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.

No fraternizing with the enemy, Paul. Especially not in a blowout loss. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com – “Then there was the scene that played out moments before the second half began, as Pierce and Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal positioned themselves for the initial possession. There was small talk. Smiles. Pleasantries at a thoroughly unpleasant time — Boston was down 65-43 — for the home team and its fans. That got a lot of green boxers in a bunch, too, the sight of the Celtics’ captain chit-chatting with a hated foe when the task at hand was so grim. Frankly, it’s hard to blame them. Fans want players to die a little with each loss, same as them. Fans pay big money to see their teams at their best or at least laboring hard and grimacing as they fall short. Fans might like it, knowing that their favorites are grounded and stable and centered as human beings away from the court, but that really is not a priority for them in the 2-3 hours it takes to watch a game or the two weeks that a playoff series runs. Michael Jordan’s obsession with winning, every time, every place? Kevin Garnett’s woofing and chest-thumping, even at All-Star Games? Kobe Bryant’s facial contortions and megalomania? That might make them lousy neighbors — imagine putting your fence three inches beyond your property line — but it is fire, it is fuel, it is focus. Bottom line, the Celtics and their fans want Pierce to play better. Failing that, they want to see the struggle, the sweat, the strain, the anger, the frustration that somehow they just know they would be feeling in his shoes.”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “‘I think right now, he’s the best player on our team,’ Perkins told WEEI.com following practice on Saturday. ‘Without Rondo, nothing goes. Pretty much we’ve got to play him the whole game because he just runs the whole team. Without him, we’d be dead.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “After Friday’s loss, Pierce suggested it doesn’t matter what he does offensively, given his defensive responsibilities with James. Rivers said he’s half right as Boston needs Pierce to be a factor at both ends of the court, just like James has been. ‘Obviously, we want him to be more efficient,’ said Rivers. ‘He’s right. We were fine in Game 2, but I think we lost Game 1. We do want to get him involved more, get his rhythm better. He has a big job; guarding LeBron is very difficult. It takes a lot out of him. LeBron gets the ball 101 times per game. He handles the ball, pushes the ball up the floor and posts. Absolutely, that’s going to take something out of [Pierce]. You still gotta do it on both ends.’ Echoed Kevin Garnett: ‘We need Paul to be aggressive at both ends.’ But Pierce’s teammates seem confident the offense will come before it’s too late. ‘I’m not worried about P’s,’ Perkins said. ‘I’ve been around with P’s a long time. I’ve seen P’s have a few bad nights and I’ve seen him come back and have a 35-point night. You just never know with P’s. I know he’s capable of having big games. He always steps up in big games. We gotta do a great job of getting Paul open and getting him good shots. And we need to help him on defense.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “After averaging nearly 20 points a night in the opening-round series against Miami, Pierce has been a ghost against the Cavs. His scoring average has dived to 12.7, he’s shooting 31 percent from the floor, and in the Game 3 loss Friday, he missed his first six shots, going 4 for 15 on the night. ‘We do want to get him involved more,’ said coach Doc Rivers yesterday. ‘He has to get his rhythm better. But he has a big job. Guarding LeBron is difficult and it takes a lot out of you. LeBron gets the ball 101 times a game. He handles the ball. He pushes the ball up the floor. He posts. So it will absolutely take something out of you. But you still have to do it on both ends.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘Last night you could pretty much point at anything as the problem,’ said Kevin Garnett. ‘So today was more of a fix-it day.’ But where to start. The Cavs shot nearly 60 percent, holding the Celtics to 42.7 percent. LeBron James showed off with Jay-Z and Beyonce sitting courtside. And it added up to the Celtics’ worst home loss in playoff history. The easiest way to deal with it is to completely erase it from the memory banks. ‘You kind of let that game go away,’ Kendrick Perkins said. ‘You kind of move on. You can’t live in the past. The good thing about it is we’ve got a chance to tie it up 2-2 going back to Cleveland. So I fee like it’s a must win for us tomorrow.’”

