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.

Its on in Game 2.

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “Had he thought about it for a moment, Gasol also could have counted on that when his words got to Garnett they would be a.) not be well-received and b.) not be fully translated. Gasol was not trying to insult Garnett. He was simply trying to explain how time and the wear and tear of so many seasons in the NBA had changed his game. Yet not long after he had spoken, a gaggle of reporters relayed to a smoldering Garnett what his Lakers adversary had said. Maybe he did say it, but not that way. Garnett was already in a dark mood after having twice watched the videotape of the Lakers’ 102-89 victory in Game 1. ‘I played like horse-bleep,’ Garnett said. Yet while happy to be hard on himself, it was evident from the tightness in his jaw as he heard Gasol’s talent assessment that he was not too happy to hear from his longtime rival, nor was he ready to respond. That will come, Rajon Rondo [stats] assumes, tomorrow night in Game 2. ‘Every man is entitled to his own opinion,’ a smirking Rondo said after being told of Gasol’s take on Garnett’s fading skills. ‘You know, Kevin is fine. It’s just one game. We’ll see in Game 2. I mean, hey, obviously he knows what he’s saying, so I don’t have anything to say. I just can’t wait. I didn’t know he said that, but I’ll be excited to see how it goes in Game 2.’”

Peter May, ESPN Boston – “Not quite the same thing as Cedric Maxwell mocking Bernard King in 1984, adding that in no way was ‘the b—- going to score 40 on me.’ But in the politically correct era in which we live, an honest assessment of an opponent, warts and all, amounts to calumny or slander. What made Gasol/Garnett a storyline after Game 1 was the former’s total dominance of the latter. Gasol was fluid, active and aggressive, the unquestioned star of the game, with 23 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots in the Lakers’ 102-89 whuppin’ of the Celtics on Thursday night. Garnett? He was Mikki Moore. Through three quarters, the 6-foot-11 Garnett had one rebound. One. He finished with four, but two of those were off his own misses, one of which was an uncontested dunk/layup that he bungled. He looked like the Kevin Garnett we saw a lot of in the regular season, the one who got faked out by Ersan Ilyasova or beaten off the dribble by Andray Blatche. He looked nothing like the Kevin Garnett who averaged 19 points and 8 rebounds against the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The big unknown — and for the Celtics, it is a big unknown — is whether the Game 1 Garnett is, for whatever reason, the real Garnett. If it is, the Celtics are doomed. He really didn’t have a great series in the conference finals against Orlando — 14 points and 12 rebounds in the Game 4 loss was his high point — and he was, like many of his teammates, awful in Game 1 against L.A. But to hear the talk Friday, both sides expect the terrifying, menacing, lane-clogging, constantly talking and more effective Garnett to make his NBA Finals debut in Game 2. He had better.”

Marc Berman, New York Post – “Kobe Bryant’s reward for winning his fifth championship could be right knee surgery, according to Colangelo. Colangelo said he’s not counting on Bryant for the World Championships this summer because he has been told surgery is a major option. ‘He could very well have surgery after the playoffs,’ Colangelo said. Bryant, who has played with a broken finger much of the season, hardly has practiced in recent weeks, resting his right knee that was drained in April. In the Western Conference Finals victory over Phoenix, Bryant was at his best, averaging 33.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “‘You can’t play mad, you can’t play angry, you just have to go out there and be an instigator,’’ Glen Davis said. “You have to play under control and at the same time have a sense of urgency. Everybody gets punched. Everybody gets knocked out. It’s all about how you get up the next day and how you react to it. Our reality is that we got punched. We got dazed. We’ve got to go out there and keep fighting. This is the Finals, you have to bring your hard hat. You have to bring everything to this, every inch of focus and inch of rest, you have to bring it.’ The Celtics didn’t like themselves much yesterday. They regretted their belief that their ‘B’ game would be good enough to compete with the league’s best. They have one day to sharpen the fundamentals and principles they have mastered — and also forgotten — on several occasions this season.”

