(This Gaffney dunk was one of the few plays during the game that kept me from dozing off.)

I knew I was in for a bad night when I heard Rick Kamla’s voice.

Almost immediately, Kamla started salivating about Jrue Holiday’s swagger like Holiday was Michael Jordan or someone. A couple minutes later, Kamla tried to convince me you could tell Evan Turner was smooth just by listening to him speak. Kamla’s convincing speech might have worked… had I never heard Turner’s voice, which actually sounds like a 13-year old who just inhaled helium. Oh, Rick Kamla. Oh, NBA Summer League.

Oh, the ugliest first half I’ve ever seen. Would you believe me if I told you the Celtics were ahead 15-3 after about five minutes, then down 39-33 at half-time? Would you believe me if I told you the C’s shot less than 30% in the first half? Of course you would! It was the NBA summer league! Those aren’t All-Stars out there, after all. And they certainly didn’t play like they were, either – the game was was uglier than Tyrone Hill.

Here are my notes of the game I wish I hadn’t watched:

- It was the Tony Gaffney show early. First, he cut to the hoop for a bucket. Then he got fouled and hit the two free throws. He blocked a shot, drew a couples charges from Evan Turner, snagged five boards and hit a jumper from the corner. This wasn’t the same Tony Gaffney I saw yesterday, that’s for damn sure. And, oh yeah, he also had a vicious dunk after running the wing on a fast break. Kamla had this to say about Gaffney: “He’s like a spider out there. He’s very long, and he kind of multiplies out there on the court.” I wasn’t aware that spiders multiplied, Rick.

- Gaffney also did a great job defending Evan Turner. I can see the Human Spider becoming a solid role player down the line if he does one thing: Learn to hit the corner jumper. Think Bruce Bowen. There are a lot of guys who can D up, but the ones who succeed in the league can do at least one thing right offensively. As of now, Gaffney has no offensive game. Give him a reliable jumper, though, and he’d be a very valuable reserve.

- Gaffney also got injured at the end of the game. He told A. Sherrod Blakely it was a twisted left ankle. Gaffney should be okay.

- Luke Harangody doesn’t have runway looks and he doesn’t have a prototypical NBA body. He’s simply a basketball player and a competitor. Whether that translates to the NBA is a question for another day, but I get the feeling Harangody will always be able to produce offensively. He struggled against the length of Trent Plaisted and Mareese Speights at times today (and I suppose struggling against Trent Plaisted’s length is never a greatsign), but still put up 14 points and 12 boards. If Harangody can adjust defensively to guard some of the longer fours, he’ll find a spot in the league.

- I am falling in love with Jaycee Carroll’s game, little by little. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’ll ever play in the NBA. He’s an unathletic 6’2″ shooting guard, and you won’t find too many of those in the Assocation. But he’s one crafty dude, and he can shoot. Somehow, someway, Jaycee Carroll continues to find space to get his shots off. I’m sorry if this is weird, but I have a small crush on his game.

- Oliver Lafayette was a letdown. I was about to write the excuse, “He was being defended by Jrue Holiday, so it’s excusable that he had a bad game,” then realized,Shit, Jrue Holiday was one of the NBA’s worst point guards last season. Lafayette struggled a little with Philadelphia’s fierce ball pressure, as did his backup Rodney Green. To be fair, even though he wasn’t anywhere close to amazing last season, Holiday is a big, strong, quick defender with all the tools to be a lockdown player in the NBA.

- Today was the first day of the Slava Kravtsov era, and if today was any indication, it will be a short-lived era. Kravtsov is a beast physically, but often seemed to have no idea what in the world he was doing. He did have a nice putback dunk, a block or two and a lefty hook shot in the lane, but Slava didn’t impress on me much.

- Steve Smith’s analysis of Harangody’s jumper: “It hurts watching it, but it goes in.” Yup, that sounds about right. It’s also a really gross “that’s what she said.”

- Kamla and Steve Smith brought up Chris Duhon during the fourth quarter. Kamla tried to say Duhon is one of the top backup PGs in the league. My thoughts? The Magic might as well have burned $15 million in a bonfire. Duhon played 31 minutes per game last season for an offensive mastermind and still put up only the following, miserable numbers: 37.3% FG, 7.4 ppg, 5.6 apg. Coincidentally, those numbers are exactly what John Hollinger projected I would average in 31 minutes in a Mike D’Antoni offense.

- Ryan Wittman only played a few minutes, but hit some tough shots. I’m pretty sure his passion bucket was filled to the brim.

