Jason Williams recently resigned with the Orlando Magic. But we’re not watching a Jason Williams highlight. This is a While Chocolate highlight. He was a special, unique player– before Hubie Brown castrated him in Memphis. Just take a look.

[superbutton link="http://www.celticstown.com/forums" title="Forums" image="" class="sprbtn_lightgray"]Discuss in our Forums[/superbutton]

You can think Williams is an asshole for this, or you can simply admire his manners. I mean, even in his rage he maintained perfect manners. “Can you guys please back the f*ck up? Thank you.” It’s impressive to keep some level of mannerism while completely losing your shit.

I don’t think I can discuss Rajon Rondo’s brilliance as colorfully as Kevin Garnett, so I’ll just quote him: “I said this about Shorty, man, he’s in a zone. He’s just showing the world what he’s made of. The future is scary.”

And the present is pretty scary, too. I loved this play.

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.

Dwight doesn't have too much time left on his season.

Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! – “Boston wants it. Boston’s been there and they won it and they were built to win now and they have had every reason to pack it in after winning now, then, but they still want it. They leave you breathless, and your sentences running-on. They dealt with it all, they came back too early, they came back too weak, and they were told not to come back at all. They were told that it wouldn’t matter, even if they were to come back. And they came back, anyway. Celtics, man.”

Steve Buckley, Boston Herald – “‘I just wanted it,’ Rondo said, and he repeated the words several times, the message being that no further message was needed. He just wanted it. Why should it be any more complicated than that? Sure, he did throw out some boilerplate stuff, such as, ‘We’re not settling. We came in 2-0, but we gotta take one game at a time. And I’m just trying to do the little things on the court, the intangibles, and I came up with the play.’ Again: He could have stopped at ‘I just wanted it.’ It was perfect.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “‘We want it, we know we want it,’ said Davis, the unlikely source of a game-high 17 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Davis paced six Boston players in double figures, connecting on 5-of-9 shots, while adding six rebounds, half of which were of the offensive variety. ‘We remind ourselves we want it. Every day we have banners [in the Celtics practice facility], we see banners and we want another banner. That’s what it’s all about.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “‘It’s tough on the squad,’ said Vince Carter, who scored a team-high 15 points on 5-12 shooting. ‘We didn’t come out with a sense of urgency. We really didn’t do that. They did a good job of playing like they were down and needed to win more than we did. At about midway in the first they started pulling away from us.’ ‘Just effort,’ said Dwight Howard, who scored only seven points in 39-plus minutes. ‘They played a lot harder than us tonight. They went after all the loose balls. They did it from the tip‑off till the end of the game. That’s why they won.’ And finally, Matt Barnes summed it up best: ‘They kicked our ass from start to finish,’ he said. ‘They played harder and wanted it. They are what a good team is suppose to do.’”

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! – “‘This team is playing better in the playoffs than we played when we won the championship,’ Paul Pierce said. Garnett isn’t the best defensive player in the NBA now, and Pierce and Allen are less explosive on offense, but Rondo changes everything for Boston. The Celtics haven’t just beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, they’ve pounded them into submission. LeBron James(notes) stopped playing in his series, and the Magic had so little belief they could get back into the East finals down 2-0 that they were willing to deliver one of the most unprofessional and pathetic playoff performances in a decade.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel – “Remember just last week when the Magic were the hottest team in the NBA? They had the best record in the NBA in the second half of the season, swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs and had won 14 straight games dating back more than a month. ‘Five or six days ago, we were rolling, everybody was loving us, we were going to go to the finals,’ Redick said. ‘Now, everybody thinks we’re done.’ Correction, J.J.: Now, everybody knows you’re done. Sadly, everything the Magic have accomplished this season is going down the drain faster than the European economy. It’s one thing for the Magic to get knocked out of the playoffs by a better team, but it’s shameful for them to cower out of the playoffs like this. I’m not saying the Celtics totally dominated and intimidated them Saturday, but I think I saw the entire Magic team in the fetal position after the game, mumbling something like, ‘Mommy, please don’t let the big green men hurt me anymore.’”

