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8 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

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8 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
9 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

94
10 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
13 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

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13 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

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Christmas Eve Fun: All-Time Signs of the Apocalypse

One of the nice things about being home is that my parents still subscribe to dozens of print magazines. Almost any magazine I’d actually want to read is sitting on our coffee table. Among them is Sports Illustrated.

And SI’s decade in review issue has a list of its best “They Said It” and “Signs of the Apocalypse” items. The C’s feature in three:

Nov. 20, 2000: A Celtics charter flight was delayed for two hours because of smoke emanating from steaks sizzling in the galley.

I am not quite sure why this was considered so apocalyptic.

Oct. 31, 2005: A man who pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and intent to kill asked to have three years added to his 30-year sentence so his prison term would match Larry Bird’s jersey number.

Now this I understand. If you’re going away for a while, you might as well have something to smile about, right? As someone who will turn 33 years old in 2010, I completely get this. (Note to friends: Bird-related memorabilia will make a great gift).

They said it: Feb. 11, 2008: Doc Rivers, after being asked how long Kevin Garnett would be out with a strained abdominal muscle: “You know Doc’s a nickname, correct?”

Ah, for the days when KG’s abdominal muscle, and not his knee, made us all panic.

Bonus Terry Francona  “They Said It” from Aug. 16, 2004. Francona on Kevin Youkilis, whom Billy Beane nicknamed the Greek God of Walks throughout the book “Moneyball”:

“I’ve seen him in the shower, and I wouldn’t call him the Greek god of anything.”

Francona just oozes old-school baseball.

Merry Christmas, all. I’ll be back tomorrow with a mammoth preview of the Orlando game, and Brian and Brendan will take you home from there.

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