The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “At that third-quarter juncture, the Celtics had just let Danilo Gallinari drain a 3-pointer from in front of their bench. Rondo, frustrated as he went to inbound the ball, pounded the ball in frustration, then committed an ugly turnover on the other end, sailing an entry pass over Kevin Garnett’s outstretched arms in the post. Rondo came back to the bench upset. Rivers took him out and put Robinson in. ‘He was struggling and that’s why I took him out,’ Rivers said. ‘He wasn’t really happy with it, but we don’t mind that. The bench makes everybody calm down. It always has, and he did. I asked him if he wanted to go back in and he did. He wanted to play, and you knew he would. It won’t be the last time. But my focus was on winning that game, and emotionally you always have to stay under control.’ Rondo came back in to start the fourth, drove hard through the lane, but planted awkwardly, spraining his ankle. ‘It hurts,’ said Rondo, who has missed four games with foot and hamstring issues. ‘But all ankle sprains hurt.’ He returned with 8:35 left in the game. ‘We needed him,’ Rivers said. ‘If Rondo couldn’t have come in, I thought we would have been in a little trouble.’ Rondo said he would have X-rays this morning and expects to play tonight against the Hawks. ‘Hopefully it doesn’t swell up,’ he said.” Read more »

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Generally speaking, a win over the now 7-15 Philadelphia 76ers is no great cause for exultation. But mix in a game-winning Rajon Rondo-Kevin Garnett hookup with 1.4 seconds left and the fact the battered Bostonians were playing on the second night of a back-to-back without their first three centers and — voila — you have a bunch of coaches and aging veterans jumping around as if they’d just won the state high school championship. ‘Truthfully I think this is one of our biggest wins of the year,’ said Paul Pierce after the Celtics’ ninth straight victory, a thrilling 102-101 decision. ‘With the injuries, with the mental and physical fatigue, we were just wondering how we were going to get through.’” Read more »

For a long time, I thought tonight’s game was irredeemable. There was no way the Celtics could make me sit through THAT much vomit-inducing play, and still leave me smiling by the end of the night. What I didn’t count on was a game-winning alley-oop from Rajon Rondo to Kevin Garnett. Doc Rivers, would you please take a bow?

As scintillating as the alley-oop was (and, really, the final two or three minutes were terrific television), tonight went pretty much as badly as a win possibly could have. I entered the night with two hopes: 1) Win an easy blowout, and 2) afford Rajon Rondo plenty of rest. So, naturally, the Celtics played a nail biter (at least they won) and Rondo played more than 47 minutes (at least he dominated). Minutes after the game, I’m still trying to figure out how the Sixers left Ray Allen wide open in the final minute. He’s only a month or so from becoming the most prolific three-point shooter in NBA history, guys.

It’s a testament to the Celtics’ talent and depth that we expect more (we expect a blowout, against Philly) even when the Celtics’ top three centers all sit out. In the middle, the Celtics were down to fourth-stringer Semih Erden and undersized power forward Glen Davis. When both got into early foul trouble, Marquis Daniels and Paul Pierce were forced into power forward duty. Still, even if Nate Robinson was playing center and my 12-year old brother were playing power forward, the C’s should have outrebounded Spencer Hawes and co. I’m coaching high school JV basketball this season, and I’m 100% positive my team would have outrebounded the Sixers. And our starting center can’t even jump and touch the rim.

Speaking of my JV squad, I spent today’s practice being mighty frustrated. We were practicing our defensive principles, the same way we have each day for the two weeks since practice began. Except today, the players decided to play like they hadn’t listened to a single thing we’ve taught them. “Basket line? What’s that?”, one player honestly asked me. To which I responded, “Umm, the same thing I’ve been teaching you about for two weeks, you stupid little shit.”

Okay, so I didn’t actually call one of my players a stupid little shit. I just wish I had. I really pulled him aside and explained, quite nicely and patiently, what basket line was. But inside I was heated. My players knew what they were supposed to be doing. They’ve been improving defensively every day since the start of tryouts. They simply chose today to throw a stinkbomb of epic proportions, and to pretend like they didn’t remember a God damn thing. What’s basket line? Seriously? Are you shitting me? I got home from practice today and spent twenty minutes complaining about my players’ defense. And nobody but me was even home. I was just sitting in my kitchen, mumbling to my dogs about this missed rotation, and that lack of hustle. I was a wreck.

THAT was kind of how I felt throughout most of tonight’s game. The Celtics forget what basket line was. They lost their defensive scruples. They pissed me off. But unlike my guys, who kept right on screwing up all practice, the Celtics left a good taste in my mouth at the end of the night.

