A really thoughtful response from a really cerebral player.  The miss was just another thing that went wrong for the Celtics in the last 4 minutes of the game but it was nice to hear Allen explain exactly what went wrong.  Well, almost exactly.  The guy that rotated over was actually Kyrie Irving while the always-terrible-defensive-player Antawn Jamison was the guy who gave the halfhearted reach in on the blow-by.

A lot of times a play like this will happen and you’ll just think the player had a brain fart.  Rarely do you hear that the player actually knew exactly what was around him and just messed up the finish.  It’s not like it’s a free throw.

3. By the time of this play in the third quarter, Boston had Orlando rattled. The C’s were as aggressive on defense as we’ve seen all year and the Magic were struggling just to get the ball over the timeline. You can see both of those things in evidence on this play, where Brandon Bass deflects a rushed inbound pass and then an alert Avery Bradley scoots in and snatches the ball away from two Magic defenders to set up the Bass finish.

2. Bradley’s confidence is growing with every game and as Tommy Heinsohn noted last night, his relentless harassment of the opposing PG is burning serious shot clock for the opposition, which weakens its halfcourt offense. Boston’s D feasted on those rushed Orlando possessions last night. Bradley had Jameer Nelson so off his game, the Magic PG eventually punted some ball handling duties to Hedo Turkoglu. Nelson may actually be hoping for Rajon Rondo to start Thursday night.

1. Two great things on this clip. 1) Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce just plain outworking the Magic for a defensive rebound. 2) Bradley showing good court sense, locating Pierce in transition and then finding him for an in-rhythm three.

Bonus! Because it was such a cathartic night, here’s a bonus clip of the C’s Purdue rookies running a nice pick and roll, with JaJaun Johnson throwing down on the back end.

0. Tonight’s comic entry. KG fires a cross court pass to Pierce, who barely turns his head as it sails into the seats. Good thing the game was well in hand by this point.

In this NBC Sports video, guests Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Mannix argue for going boom with the dynamite.

In a recent column at SI, Mannix was critical of Danny Ainge’s work building supporting casts around the big three over the last few years, particularly his work in the draft:

There have been opportunities to replenish the ranks. In 2008 the Celtics grabbed J.R Giddens (30th), passing on Mario Chalmers (34th), DeAndre Jordan (35th) and Luc Mbah a Moute (37th).

In 2010 the Celtics drafted Avery Bradley (19th), leaving Jordan Crawford (27th), Greivis Vasquez (28th) and Landry Fields (39th) in the pool.

Boston’s Big Three are not what they were in 2008. Yet they are being asked to carry a similar, if not larger, load. With Perkins gone, Garnett is being called upon to be a physical, inside presence that, frankly, he has never been. Allen is getting fewer open looks now that Perkins is setting bone-crunching screens for Durant in Oklahoma City. Rondo has assumed a bigger piece of the scoring burden but Boston’s offense still tends to stagnate when Pierce isn’t on the floor.

The Celtics are not on Chicago’s or Miami’s level this season and age has little to do with it. They could have held onto Perkins, paid him the going rate in the offseason ($9 million to $10 million a year might have done it) and kept the big, physical presence they now lack. They could have drafted better, could have given Rivers more reliable options in the first three quarters so Allen, Garnett and Pierce could be rested and ready for the fourth.

Your reactions, refutations and emotional outbursts in the comments section, please.

Now, we’ll continue our review of this one with a couple of actual positives from last night’s loss, an irritatingly correct call by the officials and a charming failure from one of the Celtics to cap it all off.

3. Like Frampton before him, Chris Wilcox came alive last night. In a short burst in the second quarter, he joined Rajon Rondo on the break for two transition dunks. Here they are.

2. Here’s Rondo’s charge on Derrick Rose, which some of you may see as the third foul on Rose that was never called. My read on this is you could fairly call it a charge. It’s defensible, I think. But I hate this rule. Because it also looks like a block to me. There needs to be more latitude for a “play on” in cases like this. Encouraging guys to flop and to slide in underneath a guy with a lane to the hoop does nothing for the game.

1. This play is perfect. First, a perfectly still Rondo uses some sort of voodoo power to strip the ball from Rose, who’s plowing down the wing. Rondo tears back upcourt and finds Ray Allen for a wide open three. Ray misses the shot but the Celtics will take that look anytime. More often than not, he knocks that in for three points. Then more good things happen: Brandon Bass snatches an offensive rebound and kicks it back out to Rondo. Rondo finds Allen, who makes a perfect back-door cut to the rim for an easy layup.

0. This last one is for Hayes, who argued vehemently against Avery Bradley seeing the court at all in our 5-on-5 on Thursday. Here, Bradley takes the ball to the rim and then… well… you can see for yourself. Whatever he’s doing, it’s not anything that smacks of, as Hayes notes, competence.