Doc Rivers downplayed the Cleveland Cavaliers’ defensive adjustments in Game Two.  “We’ll live with the Anthony Parker matchup on Rondo like we did in Game Two,” he said, “and we’re fine with that.”

But it wasn’t a personnel change that was the difference in the Cavs’ strategy from Game Two to Game Three — it was a change of attitude and a change of strategy.

First, Parker suggested that he apply more full-court pressure on Rondo.

“Obviously, he was kind of picking us apart offensively, and it was something that [Parker] suggested,” said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. “He said, ‘I am going to pick him up, work the ball some and see what happens.’ I said, ‘Great.’”

While Parker defending Rondo in the open court seems to be counter-intuitive (Rondo should be able to blow by him at will), it helped set the tone.  From the jump, the Cavaliers were more aggressive than the Celtics on both ends of the floor.  I don’t want to give Parker’s decision to defend Rondo full-court all the credit, but it helped the Cavs establish an attacking mindset.

Not that Parker’s pressure was the most important adjustment — that would be the Cavs’ decision to limit help off Boston’s shooters.  By successfully trying to make Rondo a shooter, the Cavs limited the best aspect of Rondo’s game, his court vision.  Rondo wound up scoring 18 points to go along with 8 assists, but his impact was silent compared to his Game Two masterpiece.  He took 17 shots to score those 18 points and, while Cleveland was busy building a 19-point lead at the end of the first quarter, Rondo missed six of his first nine shots.

As these playoffs have illustrated, the Celtics go as Rondo goes.  In Game Three, with a suddenly limited Rondo forced to shoulder the scoring load rather than being a distributor, the Celtics sank. Even when he was scoring, nothing came easy for Rondo.  Cleveland played him about as well as a team can.  Now the ball’s in Boston’s court:

How will they attack Cleveland’s new strategy in Game Four?

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.

Lebron is tough, but the Celtics have to offer SOME resistance. Right?

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Boston was good enough to go 5-2 in its first seven playoff games and an argument can be made that the Celtics could have been 7-0. But no case can be made for last night’s effort because the Celtics played to lose. They were foolish enough to believe that TD Garden would provide a distinct advantage — it didn’t during the regular season — and last night was eerily reminiscent of the 108-88 drubbing by Cleveland here Feb. 25. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown astutely ripped into his team following Game 2, blaming everybody for the loss except Craig Ehlo. And that put his team on edge and on alert. So now the onus is on the Celtics to retaliate or fold, and Game 3 exemplified how quickly the mental edge can change in a playoff series. Two days ago the Celtics were back to their 2008 ways. Now they are a bunch of old guys who exhausted themselves with their Game 2 victory and are primed for quick elimination.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘You’ve got to know that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to come out here with all the urgency in the world,’ said Paul Pierce. ‘It was embarrassing to tell you the truth. It’s embarrassing when you lose at home like that.’ From the time he swooped in for a reverse layup to make it 8-2 in the first quarter, James cashed in from wherever he wanted. Fadeaways from 18 feet. Pull-ups from 19 and 22 feet. He twisted around the rim and went 180 degrees for a dunk that made it 34-14 in the first quarter as the Cavaliers beat the Celtics until their offense went numb. When Michael Finley hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter that seemed to snap the Celtics out of their daze, James answered with a 25-foot hush-up three that knocked them right back into that stupor. The Celtics’ defense wasn’t an obstacle. ‘I didn’t think we gave [James] any resistance,’’ Rivers said. “He was playing H-O-R-S-E.’ James went on a 21-point first-quarter scoring spree, while the Celtics’ offense stood frozen. Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett were a collective 2 for 10 in the quarter. The Celtics fell into a 36-17 hole. ‘I think we just let our guard down,’ said Pierce. ‘They took the fight to us early and we didn’t respond.’”

