The Celtics have had considerable success on and off the court since Steve Pagliuca joined the team as a co-owner in December 2002. On Tuesday, Pagliuca was unable to transfer that success to the political arena.

Pagliuca finished well off the pace in the Democratic primary to fill the Massachusetts US Senate seat vacated by the death of Edward M. Kennedy. In the four-person race, Pagliuca finished last, according to the Associated Press. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Pagliuca had 12 percent of the vote, just behind City Year co-founder and fellow political novice Alan Khazei, who had 13 percent. Pagliuca reportedly spent about $9 million of his own money on the campaign.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, no stranger to tough losses in his long NBA career as a player and coach, knew how to ease the pain for one of his bosses. As he stood to leave his press conference following Boston’s 98-89 win over Milwaukee at TD Garden, Rivers joked to reporters, “Obviously none of y’all voted for Pags.”

Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley won the primary with 47 percent of the vote, with US Representative Michael Capuano second at 28 percent.

Coakley will meet Republican State Senator Scott Brown in the general election on Jan. 19.