Jason Kidd's next target? The infamous Joey Crawford.

Is it just me, or did Jason Kidd give the referee a little extra shove at the end? 

I came across this video on Youtube and knew it had to be the highlight reel of the day. How often does a player get to hit a ref, or a fan get to witness a ref hit the deck like a fat seventh-grader in a Cold War air raid drill. My only regret was that it wasn’t Joey Crawford or Joe DeRosa taking the hit.

Say it is so.

Duh. (Chris Forsberg)

Multiple sources close to the Celtics told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz that the team expects to re-sign Paul Pierce…

According to the sources, the Celtics expect the Pierce deal to be wrapped up sooner than later but Ray Allen could take longer into summer.

Expect whatever team signs Lebron to come banging down Allen’s door. Ray’s the perfect complement for Lebron. But all signs so far point towards everyone staying put. Doc and Danny are both saying they want one more year with “this group.” (ESPN & Yahoo)

“Doc is excited to come back and coach our team next year,” Ainge told ESPN.com. “He feels rejuvenated about coaching this group next season.”

It’s an interesting choice of words for Ainge to note “this group.” While it might be reading too deep, it sure seems to suggest Rivers will lead a group similar to the one he took onto the court for Game 7 of the NBA Finals earlier this month before letting Banner 18 slip away in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Lakers.

“With the blessing of my family, I want to try one more time with this group,” Rivers told Y! Sports.

Revenge on tap for next year? Yes please.

For those of you who think the Great Shaq-tis would be a nice fit in Boston, you might want to reassess the situation. (Chris Mannix Twitter)

Six scouts were asked if they thought Shaq-to-Boston was a good idea. Six scouts told me I was crazy.

“Hell no!” said an east scout. “He’d clog up the lane for Rondo and he’s not good enough to be the focal point of your post offense.”

Several scouts commented that Shaq’s pick and roll defense would be maddening for Boston defenders and coaches alike. OK, that I knew.

Everyone says Shaq would clog up the lane for Rondo, but it’s not like Perk spent a lot of time at the three-point arc. That said, I don’t think Shaq’s a good fit. His pick-and-roll defense is atrocious; as hard as it is to believe, Shaq’s D is way worse than Rasheed Wallace’s regular season defense. If you watched the Celtics at all last season, you know that’s about as bad as pick-and-roll defense gets.

Stud.

I posted yesterday about Doc Rivers’s son Austin killin’ it in the FIBA Under-18 World Championships. Let’s just say I didn’t exactly jinx him.

In yesterday’s 122-89 USA win against Canada, Austin set all kinds of records.

Austin Rivers (Winter Park H.S. / Winter Park, Fla.) poured in a game-high 35 points for the USA, shooting 12-of-18 from the field and sinking 9-of-12 in 3-point range, establishing new U.S. records at the U18 tournament. His 35 points broke the former record of 34 set by Calbert Cheaney versus Brazil in 1990, the first FIBA Americas U18 Championship. His nine 3-pointers made surpassed three different players who had previously sunk five 3-pointers in a single game, Aaron Brooks (2002), Terry Dehere (1990) and Steve Lepore (1998).

“Sometimes I just get in grooves where I hit a couple shots,” said Rivers. “You feel like the basket’s real wide. I know I hit a couple shots and then everything started going from there. After that it felt like any shot I threw up would go in, so it’s kind of like a lot of adrenaline. It felt like I had ultimate energy. Everything was falling.” [...]

“I love it. I love it,” stated Capel on Rivers’ performance. “It’s just really neat to watch him go through that. Really, the best part about it was watching his teammates. Seeing how excited they are. These are some of his peers, some guys that are a little bit older than him, but just seeing how excited they were for him was really pretty neat.”

Rivers tied the former U.S. 3-point record with his fifth trey to close the first quarter scoring and put the U.S. up 37-10. Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Rivers, who was perfect from beyond the arc in his first nine attempts, had the record with his sixth made three.

You know what they say: You know a player’s destined for greatness when he breaks a record shared by Terry Dehere and Steve Lepore. In all honesty, though, Austin Rivers is a stud. Can the C’s get some sort of claim to his rights because he’s Doc’s son?

I love it. Doc is still our coach.

I guess my love letter to Doc Rivers worked. Doc’s staying, and the Celtics gave him a bit of a raise. (Boston Herald)

Doc Rivers is not opting out.

The Celtic coach will be returning to the club for at least the remaining season on his contract, a source close to Rivers indicated moments ago.

Yahoo! was told, “Doc simply couldn’t walk away from this group of players, nor his loyalty to Danny Ainge.” I love it.

This is the first step towards bringing everyone back for one last shot. Or two last shots (though Rivers didn’t want an extension, so he’s probably got one more year left in him). Despite no extenstion, I can’t stop grinning right now. Once Danny goes ahead and signs Ray and Paul to reasonable deals I’ll probably be able to walk on water.

By the way, this means we never have to hear another rumor about Vinny Del Negro possibly coaching the C’s. Cheers to that.

(Best song ever?)

I once watched True Blood. Actually, I watched it about two or three times. It was on before or after Entourage (I forget which) and, hard as I tried, I couldn’t convince my roommate to watch anything else.

After the second or third episode I watched, I just couldn’t take it anymore. Call me crazy, but I just don’t get people’s fascination with vampires. If True Blood’s characters didn’t have fangs and suck necks and shit, nobody would watch that show. It stinks. But since it’s all about undead people, everyone eats it up.

When I say everyone, I include Glen Davis. (ESPN)

He revealed he’s been watching a lot of True Blood and noted that Anna Paquin’s “Sookie Stackhouse” is his favorite character. He also noted he planned on letting loose on the cruise dance floor Tuesday night.

I’m not sold on Anna Paquin on the hottie scale. She looks too much like Michael Strahan for my liking.

But one thing I’m defintiely sold on? Big Baby letting loose on the cruise dance floor. Can we get a video of that, people? Isn’t that precisely why YouTube was invented?