- A day after outplaying Semih Erden and prompting a few C’s fans to ask why he wasn’t starting, Art Parakhouski drew the start. He was then pretty non-existent, scoring 5 points and pulling in only two rebounds. Erden sat out the game with a tweaked back.

- Rodney Green had as many turnovers (four) as he had points, rebounds and assists combined. I think it’s safe to say he isn’t the backup point guard we’ve been looking for.

- What can I say about Ryan Thompson and DeShawn Sims? Umm, a couple of times I actually noticed they were on the court.

- Matt Janning got a DNP-CD, I believe.  And I would bet my life a few spectators mistook him for the water boy. The Northeastern product still hasn’t had much of a chance to strut his stuff.

Box Score

The Celtics play again tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Let’s hope tomorrow’s game is more enjoyable. Please. I’m begging. And that Rick Kamla isn’t the announcer.

Adrian Wojnarowski reports that a couple teams are interested in signing Brian Scalabrine.

“The Nets and Philadelphia 76ers are expected to have interest in Boston Celtics free agent Brian Scalabrine,” Wojnarowski wrote. “The reserve forward prefers to re-sign with the Celtics, but it’s unclear if they’ll make him an offer.”

Good for Scal. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Celtics jersey (aka a suit, at the end of the bench) next season, but if he’s not a Celtic I’d still like to see him in the NBA.

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.

Anderson Varejao, goofy as usual. Sheed, sleeping during games as usual. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “In fact, Kevin Garnett went so far as to suggest the team was more confident following the game. ‘We felt like we had this game,’ said Garnett. ‘We have a lot of confidence now. When you’re at home, you play your hardest; you play your best basketball. We all know they’re a good team at home. We’ll go back to the drawing board, watch the film, and try to get Game 2. We come in here with confidence, we’re not lacking that. We just have to be more consistent coming down the stretch.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘I just thought we went away from our game plan,’’ said Rivers. “We didn’t sustain 48 minutes of focus. Give them credit, they turned the heat up and we didn’t handle it very well.’ The Cavaliers outscored the Celtics, 22-15, in the fourth, making another Boston lead disappear as they had three times during the regular season. ‘It’s over with now,’ Rajon Rondo said. ‘We definitely lost an opportunity to sneak a game . . . But it’s over with and we have to move on.’”

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe – “‘We were winning because we were attacking,’ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. ‘In the second half we went away from what we were supposed to do. I was really upset with our guys and the execution. In the second half, I thought we settled. We’re playing a good team. We knew they had a run in them. It happens. This is not going to be easy for either team.’ The Celtics have made it particularly tough on themselves because they must win a road game to advance and last night was a golden opportunity. It was a game they should have won.”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “Rajon Rondo has an interesting perspective on the man who’s guarding him: He doesn’t see him. ‘I look at the second defender,’ he said. ‘I don’t really look at my man really.’ During the first half, his man didn’t see him either. Rondo turned Williams inside out and put him through the spin cycle with a variety of finishing plays, one more spectacular than the next. When he didn’t finish at the rim, he finished at the free throw line where the notoriously suspect free throw shooter made 12-of-14 shots. ‘Shorty was aggressive,’ Garnett said. ‘Not only aggressive, but he was finding guys. He controlled the huddles, which is rare for him. You love to see it. He’s very, very locked it. That’s what we’re going to need. We need everybody’s contributions to defeat this team.’”

