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The Ticker
7 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 [...]

19
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 [...]

93
9 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 [...]

42
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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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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