I just wrote 2,300 words about the Celtics-Lakers game for CelticsBlog, so I figured I’d link to it. Here’s an excerpt of my Paul Pierce section.

Quick: Who’s the Celtics’ MVP? Is it Garnett, who’s back to playing Defensive Player of the Year-worthy defense, while killing it on the boards and providing his normal efficient and selfless offense? Rondo, who racks up assists like they’re on sale, and normally controls the entire game with his pace and instincts? Or is it Pierce, Mr. Consistency (and also, in the past few years, Mr. Efficiency), who’s the C’s best at creating his own shot?

I’m not ready to tackle that conversation. Arguments can be made for all of them, but Pierce’s level of play this year makes me breathe easy. The Pierce we saw yesterday got whatever he wanted against Ron Artest. He was the Pierce we love, the Pierce who patiently meanders anywhere he wants to on the court. The Pierce who uses his strength, footwork and cunning to get to his wheelhouse, regardless of how he’s being defended.

On one play in the first quarter, Pierce showed the difference between last June and now. Artest pressured up on Pierce, trying to body him in classic Artest-ian style. What did Pierce do? He calmly used Artest’s pressure defense to his advantage. He angled his body past Artest, used his strength and got into the lane with ease. The LA defense collapsed, and Pierce kicked out to Rajon Rondo for a wide open jumper. Never mind that a Rajon Rondo wide open jumper isn’t always a good thing (and, in fact, Rondo missed the shot). Pierce dictated his own terms yesterday, in a way that he didn’t in June. He created separation from Artest whenever he so desired.

Click here to read the whole story.

Avery Bradley notched nine steals last night for the Maine Red Claws, tying a D-League record in the process. I should be impressed, right? Okay, I’m impressed. Nine steals is a whole lot of steals, especially in a professional basketball game. But though I’m admittedly impressed, I wouldn’t call myself encouraged.

Why not? Because we knew Bradley’s defense puts opponents in a phone booth. We knew he could play defense at an NBA level even before he made the NBA, and we still know he can play defense at an NBA level even after his demotion from the NBA. What we were looking for Bradley to work on was offense, where Bradley has proven to be a shaky ball handler and unsure shooter. And do you want to know his offensive stats from last night? 4-13 shooting, six turnovers, and though he did post 14 points and seven assists, the shooting and ball handling — the two things I was hoping would improve — haven’t shown any indication of being NBA-ready.

Through seven games in Maine, Bradley’s shooting 39.8% from the field. He’s turning the ball over 4.29 times per game, in only 30 minutes per game. And while I like his three-point shooting (36.4%), every statistical indication says that Bradley’s still figuring out his role as a point guard. That will take time, I know, especially considering that Bradley played off the ball during his lone college season.

But if Bradley can’t handle the ball or shoot a decent percentage at the D-League level, he’s not ready to handle the ball or shoot a decent percentage at an NBA level. No matter how many steals he accumulates in one game.

All that said — nine steals? Damn, that’s a lot.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “To watch the Celtics play at their best is to wonder how they ever lose. How can a team with this many weapons, that is this unselfish, that plays this kind of defense ever come up short? The obvious reasons include health, focus and the unrelenting NBA schedule. Put the Celtics in a game they really care about, with all their players available and a day off in-between, and it’s almost impossible to pick against them. So far this season they have defeated the Heat (twice), Bulls, Magic, Spurs and now the Lakers, who they beat 109-96 Sunday. They are now 17-5 against teams with winning records. The Magic, Heat and Lakers all have losing records against .500 teams, while the Bulls are a respectable 10-9. Only the Spurs at 18-6 have a comparable mark, but only the Celtics have recorded wins against the other five. The Celtics didn’t just beat the Lakers, they beat them in every phase of the game.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “‘It’s another game, but it’s definitely an emotional game, especially since losing Game 7 here,’ admitted Celtics captain Paul Pierce, the offensive catalyst, who scored 14 of his team-high 32 points in a third quarter that helped Boston create its initial separation. ‘The thing is, when you win a game here now, it’s not for the championship. It’s a regular-season game. When we play against the Lakers, it really gets our juices going, because they are our rivals. It’s a big game just knowing that we can come into this building and get a win.’ … The Celtics wanted it more. They needed it more. They fully expect to see the Lakers again down the road and they needed to start the process of asserting that there won’t be a repeat of last year.”