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “Doubt. For three days and three nights [Lebron James] drank it in, the Cavaliers being branded in serious danger because James and his teammates had a single bad playoff game last Monday night. Then Friday he spit it out in another masterpiece for his playoff files, exploding for a huge and mostly painless performance to put the Cavs back in control of their conference semifinal series with the Boston Celtics. Setting the example early that he was fine — for his teammates as much as the curious national audience — James scored 21 of his 38 points in the first quarter and the Cavs were off to 124-95 thrashing of the Celtics. It was a historical thrashing as the Cavs set new team playoffs records for points and field-goal percentage, which finished at a sizzling 59.5 percent. ‘We had three days to sit and feel the pressure and then bounce back,’ James said. ‘Rest helped me and we were able to have a complete game.’”

Christopher Gasper, Boston Globe – “There is no way that after the hurtin’ James put on the Celtics last night he or Cleveland can point to The Elbow as a caveat for the Cavaliers in this series. It would be nothing less than the height of hoops hypocrisy to do so, especially after the LeBrons embarrassed the Celtics, 124-95, in Game 3 of this Eastern Conference semifinals series to take a 2-1 lead. No one had ever handed the Celtics a worse home playoff loss, not Michael Jordan, not Julius Erving, not Wilt Chamberlain. None of them had hip-hop and R&B royalty on hand to watch such a rout either — James had pal Jay-Z and Beyonce cheering him on from the first row, with the rapper sporting camouflage shorts. Jay-Z has a song called “Takeover,’’ and that’s exactly what James did. Nothing could camouflage the fact that ’Bron wasn’t hampered by the bad ’bow. Forget another MRI, all you had to do was watch the first quarter and look at the final stat sheet. It was a typical transcendent performance from King James, who turned the TD Garden into his court with 38 points (on 14 of 22 from the field), 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 39 minutes of work. ‘I think he’s healthy,’ deadpanned Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘His elbow looked very good tonight, so enough with the elbow injury. I think he’s healthy now, and now we can go ahead and everybody can just focus on basketball.”

Chris Broussard, ESPN – “It ticked him off. All of it. The questions about his toughness when it was falsely reported that he might need three MRIs for his strained right elbow. The disregard for his team’s splendid 61-win regular season, after one bad loss. The idea that The King was buckling under pressure, overemphasizing his injury to create a convenient excuse for potential failure. Well, now we know what LeBron James — the media-friendly, quick-to-laugh, nice-guy superstar — plays like when he’s mad. He blocks shots with such abandon that it leaves a 6-foot-9-inch, 290-pound former football player sprawled out on the floor. He pours in points in every conceivable way, outscoring a team full of future Hall of Famers by himself. He makes a Big Three, Gigantic Four, or whatever cute nickname folks give his opponents, look infinitesimal, smaller than the lion’s face on his signature sneakers.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Here’s what the Boston Celtics have to look forward to on Saturday: Reliving the entire 2-hour and 33-minute nightmare that was Friday’s Game 3 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers all over again on video. Cruel and unusual punishment? Probably. Scarier than the latest edition of “Nightmare on Elm Street”? Most definitely. Kevin Garnett and the Celtics have a lot to reflect on after Friday night’s stinker at the Garden. But the way Doc Rivers sees it, the Celtics can’t just forget what happened and move on. ‘You don’t throw it out because, defensively, I don’t think there’s a lot of changing we have to do, but we do have to do it harder, better,’ said Rivers. ‘We have to do it and be on the same page. So, videowise, they need to see it. They need to see how they moved and how we moved. And then if there are adjustments, we can make them.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Embarrassing, yes. Unexpected? Based on the full season’s evidence, no. The Celts had seemed to shake off the malaise that ran through them in the regular season like an antibiotic-resistant illness. The playoffs were the different story, they promised. They had a bad game against Miami and a bad quarter and a half against Cleveland, but there was nothing to portend the swan dive from the rafters to the parquet last night. Or maybe there was. ‘You could see it early,’ said Doc Rivers. Or earlier. ‘I thought we had two lousy practices,’ he said. ‘I thought our preparation was pulling nails. And, so, that was the result.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “When a player puts up 18 points and 8 assists, it’s hard to say the opposing team shut him down. But considering the way Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo devoured the Cavaliers in the first two games of this series, Cleveland was overjoyed with the job it did against Boston’s spark plug. The Cavaliers employed Anthony Parker, who — deservedly or not — earned much of the praise for slowing Rondo in the second half of Game 1, to pressure Rondo off the inbound and it at least slowed down Boston’s speed point guard a bit. ‘Obviously, he was kind of picking us apart offensively, and it was something that [Parker] suggested,’ said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. ‘He said, ‘I am going to pick him up, work the ball some and see what happens.’ I said, ‘Great.””

