I dare you to look at this picture and not laugh.

Let me give it to you straight. I wouldn’t want to sugarcoat anything.

Tonight’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings is a game the Boston Celtics should win.

Unless you happen to fear midgetized power forwards who can score, score, and score some more, Tyreke Evans is the only King who strikes any semblance of fear in your heart… and he’ll miss the game due to a concussion.

The Kings also start a 7-footer at center, one with legitimate skill and post touch. The problem is, he’s softer than silly putty and his best highlight so far this year is a pre-game chest bump with his coach. Never a good thing, when aspiring to win basketball games.

But fear not, Kings fans, your team has a talented, 6’7″ guard to pick up the slack. Of course, a physio-ball got the best of him before the season, and he hardly fares better against the NBA than he did against that blasted workout ball.

Don’t worry though, Sacto, the Kings also have a Slovenian point guard averaging 19 points and 11 assists over his last three games. The stuff of legends. You know, if legends were as good at defense as a stick of celery and as overpaid as Antoine Walker’s financial consultant.

Still, everything’s okay in Sacramento. The Kings still have that Jewish guy who participated in the H.O.R.S.E. contest. Of course, he was put to shame by Kevin Durant and Rajon Rondo in that competition and has been even more humbled during his last four games. Over that time, he has scored nine more points in the NBA than his rabbi.

No need to frown though, Sactown. The Kings have a tough, veteran small forward known for his shooting prowess and gritty play. Then again, he’s older than most of his teammates and doesn’t seem to fit into his organization’s plans. Actually, come to think of it, he just asked to be traded.

There is a silver lining, though. The Kings just lost to the Nets during their last game. As Celtics fans, we all know how humiliating that is. But why is such public embarrassment a light at the end of the tunnel?

Because, for the Sacramento Kings, there’s nowhere to go but up.

The game is at 7:30 p.m. EST. Enjoy.

How would Tyreke have looked as a Celtic?

Tyreke Evans (concussion) won’t play tonight for the Sacramento Kings, but his team’s meeting with the Boston Celtics is still a reason to look back on what could have been.

Before this season, there were trade rumors surrounding the Celtics moving a package headlined by Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo for a top-five pick and the right to draft Tyreke.  Evans, who at the time had just completed an up-and-down season for the Memphis Tigers, was a Danny Ainge favorite.  Ainge had apparently already seen the qualities Evans has since revealed during a rookie campaign that has taken the NBA by storm, establishing Evans as a future star.

NESN’s Evans Clinchy looked at the trade that never was, concluding that sometimes the best trades are the ones that were never made.  To Clinchy, both the Celtics and Kings benefited from failing to pull the trigger on the trade: The Celtics have a better chance to win now, and the Kings have a superstar for the future.

But is it that simple?

I think bringing Evans in would have disrupted the present, and given the Celtics less of a chance to win now.  In the future, though, Evans would have been one hell of a piece to build around.

In the end, it all comes down to whether the Celtics win a championship.  If they do, it’s obviously worth keeping the core and sacrificing the future.  But if they don’t win another championship with the current nucleus, a backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Tyreke Evans would have been a damn good place to start the rebuilding process.  That is, if the two players who both like the ball in their hands didn’t spontaneously self-combust.

I like the Celtics right now.  I really do.  But the thought of Tyreke Evans playing in Celtics Green — as impossible as it is now — is still intriguing, especially as he chugs along to a 20-5-5 Rookie of the Year season.

Tyreke Evans, widely considered the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, will not play tomorrow night against the Boston Celtics because of a concussion suffered March 19 against the Milwaukee Bucks. (NBA.com)

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans will miss the team’s next two games (at Boston 3/26, at Cleveland 3/28) and will be re-evaluated on Monday, according to President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

For the Celtics, it means the lone breather of their six-game homestand just got even easier, as the Kings should sorely miss Evans’ scoring and playmaking abilities.

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.

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “The Celtics are about to experience something completely different – a six-games-in-12-days homestand. ‘I don’t think any of us knows what that feels like,’ Ray Allen said of a stretch that begins tonight against Denver at the Garden. ‘We haven’t been home that long all year. Hopefully I can get my bags unpacked.’ Perhaps they can unpack some of what worked on their 2-1 road swing through Texas and Utah. The second half of Monday night’s frustrating loss to the Jazz aside, the Celtics showed some of the most promising signs yet that they are ready for a stretch run.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “So there is much at stake in this six-game stretch, with four opponents heading to the playoffs (Denver, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland) in addition to a difficult game against Houston and a tricky matchup with the young Kings. ‘It’s tough, but it’s at home,’ said coach Doc Rivers. ‘It would be a nice chance to reestablish us at home. We haven’t done that this year yet. We haven’t had a lot of rhythm at home, so we have a chance right now.’ The numbers at home are quite similar to the road numbers, hence the nearly identical records. The Celtics score almost 3 more points per game at TD Garden and allow opponents just 1.6 more points.”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “The Celtics’ play of late has squashed a number of the questions and concerns about them being too old to compete with the top teams. ‘Maybe for 82 games, people can say that … the Celtics are too old,’ Dallas guard Jason Kidd told CSNNE.com recently. ‘But when it comes down to it, they keep on winning. Come playoff time, you don’t look at age. You look at experience and understanding the situation.’ The Celtics’ situation is pretty clear – keep on winning. ‘We want to be greedy, especially this time of year,’ Pierce said. ‘Our goal is to win every game.’”