Ramona Shelburne, ESPN – “Afterward, the Lakers found ways of coping with the loss. They spoke of getting back to work, of the need for patience and perseverance during a long season. They reminded themselves that the playoffs are still three months away, that there’s still time to get this right. ‘It’s not the playoffs yet, is it?’ Jackson asked with a hint of defiance. ‘We’re still playing regular-season games, right? We’ll get there in time.’ But beneath those proclamations of confidence, bubbles of urgency began to rise. ‘It’s definitely a work in progress,’ Walton said. ‘But it’s getting later and later in the season. At some point the work in progress has to become an identity, has to become to where other teams come in and they’re afraid to play us, where they’re not looking forward to it. Right now that’s not happening. We’re losing at home, we’re losing to all the other elite teams in the league and that’s not like us.’”

J.A. Adande, ESPN – “In the 2008 NBA Finals the Celtics showed the Lakers that the tougher team wins championships. The Lakers learned their lesson and were able to stand up to the Celtics in last year’s Finals. And it wasn’t as if the Celtics smacked the Lakers around Sunday. (In fact it was Kevin Garnett who shed the most blood and needed multiple stitches after catching a Pau Gasol elbow to the head.) The new standard the Celtics have established that the Lakers haven’t reached is in the decidedly less physical but more aesthetically pleasing category of teamwork. ‘When we play together as a team,’ said Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 32 points, ‘we’re tough to beat.’ There was none of that from the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant taking as many shots as the Lakers’ entire starting frontcourt. Even though Bryant was more efficient than usual — he made 11 of his first 18 shots and 16 of 29 on his way to 41 points — the Lakers still couldn’t hang with Boston. Bryant’s offensive outburst caused his teammates to check out and stop participating in their sets.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Bryant was piecing together his latest scoring binge, shot by difficult shot, dueling — in his mind, at least — with Paul Pierce, who was working on one of his own. Midway through the fourth quarter, Bryant drove into Pierce, stopping to release a floater that made it 89-82 Celtics, as Pierce tumbled backward to the Staples Center floor. Bryant shot a quick stare as Pierce picked himself up. It was almost a challenge to go one-on-one. But Pierce had long withdrawn from the individual battle. Ray Allen became Pierce’s reinforcement on defense, doing his best to blanket Bryant down the stretch. Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo played a two-man game, and no matter how many times Bryant shot the ball, he found himself trying to beat the best team in the Eastern Conference as an army of one.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘I think everybody knew it was going to be a physical game,’ Garnett said. ‘It’s always interesting when you play Kobe and the Lakers, so that was no surprise, how tough it is to play in the Staples Center. We knew that. When you look at the wins, whoever’s won out of this series, it’s been the one that’s controlled the boards,’ Garnett added. ‘Doc , for about two days now, has been talking about rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. Having Shaq [O’Neal] back helps, having Perk back helps, having Paul and Ray in there on the boards helping the bigs out helps a lot.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “[Rajon Rondo] looked that way at times yesterday, making silly mistakes, taking some inexplicably poor shots, and refusing to attempt layups. In other stretches, he ran the offense with daring and not precision, taking far too many chances and wasting scoring opportunities against a team that possesses the most explosive scorer of this generation. The Rondo who orchestrated a masterful second half and enabled the Celtics to pull away in the fourth quarter is the one Rivers adores and trusts. The Rondo who recorded 11 assists and 13 turnovers in his previous two games is the Rondo Rivers has to closely watch. The one who appears to play mind games with himself, sometimes creating on-court quandaries; making the spectacular play and not the simple one, like a shortstop with too much trust in his cannon arm. Rondo has too much trust in his instincts and ability to thread passes into minuscule creases. Rondo is the NBA’s best at making the pinpoint pass at the precise moment, but he relies too much on that skill. In the second half yesterday, Rondo made matters simpler for himself and his teammates. Very rarely does Rondo play an entire half, but yesterday he played all 24 minutes and the Celtics shot a mind-boggling 69.4 percent from the floor.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “After the game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers made it a point to tell the team that it was one of Rondo’s best games of the year. ‘I thought he called an absolutely perfect game,’ Rivers said. ‘He’s our pitcher. I thought he called a sensational game. Coming out of timeouts, he made sure guys were in their spots … I thought Rondo tonight played with a great speed. When he plays with speed, he has power and I thought he did that tonight.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “‘I don’t want to get into a gunfight with Kobe,’ said sheriff Doc Rivers after the 109-96 victory over the Lakers. ‘I don’t care who it is. I just would prefer not to. But at that point we needed Paul, and we told the guys that. It wasn’t because Kobe had it going; we just needed Paul in that stretch.’ Pierce had 16 points in the first half to keep the sinking Celts afloat and 14 in the third quarter when they were making their move. Each possession seemed almost a one-act play. Pierce would slink around a pick and squeeze in a shot. Kobe would hit a floater in the lane and pointedly look down at Pierce, who had fallen. ‘It was like being a little kid at the playground watching a great one-on-one game,’ said Nate Robinson. ‘Both guys got it going. Paul’s one of the best players in the league, and Kobe, as well. Just watching two greats go at it like that, it’s clash of the titans. But today we had more firepower to help out with our team. We had a complete team, and it just looked real good out there.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘When he was going on his run, he was going both ways into the paint,’ said Allen. ‘When you look at the dynamics of their team, he was taking tough shots and making tough shots, but we were keeping everyone else out of the game. When we made him miss, we were able to run.’ But don’t call him a Kobe stopper. There probably isn’t a player in the league who carries those credentials. ‘No. The same thing that makes you laugh makes you cry,” said Allen. “It’s always more than a one-man effort. In this league you’re definitely not guarded by one-on-one. I got in foul trouble early, and then they had to put Paul on him with a bigger body. Make him shoot over the top. Paul and I play defense differently, so make him try to guess.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “Robinson said he was unaware of any sort of short leash Rivers had with him, but responded by scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting with a trio of trifectas over 13:47. Over his previous eight games, Robinson had connected on a mere 16-of-54 shots (29.6 percent) and the start of Boston’s four-game road trip hadn’t been very friendly to him. Robinson was a combined 2-of-11 shooting, including 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. ‘Honestly, I was going back and forth on whether to play [Robinson] at all,’ said Rivers. ‘But he was huge for us.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Two days after that ugly loss in Phoenix, the C’s returned to the efficiency that’s made them the best-shooting team in the league. They’re the only squad in the NBA shooting over 50 percent (50.1). ‘That’s phenomenal,’ coach Doc Rivers said. ‘We lead the league in field goal percentage, and we didn’t act like that in the last two games. Tonight, our execution was great coming out of timeouts. We had a focus tonight, and it’s amazing that we played with that. We don’t do that every night, unfortunately. As a coach I would like that.’”

