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]

Not going to lie, I got into a car accident today. I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic and looked down to try to change my iPod to a little Britney Spears. Bam! Smacked dead into some guy’s bumper. The damn car shouldn’t have been standing there, but all I could think was “Oops, I did it again.” I mean, I couldn’t believe I’d lost all my senses. That’s just so typically me. But watching Tyreke Evans speed more than 100 mph brought me back to good spirits. At least there are SOME drivers worse than me out there. Tyreke’s simply not that innocent. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Another in a long line of intriguing free agents.

Add Ime Udoka to the list of scrub free agents the Boston Celtics have had discussions with. Actually, maybe it’s a bit harsh to call Udoka a scrub. He once scored 17.1 points per game… for the Fort Worth Flyers. (CSNNE)

It’s no secret that the Boston Celtics have a gaping hole in their roster for a defensive-minded perimeter defender. And in all likelihood, it’ll have to be a player willing to accept a salary for the veteran’s minimum.

Sacramento’s Ime Udoka may in fact be that player.

Udoka, who will be 33 years old next month, is a player that the C’s have had preliminary discussions about acquiring.

However, his agent Mark Bartelstein, made it clear that no deal is imminent.

“There have been some talks, but nothing close to being done,” Bartelstein told CSNNE.com.

Udoka IS a very good defender, or at least he has that reputation. Unfortunately, he’s all glove and no bat. And by no bat, I mean NO bat: Udoka averaged only 3.6 points last season while shooting 37.8% from the field. On the plus side, if the Celtics sign both Udoka and Larry Hughes, the two could have some very entertaining shooting contests. Okay, maybe entertaining isn’t the right word.

And as a nice little P.S. – Kwame Brown’s agent, who happens to be the same as Udoka’s, says the Celtics aren’t out of the picture yet. My prayers have been answered!

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.

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.

Anybody else play Mike Tyson's Punchout? Looks like Little Mac got knocked out.

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Had it happened in the Celtics locker room, the dispute between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton would have never made it to the point where guns had to be drawn. Bryan Doo, the Celtics strength and conditioning coach, pretty much made sure of that a year ago. His solution was boxing gloves. ‘If anybody has any differences on this team,’ Ray Allen recalled Doo saying, ‘we’re going to go in the weight room and we’re going to settle it.’ He had head gear for each player as well. ‘For a couple days we were warning, like, ‘OK, I challenge you.’ And you said, ‘OK, let’s take it in the weight room and duke it out,’ ‘ Allen said. ‘We were playing, having a good time with it.’”

