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16 hours ago

Rondo Replacing Johnson on All-Star Team

The Herald got it right from Rondo’s agent. According to his agent, Bill Duffy, the Celtics point guard has been named to the Eastern Conference All-star roster, presumably to replace Joe Johnson, the injured Atlanta Hawks guard. This would be Rondo’s third all-star appearance. Nice birthday present for RR, who probably should have been selected [...]

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3 days ago

Comments Deleting?

We apologize if your comments are being deleted (provided that they are not offensive). We are looking into why this is happening. We also want to apologize for the lack of a game thread for last night’s game.  We had a premonition that the Celtics would play that poorly and thought if we pretended the [...]

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7 days ago

5 Questions With Greg Monroe

I talked with Detroit star forward Greg Monroe prior to the Celtics-Pistons game on Wednesday night.  Here is what the 2nd year big man out of Georgetown, who is averaging 16.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game had to say. 1. Just your 2nd year in the league, but playing so well, were you disappointed [...]

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8 days ago

Call for Responses: 5-on-5

Readers! Last week’s responses to the 5-on-5 questions were really, really great. We had way more qualified answers than we were able to use. So we’re going to keep doing it! FOREVER. Here are this week’s questions: 1. Are you concerned about Rondo’s media boycott this week? 2. The trade deadline is less than a [...]

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11 days ago

5 Questions With Ronnie Brewer

I talked with Chicago starting guard Ronnie Brewer prior to the Celtics-Bulls game on Sunday.  Here is what the 6th year man out of Arkansas who is averaging 7.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists had to say. 1. You guys have a lot of the same players back from last year’s team which was [...]

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13 days ago

5 Questions With Josh McRoberts

I talked to Los Angeles back up big man Josh McRoberts prior to the Celtics-Lakers game Thursday night at the Garden.  Here is what the former Duke Blue Devil, who is averaging 2.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in his first year in LA, had to say. 1. How have you guys been able to deal [...]

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Shaq Travels With Team to Oklahoma City: Will Not Play Tonight

One day after Head coach Doc Rivers questioned Shaquille O’Neal’s availability for the team’s upcoming four game jaunt through the midwest and southeast, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com passed along the good news that Shaq did indeed make the flight with his teammates to Oklahoma City yesterday.

CSN’s A. Sherrod Blakely is also now reporting Shaq is definitely out for tonight’s contest vs. the Thunder.

The fact of the matter is though this is encouraging news about Shaq’s long-term prognosis. You don’t generally travel with the team if you’re hurt, unless there’s a reasonable chance you will be able to see action at some point on the trip. Thus we will be watching closely to see how Shaq’s right knee responds if he does in fact hit the hardwood.

The team needs to be cautious here, but they could also use Shaq’s big body against some big front lines in Dallas and Memphis this week particularly. Thus, it does not surprise me at all Shaq will be sitting out tonight, against a more mobile Oklahoma City front line that the C’s would likely not use Shaq too much against anyway. No need to risk him if you don’t need him.

Another question to consider here is if the 18-year veteran does suit up, does Doc Rivers insert him back into the starting lineup or bring him off the bench with the injury? My gut says the former….Shaq has clearly been more comfortable playing with the starters thus far, and his offensive abilities are enhanced with a natural point guard like Rajon Rondo. The starters can also better cover up his defensive liabilities.

Still, Jermaine O’Neal had a solid offensive performance Friday night against Chicago (though lacking on the glass). So if he is beginning to develop a little bit of a groove with the starters, it may make Doc think twice about inserting a less than 100 percent Shaq back into the starting five.

The long and the short of it? It probably won’t matter too much, given that if Shaq plays this week, I doubt we will see him more than 15-20 minutes tops in any particular game. Glen Davis will continue to be the guy seeing the major minutes when the games count on this tough trip, the minutes he’s earned with his phenomenal start to the 2010-11 season.

Much more to come today including an OKC preview and recap. Hope everyone enjoyed their extra hour of sleep last night.

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