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Rasheed Wallace is delusional

You sure your team steps up for big games, Rasheed? (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

I read a tweet last night from CSNNE’s Rich Levine.  It read: “Since Jan. 10, the Celtics have beaten only two teams with a winning record. Kobe-less Lakers and the everyone-less Blazers (x2).”

I’m not sure if he meant “with winning records at the time,” because both Miami and Charlotte are now one game over .500.  Whoop-dee-do.  Either way, the Celtics haven’t beaten anyone of note in quite some time.

So why in the world is Rasheed Wallace contending that the Celtics play their best against the league’s top teams?  (Boston Globe)

Doc Rivers pondering lineup changes

"What the hell am I going to do with these guys?"

You can say this about Doc Rivers: He hasn’t hit the panic button.

As many times as he has probably wanted to give his team a smack in the ass (pause) and shake things up, he’s stayed steady in the way he’s handled his squad. With a veteran squad, a coach shouldn’t be too much of a dictator. Most of the time, a veteran team will work problems out by itself, due to the vast knowledge the players have accumulated over the years.

With all the older, smarter players at his disposal, Doc’s leash has been visibly loose. But, with the disappointment rising and time to fix the teams’ problems drawing short, even Doc has to admit it might be time for a change. (Boston Herald)

“We’ve been reluctant to make many changes with our rotations and stuff like that,” he said after last night’s 111-91 loss to Memphis. “Maybe we have to think about that. Maybe not, but we have to think about it, because right now we’re just sketchy. We’re not playing consistent.”

This constitutes a significant step for Rivers and is a measure of his own frustration with the Celts.

“Yeah, but, you know, I’m slow to change,” he said. “I think consistency is better, but I think at times you do have to think about it. I’m not a big believer in change for change. If it’s not going to be a long change, I think that’s a waste of time personally.”

When it comes to change, Doc isn’t exactly Barack Obama. By the time Doc wants to switch something around, it’s probably long past overdue. But what the hell is he going to change?

Almost definitely not the starting lineup. The only change I could see him making to the first five would be to sit Kendrick Perkins in favor of Rasheed Wallace. Say what you want about Rasheed, but he’s outplayed Perk over the last month or so. As Perk continues to lose momentum, Sheed is starting to round into shape, playing down low with the trees like a real big man should. Last night, Sheed was the one bright spot. When he wasn’t posting and toasting, he was going all Rickey Henderson on the Grizzlies. Six steals? For a big man?

I wouldn’t shift the starters, though. Perk hasn’t been playing as well as Sheed, but losing his starting spot would be a further hit to his confidence.

Instead, I’d change the bench. Not necessarily who plays off the bench, but how many minutes, and who they play with. Put Nate Robinson in with Rajon Rondo sometimes, and kill with speed. Or Marquis Daniels at the point with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen on the wings, and low-post teams into oblivion. Or a lineup of Robinson, Allen, Pierce, Scal, and Garnett and shoot opponents to death.

Doc ternds to play the second group as a whole unit. Sometimes, I want to shake him and scream, “Doc, this isn’t hockey! There’s no need for line changes!” The Celtics have a versatile and deep team, but Doc hasn’t made use of its versatility. I’m not saying I want him to turn into Don Nelson, but…

Play the matchup games, Doc. Experiment a little. Be the Mad Scientist.

The Celtics would be better for it.

Boston cracked by Memphis, 111-91

Well, that was humiliating. (Photo by Brian Babineau/Getty Images)

Crickets and boos.  Boos and crickets.  Those two sounds were all that could be heard in the Boston Garden tonight.

After tonight’s 111-91 loss, on the heels of a two-point loss to Milwaukee, Celtics fans need more than boos.  They need Booze.  And probably a lot of it.

For the Celtics, it was more of the same:  One step forward, two giant steps backward.  That’s the way this whole season has gone, so why should they stop now, with the regular season so close to completion?  A four-game winning streak, a nice comeback, and the Celtics almost tricked me into thinking they had a pulse.  Even last night’s loss was understandable:  The C’s went ice-cold and Bogut played like the most dominant center since Abdul-Jabaar was still Lew Alcindor.

