The Charlotte Bobcats’ locker room after Monday night’s 100-89 defeat to the Celtics at TD Garden resembled the aftermath of a child’s birthday party: There was dirty stuff everywhere, all the smiles had disappeared, and the lone stragglers waiting for their ride home looked exhausted.

Kemba Walker might have been the most exasperated. He sat quietly on one of the benches. Walker, whose University of Connecticut team knocked out Rajon Rondo’s alma mater Kentucky in the 2011 Final Four, inadvertently had made Rondo’s night on the court.