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “This is the kind of night it was for the Celtics. They shot 60 percent in the second quarter and lost ground to the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Of course, by then why not? They’d already lost the game. You go down to the Cavs by 22 points at halftime you do so at your own peril. Hell, you go down 22 to the Nets at halftime you do so at your own peril. Go down 22 at halftime to the Cavs and you go home, which is what the C’s did last night. Actually, no they didn’t. They never came to the Garden in the first place.”

Peter May, ESPNBoston – “No one expects Pierce to match LeBron basket for basket or to smother him defensively. But what was a pretty good matchup two years ago — remember the epic Game 7 Pierce delivered — has turned into a one-man show. James had outscored the entire Celtics team by the time Pierce made his first exit with 3:15 left in the first quarter, having missed all five of his shots. It was a trend that would continue throughout, ending only when the final horn sounded and the Cavaliers had a stunning 124-95 victory and a 2-1 lead in the series. Paul Pierce and his teammates watch the closing moments of Friday’s Game 3 debacle against the Cavaliers. Pierce didn’t exactly dazzle against Miami, but he was good enough (19.6 ppg) and shot well enough (45.7 percent) to be a factor. He was instrumental in turning around Game 1 with an 11-point third quarter and then knocked down the game winner at the end of Game 3. He started out strong in this series, connecting on four of his first five shots. Since then? He has made only 9 of 37 shots. He was 4-of-15 in Game 3. In only two of the 12 quarters in this series has Pierce made more than one basket. In three of the quarters, he has pitched a shutout. He finished with 11 points in Game 3 and is averaging a Kendrick Perkins-like 12.7 points and shooting an un-Piercelike 31 percent from the field. Not to belabor the point, but the estimable James is averaging 32.3 points a game and shooting 54 percent. He had 38 in Game 3, with 21 of them coming in the first quarter. Celtics coach Doc Rivers rarely calls out a player. Probably the harshest thing Rivers will ever say about anyone is that the certain individual has to play better. And that is exactly what Rivers said about Pierce after the Game 3 debacle.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “The captain, who scored 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting in last night’s 124-95 Game 3 loss, has shot just 13-for-42 (31 percent) in the series. ‘He’s got to get more involved,’ coach Doc Rivers said of Pierce. ‘He’s got to play better. And defensively, as a group, we have to help him more (against Cavaliers star LeBron James). And then Paul has to get into LeBron more. It’s a combination.’ Pierce had a slightly different view of the situation. ‘It doesn’t matter what I do offensively, individually,’ Pierce said. ‘I could have scored 30 tonight and we would have lost, the way we played defense. The focus is not on me to score 20 or 30 points. Obviously I’ve got to shoot the ball a lot better. Get into my spots and do a better job at that. But it’s not about one person. We played well the first two games and I still haven’t had a big game. So that’s nothing I’m worried about. I know it’s going to come as the series goes on. And it’s just about being in the situation.’”

Dan Duggan, Boston Herald – “‘We need to understand that we have to play with a little more sense of urgency from the start,’ James said. ‘We did tonight. We didn’t wait to be down, we didn’t wait until we got up. Once we got up, we just kept the pedal down.’ It’s James’ foot on the gas for the Cavs and he has no plans on letting up. ‘We haven’t had consistent play all playoffs, but we’ve played well enough to win,’ James said. ‘We don’t just want to play well enough to win.’ As for that headline-grabbing elbow, James did his best to downplay the issue. ‘I think it was much bigger than what it was, but I think that’s what happens sometimes in the whole media circuit,’ James said. ‘But it didn’t bother me at all. I wasn’t tired of hearing about it. I didn’t really focus on it that much. My only focus was on Game 3, just having a whole (turnaround) of what we did in Game 2.’”