Chris Sheridan, ESPN – “Never thought I’d write this, but the Magic looked every bit as bad as the Atlanta Hawks did in their Game 3 meltdown en route to getting swept in the second round. In Orlando’s defense, at least this debacle happened on the road. But as Van Gundy harped on afterward, there really is no defense for coming up with such a no-show when the stakes were so high. Boston’s defense is looking as dominant as it did in the 2007-08 championship season, and the offense is far more crisp than it was then. On one particularly impressive Celtics possession, the ball changed hands eight times before Garnett drained a 20-footer. But if there was one play that epitomized the difference in hustle and effort from the two teams, it came midway through the second quarter after the Celtics had already doubled up the Magic, leading 34-17. The ball got poked away in the frontcourt and Jason Williams ran to retrieve it in the backcourt, only not quickly enough. Rajon Rondo slid in and swiped the ball away, then managed to pounce back onto his feet and drop in a layup on which Williams didn’t even leave his feet to defend. ‘Several hustle plays all went their way, they were a step ahead on every play, they outcompeted us, and that particular play was just indicative of what was going on all night,’ Van Gundy said. ‘What’s most disappointing to me was that I didn’t have them ready to compete. It starts with me, it’s my job, I’m the coach, and I’m not happy about what I did tonight — my plan, my adjustments, my everything.’ Though he flogged himself afterward, Van Gundy addressed the team privately in the locker room after the final horn with team president Bob VanderWeide and general manager Otis Smith present, and didn’t just speak about this particular debacle, but what it represented in the bigger picture. Was this, he asked, the legacy these players wanted to leave for this organization after so many of them had worked so hard for so many years to build a team that was the favorite to win the championship just a little more than a week ago?”

John Hollinger, ESPN – “If there’s one truth about Boston’s unexpected playoff run this year, it’s this: The Celtics have come at their opponents with so much effort, that by the end each opponent has been beaten emotionally as much as physically. Saturday it was Orlando’s turn to have its spirit broken, after Cleveland and Miami already submitted in the first two rounds. Yes, Boston won Game 3 going away, 94-71, to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals, but that barely scratches the surface of the real story: A frustrated Magic team had the fight taken out of them. One play from the middle of the second quarter perhaps defines it best — a play Kevin Garnett aptly called a ‘pure, I-want-it-more-than-you type of play.’ After a deflected pass rolled into the backcourt, Orlando’s Jason Williams trotted after it. Boston’s Rajon Rondo trailed Williams, but he didn’t trot, he flew. And when it appeared that wouldn’t work, he launched into a full-out dive, snatching the ball from Williams’s shoe tops while sprawling out on the floor. ‘I wanted to make a play on the ball,’ said Rondo. ‘He had the angle on me so I decide to dive for it.’ ‘I didn’t think he could get to it,’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘I don’t think Jason Williams thought he could get to it, honestly. I don’t know how he got it.’”

