Because it’s the offseason, and news is slow, Dime Magazine came out with the  NBA’s 5 best Pentrating Point Guards list. Naturally, Boston Celtics stud point guard Rajon Rondo made the list. In no particular order, the list also includes Tyreke Evans, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, and Deron Williams.  Here’s what Sean Sweeney had to say about Rondo: (Dimemag.com) Read more »

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.

One goal.

Chris Broussard, ESPN – “And while Davis muscled in layups over Lamar Odom, while Wallace drained a 3 and suffocated Gasol on defense, while Tony Allen covered Kobe like a rash and Robinson hopped around like an over-caffeinated break-dancer, Garnett, Pierce and Rondo rooted them on as if wearing skirts and cheer shoes. They stood, they shouted, they pumped their fists. Heck, they looked like high school scrubs just happy to be on the squad. ‘Just think about it,’ Tony Allen said. ‘Kevin Garnett’s telling you, ‘Good job, keep going!’ That’s big for a blue-collar guy like myself. That’s why I love Kevin Garnett.’ [...] ‘It feels like we’re in somebody else’s neighborhood and we’re gonna have to fight to get out of it,’ Garnett told them passionately. ‘We gotta fight, we gotta fight, we gotta fight to get out of this neighborhood.’ ‘He meant it’s going to take all of us to do this,’ Tony Allen said. ‘That for us to reach our ultimate goal, it’s going to take all of us. This whole year, he’s been talking about team, team, team. He always says something that makes you sit back and think, ‘Ah yeah, he meant everybody.” ‘We just try to keep it team,’ Perkins said. ‘Obviously, we’ve got the future Hall of Famers and we’ve got Rondo, an All-Star who had a great year. But we keep it one goal, one team. Doc does a great job making sure everybody stays doing their roles, not caring who gets the credit. All of them preach that, especially KG. He don’t like it when they say it’s ‘The Big Three’ or ‘The Big Four.’ He likes it when it’s team. That’s all he preaches is team.’”

Steve Buckley, Boston Herald – “Does Andrew Bynum really believe the Lakers ‘choked’ Thursday night? He spoke the word so casually while speaking with reporters early yesterday at the Garden that it’s possible not everyone heard it. But, yep, there it was. When the 7-foot Lakers center was asked about his team’s 96-89 loss to the Celtics [team stats] in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, he said, “We had the lead and we kind of, so to speak, choked. We had the lead going in (to the fourth quarter), 12 minutes to go, and we gave up a run . . . and we couldn’t do anything about it.” Imagine Kendrick Perkins saying that about the Celts, or Kevin Youkilis reacting to a Sox loss by staring into the cameras and proclaiming, ‘We choked.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “Asked moments earlier the best way to get him going, Pierce joked, ‘Just get me the ball, like Keyshawn Johnson.’ He forgot the ‘damn’ for authority.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “If the Celtics are indeed a title team, they have to maintain home court and put the pressure on the Lakers. ‘Another must-win situation on Sunday,’ center Kendrick Perkins said. ‘I think it’s getting close to that time, we’ve got to go all out. There are three games left — however you want to look at it — we’ve got to go all out.’ A team that struggled at home throughout the regular season needs to capitalize on its home-court advantage one final time. TD Garden has been a haven in the postseason and the Celtics have won every big game there, but they have played uneven in two games against the Lakers. The issue has been the offense. The Celtics have played splendid defense this series, save a couple of stretches in Game 1 and the Derek Fisher-led fourth quarter in Game 3. The series could very well be decided tomorrow and the Celtics have to bring that same desperation from the fourth quarter of Game 4 into the next game. ‘I think we’ve got to get [this] one,’ Rondo said. ‘Whoever is going to win this series is going to have to win two in a row eventually. So last home game of the year, we’ll try to go out with a win.’”