Rich Levine, CSNNE – “The offense was just off. They missed from the inside, the outside, on fast breaks, and out of the half court set. It didn’t matter. The ball wouldn’t go in. And as the quarter went on things only heated up slightly. Boston finished the first shooting at only a 38 percent clip (10-26). An ugly number for a one of the league’s most efficient shooting teams. In the past, whether it was against the Nets, the Grizzlies, or any of the lackluster performances the C’s have previously had at the Garden this season, this would have spelled disaster. It would have breathed life into their inferior opponent. They would have given the Kings confidence, while ruining their own. It would have set the stage for another unnecessary battle. But tonight, it didn’t matter. Tonight, despite all their offensive issues, the Celtics went into the break with a 15-point lead. They were in complete control. They almost already had the Kings buried. Why? Because tonight, the C’s brought back that old school defensive energy and intensity, the likes of which used to make it nearly impossible for a team to come in and achieve any level of success at the Garden.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘Our entire bench said it,’ Rondo said. ‘I have the record for most steals and the most gambles in one season.’ ‘One of the guys said, ‘Now you can go back to being solid,’ ‘ said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Rondo said with a grin he wasn’t aware of the gambles. ‘We were,’ Garnett said. ‘I don’t know if we keep that stat,’ Rondo said. ‘We keep it,’ Garnett said. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ It’s an urge he admits he fights. Every so often you can see him let his man go by, then swipe at the ball, trying to poke it loose. But when he’s at his best defensively, which he was for most of last night’s win, Rondo is a menace, affecting the game without having to shoot or score.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Celtics – “‘He’s grown up before everybody’s eyes,’ Garnett said. ‘He’s grown up into a prolific scorer, a player who can affect the game in many ways. When he’s frustrated I try to relay that message to him. I try to repeat it in his head so at some point he understands. I love him because he’s a student of the game. He’s hard-headed like all of us but at the same time he wants it more than any other player and that’s what you want. You want your point guard setting the tone every night. You want your point guard leading us. It’s great to watch because I’ve seen him when he was quiet, hiding in the corner, didn’t say two words. Sometimes we sort of miss that.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Rivers angrily replaced Glen Davis with Brian Scalabrine in the third quarter after the former committed a triple fault – a turnover, followed by a foul, followed by a technical foul. Davis didn’t play another minute. ‘You don’t get a tech in that situation,’ said Rivers. ‘When you’re up 18 points and your team’s struggling, you’re not (Kevin) Garnett or one of those guys. You don’t get the liberty, anyway, to talk to the officials. ‘And he wasn’t playing well, anyway, at that point. He was playing like the score, and I just told him he’s not at that point in his life where he can turn it on and off. We need him to be an every possession player, and I didn’t think he was that tonight.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “This is what can happen when you have a deep team full of players starving to play more minutes. If you slump, you sit. That’s essentially what Marquis Daniels is going through these days. And it’s not a coincidence that some of his usual minutes, are now being given to Tony Allen who continues to play solid basketball. In Friday’s 94-86 win over Sacramento, Allen had six points and four rebounds in about 12 minutes. Daniels had two points in about six minutes of action. Even more telling was that Allen saw action near the end of the first quarter, while Daniels’ first minutes didn’t come about until the Celtics were ahead by 24 points in the third quarter.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Before the Celtics could even secure the Atlantic Division title with a win over Sacramento, Toronto handed them the division crown with a loss Friday night to the Nuggets. But. two days after ensuring themselves a postseason berth, the champagne remained on ice in Boston. ‘I didn’t know that,’ Rivers said of the division title. ‘So, I guess that’s good. It’s obviously not what we’re trying to do. I mean, it’s nice — 20 years from now, when I’m bragging to my grandkids and lying. Obviously, when you have a team with your goals so high, you don’t really focus on it.’ Celtics forward Kevin Garnett echoed Rivers’ sentiments: ‘I wasn’t even aware of that. I don’t think that anybody in the locker room said anything like that. I think tonight we were more appreciative of [Rajon] Rondo, and his accomplishments. Any time you get any kind of record in this organization on a team like what we have, it’s a huge thing. We are just of appreciative of being in the moment, being here, being a part of it. It is a very special moment, and no one even talked about the division title tonight. Tonight was Rondo’s night.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “A blossoming laugher thus ended with one of coach Doc Rivers’ most dreaded actions – sending his starters back in. But he was nearly stubborn enough – and ticked off enough – to say the hell with it. ‘I thought we stopped playing,’ Rivers said. ‘It was really difficult for me to put the starters back in, but I did. We had the ball three or four times with a chance to get (the lead) to 30, but we didn’t because of the way we started playing. It looked like it was the bench’s fault, but it really wasn’t. But I told them I’m not going to let them cloud what we did for two-and-a-half quarters. That was terrific basketball. We were getting stops. The ball was moving. So overall when I watch the film, I’ll watch that.’”

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

The Celtics were too much for the Kings, even after an uneven second half let Sacramento back in the game.

Brian Scalabrine checked in, and his substitution was supposed to signal the end of the game. The proverbial white flag, Scal represented.  But the Sacramento Kings had other plans, though they would still succumb to a better Boston Celtics team, 94-86.  The Celtics saw their 20-point halftime lead dwindled to six with three minutes left, but held on for the victory.

Despite the Kings’ comeback, accomplished largely against a Celtics 12th-man unit including both Brian Scalabrine and Shelden Williams, the C’s again took care of business at home. Rajon Rondo, though he scored only six points on 3-10 shooting, was a maestro for the Celtics all night long. His play was a beautiful symphony of drives and dishes, and he broke the immortal Rick Fox’s single-season Celtics steal record on the night. Besides breaking the steals record, he established a personal career high with 18 assists, and inched ever closer to Bob Cousy’s Celtics record for single-season assists.

Kevin Garnett also played one of his better games this season, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The 13 rebounds represented a season high for the Celtics power forward, as he continues to look more healthy by the night.

One of the more interesting aspects of tonight’s game was that Doc Rivers chose to play Tony Allen with the second unit. Marquis Daniels, after weeks of disappearing acts and inconsistent play, was relegated to garbage time, finally being inserted to the game when Doc Rivers waved the white flag and put Shelden and Scal in the game. For Daniels, it was either a wakeup call or a sign of what the rest of the season will entail. Allen performed well in Daniels’ place, putting in six points and four rebounds during his 11 minutes, while staying away from the turnover column.

Besides Allen’s hostile takeover of Daniels’ minutes, the second unit also saw another change: Nate Robinson went down with what was called a sprained ankle. Nate played only seven minutes before injuring himself, leaving the Celtics with a hole off the bench.

*****

Game notes:

• Paul Pierce wasn’t vintage Truth tonight, but still ended with 22 points and 12 trips to the line.  He continues to look spryer than he has all season long.
• Carl Landry — brother of Celtic Marcus, who has been assigned to the Maine Red Claws — destroyed the C’s, with 30 points and 8 boards.
• Ray Allen scored 20 points for the C’s, making 3-7 three-pointers.
• Shelden Williams played 23 minutes, and wasn’t great but didn’t make a fool of himself either.  He continues to show he can be a solid presence if needed.
• Scal was active because Kendrick Perkins was inactive for the night, down with a sore left knee.  For Scal, every time he gets in a game nowadays could be the last time he plays a game in a Celtics uniform.