John Schuhmann, NBA.com – “Then came the Cavs, winners of 61 games and the No. 1 overall seed who waxed the Celtics in Game 3 of the conference semifinals to take a 2-1 series lead. Three games later, their season was over among a flood of criticism and speculation. Surely the Orlando Magic wouldn’t go out like that. Like Cleveland, Orlando had serious dreams of winning a championship. After a surprise run to the Finals, they reloaded and went way over the luxury tax to put together a deeper, more versatile roster. Though the Cavs had the better record, the Magic were the best team in basketball after Jan. 1. They were both the second best offensive team and the second best defensive team in the league this season. Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, they were the best team on both ends of the floor, dismissing the Charlotte Bobcats and Atlanta Hawks without mercy. And now, three games later, the run is suddenly over. The Magic, charging toward the Finals, have run straight into a green brick wall before they could get there. Technically, this series isn’t done, but essentially it is. Maybe someday an NBA team will come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but it won’t be the team that scored just 71 points in Game 3 on Saturday.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Celtics captain Paul Pierce admitted Boston studied all the pitfalls after losing to Cleveland in Game 3 to ensure they wouldn’t happen again. ‘We used it as a reference,’ said Pierce. ‘Every game is played different. Just because it happened in the last Game 3 doesn’t mean it’s going to happen this Game 3. It just kept us on our toes, really. That’s what I think the difference was in the last two days of practice. You look at that compared to the last couple of days before we played Cleveland in Game 3, [when] coach said we had our worst practice. We saw the focus, saw the urgency, and, at this point, we’re just too close to where we want to be.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘You feel it when we’re on the court and how we’re playing,’ he said. ‘You know, the guys smell it right now. They know what it feels like to be in a championship. They know what it feels like to win a championship. And you’re starting to see the urgency really, really come out the closer we get.’ Glen Davis confirmed there is a smell of blood in the Garden right now. ‘You sense blood,’ the Celtics forward said of Orlando’s teetering state. ‘It is addictive. But we have one more game.’ Rondo completed the play by getting up and making a difficult layup over Williams to put the Celtics up 36-17, sending the sellout crowd of 18,624 into hysterics.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘What we talk about is the things that are big for us is the 50/50 plays,’ Pierce said. ‘Loose balls, when the ball is on the ground, long rebounds when it could go either way. And it just seems like all series we’ve been getting to those. Rondo has been big in that department, getting those loose balls, chasing them down. That’s going to be the difference when you’re trying to win close ball games. It could always come down to one possession.’”

Mike Petraglia, WEEI – “And certainly no one expect Glen Davis to be dancing all over the Orlando Magic with a game-high 17 points. But dance Big Baby did when he connected on a lay-up with eight minutes to go in the second quarter and stomped around the baseline as he was also fouled in the process. He might as well have been stomping on the heart and soul of the listless Magic. ‘It’s not surprising as far as how well we are playing because we know we are capable of doing that,’ Davis said. ‘We are capable of putting together some good games, its just our turn, I think this year we have had some ups and downs, didn’t close out games like we were supposed to, didn’t finish games like we were supposed to. Now it’s just turning around for us, we are staying focused and we are making sure we are doing our job, everybody has a job and everyone is doing their job, we are just making sure that we do our job.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “The Celtics finished with 23 assists on 34 field goals. ‘I mean, that’s just unselfish basketball,’ Rivers said. ‘We keep talking about letting the ball find the open guy. You don’t have to find it yourself. The only guy we want dribbling it eight times is Rondo. Other than that, we want ball movement.’”

Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk – “‘What I said to them after the game was there are a lot of guys in this room that have worked very hard to bring this franchise up a long way… to make this team to where it is a contender, to where it has gained respect and everything else,’ Van Gundy said. ‘And that game out there tonight, not just the score but the way it went tonight is disappointing because that is not who we are, that is not who we worked so hard to become. Between right now and Monday night there is going to be a lot of soul searching, a lot of pulling together. The easiest thing to do, for anybody to do when things go badly is to escape…. And try to escape blame as much as you can so it goes to someone else. It takes very mentally mature people to stand up and say no, I’m a part of this… If we don’t have that kind of toughness, we shouldn’t be here anyway.’ It doesn’t look like they do. And that is on the players.”

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.

Woj sure does know how to rub losses in. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “Sitting in a near-silent Amway Arena yesterday morning, Paul Pierce spoke about one of his favorite things – hearing once raucous fans in opposing arenas grow silent and then slink away after the final buzzer. Last night, he made that a stunning reality. ‘See you next year,’ Pierce snarled in the direction of several sad-faced Orlando fans as he walked off the Amway floor following a 95-92 victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.”

Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel – “‘They brought the fight to us in a lot of ways. I thought we withstood the hits,’ Rivers said. Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points, hitting three 3-pointers, scored 22 in Game 1. He was asked what has been the difference since his poor offensive output against the Cleveland Cavaliers. ‘I didn’t have to guard LeBron James,” cracked Pierce, who quickly added, ‘Nothing against Vince [Carter].’”