Art Garcia, NBA.com – “Steve Nash and Dragic had a case of role reversal in the fourth. Phoenix starters, including Nash, normally begin the final period on the bench, and Alvin Gentry prefers to ride his reserves to the 6-minute mark if possible. Nash probably didn’t have to go back into Game 3, as Dragic single-handedly knocked San Antonio out. Nash played cheerleader as Dragic dropped-stepped, scooped, slipped by and stung the Spurs. ‘It was beautiful,’ Nash beamed. ‘I didn’t think I would have to go back in.’ The Spurs would have taken an early sub. Dragic and Leandro Barbosa, another original San Antonio draftee dealt to Phoenix in a prearranged deal, began the fourth in the backcourt. Together, they began the onslaught before Dragic etched his name in playoff lore. The second of his four fourth-quarter 3-pointers opened it all up. Set in the corner, he brought the ball up through George Hill’s outstretched arms and heaved a two-handed push at the basket. Count it. ‘I didn’t expect the shot to fall, I was just going for the foul,’ Dragic said. ‘After that shot, the rim was huge.’ The shots kept falling and the Spurs’ deficit kept growing. Down as much 18 in the first half, the Suns were up as many as 16 in garbage time. Dragic played the entire fourth quarter, scoring 23 of his 26 two nights after offering up a goose egg in Game 2. Gentry told Dragic to stay aggressive and not worry about making mistakes. Nash’s apprentice felt his confidence grow with each basket. ‘I don’t know how many guys in the history of the game that have had a fourth quarter like that,’ Nash said. ‘It was pretty remarkable. I am incredibly proud of him.’ Those 23 rung familiar with Kerr, who also made sure to take photos with his BlackBerry of Dragic engrossed in the locker room media scrum. ‘Other than MJ, I don’t remember anybody doing something like that in a huge game under pressure, especially a young kid,’ Michael Jordan’s former teammate said. ‘It’s ridiculous.’”

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.’”)

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.

The Celtics could probably use Eddie House right about now. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Henry Abbott, ESPN – “Boston Celtics guard Nate Robinson was benched for two games near the end of the regular season, and it cost him $1 million, while saving the team twice that amount. A clause in Robinson’s contract calls for him to make a $1 million bonus if he both played in at least 58 games and made the playoffs this season. Robinson’s Celtics are in the postseason but he played in 56 games. As a result, the Celtics saved the $1 million they would have paid Robinson — equivalent to a quarter of his reported annual salary — and an additional $1 million they would have owed in luxury tax to the NBA (most of which would have been distributed to teams with payrolls below the luxury tax threshold).”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Rivers was asked if Wallace was mentally into it during the season. ‘I don’t know,’ Rivers said. ‘I guess. With his play, you can say not. To me, I’m not going to go there. How does that benefit me? I’m into (tomorrow night’s) Game 3. So you can answer it any way you want to. Did he play as well as we wanted him to? No. But can he do anything about that? No. All he can do is what the next game gives him.’”