Mark Heisler, LA Times – “‘I’m going to guess that you know Phil’s record when he wins Game 1,’ someone asked Coach Doc Rivers. ‘Uh-huh,’ Rivers said, without enthusiasm. ‘Do you know what it is?’ ‘I don’t know the record,’ Rivers said. ‘I’ve just heard about it. . . . The last time we were in the Finals, no team had ever come down from 24 in the second half. At some point, it happened.’ For Lakers fans who have repressed the memory of that point, the Celtics came from 24 down in Game 4 in 2008 when the Lakers, who were about to tie the Finals, 2-2, then found themselves down, 3-1, instead. If a 1-0 lead is preferable to an 0-1 deficit, no Laker with a memory can feel safe, even if it goes back only two years. Remember Game 1 in 2008 when the favored Lakers led, 51-46, at halftime, having just gone on a 27-17 run, and jumped around excitedly in the locker room when players asked: Is that all they’ve got? Remember the Lakers’ bemused reaction to Paul Pierce’s wheelchair ride and dramatic return, after which Pierce got 28 in Game 2 and the Celtics stomped them, leading by 22 after three quarters? Then, of course, there was Game 4 of that series. (And, for older Lakers and fans, Frank Selvy’s miss in 1962, the balloons in 1969, Game 2 in 1984, Game 4 in 1984, Game 5 in 1984, et al.)”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘It says a little bit about us, the fact that we were able to gather ourselves after that shellacking, and it was the nature of the game,’ said Rivers. ‘It’s rare that your team shows up not to play. It happens sometimes for whatever reason. It just happens. No matter how much you prepare it can happen sometimes,’ he added. ‘I thought we had tremendous practices leading up to the game. I thought the day before was one of our best practices in some ways, with our effort and how alert we were. And for whatever reason we didn’t show up with that same stuff, and it happens.’ As evidenced by their response in both the Cleveland and Orlando series, the Celtics also know how to get that edge back. ‘It’s not my job to figure out what they’re going to do. It is my job to make amends for the physical aggression that we lacked,’ said Ray Allen. ‘I think we, tendency wise, got early fouls, and it put us on our heels a little bit more than we would like. But those fouls, we just play through it, but we’ve got to keep our aggressive nature. It was frustrating,’ Allen continued. ‘I’ve anticipated this moment since the last time we were here. So you figure, last year losing in the second round, wanting to get back here, thinking about the summertime and then playing the whole season and having a great playoffs as a team. But I always have faith in my teammates knowing they’ll get the job done when they get out on the floor. I knew a long time ago you get in foul trouble, minutes get added onto the game, and you just have to find a way to have an impact.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “‘I expect the whole team to be more physical because they felt like (Thursday) night we were the more physical team out there and they take pride in being the physical team,’ Gasol said. ‘We’ve just got to be ready for it.’ Lakers coach Phil Jackson expects the Celtics to try to get Ray Allen more involved. Allen had 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting and was limited by foul trouble in Game 1. ‘They started off right away trying to exploit the Allen-(Derek) Fisher matchup and got Fisher out of the game in a matter of two minutes (with foul trouble),’ Jackson said. ‘That may be something they want to go back to and work on again.’”

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times – “The Lakers dominated all the power categories, winning points in the paint, rebounds and second-chance opportunities with ease, though they didn’t think it would be as simple in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series Sunday at Staples Center. Their thinking: There’s no chance Kevin Garnett again takes only one rebound through three quarters, no way Kendrick Perkins has three rebounds in 24 minutes, little chance Kobe Bryant drives in and out of the teeth of the Celtics’ defense with such freedom. ‘I think they’ll make it much more difficult for us to get to the basket,’ Jackson said. The Celtics will need to do something if they don’t want to go back to Boston with a two-game deficit. Pau Gasol was unstoppable Thursday, taking eight offensive rebounds and scoring on three put-backs against Garnett. Andrew Bynum played a surprising number of minutes (28) and was efficient enough with 10 points and six rebounds. Some observers characterized the Celtics as being passive, even soft. ‘They would be right,’ Rivers said. ‘We were.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Even Garnett agrees that he’s not the same player he was a couple years ago in large part because of the knee injury that sidelined him for the last 25 regular season games last season as well as the playoffs. ‘Certain things that he’s done before he’s probably not doing now or he’s getting back to doing those things,’ said Paul Pierce. Added Glen Davis: ‘Kevin Garnett is Kevin Garnett. He’s one of the best power forwards to ever play the game.’ Told of Gasol’s comments, Garnett essentially dismissed them. ‘I’m just not getting caught up in what Pau is talking about and what they’re talking about,’ Garnett said. ‘It’s going to be what it is. I’m not going to play these games. I’m going to stick to my guns, make the proper adjustments and move on and not get into this bullshit that’s going on, know what I mean?’”

