Sunday was a great day for Shelden Williams.  Sure, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs taught Williams and his Celtics teammates a clinic, but I’m sure that could barely overshadow the rest of his day.

Against those Spurs, when he wasn’t watching Manu (Manure?) Ginobili perform magic tricks, Williams scored 11 points in his highest-scoring output of the new year.  But that probably wasn’t even his favorite thing on Sunday.  Before his own game, Williams watched his alma mater, the Duke Blue Devils, advance to the Final Four for the first time since he played for them. (WEEI)

“It’s great,” Williams said, regarding the Dukies’ trip to the Final Four.  “It’s kind of strange that this is the first time that we’ve been back to the Final Four since my team in ‘04. It’s been kind of crazy, but actually this year has been amazing for college basketball fans to watch. This tournament has been unbelievable with underdog teams and powerhouse teams, you never know what to expect. If you had tried to tell me after being in the tournament that a fifth seed, a fifth seed, and only one one-seed would make it, that’s crazy.”

Williams is happy Duke is still alive, but hopes they aren’t done yet.  He sees some signs that could point to bigger and better things to come.

“Everybody on that team is playing their role. Nobody’s getting out of hands with things, nobody’s trying to [do] more than what they can do. I think just everybody is playing their role and playing off of each other well. I think that’s a great thing for them to do. Whether they’re not shooting well, like [Sunday], (Kyle) Singler was 0-for-10, he’s one of the top scorers if not the top scorer on the team, and they still managed to find a way to win. That says a lot.”

Williams hadn’t scored double figures since Dec. 30, then poured in 11 after watching Duke advance to the Final Four.  The same day, J.J. Redick damn near put on his triple-double against Denver, pumping in 23 points, 8 assists, and 7 boards against the Nuggets while filling in for the injured Vince Carter.

Maybe the Celtics should sign Christian Laettner, and see what he could do with all that Duke pride.

Can somebody please ask Glen how this picture came to be?

Did anybody else watch Blind Side for the first time, after already hearing that Glen Davis was a finalist to play Michael Oher?

I really liked the movie, but kept thinking to myself, “That could have been Big Baby,” and doubling over with laughter. I don’t know why it was funny that Big Baby was so close to landing a featured role in a top-notch movie, but I couldn’t stop cracking up.

I guess it was the thought of Big Baby — and all his giganticism — sleeping on a couch, or him walking through the rain with a backpack on his back and a frown on his face. Or him taking one sip of a 40, then snuffing an entire group of people, destroying about ten former neighbors all at the same time. Or Big Baby getting bullied by some trash-talking white kid for half a football game, then deciding to stick up for his coach and piledriving the same kid over a fence. Or maybe it was just the thought of seeing Big Baby in a multi-colored rugby shirt.

Today, I can ask him about how he would have played the role. Actually, I can ask him whatever I want, and so can you, because he’s chatting live on Boston.com at 3:30 p.m. EST, after the C’s practice. Click here to log on, chat with him, and ask him questions.

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.

Up and down, and down and up. Aren't roller coasters supposed to be fun?

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Doc Rivers talks of his team’s inability to sustain itself, and every week he’s proved correct. Unlike the 2008 NBA championship team, this Celtics unit is woefully impatient. ‘Sometimes we fight through it, and when it doesn’t work, we all try to go somewhere else,’ said Allen. ‘But it’s all cyclical in this league. The biggest thing is that we have to protect the home court. But we’ve been on a roller coaster ride all year,’ he said. ‘We just keep plugging. The bad games just crystallize what you want to do even more. It makes us work harder.’ But with only nine regular-season games left, even hard work may have a limit. The Celtics [team stats] still are attempting to make adjustments that some teams completed a month ago. ‘It’s actually a lot of time,’ said Michael Finley, the former Spur who has been down this path many times. ‘It seems like a short period of time, but it’s a chance to come closer and to get our confidence in the right state of mind. You learn from both wins and losses,’ he said. ‘But I think you learn more from losses, and (the San Antonio game) was no different.”

