || style=";"| 60 || 33.6 || style=";"| .514 || .000 || .681 || style=";"| 11.0 || 1.3 || .7 || style=";"| 1.5 || 16.0 |- | | 24 || 0 || 9.8 || .413 || . || .667 || 2.0 || .2 || .3 || .5 || 1.7 |- | | 72 || 53 || 21.9 || .491 || .000 || .600 || 5.2 || 1.3 || .3 || 1.3 || 4.5 |- | | 47 || 46 || style=";"| 37.0 || .439 || .389 || .796 || 5.9 || 4.1 ||