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

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “In the end, though, they played a game of double-dare with Rondo, and he dealt them their demise. ‘He showed that he can beat you,’ Pierce said. ‘They came in and said we’re going to try to make Rondo beat us. They showed in the way they defended him. They went under all the pick and rolls, played him loose, let him get to the rim, get out to the break. He was phenomenal. He took up the scoring load for us and it showed that if teams are going to settle and try to let Rondo beat them, he’s capable of doing it.’ Once upon a time, letting Rondo beat you might have seemed like a safe bet. ‘When it comes to the NBA,’ Kevin Garnett said, ‘I don’t bet at all.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “The sad part for Cleveland is that it actually thought it had a chance because Rajon Rondo (hamstring and foot issues) was thought to be hurting. ‘We know that he’s not at 110 percent,’ Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said earlier in the day. ‘Rondo’s one of the best young point guards in this league. We know he is the key that makes that engine go over there. The one thing we want to do is apply as much pressure as possible.’ But Rondo came out of the pressure looking like a diamond. He had game-highs of 23 points and 12 assists, hitting 11-of-17 attempts from the floor after Scott said the Cavs would much rather have him than his teammates shooting. ‘I took maybe four or five jump shots out of 17, but the rest of them were layups,’ said Rondo, who now has seven double-doubles and a triple-double. ‘If they’re going to give me layups, then it’s cool. But I was still trying to pass the ball. I’m a pass-first point guard. I want to keep my teammates happy.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘When the second unit came in, they got to what we were trying to do to start the game,’ Rivers said. ‘They pounded it down low with Baby andMarquis [Daniels]. I thought those were the two guys that changed the game for us.’ Rivers had given Davis a not-so-subtle nudge, saying the forward was trying to do too much the past three games. Last night, from his defense to his 17 points and 11 rebounds, he gave what the coach was looking for. ‘He was absolutely sensational,’ Rivers said. ‘Defensively, he challenged shots and offensively, he was patient. I thought he set the tone early on. We got on him about quick shots and I thought in the first half, he passed up two quick shots. Set another pick and got someone else the shot. He’s just got to trust that the ball will come back to him. We are an extremely unselfish team, and I thought he learned that [last night].’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Shaq did have a contrite word for some when he got on the plane. ‘I apologized to the three, but not anyone else,’ he said of Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. ‘I just apologized to the generals who I am consulting, and that’s it. It’s just not a big thing. It’s not like I’m one of those players who said, ‘(Expletive) it, I’m not coming to practice today.’ It was just one those things. But it won’t ever happen again.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Shaquille O’Neal, who spent last season with James in Cleveland, is among those who plan to watch Thursday night’s game. The winner of that game, for O’Neal at least, is irrelevant. ‘I’m like one of those silly fans,’ O’Neal said. ‘I’m not worried about the game. I’m anxious to see if he does the powder [bleep]. (James usually starts every game by tossing powder high into the air, something Cleveland fans used to love.) We got bets that he doesn’t do it.’”

Ben Rohrbach, WEEI – “Despite having three guys — Allen, Garnett and Pierce — shooting 89, 85 and 84 percent from the free-throw line, the Celtics entered Tuesday night’s game ranked 21st in the NBA in foul shooting. And they didn’t do themselves any favors, shooting just 13-of-23 from the charity stripe against the Cavaliers. Shaquille O’Neal’s struggles at the line are a given (he’s at 57 percent). It’s really only Rondo who can help the Celtics improve in that arena. The Celtics point guard is shooting a putrid 47 percent from the line this season, and he made just 1-of-4 against the Cavaliers. This problem may not have much effect on the C’s success during the regular season, but there’s no doubt it could be an Achilles heel in the playoffs, when games are more physical and tighter at the end. After all, the Celtics ranked eighth in free-throw percentage when they won the title three years ago.”

Elliott Teaford, Los Angeles Daily News – “Suddenly, the Lakers have serious issues. Their defense isn’t as tight as it should be, which means they’re trading baskets with opponents instead of stopping them and building and nurturing leads. Their offense isn’t clicking because they’re playing from behind instead of from ahead. What’s more, some of their best players are playing too many minutes because of injuries and lack of experience. A string of close games has underscored the Lakers’ lack of depth behind center Pau Gasol and power forward Lamar Odom. So, in hindsight, it hasn’t been a surprise to see the Lakers struggling recently. Their 98-96 loss Tuesday night to the Memphis Grizzlies was their third consecutive defeat, only their second three-game skid since Gasol was acquired Feb. 1, 2008.”