Jodie Valade, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “The Celtics have been unhappy with the amount of fouls assessed this series, as Boston has had 78 fouls, compared to 57 on the Cavaliers. ‘[Friday], I felt like we were playing on the road, to be honest,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘And that’s a rare feeling. You tend to think that the team that’s aggressive, the team that’s at home is the team that gets calls. But that’s not always the case and it’s out of your hands. So you’ve got to continue to be aggressive and put yourself into positions and situations to get fouls called.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Halfway into the second quarter, Rondo was the only Celtic with multiple field goals, and at that point Cleveland was up, 46-27, its lead still growing. He took nine shots in the first quarter, but Cleveland almost welcomed the idea of Rondo as a score-first player rather than pass-first point guard. For a player who holds the keys to the series, it’s a delicate tightrope walk. ‘He does it at times where he becomes a scorer instead of a playmaker,’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said yesterday. ‘You want him to be both all the time, but playmaking is key. I thought early on he really went at [Anthony] Parker and got everything he wanted, but no one else was involved. So you’ve got to be careful. That’s a fine line for a point guard.’ [...] ‘He had a matchup where he was attacking,’ said Ray Allen. ‘We’ve got to make sure that we keep moving the ball around. We can’t allow them to lull us into that idea that we have a great matchup because Kevin [Garnett] had a great matchup, I had a great matchup, Paul [Pierce] had a great matchup and we’ve got to move it around. We find the matchups that we like, get the ball moving around and become unpredictable. That’s when we get easy looks.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald - “‘He has a cape, there’s no doubt about that,’ Rivers said of LeBron James. ‘A lot of guys play through his cape. That’s with every great player. You can’t name a great player, especially the Kobes (Bryant) and the LeBrons of the world – when they get it going, they make you feel pretty much like Hercules as well.’ James’ supporting cast flexed its muscles Friday with five players reaching double figures, thanks largely to the MVP’s 21-point first quarter. ‘Their whole team feeds off LeBron,’ Kendrick Perkins said. ‘He came out and he had 21 in the first quarter. He was setting the tone, he was knocking his jumper down, his confidence was high, his swagger was high and all the rest of those guys feed off of him. If LeBron doesn’t do that then the game pretty much could go either way. He came in and he set the tone early.’”

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “Ten months later, [Anthony] Parker is sacrificing some dignity to help the Cavs stay ahead of the Celtics. It has not and will not be obvious or beautiful, but Parker’s willingness to be a cog has been vital to the efforts so far. He’s drawn the task of defending Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo and it hasn’t been fun. Rondo’s had an amazing three games, averaging 19.3 points and 13 assists. But despite being at a disadvantage, Parker’s battled Rondo to enough to help the Cavs in both their wins in the series. ‘I’d never claim to be as quick as him and I think everybody knows that,’ said the 6-7 Parker, who has six inches on Rondo but much less foot speed. ‘If I can make him work a little harder then I’ve done my job.’”

Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “It’s tempting to dwell on the Xs and Os, the nuances of forcing Rondo to take jump shots rather than drive to the basket — along with playing smothering chest-to-chest defense on shooters Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Or we can talk about how the Cavs have more athletes and can run Boston ragged. Or how James needs Mo Williams (yet to make a 3-pointer in the series), Delonte West and Anthony Parker to be reliable outside shooters. We can dissect the matchup of Kevin Garnett vs. Antawn Jamison. But it comes down to this comment from Jamison: ‘We can ill afford to let the things we did in the first two games happen again as far as not coming out being aggressive on both ends of the floor.’ It doesn’t have to be like that, the momentum shifting from game to game, team to team. After 82 regular-season games and eight more in the playoffs, the Cavs are the superior team. They are more talented, deeper, healthier and nearly as experienced as the Celtics. This game is opportunity to also prove they are hungrier.”

Bud Shaw, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “Rivers may think it’s a single nagging injury. But you know better. Through forces unrecognized outside of “Hot Tub Time Machine,” James’ elbow bone is somehow connected to Jim Chones’ ankle bone and every near miss since. The fact that it seemed to crop up as unexpectedly as, say, a late-game fumble or a last-gasp jumper by the other team might seem like a coincidence in Boston. But what do those people know about not winning championships? They got the gout when it comes to titles from living too well. The fuss over The Elbow speaks to the delicate balance of hope and masochism still at work in the Cleveland sports scene even in the face of the uncapped promise of the James Era. Maybe expressly because of the uncapped promise.”