Duane Rankin, Boston Globe – “When Cleveland coach Mike Brown was asked if he thought Williams could dunk, he must have laughed for 10 to 15 seconds before answering. ‘That surprised me,’ said Brown. ‘Yeah. Mo jumped and the ball went [in] and I didn’t even know what happened, you know. I just kind of figured he had to dunk . . . but that was a heck of a play by Mo. Heck of a play, boy.’ Williams did more than dunk, though. He had 10 straight points to trim Boston’s 11-point lead to 5, 73-68, with 3:12 remaining in the third. The Cavaliers ended the quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 79-78 lead heading into the fourth quarter. ‘When he picked it up, it kind of gave the whole team a lift with that dunk,’ Cleveland second-year forward J.J. Hickson said.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “The end was a series of errors during which time the Celtics were tentative and unsure of themselves. Varejao ripped a rebound out of Rasheed Wallace’s hands. A sprawled James reached up from the floor and took the ball from Paul Pierce. Then Shaq applied the coup de grace with a third-chance tip-in between Garnett and Kendrick Perkins for a 98-93 lead with a minute left. ‘I think we stopped being aggressive and they turned it up,’ Rondo said after 27 points and 12 assists. ‘It was tough. You know, we’ve been there before. We were up at halftime again. We lost a double digit lead – again. And we didn’t get the win.’ Again. ‘Yeah, it was,’ said Perkins of the regular season reprise. ‘The last three minutes of the third quarter we started going downhill. We didn’t take their punch very well. They punched us and we just kind of . . . I think we gave in just a little bit.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “But, truth be told, the Celtics weren’t that upset after Saturday’s game and likely bit their tongues enough to avoid any $35,000 requests from the NBA offices. Even the Celtics admitted the referees didn’t decide the outcome of the game. But they certainly didn’t make things any easier on Boston. ‘It had an impact, but not that big,’ said Rivers. ‘It was with us. Maybe mentally, guys were worried about fouls. I told them at halftime, I don’t care if everybody fouls out by the third quarter — don’t change. We were winning because we were attacking. [The Cavaliers] won the game because they attacked in the second half. You can’t worry. We had enough guys. I told the bigs that. I told [Davis], ‘I don’t care if you foul out in the first half. You have to be energy guy. I’m using Baby as an example, but he went away from being an energy guy because he was concerned about his fouls. I thought, overall, in the second half, we just went away from what we’re supposed to be.’ Echoed Rondo, Boston’s offensive spark plug all night: ‘We stopped being aggressive. Not just offensively, but defensively as well. We stopped our pressure, they started attacking us, and we fell back on our heels.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Of the 17 Cleveland fouls, nine were on Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison, meaning the other eight players amassed a total of eight fouls in 183:17 of action. That allowed for more aggression, more ability to use hands and arms when chasing rebounds or contesting shots. The Cavaliers didn’t win because of the officiating; they won because they were allowed to be the more physical team in the second half. And the Celtics, who spent too much of the regular season barking at officials, were at it again, but with good reason this time. ‘You are on the road man, you are on the road,’ forward Kevin Garnett said. ‘I have never been in the series where you have been on the road and the refs have given the road team anything. You gotta play through it. It’s not the time to be [expletive] and complaining to the refs. If they are going to let you play, you gotta play. You say your two cents and your peace and you gotta keep it moving.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Rondo, who had 27 points and 12 assists – 19 and 8 came in the first half – was dominating action in the first half because he was getting out and running, which often created scoring opportunities for himself or whoever was on the floor running along with him. But that all changed in the second half. Of course Rondo’s foul trouble had something to do with that. But even when he was in the game and looking to run, often he had no one to pass to because no one was really running with him. After the game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers was quick to praise Cleveland for their play defensively. But even he acknowledged that Rondo’s teammates were conspirators in his struggles as well. ‘We walked the ball up a ton (in the second half),’ Rivers said. ‘We stopped spacing the floor and we stopped sprinting up the floor. A lot of it wasn’t Rondo’s fault. I thought Rondo kept pushing the ball up the floor, but there were three guys behind him.’”

Chris Sheridan, ESPN – “It was an odd game for James. Not odd in that he wasn’t productive — he posted 35 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks — but odd in that, until late in the game, he eschewed the jump shot. Playing with a strained and bruised right elbow, he drove to the hoop or posted up almost exclusively in the first three quarters, through which he took only three jump shots. James admitted he wasn’t playing his normal game until Williams cornered him in the third, effectively saying ‘Be yourself.’ ‘I stayed close to the rim,’ said James, who made 12 of 24 shots. ‘I tried not to hyperextend it any worse than it was. Did I come out a little tentative? I thought about [my elbow] a little bit too much. Mo could see me thinking about it. It’s kind of the first real injury I’ve had to play with, especially with it being on my shooting hand. I came out tentative, but if I’m on the court, then I have to be productive.’”