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe – “This is, as Doc says, the Paul Pierce the Celtics must have if they are to keep advancing. He is by far their best one-on-one player, the best, in fact, in the history of the franchise. (Some day, perhaps, stubborn old-timers will finally admit this obvious truth). He can get something at all times. It may not be pretty always, but he gets it, and many of those ugly maneuvers result in a trip to the free throw line. He long ago realized that there are no style points in this game. The only question for the guy throwing the ball toward the basket is, ‘Did it go in, or didn’t it?’ That, or ‘Did you get the friendly toot?’ Pierce is a truly a combination of the best the 21st century has to offer, combined with the best tricks of the old school. A defender never knows exactly what he’s going to do, because just when you think he’s setting you up for the step-back, he can spin a foot or two farther and take a face-up jumper. Or he can fake one way or the other, put the ball on the floor and go to the basket. Or he can torture his man with an up-fake, or two, or three, perhaps capped off by a lean-in that draws contact. And at the end of it, he hits the floor as if run over by the entire field of the Kentucky Derby, just in case the referee hasn’t already gotten the message. All this chicanery is making him one of the most despised players in the league. I’m not talking about the players, who appreciate what he can do, but the fans, many of whom have never before seen someone with a playing style that seems to have been superimposed from 1959. What he’s doing would be nothing special at Convention Hall, Cobo Arena, the old Madison Square Garden, or Chicago Stadium.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Put it this way: If the Bruins played hockey as well as the Celtics did last night, they’d still be playing. ‘Ooh, real tough,’ Glen Davis said of the 95-92 victory against the Magic in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. ‘Man it was a fight. We don’t worry about how pretty the game is. We leave that to the pretty boys. We just go out and play the game like it’s supposed to be played.’ It is supposed to be played like this in the postseason. Fifty-four fouls that were called and 54 more that were missed. ‘It was a great game intensity-wise,’ coach Doc Rivers said. ‘It was a game of runs, very physical. They got the better of us in that, I thought. They brought the fight to us in a lot of ways. I thought we withstood the hits, and that’s something you’ve got to keep doing.’”

John Hollinger, ESPN – “You can’t just turn it on for the playoffs … um, right? Maybe you can, after all; at least if you’ve done it before. The Boston Celtics, champions in 2008, limped through the final two-thirds of the regular season and were mostly counted out heading into the playoffs. Magically, all that changed once the postseason started. Boston blew past Miami in five games, shocked Cleveland by winning the final three games — including a 32-point rout in Game 5 — and continued its stunning run by beating Orlando 95-92 on Tuesday to take a 2-0 series lead in their best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Saturday in Boston. The Celtics have won five straight games against the East’s two regular-season heavyweights — Boston’s first five-game winning streak in more than half a year — and as a result has one foot in the NBA Finals and is six wins away from claiming a second championship in three years. So … did they just turn it on for the playoffs? ‘I know it’s starting to look that way,’ said Paul Pierce, who scored a team-high 28 points and shook off a second-quarter chop to the face from Dwight Howard that resulted in a flagrant foul. But he insisted that the Celtics’ charge really began in the final 10 games of the regular season. The results weren’t there yet — they lost three times to lottery teams — but the spirit was.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Here’s how it unfolded: Garnett missed a 20-foot jumper with little less than eight seconds to play in a three-point game. J.J. Redick came down with the rebound, but waited an extra moment or two before signaling for a timeout. It might have cost his team a true opportunity for a tying shot. ‘I think he was just trying to call timeout to one of the refs, but the ref really couldn’t see him,’ explained Howard. ‘But Coach says, as soon as we got the rebound to call a timeout. So, you know, when you’re playing in a big game like this, it’s the little things that get you wins. Boston, they did all the little things to get the win tonight.’ Van Gundy was far more pointed in his assessment than Howard. ‘It would have made a big difference [calling timeout quicker], because if you watch the last play, Rashard [Lewis] got open,’ said Van Gundy. ‘But because we were inbounding in the backcourt, [Michael] Finley was back in the passing lane and we could not make the pass.’”