Ross Siler, Salt Lake Tribune – “As amazing a finish as Saturday night’s game offered, the ending couldn’t have proven more agonizing for the Jazz, now facing a historically insurmountable 3-0 deficit to the Lakers after three losses decided by all of 14 points in this Western Conference semifinal series. The Jazz’s season was left on life support after a 111-110 loss at EnergySolutions Arena, with Deron Williams missing a potential winning jumper over Ron Artest with 1.8 seconds left and Wesley Matthews’ Cinderella tip-in at the buzzer bouncing away. As much of a stand as they’ve tried to make against the defending champions — falling 104-99 in Game 1 and 111-103 in Game 2 — the Jazz are left with a 3-0 deficit from which no team in NBA history has. ‘It’s a tough loss, period,’ Williams said. ‘We again were in the game, we had a chance to win the game. Just things keep going the other way.’ ‘I thought we played well enough to win the game,’ Carlos Boozer added. ‘A couple of bounces here, a couple of bounces there and we do. We just didn’t get the bounce we needed tonight.’ The Jazz will host Game 4 on Monday night with their season in danger of coming to an end with the first four-game playoff sweep in franchise history. The Jazz were swept 3-0 by Golden State in the 1989 first round.”

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times – “The Lakers, who have won five games in a row, were stuck in a fight with a Utah team that had beaten them here in Game 3s the last two playoff seasons, and the game ended in a flurry, Deron Williams missing a long two-point attempt from the top, Wesley Matthews missing a tip-in at the buzzer. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak congratulated each Lakers player as they went to the locker room. This was a big one, in many ways, a revelation that the defending champions didn’t want to be pulled back into another tight series (think Oklahoma City, first round). The Lakers now seem to be on a collision course with the Phoenix Suns, who have a 3-0 lead in their West semifinal against San Antonio.”

Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal Constitution – “Let’s start with the obvious: The Orlando Magic are better. They have a center. They have a point guard. They have a roster of players with complete sets of working organs, and isn’t that a novelty? But sometimes things happen in sports that make you declare, ‘Push the button and blow the whole damn thing up.’ This was one of them. In a home playoff game, in an obvious desperation game, in a game where the Hawks had an opportunity to show us what substance they were made of, they collectively screamed, ‘Goo.’ They didn’t score. They didn’t defend. They didn’t rebound. They didn’t compete. We saw better performances when bodies were being jettisoned and the roster was all about 10-day contracts and cap space. Down 2-0 in their second-round playoff series against Orlando, the Hawks tossed on a little seasoning, propelled themselves onto a rotisserie and told the Magic, ‘Flip the switch.’ They trailed by 10 points after one quarter, 19 after two and 24 after three. A small gathering of fans at Philips Arena stuck it out until the end of Saturday’s 105-75 loss, perhaps hoping it would earn them some sort of refund. Sorry. Payback will have to come in the afterlife. If you need to know what that’s like, just ask the Hawks. They’ve flat-lined. They’re down 3-0. Their backs aren’t against the wall. They’re on the floor. Wait. It gets worse. Al Horford, the best hope this franchise has for a leader, openly questioned his teammates’ heart.”

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

Mo is one of the keys to Game Three... just like he is to every game this series.

Game Three is hugely important. How important, exactly?  The winner of Game Three in a tied series wins the series 76% of the time.  That important.

The Celtics can either seize control and continue the momentum they earned in Game Two, or lose it and see Lebron and the Cavs regain homecourt advantage and show that perhaps Game Two was a fluke.  The Celtics can keep their nice run of good play going, or they can cough up their lead and give the Cavs all the confidence in the world.  It all comes down to Game Three.

I don’t have much time, so I can’t give a full preview.

Here are a few keys, though:

• Keep Ray Allen going – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  When Ray gets hot tie games turn into solid leads and solid leads turn into blowouts. Not a bad weapon to have in your corner.
• Lebron might go off – Lebron James is the world’s greatest basketball player.  He also just listened to three days of everyone on earth talk about his elbow as if he’s damaged goods.  After being completely limited in Game Two, I expect a big, big game out of James in Game Three.  The Celtics, as they usually do, better throw a lot of attention his way.
• Limit Mo Williams – As Mo Williams goes, so goes the Cavs?  It certainly seems that way so far.  When he went off briefly in Game One, the Cavs surged into the lead and went on to win.  Other than his brief spell of greatness in the opener, Williams might as well have spent Games One and Two in a hotel room… and the Cavs have been dominated.  Defending Mo isn’t all that tough — just don’t let him shoot — but when he gets hot he tends to get roasting.
• Hope Mike Brown doesn’t make the right adjustments – If Brown went to a lineup with Lebron at the four spot, how do you think the Celtics would respond?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  They’d be crippled.  KG wouldn’t be able to defend anyone on the court.  Plus, that small lineup wouldn’t hurt Cleveland all that much defensively.  If I’m Brown, I’m going small early and often and forcing Boston to match up.