Mark Heisler, LA Times – “Whether it’s good news or not in Lakerdom, this was a special effort by your team. Of course, if the Lakers played this hard all the time, they would be two or three games behind San Antonio instead of 7½ and Sunday would have felt more like a loss in January than the latest sign the end is near. Before Sunday’s game, the question was whether the Lakers could play at the Celtics’ level. I guess they settled that.”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Bryant’s 41 points came on 16-for-29 shooting from the field. The rest of the Lakers shot a combined 20-for-52 from the floor. ‘I didn’t think anybody else wanted the ball,’ said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. ‘We did run a couple other plays to get guys into position, but I thought those times he had the best opportunities when other people were moving to the ball. But, a lot of times it didn’t look like we were running anything out there offensively.’”

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times – “Jackson chose his words carefully when asked about it, cognizant that Artest yelled at him during a practice this month because Jackson continually criticized him to reporters and in front of teammates. ‘Ron took a couple shots that I thought were, like, perhaps not in the context of what we were trying to do,’ Jackson said. ‘I thought maybe we’d go another direction.’ Artest said he was slowed after getting kneed in the right thigh on a first-quarter drive by Shaquille O’Neal. ‘I wasn’t able to continue to take [Pierce] and be aggressive,’ Artest said. Artest, however, wasn’t disappointed that Bryant gave the team an ‘F’ grade for its defense against Boston. He took the optimistic approach. ‘I got ‘F’s in elementary school,’ Artest said, ‘and I still went to college.’” Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.