Peter May, ESPNBoston – “The Celtics looked tired against the Jazz. It was their third game in four days, and they had no response to the Jazz in the second half. The season-long bugaboos — turnovers, rebounding — surfaced again. The C’s lost to a very good team on the road. It happens. Only one Eastern Conference team — Atlanta — has won in Salt Lake City. So what does it all mean going forward? The mission statement continues to be ‘We just want to get better.’ Doc Rivers admits it sounds corny and that most people probably don’t believe him. Rivers still hopes that the team he had in November and December, the one before the injuries hit, can re-emerge.”

Greg Payne, CelticsBlog – “And now, as the C’s continue to gear up for the postseason, they are about to welcome in the Denver Nuggets, the Sacramento Kings, the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully the Celtics will welcome these clubs in with nothing short of a sincere sense of utter hostility. For, with the playoffs looming, it would be nice to see this club continue to fine tune its game, re-establish the roles of its essential players, and play with the same sense of bravado that they’ve displayed several times on the road this season. We applauded their efforts against the Rockets and Mavericks. That aggression, that intensity (particularly on the defensive end), and that sense of calm amidst their opponents’ respective runs – we all want to see more of it, for its what we expected to see all along.”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – [Nate Robinson said,] “I remember one time I was like 15 or 16 and I was in Oakland, California. There was this park where I grew up called Bushrod, it’s in north Oakland, me and my family took a little trip up to another park called Mosswood. It’s like rival parks and my family went up there and we played against another family. I remember we put the money in a hat, everybody put in five dollars. … We played for hat, played for the money. I remember this one big dude, my cousin threw me an alley-oop and I caught it and I dunked on him. I was screaming and yelling. He was like, ‘If you do that again, I’m doing to kick your butt.’ I was like, ‘Oh man.’ So I’m going through the game, I was scoring, and it was game point. My cousin who was on fast break, she threw another lob and dude goes up and I was like, ‘A. Do I catch it and dunk on him? B. Do I let the ball go out of bounds and I lose and my family beats me up?’ (laughs) I didn’t know what to do. So I just went with my first instinct, caught it, and I dunked on him again. We got the money and we ran home. They were chasing us (laughs), they were mad.’”

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

I didn’t used to be so skeptical about the Boston Celtics.  I had such confidence in them.  I believed in them, no matter the circumstance.  With all my heart.

Not anymore.  A simple three road wins in a row can’t change that.  Not against the Sacramento Kings, Kobe-less Lakers, and walking wounded Portland Trail Blazers.  Not when those three wins put them only 12-13 over their last 25 games, a span stretching back to to two days after Christmas.

Are the three consecutive wins a good sign?  Absolutely.  And I’ll admit to you that the Celtics looked every bit the team we hoped they’d be in last night’s undressing of Portland.  But I can’t believe the team they were last night is actually the team they are.  Not yet. Read more »

Eddie House isn't officially a Knick... yet. (Photo by Bill Frakes)

The Eddie House-for-Nate Robinson swap that has been rumored for days still isn’t a done deal, according to the Boston Herald. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal, but there’s a pretty good chance it’s going through,” said House’s agent, Mark Bartelstein.

A Celtics source said last night that talks would resume today.

For now, it all looks like the wait is for no other reason than to put the finishing touches on the deal.  Nate Robinson missed last night’s game with “flu-like symptoms”, but his locker has already been cleared out and there has been speculation to whether he’s already on a flight to L.A.

But the fact remains that the deal isn’t done and the talks might continue right through today’s deadline.  The Celtics are still considering trading Ray Allen or making at least one other trade besides Nate Robinson.

Via the Herald again:

And as in most businesses, negotiations can take longer than planned.

A Celtics source said yesterday there was a good chance that talks could stretch right up to today’s trade deadline. The Celtics also hadn’t closed the door on trading Ray Allen in a much bigger trade, though the source characterized the Celtics as reluctant to make such a deal.

The possibility also remains that the Celtics could make more than one trade before today’s deadline.

If the C’s ever do finalize this deal, which seems almost 100% likely, they might involve the Kings as a third team in the trade.  The two names almost certain to be involved in the deal are Eddie House and J.R. Giddens.  But don’t expect Kevin Martin to be part of the deal.  He’s already been traded away to Houston in a massive blockbuster including Tracy McGrady.

The Houston Rockets have reached an agreement in principle to acquire Kevin Martin from the Sacramento Kings, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The proposed deal has the Rockets sending Tracy McGrady, Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey to the Kings for Martin, Sergio Rodriguez, Hilton Armstrong and Kenny Thomas.

Two league sources tell Y! Sports the Kings are unsure whether they will keep McGrady or expand the trade to three teams and send him to the New York Knicks.

Despite the possibility that Nate Robinson will provide a spark to his slumping ballclub, Doc Rivers seems shook that the Celtics might be losing a core player from the championship year.

“I told him what was going on,’’ said Rivers. “I was honest with him. I did tell him if he didn’t want to practice, that’s fine.

“It’s easy for me to move guys around the exterior of our core. It’s very difficult for me to ever even think about touching anybody in our core. So if we do this, that in my opinion is what we’d be doing, and for me that’s a tough thing to do. But that’s life in the NBA.’’

“I also told him nothing’s done, and nothing is done. Eddie’s a part of our core, and he’ll always be part of that.”

If Doc feels that way about trading Eddie House, how’s he going to feel if Ray Allen gets traded?  Life in the NBA can be rough.

Keep checking the site throughout the day.  We’ll have plenty of updates coming your way, I’m sure.