*****

Required Reading:

• NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner speaks on Kevin Garnett. Garnett doesn’t like partying on the road… and loves his mother dearly. (“‘I just slipped the kid some money,’ the coach told me [of Garnett]. ‘He sent his per-diem [meal money] back to his mother. I don’t think he’s going to make it.’ Later that night, most of the players went to a sports bar/gentlemen’s club to watch the last Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield fight. Garnett wasn’t among them. He wasn’t old enough to get in, yeah, but it also was a pattern to be repeated for the next 15 years: The road as business trip.”)
• Peter May talks to Bob Cousy about Rajon Rondo. Cousy LOVES Rondo. (“‘I’ve been watching the Celtics for the last 50 years,” said Cousy, who retired in 1963 but made a brief, forgettable comeback as a player-coach with Omaha-Kansas City in 1969. ‘And Rondo is the first point guard since moi that I’ve been really excited about. Bird excited you, but he wasn’t a point guard. JoJo [White] wasn’t a point guard. He’s the first since moi to get my attention.’ [...] ‘What more can this kid do? He sees the floor extremely well,” Cousy said. ‘He’s even starting to put what my old coach, Doggie Julian, would call a little French pastry on a play, going behind the back. The kid is only 24. People talk about the Big Three. But this is the Big One. The sky is the limit as far as I can see.’”)

"Damn, Perk. That fart smells terrible, man."

There was a couple interesting quotes from Kendrick Perkins in the Boston Globe and Doc Rivers in the Boston Herald.  Rivers  said Kevin Garnett should shoot 25 shots per game.

Globe:

“We just need him to be aggressive,’’ Perkins said. “We need Kevin to be Kevin. We feel like he’s got a great matchup against Antawn Jamison on the block. So we’ve just got to keep going at it and making him keep being aggressive. When he’s not shooting, he’s hurting the team.’’

Herald:

“We want Kevin to be more aggressive,” C’s coach Doc Rivers said. “I told him 20 (shots) isn’t enough. I want 25. I just think the more aggressive he is – even when he doesn’t even shoot the ball – the more we can go to him, good things happen.”

I’ve got a problem with Doc’s quote. I’m fine with the Celtics going to Garnett early and often — since before the series, I have listed his matchup with Jamison as one of the Celtics’ key advantages. Garnett is simply too long and too skilled for Jamison to compete with when Garnett’s in the low post.

But 25 shots per game? Let’s take it easy Doc. The Cavs are starting to send double teams Garnett’s way, so shots are going to be less open than before. He needs to be aggressive, but if the look isn’t there he needs to do what he does best — find open teammates. Garnett has always been a great passer for a big man, and the fact that he’s being double-teamed now should open up lanes and opportunities for his teammates. At this point, his passing will be at least as valuable as his scoring.

Besides that, let’s not overhype what Garnett has done so far. He hasn’t even played that well offensively yet. He’s put up good numbers (18 points and 10 rebounds in each game), but has shot less than 50% in each game. And he’s taken a hell of a lot of shots to get those numbers. Garnett took 20 shots to score 18 in the first game, and 21 shots in the second game to score the same amount of points. I’m no mathematician or anything, but that equals less than one point per shot. By any measure, that’s not good.

Garnett’s biggest problem so far is that he isn’t getting to the free throw line. He’s only taken two free throws all series. When you don’t hit three-pointers and can’t get to the line, even if you shoot a good percentage you aren’t going to have a high points-per-shot. He should get to the line a little more often in Boston than he did on the road, but he hasn’t gotten to the line frequently all season long.

But all my quibbles about points-per-shot and everything else are just quibbles. Garnett should get a lot of touches, and he’s playing as well now as he has all season. He should abuse Jamison, and he should continue to be as aggressive as he can.