Ron Borges, Boston Herald – “Yet as a group, the Big Three have been a big zero as a united front against the Lakers thus far. That is not to say individually they haven’t had their moments but the three of them have yet to play their best at the same time. Tonight is the night for them to do it because that would not make the Celtics difficult to beat. It would make them impossible to beat. ‘It definitely would help,’ Garnett said. ‘If you look at this series I don’t think there’s been a point where all three of us have had huge games. There’s never been a situation where it’s been multiple. It’s a bit frustrating, to be honest.’ It is time for Garnett’s frustration to end and the Lakers’ to begin. It is time for the Big Three to play like they are still big and still three. Not for a quarter. Not for a half. For 48 wild-eyed minutes.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘You just can’t predict it, man,’ Pierce said as the captain and the rest of the C’s prepared for tonight’s Game 5 at the Garden against the Los Angeles Lakers. ‘You can’t predict how guys are going to shoot. You can’t predict how guys are going to play from a night-in, night-out basis. There’s really no way I can really answer that. I mean, it’s a different type of game. Teams have their scouting reports and some of the things they want to take away from us each and every night. Some guys more than others. So it’s hard to predict the other team’s game plan and what they want to give and what they want to take away. As far as having a great game from all of us, it’s real unpredictable.’ So unpredictable, in fact, that it has formed a pattern. At least one of the top four offensive options has disappeared in each of the first four games, including Allen (3-for-8 in Game 1), Garnett (six points in Game 2), Allen again (0-for-13 in Game 3), Pierce (5-for-12 in Game 3) and Rajon Rondo [stats] (5-for-15, three assists in Game 4). The offensive blend that emerges in Game 5 will depend largely on the Lakers’ defensive scheme. ‘Well, you just hope it comes together,’ Rivers said. ‘Both teams were really good defensively, and they’re going to take something away from you. You know, I think the willingness of our guys, and I think it’s stuck on trying to get that going and just go to the next part of it, is actually more important as far as I’m concerned. You know, it would be great if all three and Rondo and everyone got it going in one game. I’d feel very good about that game if that happens. We’re certainly going to try.’”

