"I would have helped my team just as much wearing this suit." (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Jermaine O’Neal has had the week from hell. When his team needs him the most, O’Neal has disappeared into thin air. Through the first four games of the Celtics-Heat first-round playoff series, O’Neal is shooting 6-34 from the field, or a steaming hot 17.6%.

After being benched in the fourth quarter of Game Four (of which Erik Spoelstra fibbed, “Some would say Jermaine’s minutes were empty [Sunday]. I thought his 18 minutes were productive.”), O’Neal is struggling like almost no man has ever struggled.

“I absolutely couldn’t shoot any worse,” O’Neal admitted to the Miami Herald on Monday. “I’m still trying to figure it out, to get a rhythm. You can’t think so much. You’ve got to let go. You overanalyze everything. You predetermine your moves instead of everything coming in a flow.”

But O’Neal is wrong about not flowing; bricks have been flowing out of O’Neal’s hand like wine while beautiful women instinctively flock Dwyane Wade like the salmon of Capistrano. After shooting so many blanks, only a trip to dinner could cheer up the Heat’s desperately struggling big man. (Miami Herald)

Jermaine O’Neal’s confidence is so low right now that he went out to dinner after the Heat’s win over the Celtics on Sunday — in public, in a restaurant — and it almost amounted to an act of bravery.

It isn’t easy for a man 6-11 to hide. He half-expected the aim of cold stares or catcalls, if not cutlery.

Instead, the reception at The Cheesecake Factory surprised him, warmed him.

“People absolutely made me feel like I’d scored 30 in the game,” he said Monday. “I felt like the fans were behind me, and it meant a lot to get that support. It gives you a different kind of calmness. It’ll mean a lot if I can reward those fans in a big way.”

What O’Neal doesn’t know is that the chef urinated in his food.

I hope Bango the Buck is the highest-paid mascot in the NBA. The man literally put his life on the line just to entertain a home crowd.

Now, I’m afraid of heights — and I mean petrified to the point of being afraid on a little step-ladder — so I might think this is more impressive than the average folk. But no matter what, when a mascot goes all Superfly Jimmy Snuka off a 20-foot ladder with a backflip added in for difficulty and then dunks a basketball in the same motion, it’s one of the best dunks ever completed… whether it be man, myth, Lebron, or Bango the Buck.

(h/t J.E. Skeets)

UPDATE: Bango has also dunked himself.

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.

Doc saw some problems with Game Four.

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “The 6-foot-4 scoring machine [Dwyane Wade] is averaging 33.8 points, six assists and five rebounds while shooting 60.5 percent from the field during the series. Those are the type of numbers that cause an opposing coach to hold film sessions three times as long as usual. That’s what the Celtics did yesterday, spending an hour watching film before hitting the practice floor for another 60 minutes. ‘A lot of stopping and starting and then explaining and then re-explaining, and that happens,’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ‘That happens when you win sometimes, too. I thought we needed to watch it.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “‘I think when you’re watching film, and you’re pointing out some of the same themes that you’re doing wrong at both ends of the floor, you don’t mind watching,’ said [Ray] Allen. ‘As a team, we’re so keyed in to trying to figure out what we need to do to be better. When we watch film, the film doesn’t lie — the position we’re in, getting better position, making the extra pass on offense, seeing what they’re doing against us. It’s the best piece of education we own. We walk out of film session feeling so relieved. We understand why certain things happened. We get to that problem and keep certain things from happening again.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘I thought for the most part everybody wanted to get this settled in Miami,’ said Garnett. ‘And do it with one shot or one pass.’ In some cases, watching how it all played out makes everything clear. ‘When you’re watching film and it’s pointing out some of the same themes of what you’re doing wrong on both ends of the floor, you don’t mind watching it. As a team right now I think we’re so keyed in we’re trying to figure out what we’re trying to do to get better. The position we’re in, getting better position, making the extra pass on offense, seeing what they’re doing against us, it’s the best piece of education we own. We walk out of the film session feeling so relieved. We understand why certain things happened. We get to that problem and keep certain things from happening again.’ For Paul Pierce, the Celtics’ mistakes were evident while he was on the floor. ‘I noticed everything yesterday,’ Pierce said. ‘I saw it all. Up close and personal. I was there to see it all. We had our chances to put it away, obviously. Some late plays down the stretch. Hopefully we’re a lot better, especially at home to close this thing out.’”