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer – “The news on the Cavs Wednesday was positive. Varejao’s back spasms improved after two days rest and there is a good chance he’ll be able to take part in practice Thursday. Also, despite the initial plans for James to have another MRI on his sore right elbow, he hasn’t needed the test yet. Despite contrary reports, James has only had one MRI on his elbow to this point, though team doctors may perform another one to check on the healing process.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Said his coach, Doc Rivers: ‘He deserves it. He’s worked at it and it’s a great honor for him. He took it in stride. I love the way he took it, because you could tell he’s far more focused on the playoffs. Listen, when you’re in the first team in our league on anything, it’s a hell of an honor. He’s doing better than scratching (the surface). He’s so much better. It’s so rare when a point guard can affect a game, and Rondo has the ability defensively to do that.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Garnett reported to practice yesterday and wanted to partici pate, telling Rivers he felt better, but that did not convince the coach. Perkins suited up but did not participate in drills and eventually left for treatment. He returned to the court following the team’s workout and said he will be ready for Game 3 tomorrow. ‘After the game Monday it was hurting, and even more when I woke up the next morning,’ Perkins said. ‘It’s still a little sore in my hamstring area. I am glad we had a few days to rest and hopefully I’ll practice tomorrow. I’ll be ready for Friday. I am glad we have a few days to rest.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘(Garnett) said he felt way better today than he did yesterday,’ Rivers added. ‘I think time’s on our side. I think he’ll be OK.’ At this stage, though, a little gallows humor is in order. ‘As a coaching staff, we (joked) when (trainer Eddie Lacerte) walked in that he’s the Grim Reaper,’ Rivers said. ‘That’s what we call him whenever he walks in because he doesn’t come to my office to tell me any good news. Right when he walked in, we were like, ‘Oh, gosh.’ He told us and I said this is just like a normal practice, not enough guys. That’s the way it’s been all year for us.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Especially now that Perkins has a sore knee. But after some momentary brooding in the first round over an inability to finish, the Celtics center once again has come around to who he is, and who he isn’t. ‘If I’m not scoring one bucket I’m going to be effective in the game, whether it’s rebounding, having a presence in the defensive end, whatever it may be I’m going to have an impact,’ he said. ‘There’s different ways to affect a game than just scoring.’ How long did Perkins allow his first-round offensive struggles to affect his spirit? ‘For a minute,’ Perkins said. ‘But after that, you know, it happens.’”

Tony Massarotti, Boston Globe – “Add it all up and you’ll determine that Rondo has had a direct hand in 112 of the 197 points the Celtics have scored in this series. And that is a safe, conservative estimate. Undoubtedly, there have been occasions in this series where Rondo’s wizardry has produced free throws or additional passes that produced hoops. Somewhere in the middle of this, Danny Ainge is undoubtedly smiling, and not solely because Rondo was selected after such luminaries as Patrick O’Bryant, Mouhamed Sene, Thabo Sefolosha and, for that matter, Shelden Williams in the 2006 NBA Draft. Even in the last year, Rondo’s stock has continued to soar, making that five-year, $55 million contract signed by Rondo last summer look like the biggest steal the Celtics have executed since Bird suckered Isiah in May 1987. The best part? Rondo has yet to even start that deal, which begins next season. Meanwhile, during a season in which he has displaced Bob Cousy from the Celtics record book, he continues to develop as a dynamic and dominating force that will guide the Celtics for years to come.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Wednesday that he regretted tossing a towel into the air to try to distract Cavaliers forward J.J. Hickson’s free throw attempt in Boston’s victory in Monday’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series. ‘I regret that. That was very unprofessional,’ Ainge said during an interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI. ‘I was having fun with the hecklers and the crowd that was sitting around me. … There’s just no excuse. It was unprofessional. I regret doing it. The biggest reason I regret it is you guys should be talking about the great play of the Celtics and not talking about a towel incident. I’m shocked that it’s become this big a deal.’ [...] Celtics coach Doc Rivers and his players simply laughed off the attention being given to the situation. ‘Comical,’ said Rivers. ‘I didn’t know about it, honestly. I was up in my bedroom doing my work and my cell phone kept ringing, over and over again… When I saw it, I got a good laugh and giggle out of it. Danny’s going back to his playing days. It’s pretty comical.’”

Marla Ridenour, Akron Beacon Journal – “And while there seem to be woes aplenty on the Cavs’ side, including James’ sore right elbow and Anderson Varejao’s back spasms, [Shaquille] O’Neal cannot escape scrutiny. The 15-time All-Star has played nearly 39 minutes against the Celtics and has 20 points, eight rebounds and no blocked shots to show for it. Those combined totals would be barely above his single-game playoff averages as recently as three years ago, when O’Neal scored 18.8 points and pulled in 8.5 rebounds in four games for the Miami Heat. ‘We know, he knows he can shoot better,’ Cavs coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. ‘He hasn’t had a ton of opportunity. But we’re going to keep going to the big fella, because he’s going to have to be able to score some points down there to loosen it up for the rest of our guys. We need to establish a post game against Boston, and he’s one of the guys who can do it for us.’”

