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8 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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9 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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9 days ago

Danny Ainge Expects Doc Rivers & Kevin Garnett To Return, Unsure About Paul Pierce

A long, challenging offseason awaits Danny Ainge this summer. Before he dives in head first, he joined Salk and Holley on WEEI-FM 93.7 to discuss the multitude of decisions facing him this offseason, as well as the progress of Rajon Rondo in his rehab from ACL surgery. A few of the notable highlights from the interview. Ainge [...]

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9 days ago

Suns Hire Away Celtics’ Assistant GM Ryan McDonough

In one way or another, there will be change this offseason in Boston. That process started in the past couple days, with the first piece moving out coming as a name most C’s fans might not be familiar with. Yet, it was Celtics’ assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, one of Danny Ainge’s top lieutenants, who [...]

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10 days ago

Doc Rivers Finishes 13th in Coach of the Year Voting

It was a tough season for the Boston Celtics, and that includes for head coach Doc Rivers. The long-time coach battled to find the right fit for a lot of new pieces that were both underperforming and/or failed to pick up his schemes on both ends of the floor. Naturally, an unfortunate plethora of injuries [...]

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12 days ago

Overconfident Answers To Offseason Questions (Part 1)

It seems like every offseason since 2010 we’ve been through this: a myriad of questions and concerns about the Celtics’ roster that usually involve the possibility of the core of the team being dismantled. As we head into the summer of 2013, we’ve got a whole batch of questions, many of which will be familiar.  [...]

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Ugly Loss: Celtics 100, Pacers 107

ESPN Box Score • 8 Points 9 Seconds • Indy Cornrows

Ugly.  That pretty much sums up Boston’s fourth quarter.  The Pacers gave the Celtics every bit of an opportunity to win tonight’s game and the Celtics just gave it away.  The plays that will be etched in my mind for the next few nights are the cross court pass attempts with about 3 minutes to go.  If you’re Kevin Garnett, why do you attempt a three quarter court outlet pass?  And if you’re the rest of the Celtics players, how do you not come to the ball?

The last thing I want to hear from any Celtic supporter is any talk of officiating.  Even though the Celtics bigs were in foul trouble all night, only a few calls were actually of the ticky-tack variety.  The real reason why the Celtics lost was just a lack of discipline down the stretch.  The offense was not great but it was a lot of better than it has been.  At least the Celtics were making open jump shots (save for Delonte West and Jeff Green who could not hit anything from deep going a combined 0-3.  I really would not bother pointing this out except these shots were wide open).

Before I end this quickly (not to worry, Ryan is on tap to really dig in later), let’s talk some silver linings:

  • Rajon Rondo has an amazing offensive game tonight, scoring 22 points and dishing out 8 assists.  He also was the only one rebounding in the final minute which eerily reminded me of Game 7 of the NBA Finals when he seemed like the only guy who wanted to play until the final buzzer.  The one complaint I had about Rondo was his inability to fight over picks.  He consistently got stuck on the Pacers’ bigs which left his man open to either score or make an easy pass.
  • Glen Davis also had a great game off the bench and will need to continue to have these types of games if the Celtics hope to have any success in the playoffs.
  • I cannot believe I am saying this but Jermaine O’Neal’s six fouls could have been extremely helpful tonight.

Even though the Celtics only had 19 assists as a team, they were moving the ball around much better than they had been.  With two days of rest, I expect the Celtics will be able to put it together against an injured San Antonio team on Thursday.  They have another SEGABABA on Friday so all bets are off.

Alright now if any of those positives made you feel even the least bit better, sorry, but I have to ruin that feeling for you.  Right now, the Bulls are getting beat by 10 in the third quarter.

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