Celtics Insider, Boston Herald – “All of that seems to suggest that Wade’s outburst in this series — and Game 4 in particular — has been a fluke. The numbers rarely lie, and in Wade’s case they say he’s a below average 3-pointer. But is this hot streak a fluke? Here’s how Wade explained his 3-point shooting after today’s practice. (Quotes courtesy of Herald friend Ira Winderman, who covers the Heat for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel). ‘I shoot more threes in the playoffs, anyway,’ Wade said. ‘I play around through the season. But I shoot more threes in the playoffs anyway and I work on them a lot more and I’m very confident. And I know if I hit one, I can get on a roll.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “‘I didn’t think we had the same defensive urgency we had in Game 1 or Game 2,’ Rivers said. ‘You can’t change much [with Wade]. You have to do a little bit better in what you are doing and if he’s making shots, he’s making shots. It’s tough for anybody guarding Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, LeBron James. We knew that going into the series. Dwyane Wade’s a great player, give him that, but we’re going to defend him. It’s going to be tough. If I can find a guy in the league that can keep Dwyane Wade in front of him whenever he wants to, we’ll sign him. Hopefully [principal owner] Wyc [Grousbeck] has some more money and we’ll get him. It’s going to be a team effort, not one guy.’ Wade is a career 48 percent shooter, but he is shooting 60 percent in this series, a disturbing statistic for a Celtics team that has long prided itself on containing high-scoring players. Wade missed 19 shots during that Jan. 6 game. Sunday he missed eight.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald – “Then Beasley said something interesting. He said, ‘the pressure is when [Wade] has an off night and he’s 6 for 20 or something. That’s when the pressure comes. When somebody’s got to step up.’ It can’t be one or the other if Miami is to win Game 5 and keep winning. It has to be Wade on his game and others stepping up. Start with O’Neal, whose 6-for-34 shooting in four playoff games (17.6 percent) amounts to the worst offensive stretch in his long career. One of O’Neal’s tattoos reads, `For The Love Of God.’ And one can imagine that has been the exclamatory of many Heat fans watching his shots go awry, as in: ‘For the love of God, will you please make a [bleep]ing basket!’”

Michael Wallace, Miami Herald – “After dropping a career playoff-high 46 points, setting three Heat postseason records and making every play to stave off elimination in his last game, Dwyane Wade was asked to comply with just one request: ‘Keep it going,’ teammate Dorell Wright said after practice Monday. ‘When he’s playing like that, you just want to see it keep going. I’m sure that hot hand will still be there in Game 5.’ In other words, Wade just might have to deliver an encore to Game 4 if Miami has any chance to keep its postseason alive entering Tuesday’s game against Boston at TD Garden.”

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel – “Need to sum up the theme of the night in a simple catchphrase? Then summon Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Sunday, when the theme was ‘reveal,’ you could hardly miss it before the game in the locker room or after the game as the Heat savored the 101-92 victory over the Boston Celtics that kept it afloat in this best-of-seven opening-round NBA playoff series that now shifts to TD Garden for Tuesday’s Game 5. ‘When you start preparing for each specific team, sometimes there’s a specific key that kind of supersedes everything else,” the second-year coach said. “An 82-game season is a long grind, and sometimes there’s one key word that might be the most meaningful thing, not only for that game, but for the last 48 hours, something that we’ve stressed and we need to focus on.’ It is difficult not to focus on the nightly Spoelstra-isms. They are everywhere, the phrase often repeated four, five, six times on the nightly scouting board. The points are reiterated by Spoelstra in his pregame media sessions, in his separately recorded pregame radio interview and then his pregame speech face to face to his players. ‘I see it when I first come in and it kind of snaps me into that mode,” veteran forward Quentin Richardson said of catchphrases that have ranged from ‘energy player’ to ‘finish’ to ‘starters set the tone.’ They are ubiquitous on the strategy board that frames the big screen in the home locker room and a portable strategy board set up in the middle of the locker room on the road, as it will be Tuesday at TD Garden. ‘When I first come in, I look at the board,’ Richardson said. ‘When I’m sitting here, changing, I look at the board. So I’ll be really into what he’s saying already and knowing what he’s talking about by the time he brings it up.’”

Michael Wallace, Miami Herald – “Heat forward Quentin Richardson was cleared to play Tuesday after an X-ray and MRI on his bruised left hand were negative. Richardson sustained the injury in Sunday’s victory against the Celtics and had his left ring finger immobilized after the game. He will wear a protective splint. ‘No matter what it was, I was going to play,’ Richardson said. ‘Nobody had to even worry about that part.’”

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

Let's hope this isn't the last title Pierce wins as a Celtic.

Paul Pierce has become Mr. Boston Celtic.

In an era that sees most players switch teams at least once, Pierce has remained as loyal to the team he was drafted by as the team he was drafted by has been to him. As such, Celtics fans have become attached to Pierce in a way most fanbases never have a chance to become accustomed to stars.

Pierce has grown up in front of our eyes, from the immature player who once wore a mask of tape over his chin and ears to a press conference in a show of disdain over being ejected from a playoff game against the Indiana Pacers into a star who claimed his worth as the best basketball player in the world — and, though he wasn’t generally considered the best, one could hardly argue with him after he had outplayed Kobe Bryant while garnering the Finals MVP.  In the mold of Larry Bird, John Havlicek and Bill Russell, it was always expected that Pierce would finish his career the same way he started it — as a Celtic.

