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.

I'm pretty sure Perk could literally eat Aaron Brooks if he wanted to. But Brooks ate the entire C's team alive last night. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – [Doc Rivers said: ] “‘I didn’t think we played very smart tonight. There are so many little things that I could point out that I won’t, but throughout the game taking shots, when you should take the final shots at the end of quarters, and then it leads to them getting a three-point play, fouling in penalty when you’re up late in the game; no need to foul. We played like a high school team at times, as far as the way our thought process was… But there were so many little plays to me. No matter if you’re playing the Rockets, Cleveland – it didn’t matter who you were playing – that you had to make. And that a veteran team should make. And we didn’t make them. So that was a disappointment.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “From rushed shots to unnecessary fouls to missed free throws to losing the battle on loose balls, Rivers was baffled by his team’s inability to make quality decisions and execute the most routine fundamentals Friday night. The result? A head-shaking 119-114 overtime loss to an injury-ravaged Houston Rockets squad that really had no business taking the game to overtime, let alone emerging with a victory at TD Garden. ‘The other stuff, whatever, but we’ve been a pretty smart team, and, tonight, I thought it was April 1,” said Rivers, referencing April Fools Day. “It’s amazing how many things we did that were out of character and that bothers me. I can live with the loss, but when you don’t play right, that bothers me.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “The playoff-bound Celtics caved in all areas to a team that, now out of the race for a postseason berth in the wildly competitive Western Conference, shot 50.6 percent including a scorching 66.7 on 3-pointers (12-of-18) that featured Budinger’s 6-for-8 downtown marathon. The Celtics continued to give away offensive rebounds, including 15 last night. The Celtics shot 59.5 percent during Wednesday’s loss at home to Oklahoma City, and continued that trend by losing to the Rockets despite shooting 51.8 percent. It didn’t help that Ray Allen fouled out after taking only two shots in 16 hindered minutes, though his replacement, Tony Allen, was arguably the best Celtic on the floor beyond Rajon Rondo. But it may now be official – the Celtics can’t stop a good team.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “In the last five games, the Celtics have allowed an average of 101.4 points, an alarming number for a defensively-minded team. ‘We have to address it,’ Pierce said. ‘I mean when you give up 50 percent, the last couple of games getting up over a hundred points. I think we have to do a better job of perimeter players not allowing dribble penetration. I think that’s the start of it. It starts from the wing players. We allow so much dribble penetration. That’s what you saw tonight, a lot of dribble penetration from their guards. Big men help and they kick out for their threes that they really hit.’ ‘It starts, not with team defense,’ said Kendrick Perkins. ‘It starts individually first.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “On Wednesday, they allowed Oklahoma City to shoot 50.7 percent and score 109 points. Last night, the Rockets rained a 50.6-percent tune and 119 points from the Garden skies. And 109 of Houston’s points were in regulation, when it shot 51.4 percent. Even those numbers are deceiving, for the defense was even worse than they indicate. The Rockets had 15 offensive rebounds (13 in the first 48 minutes) and 15 second-chance points. So even on those occasions when the Celts did get them to miss, the next effort was not there. Kevin Garnett is fond of saying, ‘We hang our hat on defense.’ Well, if that’s true, it’s a pink cap. And it’s falling down over their eyes.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “When asked if Tony Allen had earned a spot in the rotation, Rivers answered with an analogy that any journalist could understand. ‘If you write [bad] articles long enough, someone will replace you,’ said Rivers (who later clarified to the reporter who asked the question that he wasn’t referring to him). ‘When a guy does a job better than someone else, the other guy will play. It’s not a conspiracy, that’s life. Right now, Tony is playing well. Shoot, I thought he single-handedly got us back into the game with his effort and defense. He was senstational. [Tony Allen is] going to play. Whether Marquis plays or Nate [Robinson] doesn’t play, one of them isn’t playing, but, right now, Tony plays because he plays hard.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “‘Well, not only that, most of the game,’ Doc Rivers said when asked about the effect of Allen’s absence in the fourth. “Ray was in foul trouble the entire game. That hurt us down the stretch clearly, because it took away so many options and it took away space.’ Kevin Garnett, not surprisingly, agreed with his coach’s assessment. ‘Anytime you miss Paul or Ray or anybody who is in our starting five it’s a big blow to us,’ said Garnett, who finished with 12 points, but only three rebounds in 33 minutes. ‘Obviously free throws was our big key tonight. If we make or we only miss about four or five of them we’d win the game by a pretty decent margin . But every game it’s gonna be something . . . Not having ray in the game, not just for free throw purposes but for offensive attention, he draws a lot of attention on offense. It gets a lot of guys easy shots and different looks and stuff and with him not in there was big.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Though his case of knee tendinitis hasn’t disappeared, Perkins believes his two-game break helped soothe the pain. ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘It feels a lot better. I think it helped me. I just keep getting treatment on it.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “They missed on three of six foul shots in the final 46 seconds, and Michael Finley’s missed freebee, with 21 seconds to play and the C’s up 109-106, set the stage for Brooks’ dramatic three, and Boston’s eventual demise. ‘We didn’t make a lot of free throws tonight,’ said Paul Pierce, who led the C’s with 27 points but went only 6-for-10 from the line. ‘I mean, we missed a lot of free throws tonight. You give a team confidence throughout the course of a game, especially a team that expects to lose, then they run with it. The closer they are in the game, once it gets late in the game they got real confident and pulled them over the top.’”

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