Frank Dell’Apa, Boston Globe – “The image of the Celtics turned from experienced and physical to old and passive after their 102-89 loss to the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday. But that was not Paul Pierce’s take. ‘You get good praise when you win, negative praise when you lose,’ Pierce said yesterday. ‘That’s just the nature of the business in anything you do. I really don’t pay attention to it. We’ve made it to the final round with this team with the guys we’ve got, regardless of their age or regardless of their experience. But I don’t buy into the fact of being too old, or whatever you guys are talking about. You know, we’re playing for a championship here. The loss definitely inspires us, but just being in the NBA Finals should inspire us. We don’t need anything to inspire us at this point of the season. It’s the Finals and we have a spark to go on and try to add on to it, but the inspiration is already there.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “‘All year when we play bad, we’re old; when we play well, we have great experience,’ said Rivers. ‘That’s just who we are. I think our guys accept that now. It doesn’t bother them. Kevin works so hard on his game, I just thought — I made a comment to our coaches, I wish we could have played the day before. He probably had the best practice that he had in five days. He was unguardable. And then the next day the human part of the game shows up, and for whatever reason — I think part of it, you’ve got to give the Lakers credit, they did a nice job — I just thought he lost his rhythm.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “In the first 13 games of the postseason, Allen averaged 18 minutes, 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals for the C’s. He always looked comfortable with the ball, under control in transition, and, of course, his defense on the opposition’s best weapons was a game-changer. But in the five games since the injury those numbers have plummeted. He’s averaged 14 minutes, 2.4 points and .8 boards and .4 steals a game. His turnovers are about the same, but, while earlier in the playoffs, those turnovers were a product of the general flow of the game, lately they’ve been more of the unforced variety, the result of indecision rather than aggression. His defense has taken a hit, as well. On Thursday night in Los Angeles, with Ray Allen in early foul trouble, Doc Rivers turned to TA to match-up with Kobe Bryant, and Allen responded by picking up three fouls of his own within five minutes. ‘It’s affected him, there’s no doubt about it,’ Rivers told CSNNE.com before Friday’s practice. ‘And he’s a confidence player, so we’ve got to figure out a way to just let him know that he’s all right. He does what he does, and if he does that, that’s good, but it clearly bothers him.’”

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

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.

He doesn't look so bad, does he?

Chris Gasper, Boston Globe – “Essentially, what the Celtics have been presented is a do-over of the 2009 playoffs, but with Garnett a go and Cleveland standing in for Orlando. The team is virtually identical because the additions of Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels, and Nate Robinson have had no impact. Last year, the Celtics were ousted in the second round by Orlando in seven games. If that happens at the hands of Cleveland this year, then their run has run its course, and they’re the 1991 Detroit Pistons, who coincidentally went 50-32, to LeBron’s Michael Jordan. We were hard on the Celtics because we expected so much of them, but now they’re in a position to finally fulfill those expectations. Bring on LeBron.”

