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.

Good luck, Q. The way Pierce has been playing, you'll need it. (Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images)

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “The Celtics will have to somehow contain the Heat’s Dwyane Wade, who was a 30-point night waiting to happen at the close of the season. They’ve had their trouble bottling up premier scorers recently, be it James, Kevin Durant or Manu Ginobili. In Wade, the Heat have a player who cannot only change a game, but a series. ‘It’s more than Dwyane Wade,’ Rondo said. ‘[Michael] Beasley, [Mario] Chalmers, Jermaine O’Neal. I think he has a good supporting cast, but the bulk of it is stopping Dwyane Wade. I think if we don’t stop him, we can stop other players.’ The Celtics played the ‘wait until the playoffs’ card for much of the regular season. They are now at a point where they have to show what’s in their hand. ‘Every team that is in the playoffs is here for a reason,’ Allen said. ‘Whatever happens, adversity hits, we pick it up and become a resilient bunch of guys that whatever happens we want to get better and improve. We did that in ’08. As the playoffs went on we weren’t great, we put a lot of expectations on ourselves, but we figured it out on the way.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Clearly, Miami has figured a few things out. ‘Obviously they’ve been playing well,’ Rondo said. ‘They’ve won 12 of their last (13) games. So it’s not going to be easy, but luckily we have the first two games at home.’ The Heat will try to slow the pace, but the Celtics [team stats] still figure to get their opportunities in transition. ‘I think either way we should be able to push the ball,” Rondo said. “If they miss shots, we’ll get in transition and go. But in the playoffs, each possession is pretty much slowed down. It’s not an up-tempo game. You have to value the ball and take care of it.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Responding to a Boston Herald report that suggested Rivers was leaning towards retirement following the 2009-10 season, Boston’s sixth-year coach noted that he goes through the same process each offseason and that this year would be no different. ‘It’s what I’ve said for the last three years, that is what I told [the Herald],’ said Rivers. ‘It’s old news, it really is. I don’t think about it, to be honest. Every summer I do the same thing: I go home, get away from it for a while, and make a decision. It’s no different than last summer or the summer before that. I was a little amused at the question, because I thought it was old news. No, I haven’t thought about it. I don’t think about it. If you thought about it after every game, you’d go a different way each time. If you win, you think you can do this forever; when you lose it’s, ‘Man, I think I’m leaving.’ It’s human nature. Other than that, as a family, we haven’t talked about it. It’s what I said [Tuesday], it’s a non-issue for me now. Obviously a lot of people outside have made a lot of conclusions on what I’m thinking. I always thought I was the best source.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Rivers has gone to different methods to motivate his team of veterans, acknowledging that it’s worn on him. ‘I think this year has worn on everyone,’ he said. ‘This has been a difficult year, but as a coach you’re going to have some of those. It’s been a challenging year, there’s no doubt about that, but that won’t play into it. I love the guys I’m coaching. It’s just been a challenging year when you start out the way you start out and then you become an inconsistent team and every night you’re trying to find the button to push. It’s exhausting, but it’s exhilarating in some ways. In some sadistic way, it’s probably good.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Paul Pierce has said he’d rather not play for another coach, and that sentiment is fairly strong among the Celtics veterans. As long as Doc Rivers will be re-evaluating his status as Celtic coach this offseason – with the possibility he could leave the position – the players will be keeping a close eye on his whereabouts.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Now that rest is the order of the day, Rivers can look into increasing the minutes of his starters. ‘It didn’t look good three months ago, or two months ago,’ he said. ‘We started out in good health, and then it went away. We’ve struggled getting it back, but this is the healthiest we’ve been. I think this is the best Kevin (Garnett) has been since early in the season. I think Paul (Pierce) is feeling fantastic right now. . . . That’s the good part.’”

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe – “Just as Lenny Zakim dedicated his life to helping others, so, too, did Satch Sanders play 13 years with the Celtics in the shadow of more celebrated players, 11 of whom are enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. If you were to ask every one of the Hall of Famers which teammate regularly, and uncomplainingly, did the most dirty work on the team, the unanimous answer would be ‘Satch.’ That’s because his primary job was to play defense against some of the great scoring machines of the day. The most notable, of course, was the incomparable Elgin Baylor, the man who most created modern basketball when he took a game that had been horizontal and only occasionally vertical and made it diagonal with his superb body control, variety of shot-release points, and amazing combination of strength and speed. Guarding Baylor in his prime was a thankless and, for most people, impossible task. No one made life more difficult for Baylor than the 6-foot-6-inch Sanders. I still can hear Red Auerbach praising Satch to his summer campers because “he never lets Elgin get the second shot.’’ Both Auerbach and Bob Cousy swore that on the night Baylor scored 61 points against the Celtics in a playoff game, the only reason he didn’t get 75 or 80 was Satch, who made him work for every last point.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “He admitted he battled nerves before Wednesday’s game, but his natural ability took over on the court. ‘I was just trying to play basketball,’ said Lafayette, a native of Baton Rouge, La., which endeared him to fellow Louisiana native Glen Davis. ‘I was nervous on the bench, watching the guys play. But once I was in the game, that’s just basketball.’ It didn’t hurt that Oliver instantly opened eyes. A minute into the second quarter, he spun through the lane and dished to Shelden Williams for a baseline dunk. A few minutes later he splashed his first shot, a 21-foot jumper, and added a 6-foot runner soon after. ‘It took a lot of the nerves away,’ Lafayette said of his quick start. ‘You don’t have to worry, you can let the game come to you. There’s a lot of great guys out there, all you have to do is get open.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Gaffney was waiting for his FIBA paperwork to be finalized yesterday, and he couldn’t have landed in a more pleasing place, judging from what is still hanging on the walls of his bedroom back in Berkley, including a poster of the original Big Three. ‘Half of my room is still filled with Celtics stuff,’ he said. ‘My parents told me from Day 1 when I was in LA that they weren’t getting rid of any Celtics stuff.’ Gaffney’s allegiance, though, didn’t lessen the surprise when he heard this week that the Celtics were interested. ‘I didn’t see this coming,’ said Gaffney, who added that, in terms of his foot, ‘I’m 100 percent. The injury is still healing, but I’m 100 percent. Hopefully adrenaline will take over from here.’”

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