Great picture.

Seven months ago, Danny Ainge and the Celtics determined to change. They needed to become bigger and better to outlast LA in the playoffs, so the Celtics upgraded their roster. They signed the O’Neal brothers, and Semih Erden too. And Delonte West. And Von Wafer. Improvement was — and always is, I suppose — the object of the offseason, so Ainge went long and far to hire the guns Boston would need to “beat LA.”

What Ainge likely didn’t realize — and I never would have guessed — has now become obvious: of all the improvement Boston needed, most would come from inside the organization. In a year that offseason additions were supposed to counteract the Big Three’s inevitable downfall, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have only gotten better. Mostly because of the in-house improvement, the Boston Celtics ran away with a 109-96 road win against the Los Angeles Lakers.

What did the Celtics get from their newcomers today? Jermaine O’Neal was (and is) injured. So was (and is) Delonte West. Von Wafer played two uneventful seconds. Semih Wafer and Luke Harangody received DNP-CDs, and fellow rookie Avery Bradley has taken his talents to the D-League. Of the new guys, only Shaq provided any help at all — and nothing about his zero points and six rebounds shouted “The Big Diesel’s the reason Boston won this game.”

Yet — even with the newbies offering almost literally nothing — the Celtics still owned the glass, and the game, against a Lakers team that convinced Danny Ainge the Celtics needed to reload. The old continue to look younger and younger.

The Big Three were supposed to take a step back this season. They were. Ray Allen is a 35-year old shooting guard. He should be years past his prime. Hell, last year he looked like a man on the decline. Yet here he is, piecing together a career shooting year, draining clutch shot after clutch shot. He looks like a teenager, except with the guile of a 15-year vet.

Paul Pierce is a 33-year old scorer, one who looked on the wrong side of the hill during last year’s playoffs. Yet here he is, scoring more efficiently than ever before, dropping 32 hard-earned ones on Ron Artest. Pierce couldn’t have scored so many against Artest last season. Everything last season was a struggle — Pierce was a step slow, and couldn’t get enough space off to find high-percentage shots. Yet today, he got almost anything he wanted. He had to work for the points, sure, but Pierce still did what he wanted. Pierce’s first step has returned, his body’s in great shape, and he’s creating plays again with far more ease– for both himself and the team. He’s back.

Kevin Garnett is a 34-year old power forward, one who temporarily looked like a 2009 injury had permanently slowed his career. Pau Gasol ate KG for breakfast last season, like KG was a nobody. It looked like you could stick a fork in KG. Yet here he is, dominating the glass against LA like he never could last season, owning both ends of the court, acting a lot like this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. The way Garnett’s playing, he’s again one of the league’s most valuable players — mostly because he affects so many facets of the game. That leg doesn’t look to be hindering Garnett one bit.

While the Big Three turn the aging process upside down, Rajon Rondo follows the normal curve — he’s just your average young player getting better, except he’s “your average young player” who just happens to lead the league in assists. At haltime today, I wondered if Rondo had an injury we didn’t know about. How else could I explain his two and a half game nap, which began in Portland? Rondo only had one assist in the first half, and wasn’t making any plays happen — his average first-half possession consisted of dribbling upcourt, passing to a teammate and standing around the perimeter while the shot clock ticked down. But Rondo followed the forgettable half with a 15-assist second half, in which he took control in the way we have become accustomed to. The way Rondo does most nights, as he establishes himself as one of the game’s best young talents.

With the Fantastic Four regressing not at all, and Glen Davis joining them in improvement land, the Celtics haven’t needed much from their new signees. Which is good because, other than Shaq (and maybe Erden), no new Celtic has lived up to his billing. West and JO have been hindered by injuries, and the C’s haven’t gotten much from Bradley or Harangody (Harangody’s one glorious double-double not included). Instead of getting too many important contributions from newcomers, Boston still relies mostly on the old guard. And, with a tip of the hat to the fountain of youth, relying on the old guard has worked out so far.

Danny Ainge was right. The Celtics needed to get better to remain title contenders this season. And they have. But the improvements have come from unexpected places.

More Celtics-Lakers talk: Everything went right

As a Celtics fan, what did you want from this game?