Mike Petraglia, WEEI – “‘We have the quickness and the size to defend this team,’ Odom said. ‘If we communicate, we’ll be alright. It wasn’t like they scored 125 points or anything like that.’ Time will tell if those words are enough to bring out more masks or spark more chants directed at his wife Khloe Kardashian. Odom can’t control that but he, like Bynum before him, said the Lakers need to control Glen Davis and Nate Robinson better. The pair, before their Shrek and Donkey routine after Game 4, combined to score 30 points off the bench. ‘Even with Glen Davis getting going and a couple of their other guys getting going, it wasn’t a barn-burner for them offensively,’ Odom said.”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “The Celtics wanted to negotiate a contract extension with Rajon Rondo last fall, but the skinny point guard suddenly became Glen Davis with pockets full of lead. He wasn’t budging. He and his agent had decided that Tony Parker money (five years, $55 million) was fair and just. Period. Call us back when you agree. The Celtics had hoped for something more moderate, but they eventually capitulated, and were pleased at the time to get Rondo locked in. Now, on the precipice of a summer free agent period that will resemble the California gold rush, they are even happier. Rondo, 24, would have been a restricted free agent, meaning the Celtics could have matched any offer. But they would have had to strike a large match. Said one NBA general manager, ‘You’re looking at a max-type guy in Rondo right now.’ ‘You know,’ said ]Rondo’s agent] Duffy, ‘the agent has a responsibility, in my estimation, to keep the player in a good situation and in the right environment. I felt comfortable with that figure. I still feel comfortable with it, even in light of the circumstances. And the way that that went down will benefit him in the long term, as well. You know, he’s the Boston Celtics’ starting point guard. He’s potentially a two-time NBA champion. You can’t ask for more than that. He could have been a free agent and gone to one of the worst teams in the league, then all of a sudden two years from now, he’s like, what am I doing here? What happened? You’ve got to keep that in consideration also.’ Rondo shrugged it off, but he raised another point when he said, ‘I didn’t want to be greedy. I’m blessed. I’m in a good situation, and I wanted to keep that.’”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “Glen Davis isn’t getting ahead of himself after scoring 18 points in Game 4. He understands his job on the team and is more focused on fulfilling his role than living up to any expectations set by his performance. ‘It’s not my job to go out there and score points,’ he said. ‘So [when people say] he’s not going to do that again, if I have to do it again, I will. But I’m not the primary scorer on the team. I’m not the go-to guy in the clutch. I’m just a guy that goes out there, don’t have no plays called for me, just goes out there and plays the game like it’s supposed to be played, and that’s all will and determination to get the game won. So if I don’t score at all next game, I know my effort and just the will to win will be there. And that feels even greater to me, especially if we get the win.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN – “Could the free throw woes, along with the presence of bigs like Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard, be affecting his ability — and, more importantly, his desire — to go to the basket? ‘I’m always likely to go to the basket,’ a defiant Rondo said Saturday. ‘I’m going to the basket, regardless of Bynum, Dwight Howard or whoever’s down there.’ But even his coach said the free throw troubles might have subconsciously given Rondo pause, even if just temporarily. The Celtics are working on both the mental and physical aspects of his free throw shooting. ‘We’re going to work on it,’ Rivers said. ‘He knows what he’s not doing, we know what he’s not doing. Last summer [assistant coach] Armond [Hill] went down [and] I went down and watched him and [former NBA standout] Mark [Price] work on it. There’s certain things that he has to do. Clearly the first two he was — nothing that he can be taught, I can tell you that, he fell away, his elbow was out. The first one you could see it right away. So we’ll get it back. But then the confidence part has to come back as well. I will say this: I was really proud of him because I thought in [Game 3] when he missed a couple, he stopped driving, and that’s what happens when you miss free throws and then you don’t want to get fouled anymore. I thought [Thursday] night [in Game 4], he kept taking it to the basket, and for me that was huge. That’s a good sign for him.’”

Gary Dzen, Boston Globe – “”I think a lot of people for years have felt like any team Ron is on doesn’t have a chance to win because he’s going to mess it up,’ said Fisher. ‘If anything he’s done a great job of putting us in that position. We’ve found Ron to be a great teammate and a guy who has made as much or more of a sacrifice than anybody on our team this season….I think if we can win this thing that will answer the question of whether Ron Artest is misunderstood.’ Artest’s reputation as a team-killer comes mostly from comments he’s made or things he’s done off the court, but the Lakers forward hasn’t had a banner Finals on the court, either. Artest is averaging eight points on 32-percent shooting during the Finals. With Ron’s role, and the teams he’s usually been on, this is vastly different from what he’s been asked to do for his team,’ said Fisher. ‘He’s continued to have the right attitude about just finding ways to fit in. We’re trying to push him and encourage him to just be himself. And at the same time recognize that we have a system of doing things and a way of doing things that is supposed to provide those opportunities. Some of it is just, we haven’t done everything as a team where it makes it easier for everybody to just play their game, and not necessarily have a bust-out game but a game where you have five or six guys in double figures. We’ve struggled in those games where Kobe’s had to carry the load.’”

Broderick Turner, LA Times – “When told Lakers Coach Phil Jackson joked Friday that he was thinking of using an ‘electrode’ as a way to stimulate Odom’s play, Odom didn’t smile or respond. He stared ahead. He was told Jackson said Odom looked uncomfortable in Game 5. ‘No, I’m comfortable,’ Odom said.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘[Glen Davis has] matured more than anything, and he’s still maturing,’ Rivers said. ‘He still has a ways to go. But I think he’s becoming more comfortable in his own skin. He accepts who he is. The incident that happened at the beginning of the year was not the best thing for him or our team, and I wouldn’t want it to happen to any other player. But in some ways, it may have helped him understand that he had to mature now. I think he also understood that the team was not going to wait for him. We were going to move on. And when he came back, he didn’t immediately play, and I thought that all that probably in some way helped him.’ People assume maturity is somehow microwaveable, that in the nine months since the fight, Davis has grown into that man he said he wanted to become. Has he learned? Yes. Has he changed? As much as anyone could in nine months. ‘I’m sure he probably wouldn’t make that mistake again,’ Rondo said. ‘But he’s still Big Baby.’”