In other news, did you see Kevin Garnett stick with Andre Iguodala in an isolation? Because I did. I also saw Glen Davis play inspired basketball; Paul Pierce get crossed over in crunch time; Nate Robinson heat up for a little while;  Von Wafer play some pretty decent minutes; and the Celtics shoot 56% on a bad night. Oh yeah, and Jodie Meeks did his thang. Do not give that man space.

The win streak now stands at nine, and somehow, someway, I actually came away from that mess in a happy mood.

*****

P.S. — For all you Luuuuuuukkkkkeeee fans, if Harangody couldn’t play meaningful minutes tonight (with three centers injured and Marquis Daniels playing the four), he never will. At the very least, not for a long, long time.

After the Celtics pulled away for a not-as-close-as-the-score-would-indicate 104-92 win, only one question remained: would Brian Scalabrine enter the game?

With just more than a minute remaining, Scal finally heared his number called. A little while later, a chorus of boos rained down from the rafters. No, the crowd didn’t despise Scal. There were no “Ass-hole” chants, and no signs saying “Quitness.” Nobody venomously chanted the name of a player who may or may not have slept with Scal’s mother. The crowd was upset for another reason — Scal had been called for a foul. Even now, Scal’s a fan favorite. As soon as the game reached garbage time, the crowd clamored for the red-headed assassin to play some minutes. And yes, I just called Scal an assassin.

Do you want to know the real reason I led this recap with a stupid Brian Scalabrine anecdote, rather than discussing a player who had an actual impact on the game? I didn’t know whether Rajon Rondo or Kevin Garnett should be the real lead, so I went with the number one rule of writing Celtics recaps — when in doubt, choose Scal. Okay, so I made that rule up just now. Sue me.

Garnett sent a simple message to the NBA: don’t piss off Kevin Garnett. Joakim Noah screwed up. He called Garnett ugly. He called Garnett a “very mean guy.” He demeaned Garnett to reporters, and the bad thing for Noah was this — Garnett was listening. Garnett, from the opening tip, had Noah in his crosshairs. Garnett has always been a vengeful person, someone who becomes motivated even if you just breathe on him the wrong way. He feeds on emotion, feeds on the feeling that someone has wronged him. Last year, he just couldn’t do anything about that emotion. Garnett would get all fired up to play, he’d bang his head on the basket support, and then — zoom — Kris Humphries would drive by him while Garnett limped behind.

This year, when Garnett gets fired up, he can actually do something about it. He wanted to teach Noah a lesson, and Garnett now has the ability to do it. He can now drop 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. No more limping. No more being overmatched by inferior opponents. Kevin Garnett is back to being Kevin Garnett, and that never ceases to be a beautiful thing. At this time last year, I thought KG would never recover. I thought he was all washed up. Just don’t tell him I said that. I don’t need him dropping a double-double on me in the first half.

As for Rondo? I take him for granted. It’s that simple. He makes the game look so easy.

Oh, a rebound is coming my way. Why don’t I just touch-pass it to Shaq before I even catch it?

Oh, look, Paul Pierce found a sliver of daylight underneath the hoop. Why don’t I just fire a no-look bullet of a pass, so he can make the easiest layup of his life?

Gee, Kevin Garnett’s man is fronting him. Why don’t I just lob a perfect pass over the top, leading Garnett into an easy dunk?

Whenever Rondo plays against Derrick Rose, the contrast between the two players couldn’t be more evident. Rose calls his own number a lot, while Rondo, well, doesn’t. Rose looks to attack, attack, attack, while Rondo probes the defense, searching for an open teammate the whole while. Rose doesn’t just jump; he coils his body in preparation for take-off. He is strong enough to bounce off defenders and maintain his balance, but fast enough to sometimes make Rondo look a little slow.

Rose can score against anybody, but Rondo just knows how to run an offense, in a way that Rose can’t yet, and might never be able to. If you judged a point guard simply by his mastery of his own offense, PGs don’t get much better than what Rondo has provided this season. Rose is great, even magnificent at times, and I would take him on my team any day. But for a team as stacked and deep as the Boston Celtics, I don’t know if I would want any point guard besides Rajon Rondo.

There were other things that happened, of course. Semih Erden was as useful as he has been in a while. Paul Pierce was briefly unstoppable in the fourth quarter. Rondo picked Rose’s pocket a couple times, and was dialed in the whole game. The Celtics scored 189 points in the paint (slight exaggeration) and out-rebounded the Bulls by ten boards (fact). Marquis Daniels dunked, which was odd. Shaq is large, Nate Robinson is not so large, and Von Wafer still loves to shoot.