Bill Livingston, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “Hopes will have to wait that the Big Shillelagh will immediately break out the whuppin’ stick on the Boston Celtics, who begin their second-round series with the Cavs Saturday night at The Q. It was Celtic reserve Glen “Big Baby” Davis whose perfectly legal play on the ball led to Shaq’s torn thumb ligament — and whose tugging on the thumb afterward was both repulsive and typical of the Celtics. After the Bulls had been sent to their rooms, O’Neal fielded questions about Davis’ play with blandness. The two do share a background of playing for LSU, but old college ties mean nothing now. ‘Nothing bothers me,’ said the Big Serenity. ‘I don’t think [that the play was dirty]. I’m just glad I got my thumbs back. You need your thumbs. Your thumbs are very, very important.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Jamison averaged 19.3 points in Cleveland’s five-game first-round series against the Bulls, and he took nearly a third of his shots from 3-point range (7 of 23). He was spelled by Varejao, the sixth-year power forward who plays as if he’s never heard of inertia, making a living off hustle plays and feasting on the Celtics during the regular season by being quicker to get to open spots on the floor. It’s a matchup problem for the Celtics’ big men, who will have to flip the switch from guarding the post to jumping out to the perimeter, chasing Cleveland’s pseudo-bigs. Glen Davis put it this way: ‘Imagine if you had to bump Shaq [coming off a pick-and-roll] and then close out on Antawn Jamison when he just hit two in a row. Or with Rashard Lewis, you’ve got to bump Dwight [Howard] and get out to Rashard and force him left instead of right. You’re closing out to him and he can make you do anything he wants to, really. You’ve just got to have a feel for the game and just got to have a will to do a lot of things out there on guys like that.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “There is the Davis who made all of the hustle plays Tuesday night, from drawing two huge second-half charges on Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem to grabbing most of the big rebounds down the stretch. And then there’s the young player who is still a little too intoxicated by the memory of his game-winning 20-footer in last May’s Game 4 in Orlando. That’s the player who doesn’t always make the extra pass. But he seems to be coming around. ‘He’s just got to stay there,’ coach Doc Rivers said. ‘We tell all of our players this: ‘You don’t need a parade out there every game. You’ve just got to continue to play. And then your body will work when it’s all said and done. Then you can have the festivities.’ And that’s Baby in a nutshell. He is so talented, and his IQ is ridiculous. It really is. But he lets up at times. He starts thinking about what he’s done well, instead of just keep playing. And he’s a young kid still. That’s the maturity part that is growing. And I think it’s getting better and better. He has proven over the long haul, though, that in big games he tends to play well. He did it in college and he’s done it here.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “‘I’ve maintained that I like this team,’ Rivers said. ‘You know, when we were struggling, no one wanted to hear that. I got that. I understood that, but I knew what I had, and I knew that my goal was to get them healthy. And if that meant . . . you know, I didn’t want to lose games, but you had to take that risk during the regular season. We had to choose health over anything, and I understood that. The first thing Erik (Spoelstra, the Miami coach) said was, ‘Boy, you had a hell of a fight trying to keep these guys healthy.’ And I said, ‘It was brutal.’ But it was the right move. It was. I mean, you had to. That’s our only chance. So now we’re healthy, we’re rested and we’re ready.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “”You definitely had your doubts at times because of the inconsistent play, injuries just seem to be mounting and mounting,” said Pierce, who was sidelined for 11 games this season. But he’s not griping. In fact, he embraces those times as moments that showcased this team’s character and resiliency. ‘The losing teams tend to point the finger, go to the media, says this guy need to do this better or do that better,’ Pierce said. ‘And we never held grudges with one another.’ Kevin Garnett also addressed some of the struggles Boston has endured this season, and it’s impact on the team moving forward. ‘If you want something to happen, you have to gather everybody and it’s a group effort,’ Garnett said. ‘But if you want something to work, you have to actually grab everybody, get everybody on the same page and work towards that goal.’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the NBA and the best player in the world on their roster. Of course this was the exact same scenario for the Cavs last season, and they ultimately lost to Orlando conference finals. General manager Danny Ferry bolstered his team with additions big (Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison) and small (Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon) and found improvement from within in young forward J.J. Hickson. Noted Celtic killer Anderson Varejao had the best season of his career, Mo Williams continued to shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range, effectively ending the necessity for Daniel Gibson to get playing time, and Delonte West re-emerged as a key third guard. Then, there is LeBron James, who has shattered the best player in the league argument and seems poised to truly rule the world if he can deliver a championship to his hometown team before engaging in the most frenzied free-agent courtship the league has ever known. Ah, but the Celtics have other ideas.”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “‘My role since I’ve been here really hasn’t changed. I can just be a little bit more vocal now that I’ve been here for a while,’ Finley explained. ‘I just didn’t want to come here right away and be the loud mouth of the locker room. But now the guys feel a little more comfortable with me. I’m able to pull guys to the side, tell them different situations, especially in these playoff series that are important, not only to them, but to our team. And they’re listening and they’re being receptive, and that’s been good.’ The 37-year-old is happy to share the veteran wisdom he has accumulated over the last 15 years, and the C’s are just as happy to receive it. ‘Mike is big,’ said Ray Allen. ‘Most people don’t realize the things that he’s saying, just his advice, just some of the things that he says coming out of timeouts, coming to the bench. You can always tell he wants to win. Even though he came here later on in the season, he’s invested now in what we’re doing. So he’s always making sure, ‘Look for this, this is what’s going to go down,’ or, ‘Ray, you need to do this,’ or ‘Paul you need to make sure …’ So that’s great coming from the bench and you know that he’s fielding us more information so when we go out there, we’re prepared.’”

