He's smiling just thinking about the Celtics.

CSNNE’s A. Sherrod Blakely came up with a list of three trades the Celtics could potentially execute for Rasheed’s retiring contract. I’m not gonna lie — one of them made me a little aroused.

Rasheed Wallace to Houston in exchange for Shane Battier:
Battier’s salary for 2010-2011 season: $7.35 million
Years remaining on current contract: 1

Do you know how perfect this would be? Battier’s basically a church-going, flame-throwing, corn-rows-built-into-his-head James Posey. He’s got Tony Allen’s defense except he’s 6’8″ tall, he doesn’t throw turnovers, and it doesn’t look like he’s having a seizure when he shoots jumpers. He plays the two or three, defends Kobe as well as any man alive, and provides veteran leadership and a steady hand off the bench. Basically, Shane Battier was built to come off the Celtics bench.

So then why would the Rockets give him up? Because they’re going to be swimming in luxury tax and they already have a few wingmen. Trevor Ariza and Kevin Martin ain’t going anywhere and the Rockets seem to really like Chase Budinger. And Jared Jeffries counts too, I guess. With all those wings, it’s uncertain what Battier’s role would be. And with the Rockets in the luxury tax, trading him away would save them $14 million.

Danny, if you’re listening, please make it happen. Throw in a pick if you need to. Just get Battier in Green. I need a little Shane in my life.

P.S. – I have a confession to make. I also have cornrows built into my head. I’m not even kidding. I like to call it Battier Disease.

Was it just me, or was last night's loss in character? (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

“You are what you repeatedly do,” philosophized Aristotle. “Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

If he’s right, the Boston Celtics are screwed.    Sometimes, their offense will go haywire and turn the ball over time after time.  Other times, their defense is non-existent, allowing opponents to score at will.  Sometimes, they even play great. But even when they do, they are nowhere close to making excellence a habit. 

If the Celtics are what they repeatedly do, then what exactly are the Celtics?  They don’t repeatedly, consistently, do much of anything.  The only consistent aspect of their play is its inconsistency.  They repeatedly do anything but string together good games and solid performances.  Come to think of it, maybe they do repeatedly do something: Lose big games, and underachieve at home.  That, and sucking miserably in second halves.  Even so, every once in awhile they’ll pull a fourth-quarter rabbit out of their hat and pull a game out down the stretch.  But they don’t do much of anything consistently well.

Which is why Doc Rivers’ comment after last night’s game was so confusing:

“It was amazing, I thought, how many things we did that were out of character,” he said, ”and that bothers me. I can live with a loss, but when you don’t play right, that bothers me.”

Out of character, Doc?  What exactly is the Celtics’ character, if it doesn’t involve prolonged stretches of mediocrity?  If it doesn’t involve playing wrong, at least some of the time?

No, last night’s game perfectly illustrated the Celtics’ character:  “We’re playing against Houston, and Kevin Martin is hurt? This is going to be an easy one! Wait, you mean Shane Battier’s out too? Score! And Trevor Ariza?  Does that mean they’re going to start Chase Budinger? We don’t even have to show up, we’re the Celtics! The big, bad Celtics! You guys can see our rings, right?”

What the C’s forget is that they haven’t accomplished anything.  Not this year.  Nothing at all, besides giving their fans a few too many headaches and rapidly rising within the ranks of the most-booed teams in Celtics history.

They say the right things before the game, too.  Like they realize teams aren’t afraid of them anymore.  “Teams are ready to beat us and are ready to play against us,” Rajon Rondo admitted. “It’s probably because we don’t put that dominant fear in them from the start of the game. We give the team confidence. Our team knows it.”

But then they come out and play like their opponents will roll over and die, just because of a banner lifted to the rafters a couple years ago.  And Doc Rivers speaks of a bad loss being out of character?  Pshh. The sense of entitlement, of deserving wins they don’t earn, IS the Celtics’ character.  And they’re doing it all with a team that is more talented than last year’s version that won 62 games.

“Talent-wise, we’re better,” Rondo said. But, he continued, “[Our] record is terrible.”

Terrible, indeed.  And the way they’ve earned that record is miserable.  Miserable to watch, miserable to write about, miserable to think about.  The results?  Losses to the Nets, and now to a Rockets team with its top three wing players in street clothes, and starting at least two players who wouldn’t crack the Celtics’ top twelve players.  An inability to play up to good competition, and a willingness to play down to bad competition.  Depressing stuff, really.