But 25 shots per game? Let’s not get wild, Doc.

Not really sure what this picture is all about, but the Celtics need Perk and KG for Game Three.

Damn it.  Kevin Garnett (ankle update: strained right midfoot) and Kendrick Perkins (hyperextended knee strained right knee) both went down with injuries.  Garnett’s apparently occurred at the end of Game Two, while Perkins’ knee was injured during shootaround.  Both are considered probable for Friday night’s Game Three, and Perkins said both will play.

I’ll be ready for Friday. We got some rest before Friday. KG wanted to practice today. He was mad. He’ll play on Friday.

Obviously, this is a troubling turn of events.  Garnett has proven to be a tough matchup for Antawn Jamison, and Perkins has shut down both Jermaine and Shaquille O’Neal with ease this postseason. If neither are at full strength in Game Three, let’s just say it would not be in the Celtics’ best interests.

It’s nice to hear that Perk is confident about both playing on Friday though.  Maybe holding them out was nothing but a precautionary measure, even though Doc Rivers told reporters Garnett’s ankle was pretty bad.

Another thing?  It’s now a huge blessing that the Celtics have three full days off between Game Two and Game Three.  Give these guys some time to heal.

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.

Can the Celtics continue to hold off Lebron? Can I continue to come up with corny captions? Who knows, on both accounts.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com – “Last season, the Cavs swept their first eight playoff games, winning them by an average of 16.8 points per game. They manhandled a Pistons team that didn’t care to be there and then slapped the Hawks, who were banged up and just happy to be in the second round for the first time in 10 years. That’s not the case this postseason. The Bulls backed into the playoffs, but had postseason experience, an All-Star point guard and a lot more heart than the Pistons did last season. And as the Cavs are finding out, the Celtics are on another level than the Hawks when it comes to experience, defensive intensity and desire. ‘They believe,’ Cavs forward Antawn Jamison said of Boston after its Game 2 win. Yes, despite what has been written about them over the last few months, the Celtics believe they’re a championship team. So far in this series, they’ve looked a lot more like it than the Cavs have.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “‘Just do your jobs,’ Rivers said. ‘That’s all we talked about (Monday) was just doing our jobs. I told them. I said, ‘Don’t try to do more. If you do your job, you’re good.” The Celtics were, in fact, very good in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. By keeping their foot (wrapped in support hose and corrective footwear) on the pedal in the third quarter, the C’s avoided a rerun of the Game 1 swoon and ran off with a 104-86 victory Monday. As they return to practice today, the Celts are feeling buoyed by the 1-1 series count while the Cavaliers are staggered by the same scene. It’s 1968, and the Celts are Harvard after the 29-29 ‘win’ against Yale. And had they not lost their aggression and focus (see above) in the opener, they quite easily could be coming home with a 2-0 advantage and a chance to close this series out. ‘Yeah, but we take it one game at a time,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘If, could’ve, would’ve, should’ve – it’s what it is. We’re 1-1. Now we’re going back home . . . to the jungle.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “I remember sitting in the Celtics pressroom, watching a dejected Rivers, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce futilely try to make sense of pathetic losses to the Nets, Grizzlies, Wizards and Bucks, and thinking that they didn’t have a donuts chance in Big Baby’s kitchen of making it out of the first round. And now I just know that things have changed. And maybe that’s my answer to how we all got here. That sometimes in sports, things just change. And when it comes down to when they will or how they will, we just don’t know. And, really, that is, and always will be, the single greatest part of being a sports fan. You just never know.”