NESN – “‘[Rasheed Wallace] checks in and checks out again,’ Benbow told anchor Jade McCarthy. Benbow went on to say that Wallace is well aware of the whispers surrounding his shortcomings, offering a recent criticism that Wallace only gets one rebound per night. ‘Then he comes out and pulls down five or six the first quarter [the next game], then you don’t hear from him the rest of the night,’ Benbow said. ‘He knows there is pressure on him to perform.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “A couple of noteworthy stats from our ESPN Stats and Information folks that showcased why Boston struggled so badly in Sunday’s loss to the Spurs: 1) The Celtics finished with their lowest point total since the Big Three united, highlighted by an inability to hit shots beyond the paint. Boston shot 37 percent overall (its second worst performance this season) and scored 30 second-half points, matching a season low. A big part of those troubles stemmed from an inability to score on jump shots. The Celtics were a cringe-worthy 7 of 40 overall (17.5 percent) on jump shots for the game. Rasheed Wallace hit the team’s only 3-pointer of the night in the first half, and Boston finished 1 of 14 from beyond the arc overall (missing all five trifectas it took in the second half).”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “The Celtics have nine games remaining and in addition to trying to claim the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, coach Doc Rivers has promised to tighten his playing rotations. It’s uncertain who will play on a given night. A left knee injury to Kendrick Perkins allowed Brian Scalabrine to get some action after he was on the inactive list for 10 games. Tony Allen had his playing time drastically cut with the arrival of Michael Finley, but has played 41 minutes over the past three games. The consensus is Rivers can’t stick with a 10- or 11-man rotation during the playoffs. There needs to be consistent minutes for his primary rotation so they can prepare for their postseason roles. [...] ‘Obviously I don’t think we can go with 10 or 11,’ Rondo said. ‘He’s done a good job every year. I think he knows his playoff rotation. I think maybe he’s trying to find one or two more guys that he wants to go with.’”

Zach Lowe, Celtics Hub – “For all the many advancements Rajon Rondo has made this season, he hasn’t made the one improvement we’ve been wishing for the most: He still can’t shoot jumpers. He’s improved his shooting from 15 feet and in, and he’s shown flashes of a quality jump shot from outside of 15 feet. But the last two months or so have shown the long jumper just isn’t going to be a reliable part of Rajon’s arsenal this season. And you feel the impact of that reality when the C’s face a team (like the Spurs) that packs the paint on defense and doesn’t turn the ball over and allow Boston to get into transition. Over Boston’s last 20 games, Rajon Rondo is 13-of-55 (24 percent) on shots from outside 15 feet, according to box scores on Hoopdata.”

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

The Pistol had a soft side. Charmin soft.

Okay, okay, Pistol Pete Maravich played only 26 games for the Boston Celtics. I understand that by the time he was a Celtic, he no longer had the magic that made him a household name even today. But this is noteworthy.

Both hilarious and heartwarming, his love letters to a high school girlfriend named Vada Palma — saved by her for 45 years — were released to Pete’s old high school, Broughton High School. At times, The Pistol seems like Doug Christie, more whipped than life itself. He wrote “kiss me” in every letter, and admits to missing three free throws in a game because he was thinking of Vada. (Charlotte Observer)

“I know you won’t believe this but I missed three more foul shots last night because of you.” He wrote that he was up until 3 a.m. “I swear, every time I went to the foul line who did I think of. Yes, you[’re] right, you. It was a wonder I didn’t miss all of them

Sounds like Pistol needed to get his priorities in straight. Focus, Pete!

Pete’s softness didn’t end on the free throw line, though.

“It’s 1:30 in the morning and I still love you,” he wrote. “I’m so happy about our win tonight. Nobody would have ever believed that we could beat them.”

The other big news was that he had gotten a suit [for a dance]. “I got my suit today. I think it’s really good looking. All of this is for you,” he wrote.

But Pete didn’t have as good a time as he wanted to after the dance. “My only wish was that we would have had a better time after the dance,” he wrote. “…Boy, what a drag that was driving around not saying a word to each other. You really did look beautiful…”

Fear not, though, Maravich fans. He wasn’t called Pistol Pete for nothing. Although he was “flunking the dog out of College Algebra, he was “beginning to do pretty well in Anatomy.” I think I know what that means: Vada was known as a “local beauty,” and The Pistol always was a great scorer.

(h/t TrueHoop)

No description necessary. Just watch, and enjoy the top 100 best dunks ever.

Manu Ginobili had a monster block of Kevin Garnett last night. It was truly vicious. Check it out.

From that angle, it looks cleaner than an OCD-diagnosed person’s room. But it wasn’t. Ginobili got it clean, but George Hill hacked Garnett before Ginobili could even get there.

This doesn’t take away from Ginobili’s block. He made a magnificent play. But, as everyone lauds Manu’s block, I had to stick up for my boy Garnett: He definitely got fouled.