Not that they seem too worried about it.  “I think our team is really built for the playoffs,” Paul Pierce said.  And then, “I know we can beat all the teams in the top in a series.  I know that if we play the way we know we can play consistently over a series … we have the pieces right here to win a championship.”

The pieces? Yes.  But the right attitude, dedication, and execution?  Not yet, and Aristotle would say that probably means not ever.  Well, unless the Celtics can somehow make excellence a habit during their final seven games. But even building momentum during the season’s final weeks doesn’t seem like a priority. 

“Once you get to the playoffs, [the regular season] is going to be forgotten,” Pierce said. “They are going to remember what you did in the playoffs.”

But if the Celtics don’t start making excellence a habit, people’s playoff memories of the 2010 Boston Celtics are going to be far too short.

Watching live, I thought I had some beef about the final possession of regulation.  But, looking back on the play, there wasn’t too much to argue with.

My first complaint (I thought) was the play call: I normally hate isolating a player during the last possession.  Not only does it tend to result in a low-percentage off-the-dribble jumper, but it lets the defense set up in position.  But let’s be honest with ourselves: Paul Pierce was being defended by Chase Budinger.  Budinger couldn’t guard Pierce if Pierce was in his infamous wheelchair. 

As Pierce came off a Rondo screen to get the ball, undersized center Chuck Hayes made a terrific play.  Instead of allowing Aaron Brooks to switch onto Pierce, as would be normal protocol when a point guard sets a screen, Hayes jumped onto Pierce instead.  While Pierce would have easily posted up Brooks and shot the ball right over him, Hayes at least provided size and girth.

Rondo notices what Hayes is trying to do, and attempts to screen Hayes rather than Budinger, who started off the play defending Pierce.  Despite Rondo’s last-ditch attempt to screen him, Hayes is able to stay with Pierce.

Even though Hayes — not Brooks — was on him as Pierce caught the ball at the top of the key, Pierce had room to operate and a 6’6″, blocky big man on him.  It should have been go time.

In the above picture, notice Tony Allen setting a screen for Kevin Garnett.  This is only a decoy.  Garnett barely tries to come off the screen at all, flattening out to the wing after strolling around Allen’s pick.  Allen, too, pops to the corner, as do Finley and Rondo at the top of the screen.  This gives Pierce a lot of room to operate.

With 3.8 seconds left, Pierce starts his move.  Not a lot of time left, but that was by design.  Holding the ball in a tie game, you don’t want to allow the other team the chance to win the game.  Pierce was either going to win the game, or it was going to overtime.

The next part of the play is where I thought I had another beef.  Pierce decided to settle for a fadeaway jumper, even though Chuck Hayes, a center, was defending him.  Get to the damn hoop, Paul! 

On second thought, though, Pierce had little choice.  As he crossed over to his left, Chase Budinger was waiting for him in perfect help defense position, and Pierce was forced to spin into the aforementioned fadeaway jumper. 

At the point Pierce spun, he had a few options: 1) Continue dribbling, likely forcing contact with Budinger and hoping for a call, 2) Hit Michael Finley, open due to Budinger’s help defense, or 3) Spin away from Budinger, attempting a jumper over Chuck Hayes’ outstretched hands.

Dribbling at Budinger was ruled out because you can’t trust the officials to blow the whistle in the final seconds.  Passing to Finley was ruled out due to trust: Finley would have had a more open jumper, but Pierce — as I do — trusted himself more than Fin.  All that left option number three, the fadeaway jumper over Hayes. 

While I normally hate the fadeaway jumper in a game’s final possession, it was probably the best shot in this scenario.  The Celtics thought they could isolate Chase Budinger or Aaron Brooks at the top of the key for Pierce, but the Rockets made a great decision and Chuck Hayes guarded him instead, taking away Pierce’s bread-and-butter midrange post-up game. 

The results sucked, but the thought process was actually right.  As always, you can second-guess the play call.  Maybe Rondo should’ve gotten the ball and been asked to create.  Maybe the C’s should have simply given Pierce the ball at halfcourt, with no screening action, to assure that Budinger would be guarding him. 