Paul Pierce going bonkers, and erasing any doubt that he can still score against Ron Artest?

Kevin Garnett owning the glass, leading the Celtics to a 43-30 advantage in that category?

Glen Davis taking one charge down the stretch, and using another perfect rotation to force a Kobe Bryant miss?

Davis playing potential All-Star Lamar Odom to a standstill?

Nate Robinson (finally) making shots, making three of his five three-pointers and four of his seven field goals?

60.3% shooting for the Celtics, compared to 44.4% for LA?

34 Celtics assists, compared to 10 for LA?

The befuddling second-half disappearance of both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, caused by a combination of Boston’s defense and LA’s Kobe-centric offense?

15 second-half assists for Rondo, which was, for reference, five more than the entire Lakers team (or, for another reference, 15 more than Kobe)?

A few clutch jumpers to add to Ray Allen’s collection?

Six rebounds and two blocks from Shaq, in only 12:42?

41 points (and, for the most part, an absolute show) from Kobe ultimately proven useless because his team lost, and because he shot a few too many times down the stretch?

Try to remember, this was only one day, only one game. But if you considered this the year’s biggest test to date, the Celtics aced it. Concerns will have to wait for another day.

Today’s Celtics-Lakers matchup is different. Why? Because it’s a regular season game that means something. Why’s that? Because the Celtics have revenge to inflict. Why else? Because we may actually learn something today.

Can the Kendrick Perkins-Shaquille O’Neal tag team help cancel out LA’s size and length? Can Kevin Garnett hold his own against Pau Gasol, or maybe even outplay him? Or is Garnett’s renewed vigor and athleticism only enough to pick on lesser players? Can Paul Pierce handle Ron Artest’s defense, in a way he couldn’t in June? Is Rajon Rondo better equipped to handle the “Kobe sagging ten feet off” defensive tactic? Can Marquis Daniels, Glen Davis and Nate Robinson hold their own against LA’s improved bench? Can Robinson, for the love of God, please stop shooting pull-up three-pointers on fast breaks?

The Celtics restocked with big men because of what happened last June. Pau Gasol looked like Paul Bunyan during that series, as if it took five storks just to deliver him to his parents at birth. Andrew Bynum was Babe the Blue Ox, and together the two folk heroes made the Grand Canyon using only an axe and their own bodies. In the deciding Game 7, Gasol grabbed 18 rebounds — Kevin Garnett just three. The Lakers as a team notched 53 rebounds, including 23 offensive rebounds — the Celtics registered only 40 boards, and just eight on the offensive glass.

And so the Celtics signed Shaquille O’Neal, and convinced Semih Erden to come overseas. They picked up Jermaine O’Neal, too, but the big man won’t play for at least a few weeks. (Insert your own “Jermaine O’Neal’s body equals glass” joke here.) Don’t think the Celtics made those three signings to match up with Dwight Howard, or to take advantage of Miami’s dearth of big men. They have already shown an ability to match up better with Howard than any other team, and I doubt Danny Ainge spent his summer worrying about whether his centers would outplay Joel Anthony or Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Celtics took it upon themselves to get bigger for one simple reason — they were exposed by LA’s size, pushed around by a team that was supposed to be soft.

Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum pushed the Celtics to change, to improve. After the C’s ended last season five points shy of an NBA championship, they knew exactly where they needed an upgrade. The Celtics were already big and they were already bad, but they needed to be bigger and they needed to be badder. They needed to be better.

Here we are, back at the scene, seven months after the crime. Kevin Garnett looks completely recovered from his ’09 injury, and Paul Pierce’s body looks better than it has in two or three years. The Celtics have beefed up for another title shot, because the Los Angeles Lakers pushed them to.

Though tonight won’t mean a single thing if the two teams do meet in the NBA Finals, it’s our first chance to begin answering the all-important question: Are the Celtics five points better than they were last June?