Most importantly, Rasheed Wallace watched from the stands. Shockingly, he was not issued a technical foul and did not shoot any ill-advised three-pointers.

The play was ugly, the effort was slim, a few minutes remained in the first quarter, and the Celtics trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers — yes, the Lebron-less Cavaliers — 21-14. The second quarter was coming soon, which is normally bad, and part of the bench was already in the game, which doesn’t usually bode well for Boston. So, naturally, Rajon Rondo took over the scoring load and the second unit turned the game around.

Wait, huh?

Okay, so it wasn’t the C’s average formula for winning. It still worked. Rondo ended the game with a season high 23 points, to go along with 12 dimes, and the C’s avenged their earlier loss to the Cavs with a 106-87 win.

It was weird to see Rondo call his own number so often, but he was more aggressive going to the hoop than usual. He wasn’t settling for jumpers, for the most part. He was simply beating his man all the way to the hoop. It looked like he saw his teammates lollygagging through another road game, and said, “You know what, guys? Hop on my back, at least until you get your heads out of your asses.”

When Rondo started doing his scoring damage, he was surrounded by the second unit that has been much-maligned in recent days. But the reserves were splendid tonight, almost every single one of them. (Yes, the almost is mostly intended for Nate Robinson. I liked his eight points. The ten shots it took to score said eight points, not so much, even if all the shots were good looks.)

Marquis Daniels took advantage of good matchups and opportunities throughout the game. Doc Rivers upheld his vow to mix and match the first and second unit, and one of the units he concocted included Daniels as the shooting guard, alongside Pierce at small forward. With a small shooting guard (Boobie Gibson) defending him, Daniels was free to unleash his advanced post game. Gibson was no match for the array of herky-jerky up fakes Daniels offered, which Daniels only needed to utilize when his sheer size wasn’t enough. The braided, part-time rapper scored 16 points, another season high.

Also excelling on the bench was Glen Davis. That has become pretty normal, even if Rivers wasn’t thrilled with Davis’s production the last few games. Davis scored inside, he scored outside, and most importantly he didn’t force any bad shots. Of course, he didn’t need to force any bad shots — devouring Antawn Jamison was easy enough. It’s weird seeing Jamison now, but he used to be an All-Star. Even as recently as last season, he was supposed to be the key to a Cavaliers championship. Strange to think about now, no? I know Jamison’s not always as bad as he was tonight, but still. Alright, enough about Jamison — back to Davis. Ramon Sessions, Glen Davis does not allow you access to his kitchen.

Kevin Garnett notched a double-double, even though he didn’t play great. Shaq played like a man who didn’t practice any of the last three days, which he actually is. The Big Diesel made one beautiful touch pass, but also decided to conserve his energy defensively. On at least four occasions I noticed, Cleveland big men took jumpers while Shaq laid five or six feet off, with his hands by his side. Not too surprising, but not at all perfect.

Moving on, who else am I supposed to talk about? Ray Allen didn’t do much, but one floater he made was magnificent. Paul Pierce thought he was Dwight Howard for a little while. Semih Erden scored zero points and snatched only three rebounds, but still somehow pleased me, likely because of his two blocks and solid energy. There were even Luke Harangody, Avery Bradley and Von Wafer sightings, which was exciting if ultimately not very life-altering.

Also, it was sad to see the Lebron-less Quicken Loans Arena. I’m normally against arenas playing music during games, but Cleveland is an exception. Without music, the arena would sound like someone hit the mute button. The fans are THAT silent in there, or at least they were tonight. The deafening silence wasn’t just because the Cavs were blown out, either. Even when the Cavs started the game with a 12-4 run, you could have heard one of Ray Allen’s swishes from the nose bleeds.

Back to the Celtics, tonight’s win was a good one. Not against the best competition, granted, but the Celtics played well. The second unit started to hum a little, Doc Rivers may have found Marquis Daniels a new position, and the Celtics have now won four games in a row.

If it weren’t for the wedgie I’m currently experiencing, it would be difficult to complain about anything at all.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “But when examining the Shaq equation and how much he’s helped, be sure to factor in how much the Celtics are helping him. Even for a colossus like Shaquille O’Neal, fit is important, too. ‘I knew just from watching him over the last couple of years that he’d be great in our system,’ Paul Pierce said. ‘I just know the way we move the ball, the way we use picks and getting guys in the right situations that he’d be perfect for us. I just look at all the opportunities Perk has had, and I just said that Shaq would be fabulous in those spots. We get him the looks, and he’s just so great at finishing.’ That O’Neal is willing to play his greatest hits with less time on stage speaks to his grasp of the situation. He’s shooting his highest percentage while taking the fewest shots of his career at just 6.8 a game. ‘I had a conversation with (coach) Doc (Rivers) about this,’ Shaq said. ‘The bad thing for me in my career is that I’m going to be known for the 27-10s (points-rebounds). But, you know, you can’t get the 27-10s without taking 15-to-20 shots. ‘But Doc told me straight up, ‘Look, you’re not getting 15-20 shots.’ I said, ‘That’s cool. I understand. At 38, I understand.’ The drop-off is how I’m getting my points.’ Then Shaq added with a smile, ‘I still got it.’”