Mary Schmitt Boyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “If this was a boxing match, as Cavaliers coach Byron Scott suggested, the Boston Celtics registered a second-round TKO. ‘You get punched in the face, you want to see how you’re going to react,” Scott said after the Celtics pounded the Cavs, 106-87. ‘I thought we staggered, but we never really threw a punch back. I thought that was pretty much the difference.’”

Bill Livingston, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “The wisdom of the Celtics’ rebuilding stands in contrast to the Heat’s fantasy league approach. Before the 2007-08 season, the Celtics traded for Garnett, the big man they needed for interior defense, and for Ray Allen, the shooter they needed to complement Pierce. The emergence of Rondo completed the puzzle. ‘Everybody said it would take a year, but I told them we didn’t have a year. We were too old,’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘We didn’t have complementary players. We had willing players. Everybody had a vested interest in making it work. ‘I don’t want to hear that players don’t mix or match. All of our players dropped off that first year in minutes, in shots. But they were willing to do that.’”

Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.

I almost felt bad for Cleveland fans. The fans at last night’s game had their hearts torn out this summer, on national TV, by the one man (Lebron James, obviously) who was supposed to end the city’s streak of bad luck. Not only that, but the season-ticket holders were forced to renew their tickets last season, before they knew whether James would return. So the fans at last night’s game might not have even wanted tickets to the J.J. Hickson era. It was no wonder the arena had a strange vibe at the game’s beginning.

Have you ever been to a funeral before, when someone giving a eulogy makes a joke? What follows is an uneasy laugh, an almost forced laugh. People want to celebrate a life at funerals, but they are also grieving a death. People at a funeral need laughs and need joy, but laughing isn’t easy. That awkward funeral laugh was the Cleveland crowd to begin last night’s game. They wanted to celebrate a new season, but they were still mourning the loss of a (once) loved one. Their cheers were forced. They seemingly only rooted for their team because it was expected. Remember, a portion of the crowd probably resented even having tickets. They renewed their tickets still hoping Lebron’s return. Instead, they get to pay for J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao. That’s a fierce drop, clearly.

But something happened as the Cavs erased last night’s 11-point deficit and climbed ahead. The crowd started to go crazy. The fans weren’t rooting for Lebron or any other stars, but you know what? The Cavs were giving a game effort. They were sharing the ball. And they were beating a Celtics team that Lebron himself couldn’t the night before. The crowd rallied around its new team, the PA announcer stopped being the only voice heard, and before long the funeral aura was gone. By the time confetti was released from the rafters after the Cavs’ win, the crowd had fully embraced its new team.

Cavaliers fans still haven’t fully accepted Lebron’s departure. I’m not sure they ever will. But in their mourning period, they’re desperately searching for something else to make them happy. It’s like a rebound relationship. Maybe the new girl in your life isn’t ideal, but having her beats having nothing to take your mind off your ex. You don’t need a perfect rebound girl, but you need someone, anyone, to bring you a little happiness. Yet maybe this year’s Cavs are better than that.

Maybe this year’s Cavs are the perfect team for Cleveland to embrace. They don’t have any stars and very few egos. No Cav this year is important enough to depart Cleveland and leave a big crater in the city’s fabric. It’s safe to love them, and they’re a lot more “Cleveland-ish” than Lebron is. Lebron was the home-grown boy (well, he was from Akron and later said he grew up hating Cleveland — but still), yet he never fit the city’s blueprint. Cleveland is a blue-collar town, a scrappy town, a town filled with Average Joes who take a lunch pail to work, while Lebron was a prima donna who has eaten from a silver spoon since his high school years. When you look back, Lebron stood for very few qualities Cleveland does. He was an amazing basketball player, but he was never Cleveland-ish.

If last night was any indication, this year’s Cavs team is. Byron Scott started the night he could only make one promise: his team would always play hard. Then his squad backed up Scott’s words, outhustling and outworking a more talented Boston team. Scott later said the crowd appreciated this year’s Cavs team more than last.

“I feel like they’re more behind us than at any point last year in the sense that it feels like this is the true fans. It’s the people who have come up in Cleveland and have gone through it. They’re Cavs fans for life, and in spite of what everybody’s saying outside of Cleveland, they believe in us.”

