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15 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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Crunchtime Fail: New Orleans 83, Boston 81

In the end, this one came down to crunchtime execution. Tied 77-77 with two minutes to go in the game, New Orleans made tougher shots and better decisions than Boston and pulled out the victory. And while the reasons for it are somewhat different than last season, the C’s are 1-3 in their last four games and officially in another post-Christmas slump.

The Celtics trailed 66-57 at the end of three quarters before ripping off a furious 16-0 run to start the fourth quarter. But after Trevor Ariza hit a desperation three to beat the shot clock and give New Orleans a late lead, Glen Davis made a crucial error that played a huge part in the C’s walking away from this one with a loss. On the ensuing possession, after Ray Allen missed a three, the C’s got the offensive rebound and Davis unleashed a horrific three-pointer with 16 seconds on the shot clock.

That’s Glen Davis. Taking a three. With 16 seconds left on the shot clock.

The Celtics simply don’t have the horses to overcome those kinds of decisions right now. And Doc Rivers knows it. Those watching the CSNNE broadcast caught a disbelieving Rivers staring at and then barking at Davis when he next came to the bench.

Following the Davis miscue, the Celtics got burned on the defensive end. Davis lost David West on a pick and roll when he overplayed the Chris Paul (20 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 6 steals) drive. When Jermaine O’Neal came late to challenge West’s jumper, the Hornets went up by 5, and Boston couldn’t recover down the stretch.

Those final two minutes were a sour chaser to a spirited second half of this one as Rivers’ mix-and-match lineups brought the Celtics back, particularly the O’Neal, Allen, Luke Harangody, Marquis Daniels, and Nate Robinson combo that kicked off the fourth quarter. And there were other positive signs today: the C’s got decent efforts out of Von Wafer, Harangody and O’Neal, who is showing signs of life as he gets more comfortable in the lineup.

Still, as the absent Kevin Garnett would say: it is what it is.

And what it is is another loss.

More on this one to come…

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