But what the hell happened in the TD Garden tonight?  Nothing good, I can tell you that much.  If you were to look at the stats, it would look like only Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace had good games.  17 points and 8 assists for Rondo, 11 points, 6 steals, and 3 blocks for Wallace.  Then you look a little deeper, and you see that Rondo made the Mike Conley-Marcus Williams combo look like John Stockton and Steve Nash, and that leaves Wallace as the only decent Celtic standing.  There was nobody else to be proud of, no other shining moments.

I would keep writing, but I’d rather just try to sleep this one off.  Maybe I’ll wake up in the morning and forget all about it, but I’ll probably be thinking about Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo even in my sleep.

Before the nightmares come, I’ll leave you with just one last thought.

Tonight’s game reminded me of a scene from Good Will Hunting.  You know, the one where Will tells the story of his father giving him three choices: the belt, the stick, or the wrench.

Just like Will, the Celtics chose the wrench.

‘Cuz f–k winning, that’s why.

Tonight’s pregame locker room scene

The Celtics are preparing to play the Memphis Grizzlies tonight. Here is a preview of the pregame locker room scene. Consider this tonight’s game preview.

Celtics-Bucks: Positives from last night

"Anybody have a blanket?" (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Kevin Garnett was pissed after last night’s two-point loss.

“I’m mad as [expletive] we lost,” Garnett told the Boston Globe. “We had so many chances to win that game. But they came up with most of the big plays. I thought we had the game pretty much intact and under control and it comes down to trying to get rebounds.”

It’s true. A couple rebounds go the C’s way in the fourth, and they probably would have come home with another too-close-to-call ‘W.’ The Bucks’ two heart-wrenching offensive rebounds in the fourth were enough to hold off the Celtics, even though the C’s held Milwaukee scoreless for the final 2:42. I understand why KG was so upset.

But where I come from, a two-point loss, on the road, to one of the league’s hottest teams, is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially when three of your starters can’t throw a rock into the ocean. (Kendrick Perkins, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce finished a combined 6-25 from the floor.) With three key players in the middle of a David Blaine-esque performance, Andrew Bogut playing like the second coming of Kareem, John Salmons in his inevitable post-trade rejuvenation, and Brandon Jennings shooting at least 50% for only the second time this decade, were the Celtics really supposed to win this game?

I was actually pleased with the performance. I could sleep well last night, knowing that my squad continued to show a little backbone. I think Doc Rivers summed it up best: “We came to play hard and we did that – we just didn’t play well,” he told the Boston Herald. “We didn’t make shots.”

If you discount the whole making shots thing (which, I suppose, is what basketball is all about) the Celtics played their most complete game since before Santa Claus came to town. There’s nothing you can say about their effort: They brought it, and brought it for as close to 48 minutes as we’ve seen from them in a long time. I was much happier with the game last night than I was after the Wizards comeback.

That win was great, but where did Boston hide for the first 42 minutes? Where was the mentality to shut the Wizards down? Sure, the Celtics pulled that game out down the stretch, but if they’d played against Washington with the same urgency they displayed against Milwaukee, the Wizards would have been crying to their mothers and wives before the end of the first quarter.

Back to Milwaukee. I maintain that last night was nothing for the Celtics to hang their heads about. A few bounces go the other way, and the Celtics would have been coming home to play Memphis as the gritty winners of a game played with playoff-level intensity against a peaking team.

There is absolutely nothing for Boston to be ashamed of after last night’s loss. Actually, there IS one thing, and it’s more on me.

Counting a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks as a moral victory.

Kudos to Scott Skiles

He’s got a point guard, probably his team’s second-best player, shooting less than 37%… for the entire season. His new best player, an Aussie big man, is best known as an NBA player for being chosen ahead of Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the draft. His old best player, a sharp-shooting lefty, has missed almost the entire season with injuries, and will miss the remainder of the campaign with a torn ACL. The rest of the team is a collection of has-been’s, never-were’s, and never-will-be’s. Somehow, the Milwaukee Bucks are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and the hottest team in the NBA.

Scott Skiles, take a bow. Then another one. Keep going, you deserve all the applause we can give you.