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “‘There were times I actually wanted him to attack a little more,’ Rivers said. ‘There were times, especially when we lost our way a little bit in the fourth quarter (allowing Cleveland a 15-0 run that proved meaningless only because the C’s held a 25-point lead at the time it began). But he just had a great floor game. I call him (Jason) Varitek. I thought he called great balls and strikes, if you want to put it that way.’ Rondo was in command of the floor all night, but it was when he struck with the ball in his hand that he was most effective, driving the middle with a darting quickness that broke down the Cavs defense. It is what he did in the first half of Game 1 but didn’t do in the second. That’s when a great opportunity to knock the Cavs back on their heels was lost, but Monday night he showed for all of the 45 minutes he was on the floor what has to be done to beat the Eastern Conference’s top seed. The Little One has to become the Little Big Man. If he can, LeBron James will have another MVP trophy to add to his mantle, but nothing more than that. ‘We get the ball to him as much as possible when we get stops because he can create havoc,’ Paul Pierce said of Rondo. ‘He is one of the fastest point guards in the league when he gets into the lane and finds guys. He can also finish, and that’s what we need.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “If Game 2 proved anything, it’s that Cleveland won’t be able to win with one player alone, and it will take more than three — or even five — for the Celtics to win. ‘That’s pretty much the game plan for how we’re going to have to beat this team,’’ Kevin Garnett said. “We’re going to have to do it together and collectively.’ ‘That’s how our team is right now,’ said Celtics president Danny Ainge. ‘Not any one person has to carry the load, and we don’t rely on one person to have a great performance. Every night it can be a different person, and that’s the strength of our team.’ It’s no secret that as the starters go, the Celtics go, but there’s a limit on how much of the load they can be expected to carry.”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “Growing up in Berkley, Gaffney watched countless Celtics games from the Garden balcony. But since signing with the C’s on the final day of the regular season, Gaffney’s vantage point has been the team’s bench. ‘I couldn’t count how many times I’ve been to the Garden when it was the (original) Garden,’ Gaffney said. ‘Even while I’m not dressing right now, to be able to sit on the same bench that Paul Pierce [stats] sits on and Larry Bird sat on and Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish – it’s like a dream come true.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Though the C’s bench tied its Cavs counterpart with 27 Game 2 points after barely causing a ripple in Game 1, there’s no doubt which side made the biggest dent. Rivers’ disappointment earlier in the week obviously had an effect. ‘The bench, collectively as a group, said we had to do something,’ Davis said. ‘We feel like we’re one of the best bench teams in the league, and we’re capable of games like this. Game 1 was Game 1. We just have to deliver and that’s what we did (Monday).’ Wallace, perhaps stung by the criticism of his play over the second half of the season, allowed his silence to do the talking Monday. That wasn’t a problem – not when teammates like Davis were willing to grab the microphone. ‘Rasheed Wallace,’ said Davis, as if by simply intoning the name he was saying all that was necessary. ‘That was the difference in the game. Rasheed Wallace did huge things for us (Monday), and each night it’s going to be somebody different. If we can keep up this level of play, step up and deliver, we’ll be fine. Rasheed is just that type of player. I always expect Sheed to play. Sheed never sits down, he always practices. He plays the game like it’s supposed to be played, and (Monday) was his night.’”

Kirk Minihane, WEEI – “Easy call for the Celtics. Anytime they have a lead in double-digits I just assume that it will be gone before TNT can get to its next “Are We There Yet” promo. They just get way too Pierce-happy in those spots, moving away from what got them the big lead. Put it another way: When a 25-point lead is trimmed to 18, usually it isn’t a big deal. But with this team you just knew it was going to get close on Monday night. And if Antwan Jamison hits a wide-open three that would have cut the lead to seven points with six minutes left, I wonder if this column is even being written.”

Mary Schmitt Boyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “The Cavs likely would have taken Tuesday off had they won Game 2 on Monday. Instead, Brown brought them in to watch film and talk about what went wrong. ‘When I don’t feel like I did a good job with something, I’m the type of guy who wants to attack it and see what I can do to help these guys out to better the situation,’ Brown said. The coach said he had been more angry after games than he was on Monday. ‘I just think we can play better,’ he said. ‘I know we can play better. You don’t want to be satisfied. Not only can the guys play better on the floor, but I can help them better. I have to do a better job of that. We have to do a better job of that on the floor in Game 3.’”

