Once in a while, someone else’s article catches my eye. Sometimes, it’s because the article is so spot-on I wish I’d written it myself. Other times, it’s because the article enlightens me with something I never knew. Still other times, it’s because I disagree with whatever’s written. No matter what the reason, I dish it off to another writer to make his/her point. You know, throwing some dimes.

• Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog writes the best Celtics ‘story of the decade’ yet:

The year that followed was nothing short of a perfect storm of basketball euphoria for Celtics fans.  Three superstar players checked their egos at the door and bought into a system that required them to sacrifice stats and pour their blood, sweat, and tears into playing unglamorous defense night in and night out.  The ideal 6th man was dropped into our laps and hit clutch shot after clutch shot while leading the 2nd team defense.  A 2nd year point guard was trusted with the keys to the Ferrari and an undersized power forward 2nd round pick had the game of his life in the Finals.  The cherry on top was throttling the Los Angeles Lakers to take home the 17th banner.  It wasn’t a dream.  All this actually happened.

• WEEI has a set of New Year’s resolutions straight from the Celtics’ mouths.  Here’s Rasheed Wallace’s:

“Getting that ’ship, winning that ’ship. Plain and simple, to win that championship. That’s the ultimate when you’re a professional athlete, no matter if it’s football, basketball, baseball, whatever, to win that championship.”

• CelticsBlog discusses how injuries have limited the Celtics offensive options.
• Red’s Army writes a list of the decade’s top moments. My favorite is obviously number one, but number three was pretty damn fun too.
• Lebron James got one hell of a birthday present… and no, I’m not talking about his 48 points.

Wanna throw your own dime, and get someone’s article recognized? Email me at jayking@celticstown.com or follow me on Twitter.

That poor kid had to meet Ricky Davis?

Yesterday, I wrote about my ten favorite Celtics of the decade.  Today, after watching the Suns blow the C’s out in an embarrassing game, I have some venom in my heart to dish out to my ten least favorite Celtics of the decade.  Now, my least favorite Celtics might be different than yours, but I don’t care.  They’re mine, and I hate them!

Keep in mind, it’s hard to come up with ten people you hate the most from the organization you love.  It’s a good thing the Celts made it a little easier on me by sucking so badly for portions of the decade.

Drumroll, please…. and here’s the list. Read more »

Much like your Boston Celtics, the Maine Red Claws faced a top-notch team yesterday after recently some of their best players. The two NBAers assigned to the team from Boston, Bill Walker and Lester Hudson, were brought back due to injuries in the parent club. After losing to lowly Bakersfield on Sunday night, there was every reason to have concern about the big game against Iowa Thursday afternoon. Would the Claws come out and disappoint another sellout crowd in the Portland Expo?

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Rasheed doesn't have much of a filter.

You know how grandparents grow old and completely stop filtering what’s on their mind? Whether it’s because they’ve learned over to years to speak their minds or are old enough to not realize what the hell they’re saying, grandparents tend to speak the blunt truth about whatever they’re thinking.

Rasheed Wallace isn’t a grandfather but he sure doesn’t have a filter, either.

After the NBA passed on word to Wallace that he barely escaped a fine after some recent comments, you would have expected Wallace to calm down and harness in his future comments. Well, that is, you’d expect that if you had no idea that Rasheed Wallace just doesn’t give a f— about the NBA front office. If you do know a little about Rasheed, his recent comments in the Boston Herald - while kind of cooky – won’t surprise you one bit:

When it was suggested he could offer a “no comment” to questions about officiating, Wallace said, “Yeah, I could do that, but I think I have to be honest when I’m asked a question. And what happened to freedom of speech? You know, I say what’s on my mind, speaking my freedom, and I get fined for it. It’s a catch-22 with that (expletive), man.

“See, they think they can control people with money. Everybody don’t live like that. That’s how they live up there in that office. They think, ‘Oh, I’m going to hit him in the pocket. That’s where it will hurt.’ No, it don’t hurt me. I didn’t have it growing up, so, I mean, either way it don’t hurt me. As long as my family’s cool, I’m cool. It ain’t hurting my family. I make sure of that.”

Either way they’re going to get me,” Wallace said. “If I don’t say nothing I’m going to get fined, and if I say something I’m going to get fined. So I might as well say something about what’s on my mind, what I want to say. They’re going to hit me up either way. I’ve been through that before in Portland. When I wasn’t talking to the media they were fining me. But then when I did talk to the media they didn’t like what I had to say, so they fined me some more. So I was like, ‘Well, (expletive), if you’re going to fine me I might as well say what the hell I want to say.’ ”

I think we all learned a long time ago that Rasheed just doesn’t really care about much of anything. All he wants to do is saunter around the court, shoot a few threes, play a little post defense, and maybe yell at a ref or two. He really could care less about David Stern, Stu Jackson, or anybody else in the NBA front office.

Me? I could care less about what Rasheed says in his press conferences; he could go all Allen Iverson after every game and I wouldn’t care one bit… in fact, I’d probably find it entertaining.

So he can talk about the refs all he wants. I just wish he would change the way he talked to refs.

After an impressive win over the league’s best team, the Maine Red Claws play the Erie BayHawks (Cleveland Cavaliers & Toronto Raptors). Maine has already defeated Erie three times this season (116-90, 81-77, 96-75) but the BayHawks have yet to play in Portland. The BayHawks are a fairly new team, having been established for the 2008-2009 season.

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Perk crush ball.

Kendrick Perkins is developing a wee bit of a reputation with referees.  Partially, that reputation is due to his perennial scowl.  Partially, it’s due to arguing just about any call that goes against him.  Partially, it’s because refs can be assholes.

Whatever the reason for that reputation, Perkins thinks the last two technicals he’s received are unfair. 

Via the Boston Globe:

Celtics center Kendrick Perkins said he will talk with NBA executive vice president for basketball operations Stu Jackson Thursday morning about rescinding his previous two technical fouls, including the one called by Zach Zarba in the second quarter of Wednesday’s 116-98 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Though Perk thinks his technicals aren’t worthy, Doc Rivers thinks his young big man needs to change his ways.

Via the Boston Herald:

“He’s just got to get better. I told him that at halftime,” said Rivers. “(Expletive), we cut it to nine points and then he gets a tech. I have no idea over what. He’s got to grow up. There’s no doubt about it. They’re going to listen to Kevin. They’re going to listen to Ray a little bit. They’re going to listen to Paul. They have to listen to Rasheed. They’re not going to listen to anyone else. That’s enough.”

“He does have a reputation, but you know how you get a reputation? You earn it. It’s not like they just give you one. The sad thing is he’s a great kid.”

Doc is right. With Perk, with Sheed, with all the Celtics, technical fouls have become a problem. For now, it’s not too big a deal (although Perk’s last night did stop momentum), but when the technicals start to pile up and all of a sudden Perk and Sheed are getting suspended for games, that’s when the Celtics’ tempers will be truly detrimental.

So Perk, Sheed, and everybody else have got to keep their tantrums in check for the sake of the team.

Plus, those goddamn refs have to stop being such assholes.