Maybe they don’t believe in the Cavs yet. Maybe this year will be more pain than reward for Cavs fans. But they need something, anything, to give them hope and reinstill their belief in Cleveland basketball. They’re on the rebound from a breakup they’d love to forget.

Forgive this piece, before you even read it. This isn’t a real rumor, nor is it even a fake rumor. It’s simply a what-if scenario J.A. Adande offered up on TrueHoop. And a scary what-if scenario, at that.

It’s not that hard to envision a scenario that brings Paul to the Lakers. It starts with Jackson retiring, a move he said he is “leaning toward.” Then bring in Byron Scott to replace him, as has long been rumored. Out goes the triangle offense, which probably wouldn’t suit Paul. In comes Paul, who maintained a good relationship with Scott even after Scott was fired by the Hornets. (That’s more than could be said with Scott’s previous two point guards, Baron Davis and Jason Kidd.) Meanwhile, Scott and Kobe Bryant go way back to Kobe’s rookie year, when they were teammates, so that would work, too.

Why would any of this work for the Hornets? They need to shed salary, with the four years and $52 million remaining on Emeka Okafor’s contract sticking out on their spreadsheet like a nun on Bourbon Street. The best way to entice a team to take on that contract would be to include Paul in the deal, painful though it may be for the Hornets. Besides, if they really like Paul and want to repay him for everything he’s done for that franchise and the New Orleans community they’ll give him a chance to play for a championship contender.

They could send Paul (owed $14.9 million in 2010-11) and Okafor ($11.5 million), with contracts totaling $26.4 million, to the Lakers for the combined $27.5 million in 2010-11 contracts of Andrew Bynum ($13.8 million), Lamar Odom ($8.2 million) and Sasha Vujacic ($5.5 million).

The Lakers are scary enough with Derek Fisher running point and Andrew Bynum limping his way through a semi-productive Finals. Add Paul to the team and a center with two functioning knees (although Okafor is no healthy Harry either) and suddenly that offense is lethal. My knees are shaking right now like I’m Chris Webber at the foul line during crunch-time.

Losing Lamar and Bynum would hurt the Lakers, but the thought of adding CP3 to that squad is enough to make me seriously consider a drug binge.

In his article this morning, Gary Washburn wondered whether Paul Pierce was the greatest player ever born in L.A.

There have been some great players from the Los Angeles area, including Marques Johnson, Gail Goodrich, Byron Scott, Reggie Theus, and Paul Westphal, and Pierce has joined that group. He is on the verge of the 20,000-point mark. An eight-time All-Star and the 2008 NBA Finals MVP, he could be poised to join the Mount Rushmore of Celtic greats.

That arguably makes him the best player ever to emerge from the Los Angeles area.

With that list, is it even close?  Don’t get me wrong, there are some very good players on that list —  Pierce is simply better than all of them.  With Pierce’s longevity as a star and Finals MVP award under his belt, he’s the best player ever to come from L.A. (as long as Washburn’s list is complete) and there is no real argument.  Of course, it’s a holiday and I’m too lazy right now to check if Washburn’s list has every L.A. great — I guess I’ll just have to trust him that it does.

Even Marques Johnson, probably the second-best from L.A., agrees with me that Pierce is the city’s greatest.  ”The fact he has led a team to a championship, he’s threatening to etch his name on the top of that list,” Johnson said. “It’s hard for me to give it up, I give it up begrudgingly, but when you look at his total body of work, you have to.”

Johnson then continued to describe a cool story of Pierce competing — and more than holding his own — against professionals when Pierce was only 15 or 16.

“Paul was killing, and I am thinking he was a pretty solid 14-year-old,’’ Johnson said. “And when I asked his coach how old he was, he was like, ‘12 or 13,’ and he was a year or two younger than the rest of the guys. And it was like, ‘OK, this kid here is special.’ And I watched him play at UCLA against pros when he was about 15 or 16 and he was able to do things real effortlessly. When a kid looks like he belongs and excels and dominates at times, you know he was a special player. And we’ve always known he was a special player. I am really, really proud of the way his career has taken off.’’

Washburn wrote a nice piece but I disagree with the two concluding sentences, a quote from Johnson.

“I think we are living vicariously through Paul, whatever he does, we back in LA are proud of him. He represents us.”

At one point, perhaps it was true that Pierce represented L.A. At this point, and I think Pierce would agree with me, he represents Beantown.