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The Ticker
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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Game 3: Heat at Celtics Open Thread

The answer to the number-one Google autocomplete above is finally “no.” I mean, it’s probably more ambiguous than that, but the point is the Celtics have Shaquille O’Neal in their lineup tonight. Will it be for five minutes? Seven minutes? Even, dare we imagine, as many as thirteen minutes? Heavens.

“We started out great. We played great basketball with Shaq in the middle. I think it’ll be easier for Shaq to return in a starting position, which I think he has earned with his play this year.”

Everyone in the world knows that Danny Ainge said that. But since he uttered those words, Shaq has played six total minutes before he got a little careless and ran at three-quarter speed down the court, straining his calf. That injury came out of absolutely nowhere and was caused by absolutely nothing, so it’s a lot to hope for that Shaq will be at full strength in this game, or that he’ll last through the series. Knock on a forest.

But if he’s good? If he protects the rim, pulls down a few boards, and generally makes things difficult for the Heat under the basket? If he passes Kobe, who passed him last night, for third all-time in playoff scoring? That would certainly be a thing.

Get excited no matter what, because with a win tonight, the Celtics have a chance to tie at home and get this down to a three-game series with momentum. A loss this evening makes a comeback nearly impossible, but that loss is definitely not a foregone conclusion. Never doubt how much the players want this, and how hard they’re going to work to get it tonight.

Open thread. LET’S GO.

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