But the reasoning behind doing exactly what the C’s did was solid, it just took a terrific play by Houston to keep Pierce from having his way with either Brooks or Budinger.  Here it is in video:

As Rasheed Wallace always says, “Game tape don’t lie.”

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.

Rondo was great. Most other Celtics, well, weren't.

Thirteen seconds remained in a game the Boston Celtics had already let slip through their fingers.  Still trailing by only three points, the Celtics ran an intricate out-of-bounds play using Paul Pierce as a decoy while Michael Finley spotted up in the corner.  As Finley let loose the potentially game-tying shot, the whistle blew: Kendrick Perkins had been called for a  foul.

The moving screen was the final straw that broke the Celtics’ backs, but the Celtics lost the game far before Perkins hip-checked Chase Budinger.  A little effort, at all, all game long, was all it would have taken to defeat a broken-down Houston Rockets club.  Decimated by injuries to the point that Chase Budinger and Jermaine Taylor — both soon coming to a summer league roster near you — were in the starting lineup, the Rockets nonetheless outlasted Boston in the Boston Garden.  For the second straight game, the Celtics were out-executed down the stretch, at home, by a far less-experienced team.  Losing at home has been a malady that has harmed Boston all season, but losing close games to young teams is even more troubling.

With time running down as the Celtics nursed a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Brooks dribbling aimlessly at the top of the key, it looked like Boston would escape with the win.  But the Celtics didn’t deserve to win, and Brooks’ step-back three-pointer barely evaded the outstretched hand of Tony Allen, snapping through the nets and knotting the score at 109.  Boston would have another chance, but Paul Pierce — despite being defended by burly center Chuck Hayes — isolated and settled for a pullup jumper, drawing only iron and keeping the Rockets alive for overtime.

Rajon Rondo (23 points, 10 assists, 5 steals) led the way for the Celtics, dazzling with an array of points, assists and steals, in the process passing Bob Cousy for the Celtics’ single-season assists record.  Paul Pierce notched 27 points, but scoring while Chase Budinger defends you is like riding a bike with the training wheels on — anyone can do it.  Kendrick Perkins was good, registering 15 points, but had only five rebounds for a Celtics squad that was outrebounded by the Rockets’ crew of Mighty Midgets.  Rasheed Wallace (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Tony Allen (12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals) were both dynamic off the bench, supplying energy for a team that rarely displayed any on a night that should be remembered as one of the two or three worst losses the C’s have had this season.

Only for a short stretch, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, did the Celtics look poised to piece together a solid win.  Ironically, against a Rockets team playing mostly unwanted retreads, it took a lineup of benchwarmers for the Celtics to finally seize control.  Tony Allen, Michael Finley, Shelden Williams, and Rasheed Wallace — all unwanted by either coaches and/or fans within the past month – combined with Rajon Rondo to form a five-man crew that put together a 15-4 run, giving Boston a 98-91 lead and apparent command. 

But the command was short-lived, as the Rockets clawed back into the game and, eventually, snatched the lead.  Give the Rockets credit, for battling as an undermanned team on the road, but the Celtics deserved every boo that rained down from the Boston Garden crowd as the loss became final.

Wait, T-Mac isnt playing for the Rockets tonight?

Just a brief preview for tonight, guys. By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way back home for Easter. (With a quick pit-stop to get my Hedo Turkoglu on, of course.  No, not partying.  Eating pizza.  At Joe’s Pizza in Northampton, MA. Their ‘za is beyond tasty. My mouth is watering now, just thinking about it.)

Since I’ll be on the road soon, I’m just going to give you three points about the game.

1. Celtics could really use a win - Two-game losing streak.  Cleveland next, on Sunday.  Playoffs coming soon.  Do I need to tell you how much Boston could use a win tonight against Houston?
2. Nate Robinson, where have you been? – Nate has scored three total points during his last three games, and hasn’t scored in double figures since March 12.  Wherever you’re hiding, Nate, Olly Olly Oxen Free.
3. Declining Rockets – The Rockets have lost five of their past six games, and now sit directly on the .500 marker.  Of the Houston Chronicle’s last two Rockets columns, one is titled “Adelman admits defensive decline,” and the other is “Rockets find themselves guilty of impatient offense.”  Not a lot is going right for the Rockets, and let’s hope the Celtics keep it that way.