Now Pierce says his days as a Celtics could be nearing an end, if Doc Rivers decides to step down and the Celtics decide to go through a rebuilding process. Pierce has the opportunity to opt out of his contract at the end of this season and, while it has been thought to be almost a given he will stay in Boston, Pierce says he will give leaving a thought should Danny Ainge decide to rebuild the Celtics. (Boston Herald)

“I really try not to think about it too much,” Pierce said. “My whole thing is that I want to retire as a Celtic. And if they get into a rebuilding phase . . . I don’t know.

“Who knows what’s going to happen? Who knows what’s going to happen with Doc (Rivers, the C’s coach)? That’s a good question, man. I don’t know. I do want to retire a Celtic, regardless of if I have to go the Nomar Garciaparra route or whatever.”

Pierce laughed about the Nomar line, but then returned to speaking with a straight face.

“No man, really,” Pierce said, settling back into serious mode. “I’m not thinking about playing anywhere else. This is where I’ve been my whole career. But honestly, it’d be a tough decision for me to make if Doc decides to step down and we rebuild.” [...]

“I think I’m at a point in my career where it would be tough for me to go into a full-on rebuilding phase,” Pierce said. “That’d be tough just mentally and physically. I can’t see myself doing that anymore. That’s why this is so important.

“I want to be a Celtic and win championships.”

But if the Celtics aren’t poised to win any more championships, will Pierce still be a Celtic? Doc Rivers’ decision seems to be weighing heavily on Pierce’s own decision to return to Boston or leave for less Green pastures.

“I think you always have that comfort level with a guy you’ve been through the ups and downs with,” Pierce said. “You know, we’ve been at the bottom together and we’ve risen to the top together, so it’d be tough to think about playing for somebody else right now.

“It’s just like when Kobe (Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star) said he didn’t want to play for nobody else but Phil (Jackson). (Shaquille O’Neal) said the same thing, but that didn’t come true. But I think you create a certain bond with a coach when you’ve been through those type of situations.” [...]

“I really can’t picture myself playing for another coach and trying to do it all it over again,” Pierce said. “We’ve developed something good over all the years of being together.

“After the season I’ll see what he’s thinking. I’ve still got some years left in me. I hope he does, too.”

Let’s hope this is just an impassioned cry for the team to stay intact and Doc Rivers to remain its coach.  After twelve years of piecing together one of the most productive careers in Celtics history, it would be beyond sad to see Pierce end his career with another team.

Stay in Boston, Paul. Whether this season ends in a championship or not, no other town will ever love you more.

I’ve spent a long time on Twitter debating the great Dan Shaughnessy’s latest article for Sports Illustrated.  Shaughnessy writes that the Boston Celtics will beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, backing up his opinion with a few reasons. (Down below, Sports Illustrated emails the controversial piece to at least one Cleveland sports blog.)

Shaughnessy’s Reasons

"Mom, can you believe this Shaughnessy dude?"

The Celtics have the same starting five as the championship team of 2008.

Very true, Dan.  Also valid is that Rajon Rondo is better, to make up for the declining Big Three. Unfortunately, Cleveland DOESN’T have the same starting five.  The Cavs no longer have Wally Szczerbiak or Ben Wallace in their starting lineup; in the NBA, subbing those two guys for Anthony Parker and Antawn Jamison is known as “a very good thing.” On top of that Shaq, as old as he is, gives them the added dimension of a go-to low-post player and still commands a double-team. And Anderson Varejao is approximately 2,742 times better than he was in 2008.

“No back-to-back games and plenty of down time — helps the old bones of Boston.”

Again, true. Boston is peaking at the right time, and part of that is the downtime of the playoff schedule. Of course, Cleveland doesn’t mind the rest, either. Shaq-tis’ old bones will be just as revitalized by rest as the Big Three’s. Still, the downtime helps the Celtics more than Cleveland because their stars are aging, while Cleveland’s star is a 25-year old combination of an airplane and a Mack Truck.

“But the Celtics know they can beat LeBron. And they know they can win in Cleveland (see Oct. 27, 2009).”

This was my favorite point of Shaughnessy’s.  The Celtics have done it before, and they’ve done it as a unit.  As accomplished as Lebron James is and as dominant in the regular season as the Cavs have been, they’ve never won when the lights shine brightest.  “Deep down,” Shaughnessy wrote, “the Cavaliers know the Celtics can beat them.” I’m not sure how true that is, but I DO KNOW that the Cavs have never won a championship. King James has already been crowned, but never earned his throne. That’s not to say he won’t this year, but the Celtics have come through when it counts and the Cavs haven’t.  That much is true.