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com – “Telfair agrees that the ultimate goal is playing for a ring, at which the Cavaliers have a tremendous shot. Thing is, he’d like to play for that ring. ‘This is the first time in my career I’m being inactive. So there’s an adjustment to that,’ he said. ‘But y’know, I’m in the playoffs. I could have been home. So I’m excited about that.’ Telfair did get healthy in time to participate in four games for Cleveland near the end of the regular season. He scored 21 points against Indiana in the final week as the regulars mostly rested. In practice, he has been able to push Mo Williams, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson, and even has tried to play the Derrick Rose-Rajon Rondo role in the team’s prep work. Cavs big man Leon Powe, Telfair’s teammate in Boston, said: ‘Bassy’s looked real good in practice. Great floor general. He reads the defense well. Knows where everybody’s supposed to be at, like a good point guard should. Makes real good passes, right on target, and can get in the paint and cause trouble. And his shot got a lot better. I knew him from way back in the day and now he’s hitting the three, hitting the mid-range jumper. Y’know, he’s just been working. I was really impressed when I played with him in practice.’”

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

Strong enough to carry Biggie Smalls on his back.

There are differing reports about Lebron James’ elbow injury.  The one I trust the most is from the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Brian Windhorst.  Windhorst is a terrific reporter who has been covering Lebron since his high school days.

Although his coach and Cavaliers teammates insist they don’t see anything different about LeBron James’ play in the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics, James is scheduled for another MRI on his bothersome right elbow this week, according to team officials.

It will be the second MRI James has had on the elbow. Last week, after the first-round series against Chicago was over but before the semifinals started, James had an MRI and was diagnosed with a strain and a bone bruise in the elbow.

James did not talk with reporters Tuesday, a day after the Cavs lost Game 2, 104-86, to fall into a 1-1 tie in the best-of-seven series.

But Cavs point guard Mo Williams said: “He’s fine. He doesn’t want to talk about the injury. He doesn’t want to hear about it. He doesn’t make excuses. He does what he has to do to get himself prepared to play. He’s going to play.”

This report says that neither Mike Brown nor his teammates see anything different about the way Lebron is playing, which is consistent with what I’ve seen on the court. I mean, he did have 35,7 and 7 the first game, remember? In Game Two Lebron got untracked at the end, suggesting that if he is aggressive and the Celtics let up on their suffocating defense even slightly Lebron is still healthy enough to go to work.

Of course, there is also a report — from the less trusted Ball in Europe of ESPN’s TrueHoop blog network (h/t Red’s Army) — that Lebron’s injury is far more serious than Lebron, or the Cavs, are letting on.

The bombshell: A source close to the Cleveland Cavaliers who wished to remain anonymous has admitted that LeBron James should not playing with his injury in its current state. Apparently, the damage is enough that the right arm of King James – perhaps that should be “King Richard III” for the nonce – is having great difficulty in carrying anything heavier than a basketball.

If Lebron can’t carry anything heavier than a basketball, it’s no wonder that he’s having trouble carrying the Cavs.

But seriously, this report is tough to trust. For one, there’s that whole 35, 7 and 7 Lebron posted in Game One. For two, there’s his nonchalant, “we’re still going to win this series, the Game Two Loss didn’t matter” attitude. Seriously, if Lebron couldn’t lift anything heavier than a basketball, would he be so goddamn confident? Would he stroll into the press conference like his team ruled the world and the Celtics were nothing but an insignificant nuisance? No chance. For three, there’s the source of the ‘news story:’ Ball in Europe? Are you kidding me? It’s a good blog, yes, but methinks I’ll trust Brian Windhorst and my own two eyes rather than Ball in Europe. And for four, the killer that likely disproves the report all in itself? He was fine when he was lifting both his MVP trophies at the same time. Now I’ve never felt an MVP Trophy but, if I had to guess, I’d wager my whole life that it weighs more than a basketball. Those things aren’t made of fucking plastic, folks.

