Doc remains confident, even if his Celtics aren't. (AP Photo/Mark Avery)

Peter May, ESPNBoston – “But, needless to say, optimism prevails, as it probably should. At least for public consumption. After the Detroit game, Garnett stated the company line, one that he and others have been offering for quite some time. ‘The year isn’t over, man. We still have a lot more basketball to play,’ he said. ‘You know, Doc does a real good job about making sure that we stay focused on the game that is sitting in front of us. There is nothing that we can do about the future, there is nothing we can do about injuries. [We're] just trying to keep guys healthy and gain this momentum going into the later parts of the [season]. [We] can’t do anything about the past. Every year is new, new personnel, new team. But you have to have the same consistencies.’ There are 16 games left before the fun (they hope) begins.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Marred in a month-long slump, Daniels’ struggles reached a nadir with 12 scoreless minutes against Cleveland in which he missed all three shots he took and barely registered on the stat sheet (1 rebound, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks). What’s more, before Daniels’ lone rebound in that game, he had hauled in just one board in the previous five games — a mind-numbing span of 93 minutes of court time with a single rebound. Not since Mark Blount was in town had Boston’s bench seen such rebounding futility.”

Greg Payne, CelticsBlog – “Pierce might be 32 going on 33 later this year, but 32 is far too young, even by NBA standards, for a player of Pierce’s caliber to simply lose his physical capabilities over the course of the second half of a single season. Particularly when, through the first two months of the season, Pierce seemed to be dunking more than he had his entire career, meaning he was arguably stronger and lighter than in years past. And it was noticeable. We were talking about it on this very blog. Remember Pierce posterizing Chris Bosh on November 27? I do. I was there. And if that night you told me that Pierce would suddenly ‘lose his athleticism’ a month later, I would have uttered the heartiest of chuckles. And, to an extent, those chuckles are still warranted. Paul Pierce is not ‘over the hill.’”

Mike Fine, MetroWest Daily News – “‘I think it’s big for a lot of reasons,’ Finley said of a possible bench surge. ‘One, if we’re playing well it gives the coaching staff confidence to rest the starters down the stretch and feel comfortable in doing that, but still keep ourselves in position to win a ballgame. And two, when it comes down to the playoffs, the starters, in my opinion, ultimately win ballgames, but it’s good to have confidence in your batch especially in crunch situations.’ That’s pretty much what Rivers is thinking.”

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