“The Celtics have added veteran snipers Michael Finley and Rasheed Wallace. As much as it hurts to say this, the mercurial ‘Sheed might be the difference against the Cavs.”

First off, I’m not sure how Rasheed Wallace qualifies as a “sniper.”  That’s like saying Shaq is “a pure shooter.”  Secondly, Sheed won’t be the difference against the Cavs any more than he has been against the Heat.  Third of all, the best Shaughnessy does to back up his prediction of Sheed being the difference is, “We haven’t seen much of ‘Sheed during the Miami series, but the Heat have been so bad, it’s hard to notice any Celtics’ shortcomings. Maybe ‘Sheed will finally shine at the Q.” Look, I’m fine with him saying Sheed will make a difference against Cleveland, so long as he backs it up.

Shaughnessy did nothing to back it up.  Literally nothing.  John from Red’s Army agrees that Sheed will play a bigger role in the potential Cleveland series, and backs it up by saying Shaq and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are immobile enough to overshadow Sheed’s own immobility.  I can see his point; it’s weird, but Sheed will actually be more athletic than the Cleveland frontcourt.  I disagree that Sheed will make a difference, but at least John has a reason.That’s more than Shaughnessy gave us.

I don’t think Sheed will give the Celtics anything against Cleveland.  Doc Rivers has lost all faith in him.  Sheed can’t hit the broad side of a barn, and can’t slide his feet for the life of him.  If Doc Rivers doesn’t have the confidence to play Sheed against Jermaine O’Neal and Joel Anthony, do you think he’ll have the confidence to play him against the Cavs?  No chance.  Not unless Sheed gets hot one game.   Unfortunately for Sheed and the Celtics, he has about as much chance of getting hot as I do winning the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.  (Okay, maybe that’s a bad example… even though I can’t dunk, I could have won this year’s slam dunk contest.)

Sports Illustrated emails piece to Cleveland blog

Not only did Shaughnessy write an attention-seeking piece probably designed to piss off some people and infuriate others, but Sports Illustrated actually wrote at least one Cleveland sports blog an email to notify them of the article. I’m not even kidding.  Here’s the email from Time Inc., as received by Waiting For Next Year, a very good Cleveland sports blog:

I wanted to let you know of an article that appears on SI.com today that takes a close look at the likely matchup between the Celtics and Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. SI.com contributing columnist Dan Shaughnessy believes that the Celtics can exploit Cleveland’s weaknesses despite the NBA’s reigning MVP and the Cavaliers astounding record at Quicken Loans Arena during the regular season.

Shaughnessy writes: “The Celtics have the same starting five that won the championship two years ago. OK — Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen are not better than they were two years ago, but Rajon Rando is a much better player than he was in 2008, and Kendrick Perkins is two years stronger. Glen “Big Baby” Davis contributes much more than he did two years ago and the Celtics have added veteran snipers Michael Finley and Rasheed Wallace.”

If you have any questions or would like any other information, please feel free to contact me. The article is on SI.com now. Thank you.

Really, Sports Illustrated, you are THAT interested in stirring the pot?  THAT interested in driving a little extra traffic to your website?  You’re Effing Sports Illustrated, aren’t you a little beyond that?  You shouldn’t have to stoop to that level.  You’re better than that, SI, come on. I think we can all agree that Sports Illustrated should be A LITTLE past the point where it has to stir up the pot by personally emailing articles to sports blogs that might be offended by them.

Alas, this Shaughnessy piece wasn’t that bad.  As far as predictions go, it’s a bold one, but most of his points make sense (clearly excluding the Sheed one). I’ve certainly written worse articles, I’m sure.

Shaughnessy is now the clear-cut leader of the Celtics bandwagon, and Sports Illustrated the clear-cut leader of hyping controversial articles via email.  But I’ve got a plea for Shaughnessy and everyone else talking about Cleveland…

Let’s just get by the Heat first, eh?

Want to know how you become one of the greatest shooter’s ever?  You work, and you work, and you work.

After missing three critical free throws against the Miami Heat in yesterday’s fourth quarter, Ray Allen was right back to work, trying to regain his rhythm that was oddly absent yesterday afternoon. (ESPNBoston)

Allen said he got up 150 free-throw attempts on Monday after enduring only the 14th game in his career — regular-season and postseason combined — where he missed three free throws or more. Not only that, but he missed three in a row in Game 4. [...]

“I hadn’t shot that many in a while,” said Allen, who reported he kept count of the 150 attempts and missed only five. “The thing about it is, I had such a bad rhythm [in Miami], I just trying to figure out where it came from.”

This is why Ray doesn’t miss.  This is why he shoots more than 90% from the line.

It’s also why, next time Ray Allen steps to the line with an opportunity to win the Celtics a game, the Celtics will be in mighty good hands.

(Allen also placed third in the NBA Sportsmanship Award, won by Grant Hill.)