Once in a while, someone else’s article catches my eye. Sometimes, it’s because the article is so spot-on I wish I’d written it myself. Other times, it’s because the article enlightens me with something I never knew. Still other times, it’s because I disagree with whatever’s written. No matter what the reason, I dish it off to another writer to make his/her point. You know, throwing some dimes.

Garnett: "You've been a bum, Sheed." Sheed: "Yeah, I know."

1. Red’s Army: Kevin calls out Sheed… in the shower – Here’s a transcript of an interview Kevin Garnett gave for WEEI last night.

After the first game, I went to him in the shower… Sheed doesn’t listen to a lot of people, Sheed sorta goes by his own tune and he only respects a few. I’m one of the very few he listens too. I said, ‘If you give us 10 and 10, we are not only gonna beat these cats, we are gonna blow them out. I don’t care what you’ve been going through, you can make it all up right here. It rubbed him the wrong way a little bit, but he said ‘you’re right.’

Is anybody else 1) not surprised at all that Sheed doesn’t listen to a lot of people or 2) completely skeptical that Garnett’s talk made any difference in the way Sheed played?

What did Sheed do last night that was different from what he normally does? One thing, and one thing only: He made shots. Something tells me he’s known all season long that he needs to make shots to help the Celtics become a better team, and that a pep talk from Kevin Garnett in the shower — no matter how motivating it was — didn’t enlighten Sheed that he needs to make some more. He’s known that all season long, and it gets reinforced any time he looks on NBA.com and sees his stats or flips on the television and hears yet another person discussing how brutal he’s been.

So Kevin Garnett’s pep talk was a good thing, a nice gesture of leadership by one of the few people the boneheaded Sheed actually listens to. I just don’t expect that it turned Sheed’s season around. I fully expect another round of blanks to be fired on Friday.

2. ESPN: Throwing in the towel - Danny Ainge threw a towel in the air to distract J.J. Hickson at the free throw line.

With 1:53 remaining in the third quarter of Boston’s lopsided Game 2 triumph, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is shown on TNT’s television replays tossing a white towel in the air from the baseline beyond one hoop attempting to distract Cleveland’s J.J. Hickson as he shoots the second of two free throws with Boston on top 80-57.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed that the league is aware of the actions and was reviewing the situation Tuesday night.

“That was interesting to see that happen during the flow of the game, from Danny Ainge,” Mike Brown told the Associated Press in Cleveland Tuesday. “If it’s within the rules, hey, at this time, you do whatever you can to win. As long as it’s within the rules.”

You can take this story one of two ways: Either 1) you’re a competitive-less loser who thinks everyone should play fair, everybody should win, and the score shouldn’t be kept or 2) you actually want to win, and thus absolutely love a GM — or anyone else affiliated with the team — trying to do whatever he can do to help his team win a game, even if that means acting like a 15-year old fan and throwing a towel during a player’s free throw while the Celtics are winning by 23 points. Me? I’m certainly in group #2.

3. Celtics.com: Bobby Vines Tribute – Pay your respect to a man who worked behind the scenes for the C’s for 15 years. Here are some quotes about him:

Bill Simmons via Twitter: RIP, Bobby Vines. Died suddenly today, leaves great family + 2 kids. No happier/friendlier guy in sports. Can’t imagine the Celtics w/o him.

Marc Spears via Twitter: RIP Robert Vines, great guy worked behind the scenes for Celtics. another example of how short life can be. appreciate each day.

Drjefflo: Always stopped to say hello. Always a smile! Class individual.

Ya know, it’s incredibly sad that we don’t start speaking nice things about people until their death. Bobby Vines went through life, from all accounts I’ve heard, being a genuinely nice guy… but never lived to hear people tell him that.

Can’t we start praising people while they’re still on earth? Can’t I hear about how nice Bobby Vines is while he’s still stopping to say hello and smiling at everyone in sight?

It shouldn’t take death for us to celebrate someone’s life.

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