Additional Links:

Celtics-Lakers: Not your average regular season game — Written by yours truly

Celtics at Lakers: What it means for Boston — Written by Matt Moore

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “He cares not that the Lakers have had their stumbles this season, letting you know where they stand to him when asked if they’re still one of the teams to beat. ‘I see them as the team to beat,’ Pierce said. ‘I don’t see them as ‘one’; I see them as ‘the.’ I mean, they’ve proven it. I don’t really care what their record looks like. If you get them in a seven-game series, they’re going to be tough to beat.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Despite the hype surrounding the Miami Heat and the blockbuster trade that bolstered the Orlando Magic’s title hopes, the Celtics have remained confident that they will be the last team standing at the end of the season. And they’re pretty confident the Lakers will be right there with them, even if they’re not the best team in the West right now. ‘They’re back-to-back champs,’ said C’s guard Rajon Rondo. ‘Whether they’re .500 right now, they’re still the team to beat. They pretty much went through the West last year. They’re the team to beat, regardless of their regular season record.’”

Chris Gasper, Boston Globe – “We are extremely lucky that these teams are in position to write another chapter in their storied rivalry. Few thought that would be the case after Game 7. It looked like it was time to roll the credits on the Big Three/Doc Rivers era on Causeway Street. Rivers, who got an ovation after he left the podium due to the presumption it was his final game as Celtics coach, said that night, ‘We’re not going to be the same team next year.’ But then Doc decided to return as Shamrock Shaman, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen followed suit, and the Celtics were back in business, with one very large addition in former Laker Shaquille O’Neal. The acrimony between O’Neal and his former running mate, Kobe Bryant, has been well-documented. As has the Celtics’ general disdain for Pau Gasol. But Boston doesn’t need personal vendettas for motivation. Game 7 says it all. The Celtics led by 13 early in the second half and were still up three with 6:29 to go. Rivers is fond of saying that the Celtics starting five has never lost a playoff series, and any player or coach who was in the tear-filled Celtics locker room after Game 7 will go to their grave believing the outcome would have been different with a healthy Kendrick Perkins.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “In the days leading up to today’s game, Rivers kept hearing the question: ‘What’s it going to be like to play in that building after Game 7?’ He didn’t have an answer. But he knew the Lakers had their own struggles coming back to TD Garden after losing Game 6 of the 2008 Finals. The visitors locker room felt haunted, Andrew Bynum said. The hotel rooms and restaurants brought back painful memories, Pau Gasol said. The city got darker and darker by the hour, Luke Walton said. The Lakers swept the season series in 2008-09, winning on the Garden floor despite the demons. They came back last year, stole another one on the parquet when Kobe Bryant drilled a winner over Ray Allen’s outstretched arm. ‘Hell, they have experience from that and they seem to do all right,’ Rivers said. ‘So let’s see if we can do all right in their building.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “The Celtics resorted to a big-man arms race last summer, adding Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal to their frontcourt depth — the one area responsible for their collapse over the last six minutes of Game 7 against the Lakers. ‘I think it’s important,’ Lakers coach Phil Jackson said yesterday of the C’s offseason moves as the teams prepared to play today at Staples Center. ‘When you’re a team as good as Boston, you have to play to win it all. They know what the difference was last year.’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “This point can’t be stressed enough. The Celtics lost the NBA championship because they were a poor rebounding team and in Game 7 the Lakers grabbed 23 offensive rebounds. Maybe Kendrick Perkins would have made a difference, but this was a season-long issue for the Celtics and it caught up with them at the worst possible moment. Pay no attention when people say the Celtics are the worst rebounding team in the league this season. They are the worst offensive rebounding team in the NBA, but that is a very different thing. The number that matters is defensive rebounding percentage, and they rank a respectable ninth in that category. Again, this is a far better way to judge a team’s effectiveness on the glass than total number of boards because it accounts for the number of shots attempted. Defensive rebounding has been the constant theme for the Celtics this season and until Kevin Garnett missed nine games with a calf strain they were on their way to re-establishing themselves on the boards. Since Garnett has been out – and even since his return – the Celtics have slipped. Before Friday night’s ejection, Garnett was in the midst of his strongest night on the boards since his return. He had nine defensive rebounds and grabbed almost half of the available defensive boards when he was in the game. That’s the kind of effort the Celtics will need against Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom.