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “The Celtics have identified the Kevin Garnett vs. Antawn Jamison matchup is one they want to exploit. During the regular season, Garnett took 20 shots in a game just two times. Working on Jamison in the post relentlessly, Garnett has taken 20 shots in each playoff game so far. On Monday, the Cavs, an in attempt to keep passes from going to Garnett, had Jamison stand in front of him to deny entry passes for a stretch in the second half. Rondo simply lobbed the ball over the smaller Jamison to Garnett for three consecutive baskets in the third quarter as the Cavs made no adjustments. Garnett had 18 points and 10 rebounds in each game after having just one double double in the past 11 games. It is clear the strategy the Cavs have been using with Jamison is not working well.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “When asked by Cleveland reporters about Mike Brown’s rise from buzz-worthy assistant in San Antonio to coach of a Cavaliers squad that finished with the best record in the NBA this season, Rivers took the opportunity to shine the spotlight on Thibodeau. ‘I had heard of [Brown] because he was in San Antonio, and knowing [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] and that group, then he went to Indiana [as an associate head coach], so I knew about him,’ said Rivers. ‘You hear all a lot about assistants. I have one, Tom Thibodeau, that, in my opinion, should be a head coach now and should have been one. Hopefully he gets a shot as well.’”

Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel – “Who knew that the Orlando Magic would end up taking another day off? They certainly couldn’t have expected it to be this easy or their play to be this crisp once they blew off the cobwebs. But with their game in mothballs for seven days, the Magic showed none of the rust they expected, whipping the Atlanta Hawks 114-71 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second round. ‘I was a little surprised with that,’ coach Stan Van Gundy said. ‘It was good to see.’ And bad for the Hawks, who appeared to have trotted out their junior varsity. How bad was it? The Magic’s biggest lead was 46. They led by 41 points at the end of the third quarter — and the Hawks had scored just 44. And it might not get much better for Atlanta now that they’ve seemingly sprung Dwight Howard from playoff purgatory.”

Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal Constitution – “The Hawks really believed they had a chance to steal Game 1, but the only crime committed here was fraud. The East’s No. 3 seed performed as if it were back in its glory days of Billy Knight burning lottery picks on guys named Williams. The Hawks were tied after 14 minutes. Ten minutes later they trailed by 20 points. And it would — oh yes, it would — get doubly worse. It’s no easy feat to trail a Round 2 playoff game by 41 points having played only 36 minutes, but the proud conquerors of Milwaukee managed it. They were down 85-44 after three quarters. And I say it again: This is why so few folks outside Atlanta, and many folks in Atlanta, don’t take seriously a team that won 53 games this season and has survived a Game 7 in each of the two springs. The Hawks tried really hard those first 14 minutes. Then the home team got going, and the visitors decided trying to play sound basketball really wasn’t worth the effort. So they ceased and desisted. Joe Johnson kept losing the ball. (He had four turnovers against five points the first half.) Jamal Crawford looked scared. (His first half: Two points, two points.) And Mike Woodson’s grand scheme to control Dwight Howard worked for a little while, but the sheer weirdness of it — deploying the forgotten Jason Collins before the NBA’s sixth man of the year and the ancient Joe Smith in the first quarter — undid the team it was supposed to bolster. The Hawks were so consumed by trying to bump and bedevil Howard they stopped running any semblance of an offense. (Collins made a basket and seemed shocked.) They scored 23 points in the first quarter; they managed 21 in the next two. They tried to go Iso-Joe and that didn’t work, so everyone decided to hoist jumpers. And the lead grew — it would peak at 112-66 — and the humiliation deepened, and the East’s No. 3 seed became something a No. 3 seed should never be: pitiable.”

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times – “Any way to change this to a best-of-five series? The Lakers continued to get the best of the Utah Jazz, turning a Western Conference rivalry into a playground version of sixth-graders against fourth-graders, the latest after-school scuffle transitioning into a 111-103 victory Tuesday at Staples Center. It wasn’t easy — nothing seems to be for the Lakers in these playoffs — but they took a 2-0 lead over the Jazz in the conference semifinals. The numbers are getting overwhelming, the Lakers now two victories from eliminating the Jazz for a third consecutive season while moving to 20-6 against Utah over the last few years, including playoffs. Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom brushed off recent injuries on the way to double-doubles, and Kobe Bryant almost had one too, but before the Lakers pat themselves on the back, they have plenty to study before Game 3 on Saturday in Utah. They gave away most of a 15-point lead, committed 20 turnovers, made four of 17 three-point attempts (23.5%) and failed to coast despite double-doubles by three players. Only when Odom found Ron Artest with a long lead pass for a dunk could Lakers fans begin celebrating in earnest, their team ahead by eight with 28.3 seconds to play. ‘Somehow, we managed to win that game,’ Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said, sighing a couple of times at his postgame news conference.”

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