Charles F. Gardner, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – “Keep counting ‘em out, all you National Basketball Association experts. These Milwaukee Bucks will just keep fighting to the end. The Atlanta Hawks found that out the hard way on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the teams’ Eastern Conference series, as the Bucks got off the mat to grab a stunning 91-87 victory at Philips Arena. The Bucks have won three straight games against the third-seeded Hawks while taking a 3-2 lead in the first-round series, and Milwaukee can eliminate Atlanta in Game 6, scheduled for Friday night at the Bradley Center. Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova showed his trademark hustle while grabbing offensive rebounds, and Milwaukee went on a dazzling 14-0 run in the final 4 minutes to erase an 82-73 deficit and end the Hawks’ 14-game home winning streak. ‘This is by far the biggest win of the season,’ said Bucks guard John Salmons. ‘We’ve still got business to take care of, so we’ve got to stay with it.’”

Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution – “This was the Falcons blowing the lead against Danny White and Dallas in January 1981. This was Mark Wohlers hanging the slider to Jim Leyritz in October 1996. Only it wasn’t. It was worse. Those opponents were top-class. The Hawks just blew a 13-point lead and probably a playoff series to Milwaukee, which is a No. 6 seed missing its All-Star center. They trail 3-2 in a series they led 2-0. They face elimination on the road, a place they’ve won once in 11 tries over the past three postseasons. Yeah, theoretically they could still pull this out, but how can you win in the Bradley Center when you can’t hold a nine-point lead inside the final four minutes with the series lead on the line? How can you put this colossal choke — I hate that word, but it applies here — behind you? Up nine, and here’s what happened: Josh Smith missed a dunk by hitting the ball on the underside of the backboard; Jamal Crawford short-armed a layup, the first of his five misses down the stretch; the Hawks watched as Ersan Ilyasova grabbed every loose ball and Joe Johnson fouled out on a charge. Nine points up with 3:55 left, the Hawks saw the lead disappear in 116 seconds. I say again: One hundred sixteen seconds. There are no excuses for this game, this series. The team with the better players is the one with one foot out the exit door. The Bucks have two chances to win once. The Hawks are down to their final shot.”

Benjamin Hochman, Denver Post – “Help? Melo got it. Selfish? Not the Nuggets, at least not this night. Game 6? A reality. For one night, all was right with the Nuggets, who played poised and possessed Wednesday during a 116-102 victory over Utah at the Pepsi Center. Overcoming the loss of Nene because of a knee injury, Denver forced Game 6 to be played Friday in Salt Lake City, with the Jazz leading the first-round playoff series 3-2. A source familiar with the situation said the Nuggets are fearful Nene tore the ACL in his left knee. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Thursday.”

J.A. Adande, ESPN – “Not only did Anthony receive the assistance from his teammates he all but Bat-signaled for from the dais last Sunday, he delivered 25 points and 11 rebounds. He managed to involve his teammates without too much dropoff of his own from his 39-point, 11-rebound Game 4. Sure the point total declined, but the number of turnovers also went from nine to one. A team official told Anthony he was as proud of him as he’d ever been after this game. If the Nuggets are going to exit the playoffs, apparently their disappearance won’t be traced back to Anthony. He already double his double-double total from all of last playoffs (anyone else craving In-N-Out Burger after that sentence?). And he’s put up a better resistance to elimination. In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers last season, in what turned out to be the finale of his breakthrough playoffs, Anthony scored 25 points but shot only 35 percent and grabbed two rebounds.”

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

If you didn’t watch the game last night, then you missed two magestic ball fakes by Rajon Rondo that left Milwaukee wondering to where on earth the basketball had disappeared. The first victim was John Salmons. Salmons almost got whiplash looking for the ball, before finally realizing, “Damn it. Rondo still has the ball, and I look like a damn fool. FML.”

Next was Ersan Ilyasova. Not only was he fooled by Rondo’s patended fake-behind-the-back move, but he looked like even more of an idiot because he was in a hurry to close out to Rasheed Wallace at the three-point line. In a hurry to close out to Rasheed Wallace. Note to Ersan: Stick with Rajon next time.

The most underrated part of the highlight was Bill Raftery’s commentary. Shocking, really, that he announced a Celtics game. Even more shocking that he described Rondo’s fake as “a little globey.”

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. Read more »