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13 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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Executed by a Lack of Execution: Celtics 90, Heat 98

ESPN Box Score • The Heat Index • Peninsula Is Mightier

The Celtics were right in their comfort zone.  After giving up a late game lead, they came roaring back to tie the game at 86.  Paul Pierce, after going toe-to-toe with LeBron James all game, forced James to mis-dribble and Ray Allen secured the loose ball.  With the ball and 20 seconds to go, you wouldn’t find a person alive that wouldn’t have bet on Boston to execute a play and get a good shot.  It was only one year ago that the Miami Heat saw this late game execution first hand when a Rajon Rondo alley-oop sent a game to overtime, an eventual Boston win.

Tonight was an anomaly, although a perfect punctuation to a contest that lacked offensive execution.  Coming off a timeout, Paul Pierce got the ball at the top of the key and began to dribble down extraneous seconds.  Then the Celtics began to make their move only instead of setting a pick on a Miami player, Allen and Kevin Garnett had done the unimaginable:  they set a pick on themselves.  Out of sorts and without a screen coming, Pierce is forced to go left and throw up a prayer that was not answered. Backboard, rim, out, overtime.

Both the Celtics and the Heat were playing unbelievable defense to that point.  Aside for Boston’s bullet-filled feet, the two team’s played each other to a standstill.  Something had to give and with the Celtics’ tired, old legs and the Heat’s all-game aggressiveness, a Boston loss was inevitable.

Now the Celtics are forced to go back to South Beach with their season, their title hopes, and their pride on the lines.  For the Cs, there are only two options: win or go home.  As tonight proved, the former will be extremely difficult.

Much more analysis to come….

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