Celtics fall to Bucks at buzzer

Another day, another heart attack.

For Celtics, Life After Death continues in Milwaukee

On the 13th anniversary of Biggie Smalls’ death, it seems only appropriate to celebrate the Celtics’ Life After Death.

Glen Davis and fiancee to have child

Glen Davis will soon be holding a child, rather than the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Hopefully, hell be holding both.

Wouldn’t you know it: Just hours after bashing him, I found out that Glen Davis is going to have a child. Well, not him personally, but his fiancee. (Although Davis sure looks like he could be pregnant.)(Boston Herald)

That the Boston Celtics’ Glen “Big Baby” Davis is going to be a daddy! The Green Teamer wouldn’t blab about the Little Baby deets – in fact, he got a little colicky when our source asked him about it. But he did confirm that his fiancee, Jenna Gomez, was having a Baby.

I’d hate to ruin this moment with the obligatory, “Wait, Davis is way too immature to be a father” joke, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll say nothing but congratulations to the man I mercilessly tore apart for his lack of efficient scoring.

Let’s hope fatherhood treats Davis well, and may he have a happy and healthy child.

The Nate Robinson Effect

Imagine this: A player who was such a behavioral nightmare that he could average 17.2 ppg one year and then consistently earn DNP-CD’s the following has helped to re-instill the Celtics’ sense of unity. Huh?

Glen Davis almost starred in ‘Blind Side’… seriously

Those are some serious photo-shopping skills, huh?

[*Bad joke alert*]

This news really blind-sided me.

[*End of bad joke*]

Glen Davis almost played Michael Oher in ‘Blind Side’?  What the hell? (Jessica Camerato, WEEI)

Back in 2007, Davis was a top candidate for the lead role of Michael Oher in “The Blind Side.” [...]

“I’ve always wanted to act,” he explained. “I knew about the football player, he played at Ole Miss, and I heard there was a book out about that. So I said, ‘Sure, I’ll try out.’ ”

Davis was sent a three-page script and asked to record a video audition. After hours of practice, he performed the scene in which Oher discusses selecting a college, ultimately deciding on the University of Mississippi.[...]

After submitting his tape, Davis learned he was one of the top three candidates for the role. Because of the NBA schedule, however, he never met with film’s executives. Regardless of the opportunity to act, Davis had priorities.

“I never flew out because I didn’t have time,” he said. “I was playing, it was at the beginning of the season. That would’ve been tough. I would’ve had to shoot during the summer time, and that was a really important time.”

(Read the rest of the story here.)

Davis’ wide list of talents keeps revealing new, hidden skills.  First, he said he wanted to play in the NFL.  That one wasn’t too much of a secret; he’s a 300-pounder with agility and explosiveness.  It only made sense.

His talents got more eclectic, though. Next was MMA.  Davis trained over the summer, and his trainer could only imagine how great Davis could have been as a fighter if he didn’t have such a serious commitment to basketball.

Then came ultimate frisbee.  Wait, ultimate frisbee?  A 6′9″, 300-pounder flicking a little flying disc?  I thought only hippies and high-schoolers played that sport, right?

Along with his frisbee admittance, we learned that Davis was also — at least by his own admission — quite good at soccer.

Now, he was one of three finalists to play Michael Oher in ‘Blind Side’? Is there anything the man can’t do?

Sadly, there are some things. Shooting over the long arms of JaVale McGee, for one.

Celtics-Wizards: The final six minutes

“We choked,” Flip Saunders told the Boston Globe. “We got young guys, they don’t know what it’s like to be in a situation. We start talking to Garnett, start talking trash and everything else. Got Garnett and those guys juiced up and we just pissed down our leg the last six minutes.

Red Claws Fall To Third In Fourth

The Maine Red Claws, facing one of the toughest teams in the league on their home court, fell just short, losing 99-98 to the visiting Sioux Falls SkyForce.

Allen, Celtics down Wizards after fourth-quarter comeback

It was a bad game, an ugly game, and made me want to gouge out my eyes for 42 minutes.  But those last six minutes were a waterfall of sweet nectar.