Michael Vega, Boston Globe – “‘We’re going to have to win these next two games if we want to win this series,’ Redick said. ‘But we got to start by winning one. At this point in time, it’s going to take a supreme effort to win anywhere. We could play at a neutral site and it’s still going to take a supreme effort.’ Now, the Magic must cling to the belief that the road will be a kinder and gentler place than home in the first two games of this series. Orlando, after all, won twice during the regular season at TD Garden. ‘That was the regular season; this is the playoffs,’ Howard said. “We know we can win, but we have to put it together 48 minutes against a good Boston team. This series is not over. I won’t stop believing that. I won’t let my teammates stop believing that. We’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to do it.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Forget “Ubuntu,” Boston has got its swagger back. And that may be far more important in deciding if the Celtics are ultimately able to win a world title than any humanist philosophy aimed at promoting team unity. These Celtics aren’t exactly the feel-good type. Boston wants to beat you up and then they’re going to take your lunch money, too. In an ultra-physical Game 2, the Celtics endured every haymaker Howard and Co. offered, and bounced back with two of their own. The Magic tried desperately to even this series with a late rally, and the Boston team of a month ago would have crumbled under the adversity. Not now. These Celtics have put together five consecutive postseason wins and are headed back to Boston with a commanding 2-0 series advantage. Also packed on their carry-on: an undeniable confidence.”

Frank Dell’Apa, Boston Globe – “‘I always say, when you’re bad, it takes just something small to turn you around, you’re not that far from being good,’ guard Ray Allen said before last night’s Eastern Conference playoff game against the Magic. ‘And vice versa — when you’re good, you can just tank it, immediately. You never have it figured out. And, as a team, you have to figure you get a break in the schedule somewhere, there’s so many different variables. So, you just try to take it one day at a time. As a coach, it’s like let’s hold on, you’ve got to keep cementing what everybody is doing.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Most of Vince Carter’s 16 points were empty and when he could have made the loudest statement of the night with two free throws, he missed them both, allowing the Celtics to retain their 95-92 lead. And when the Magic desperately needed a hoop when trailing, 93-90, Jameer Nelson launched a 3-pointer off a fastbreak that caromed off the rim and right into the waiting hands of Ray Allen. ‘We played a lot harder tonight,’ Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. ‘But we don’t sustain what works. We won’t stay with it. Our shot selection was terrible and we didn’t play smart enough. It’s not a matter of digging out of this. It’s a matter of going up there and you have to win a game. There’s no magic [when] you’re in a hole, 2-0. You have to go win a game.’”

Frank Dell’Apa, Boston Globe – “Rondo totaled 25 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds in a 45 1/2-minute stint. He also outdueled Orlando point guards Jameer Nelson (9 points) and Jason Williams (3 points). Rondo might have seemed to be carrying much of the Celtic load, but he did not consider it to be exceptionally heavy lifting. ‘I played 45 minutes but Paul [Pierce] had a lot of isos, he was very efficient,’ Rondo said. ‘So, on the offensive end of the floor I wasn’t always making the plays. Kevin [Garnett] made the plays, Ray [Allen] made the plays, as well. I don’t want to take my eye off the defensive end but on the offensive end I didn’t have to do as much as it may seem.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Garnett shot 5 of 16 from the floor for 10 points and had nine rebounds. He hit a handful of big shots, including a pair of jumpers and a dunk in the third quarter to fuel a 9-1 Celtics’ burst. But his pinch defense on Howard was key. ‘Overall he did a great job with his length,’ Rivers said. ‘Kevin knows he’s not going to win a muscle contest with Dwight Howard, but he does have length, and he stretched him out and he made him change some shots.’ ‘We had a ton of foul trouble today. That’s what I’m happy about, obviously winning the game, but winning the game with different guys in different positions, and everybody pitching in.’ ‘Dwight had 30 points and still had trouble,’ said Marcin Gortat. ‘All those guys — [Kendrick] Perkins, KG, Rasheed [Wallace] — do a great job.’”

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

I hope you find this picture as terrific as I do.  Best caption wins a free throw lesson from Dwight Howard. Below the jump, winner of yesterday’s Caption This.

Read more »