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports – “When had a Cavalier ever had to snap James out of something – never mind in the playoffs? Truth be told, no one had heard him talk this way, because nothing has ever bothered him. James had come out like the boxer protecting his ribs, measured and cautious and babying that right elbow. He feared hyperextending it, so he stayed with his dribble and drove to the rim. Whenever possible, he used his left hand – even when it was awkward and going back across his body. He still scored on the move, still made it to the free-throw line, still played productively. With one hand behind his back, James still can be a force. With two, he’s untouchable. Perhaps James wasn’t himself until the fourth quarter, when he would score 12 of his 35 points, block two shots and hit two crushing 3-pointers. Eventually, resistance was futile for the Celtics. They used to have a defense that could clog him, contain him, but those days are long gone. James fears his elbow will still be an issue, that it has lingered too long to just go away. He refused to take a cortisone shot for the pain Saturday night, insisting, ‘I don’t like needles.’ Two armfuls of tattoos offer evidence to the contrary, but whatever: The King is the King here, and his proclamations seldom are met with skepticism. As much as James seems oddly willing to discuss the elbow – an open invitation for Celtics bullies like Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davisto pound away at it – coach Mike Brown shrugs and plays the innocent. ‘I didn’t think he was favoring the elbow. There was not one thing said to me by him, by our trainers. …’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “General manager Danny Ainge confirmed yesterday that the Celtics associate coach, considered one of the NBA’s premier defensive strategists, has drawn feelers from the Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Hornets regarding their head coaching vacancies. Both the Clippers and Hornets have asked Ainge for permission to interview Thibodeau, though no meetings have been scheduled.The Philadelphia Daily News also reported that Thibodeau, who interviewed last year for positions with the Sixers and Sacramento Kings, is once again on Philadelphia’s list.”

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

NBA.com’s John Schuhmann had a very interesting piece today about quarter-by-quarter differentials. In it, he called the Celtics the most inconsistent team in the NBA from quarter to quarter.

In fact, only two teams, the Nets and Sixers, have more losses than the Celtics do when leading at halftime. Boston has led 52 of their 71 games at the half, but 16 of their 25 losses have come in that situation.

Is it an age thing? Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace all shoot worse in the second half than they do in the first. Wallace’s dropoff, from 47.8 percent in the first half to 33 percent in the second half, is by far the largest of any player in the league who has attempted at least 200 shots in each half this season. Yet, for some reason, he’s attempted more shots in the second half (294) than he has in the first (278). Pierce suffers the next worst dropoff of the four Celtics vets, from 49.9 percent to 44.2 percent.

He then gave the table below to illustrate the inconsistencies. Boston, as you can see below, is the best second quarter team in the league, but very average — or even below average — after halftime. (For the table, offensive rating is how many points scored per 100 possessions, while defensive rating is how many points allowed per 100 possessions.)

Boston Celtics by Quarter

Those stats are alarming, but I’m not too worried about them.  For most of the season, Boston hasn’t been itself.  The team these stats are mostly based on is a version of the Celtics that no longer exists.  The C’s rode a strong fourth-quarter against Dallas to victory, fended off a fierce Nuggets run with a fourth-quarter run of their own, and now seem to be making plays down the stretch of games to pull out W’s.

Barring a second-half disaster against Utah, the Celtics are starting to put together complete performances unlike they have all year long.  So, in my eyes, take those stats and throw them out the window.  If the Celtics continue to show second-half problems the rest of the way, they’ve got issues.  But I don’t think they will.  As Doc Rivers said, this is now a completely different team.

Could anything else go wrong for Allen Iverson?

At this point, you have to start to feel for Allen Iverson.  No matter what you think about “We talkin’ bout practice,” or his sreet-cred-earning persona, you have to feel for a person whose life has come unraveled in every facet.

Everything for Iverson has gone south, all year long.  First there was Memphis, where the once-dominant guard was relegated to backing up Mike Conley (even after “God chose Memphis“).  Then there was his daughter’s illness, causing Iverson to miss games and tweet, “I need to be there to hold my little girl’s hand and encourage her to get better. I wanted her to wake up every morning and see her Daddy’s face, at least until she got better. Through God’s Strength, She Will Keep Getting Better!” After that, the 76ers cut ties with Iverson, perhaps ending his storied NBA career, and on a miserable note.

Now, his wife has filed for a divorce, leaving the struggling Iverson with a doomed marriage, failed tail-end of his career, and sick daughter.  (AJC)

A week after the Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson announced he was leaving basketball for the rest of the season to be with his sick 4-year-old daughter, the star’s wife filed for divorce in Fulton County Superior Court.

In the divorce petition filed on Tuesday, Tawanna Iverson said her 8 ½-year-long marriage to the guard was “irretrievably broken.” In the petition, Tawanna Iverson asked for temporary and permanent custody of their five children as well as child support and alimony.

She did not ask for a specific dollar amount.

Next thing ya know, a banana peel in the middle of the road will cause Iverson to crash his car.  That’s about the only bad thing that hasn’t happened to him yet.