Jerome Lane shatters the backboard. This was nice.

It’s what I wanted to do last night.  I just wanted to murder some glass.  I would have loved to be able to dunk and shatter a backboard, but I had to settle for a kitchen vase instead.

Oops.

I can remember watching Game Seven against the Orlando Magic last postseason.

I was still convinced of the Celtics’ invincibility. Kevin Garnett was out, and the mediocre Bulls had just finished forcing Boston to play seven brutally exciting games to finish Chicago off. But I still felt Boston would never lose. Read more »

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “It’s that simple. The Celtics have lost their edge, and good health and a couple of ubuntu chants following huddles are not going to bring it back. This is not the 2007-08 team and the Celtics are stumbling against Eastern Conference contenders like a punch-drunk champion who has nothing but a few good rounds left. The Celtics played a sparkling first half but had nothing for a response when the Cavaliers made adjustments, as good NBA teams do. This game was reminiscent of the 36-11 pounding the Magic laid on the Celtics in the third quarter Feb. 7, only this beating lasted the entire second half.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “With 2:50 remaining in the 108-88 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night at TD Garden, Celtics coach Doc Rivers threw in the white flag. His team was down 16 after being up as many as 13 on the Eastern Conference’s top squad, and Rivers sent Brian Scalabrine, Shelden Williams, and Marcus Landry onto the floor with Tony Allen and Nate Robinson. Part of it was practical. For a team that had dealt with its share of injuries – one that was playing without captain Paul Pierce for the second straight game because of a sprained right thumb – Rivers didn’t want to take any risks. Part of it was admitting defeat.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “But the Bostonians chose against the path of least resistance. In the second half, when the game was crashing in all around them, the Celts launched outside shots. They scored just 14 points in the paint, many of them when the victory was far out of reach. You want a better stat? Try on the fact Cleveland was a minus-10 with Shaq on the floor. ‘Yeah, we stopped being aggressive,’ said Ray Allen. ‘I don’t know why. The nature of the game changed. They took over as aggressors, and we were more passive.’”

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “‘I don’t mind the 3s from LeBron,’ Ray Allen said. ‘But they got a lot of layups. A lot of dunks in transition. We stopped being aggressive. They took over the game and we got passive. I don’t know why.’ Maybe they don’t, which would be bad. Maybe they do, but can’t do anything about it, which would be worse.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “But the Celtics are well into a pattern that now defines them. They are 2-2 against the Cavaliers and Lakers combined. But add in Atlanta and Orlando, the other teams that will have lots to say about how far the C’s advance in the playoffs, and their record is 3-9. ‘We’re an executing team, and you’ve got to do that if you’re trying to beat these good teams,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘Maybe you can get away with that against subpar teams, but when we play teams like Cleveland, LA and Orlando we have to execute. The ball has to move from one side to the other.’”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (thomasking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.

Doc Rivers is all out of answers for why the Boston Celtics are playing the way they are. (Boston Globe)

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” said Rivers. “Obviously I’d like to improve it. We’d like to be better. But we’re not right now, and we’ve just got to keep working on it. I know what we need to do. But one night it’ll be defense, one night it’ll be offense. So we’ve just got to be more consistent.

“We got everything we wanted. I really thought the difference of the two halves was in the first half Cleveland played like us. The ball didn’t move for them offensively; they were a one pass, shot offense. We were attacking and we were multiple pass, multiple pick In the second half, we became them and they attacked us.”

Said Kevin Garnett, “I know you guys are tired of writing it in your columns. I apologize for all that. At some point there has to be some action. You’re right, you’re totally right. Doc has a saying. ‘You have to run through the whole race’, and we have to do that. Until we as players decide to do that we’re going to be in this predicament.”

For Doc Rivers to say Cleveland was losing in the first half because they played like the Celtics normally do is telling.  And depressing.  The Cavs were disjointed, and Boston was tearing them to shreds.  You know, the way it’s often happened to the Celtics.

In the second half, the Cavs were the Cavs again, and the Celtics were the Celtics.  And the Cavs beat the Celtics 60-32.

The Maine Red Claws finally found a way to beat the Mad Ants, powering past the visitors 122-97 last night in highest-scoring home game of the season.

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Before the game Wednesday night I had a chance to sit down with Red Claws owner Bill Ryan, Jr. Read more »