Mark Heisler, LA Times – “When it ended unhappily, they took their broken hearts home, reloaded and came back, looking like a herd of buffalo with a bad attitude. Remember last Feb. 18 after they beat the Lakers here, when Doc docked everyone in the traveling party $100, hid the $2,600 in the ceiling tiles and challenged his players to return for it? (This time, we’re going over their dressing room with pickaxes and sensory gear as soon as they’re on the bus.) Whether they leave anything else here, on the floor or in the ceiling, even on crutches with their heads swathed in bandages, these people mean business.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “The NBA is investigating Doc Rivers’ ejection from Friday night’s Celtics loss in Phoenix, with the possibility he could face a further fine. Rivers was hit with two technicals by referee Steve Javie during a timeout in the second quarter. The Celts coach was unhappy from the start of the process, but he became livid after the second tech. He repeatedly shouted, ‘It’s not about you. It’s about the game,’ at Javie as he paused twice before leaving for the dressing room. The failure to leave the court in a timely manner, a common basis for league action, is what might cost Rivers.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘Regardless of what anybody says, that duo of Kobe and (O’Neal) in LA was one of the best tandems of all time,’ [Brian] Shaw said. ‘Just looking back in retrospect myself, it’s a shame that they didn’t get along, because that team that was in place, instead of winning three championships should have won six or seven championships. Kobe has matured, and Shaq has matured, and Phil has gotten better with it, because his relationship with both of them was tumultuous at times. Looking back, if they could have it all back, I’m sure they’d all say they would have done it a little differently.’”

Dave McMenamin, ESPN – “‘They force you to play physical, otherwise they’re going to step on you,’ said Gasol, who battled hard against Boston since arriving in L.A., shedding his soft reputation. ‘The importance of having size and understanding that size helps you a lot, especially during playoffs. You need to have big bodies there to make sure to play hard, to rebound, to intimidate, to contest shots. I think that that’s why they went that direction.’ O’Neal, 38, is averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 rebounds this season. He has had his turn-back-the-clock moments with 25 points and 11 rebounds against the Nets and 23, five and five blocks against the Bobcats. ‘I told him he can play till he’s 40,’ said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who had O’Neal under his watch from 1996 to 2004. ‘He’s a good enough athlete that he should be able to do that.’”

Ian Thomsen, Sports Illustrated – “‘We do a lot of skeleton stuff over and over again, which is extremely boring and monotonous,’ Rivers said after practice Monday. ‘We’ve done more skeleton work than we’ve ever done but we do it at full speed, game-like, because we don’t have enough guys to go up against each other. I’ll say this: Our veterans — Ray [Allen], Paul [Pierce], Kevin [Garnett], [Rajon] Rondo — have been terrific in understanding the situation we’re in. Like today, we had a good practice because of them and their focus. They knew we weren’t going to be here long, but they got through stuff.’”

Ramona Shelbourne, ESPN – “Why haven’t the Lakers been able to beat the best this year? Frank Hamblen’s first instinct was to reject the premise entirely. ‘We beat Denver,’ the Lakers assistant coach said. ‘On the road.’ The Denver Nuggets? Not much else needed saying. Hamblen understood as soon as he said it. ‘Yeah, I guess we haven’t beat a San Antonio, we haven’t beat a Boston, we haven’t beat a Miami; you’re exactly right,’ Hamblen said, conceding the point at the same time he racked his brain for an explanation. ‘But we obviously didn’t have Andrew [Bynum] and he’s a big part of our team, because we’re built for length, not speed. So missing him hurt a great deal.’ Reminded that the Lakers’ losses to Miami, San Antonio and Dallas all came after Bynum returned to the lineup, Hamblen could only shrug. ‘I wish I could say something more exciting,’ he said.”

Jackie McMullan, ESPN – “Kendrick Perkins is 26. He’s a free agent at the end of the season and his Wes Welker-like recovery is no doubt motivated, in part, by his uncertain future. Perkins wants to re-up with Boston; he’s convinced his learning curve is still pointing straight up. ‘You can always pick up new things,’ Perkins said. ‘About execution, mostly. I’ve been watching Ray Allen fight to get open, and I can see now how I can set a better screen, make it easier for him.’ Perkins logged 21 minutes against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night and came up one shy of a double-double (10 pts, nine rebounds). He will be a work in progress as he regains his timing and re-establishes his confidence. ‘The only thing I’m worried about is my stamina,” Perkins said. “This leg has already taken some pretty big hits in practice. Do you see how Big Baby plays? It’s been tested, man.”

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