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “As the Miami Heat continue to stumble toward something that looks like mediocrity — at least in the win column — the comparisons to the first season of the Celtics big three have started again. The Heat are 9-8 and have lost four of five with a three-game losing streak in the mix. The 2007-08 Celtics had one three-game losing streak, in February on a west coast trip, and didn’t lose their eighth game until late January. In retrospect, the Celtics made it look too easy. They made it look so simple, so matter of fact, that by the end it seemed obvious. Kevin Garnett was not only the best defensive player in the league, he was also a selfless superstar. Not just willing to make the extra pass, but hardwired to always look for the open man. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce complimented each other perfectly as scorers off the wing, using different ways to attain the same means. Rajon Rondo turned out to be better than anyone dared to dream and Kendrick Perkins developed from a necessary piece of machinery into a defensive monster. But, in the end, talent wins out and putting Garnett, Allen and Pierce on the same team at this point in their careers was too perfect not to work. Only it wasn’t that simple. Yes, Pierce, Garnett and Allen were ready and willing to make the appropriate sacrifices to achieve this goal, but the point that gets missed is that they still had to actually do it. On the court and in practice, on the plane and in the locker room, they had to make the relationships work. What the Celtics knew, and what the Heat are finding out now, is that it takes more than talent to become a team.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “But with circumstances being what they are — Rajon Rondo playing with a sore left hamstring, Delonte West out indefinitely with a broken right wrist, and Celtics president Danny Ainge saying he doesn’t intend to make a roster move (the Celtics are more than $13 million over the luxury tax threshold) — Bradley may have to be an option. That said, he turned 20 Friday and he only has three full practices under his belt. His ability isn’t a question to coach Doc Rivers, but his handle on the system is obviously missing. Rivers said he probably knows “10 percent of what we know offensively or defensively. But he can play. ‘I think defensively, as a player, I don’t think he’ll be a good NBA player — I think he’ll be a great defensive guard,’ Rivers said. ‘I think he’s ready for that. But as far as our schemes, that’s a whole different subject. But Avery has a chance — and I don’t say this often with young guys — but he has a chance to be a lockdown defender, if there is something like that at the point guard spot.’ Rivers has made use of his rookies this season, leaning heavily on Erden with Jermaine O’Neal fighting knee problems, and going to Luke Harangody last week with the team in a pinch. ‘I have no choice,’ Rivers said. ‘The other night, I didn’t think we were going to have enough players the way we were going.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “The Boston Celtics’ bench players have been outscored by opposing reserves in eight of the team’s last nine games and 11-of-16 tilts overall. On Friday, the Celtics’ bench was outscored by a whopping 63-29 margin, and Boston’s four chief reserves (Glen Davis, Marquis Daniels, Nate Robinson and Semih Erden) were a combined minus-52 in plus/minus on a night Boston’s starting five was a combined plus-96. A bunch of statistics aren’t needed to tell why this is happening. The Celtics have been playing shorthanded essentially since the start of the season, and the bench hasn’t been able to develop any consistency or rhythm.”

Jessica Camerato, CSNNE – “Some 19-year-old rookies could have been intimidated walking into a locker room and seeing the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Others could have tried too hard to prove themselves. Not Avery Bradley. Growing up in the Bradley home, the most important rule was respect. Avery Bradley Sr., a high-ranking Army official, wanted his son to have respect for others, whether they were his elders, his family, or his peers. Even if the younger Bradley didn’t always understand it, his father’s message stuck. ‘I thought it was just my dad being mean all time, but I guess it was for a reason because it made me a good man today,’ he said. ‘I’m respectful to people and I give it all to him because when I was young, he always wanted us to be respectful and give our all with everything we did. Still to this day, that’s what I do.’ … ‘That attitude translated on to the basketball court. Bradley won a national high school championship and was ranked the top high school player in the country in 2009. After just one season at the University of Texas, he was selected by the Celtics with the 19th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. ‘Every time I’d go out, I would really compete,’ he said. ‘I guess I got it from my dad because the Army is so competitive. They’re so serious about everything, so that was my approach when I played sports. I would take everything seriously because that’s how everything was in my household.’”

Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.