Monique Walker, Boston Globe – “‘As much as we want Andrew and need him, we at the same time don’t want him doing anything that’s going to jeopardize the rest of his career,’ veteran guard Derek Fisher said. ‘He’s a young and extremely talented player and has a very bright future ahead of him. So everybody wants to take one for the team and do everything that they can, but we don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt him later. Based on the information that he’s getting and doctors and everything, if he’s comfortable, then of course we’d love to have him out there, even in a limited fashion, whatever it is. He’s been limited the whole postseason. But he still found ways to be effective for us. And if he’s out there, just his size and length around the basket can help us out a great deal, particularly on the boards.’ Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said the team is keeping Bynum’s health in mind in the final week of the series. ‘It’s our understanding that the injury is something that really can’t turn into something that’s career-threatening and it’s a decision he was in the loop with and he wanted to try to play,’ Kupchak said. ‘Our doctors won’t let him do something that we don’t think is in the best interest of the organization in the long run. So it’s all right.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Mal Graham, who was a second-year guard, recalls the meeting called by player-coach Bill Russell on the eve of the ’69 Finals against the Lakers. ‘Before the series Russ told everyone, ‘OK, keep your mouths shut,’ ‘ said Graham, a Boston judge. But there was one particularly roguish character beyond even Russell’s control. ‘We get out there and it was in all of the LA papers,’ Graham said. ‘There’s Red (Auerbach) quoted saying, ‘When it comes to the playoffs, everyone is scared of us.’ ‘”

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.

Manu did a lot. Ray did not.

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “‘I think the start of the third quarter kind of tore the game away,’ said Shelden Williams. ‘We kind of got robotic in the second half and couldn’t come back.’ The Celtics used to be robotic in the third quarter, in a good way. That’s no longer the case. And of all the trademarks this team needs in order to maintain a championship level, third-quarter competitiveness could be the most important.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “The Celtics are in the middle of a six-game homestand, with Oklahoma City, Houston, and Cleveland on tap. Having gained a sense of consistency in the past month, they didn’t view last night’s loss as a momentum-killer, but more as a throwaway. ‘You trip up a little bit here, but what we’re doing, the mission that we’re on doesn’t change,’ said Allen. Or as Rondo succinctly put it, ‘Scratch this one.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Paul Pierce initially collapsed, much to the horror of the crowd, after taking a Manu Ginobili elbow to his right shoulder with 5:59 left in the third quarter. The captain stayed in the game and made 1-of-2 during that trip to the free throw line. He’s not concerned. ‘It’s a little sore,’ Pierce said. ‘It’s a stinger. I got some numbness down the right side of my arm, but hopefully it doesn’t get any worse.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “But then the Celtics were awful last night. They were outscored by five in the second quarter and by 16 in the third as Manu Ginobili took them apart. The Spurs began getting to virtually every loose ball. The Celts seemed sound asleep while their guests were kicking sand in their faces on the way to a 94-73 loss. It is the kind of stuff that will send them home early from the postseason. With nine games and a little more than two weeks left in this fall turned winter turned spring training, it is impossible to predict with any certainty what this team will do once push comes to playoffs.”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘When you’re down by 20 with two minutes to go against San Antonio, you pretty much know,’ said Paul Pierce. ‘The way they played is the way we usually play, and we just got an old-fashioned butt whupping. They came out with more of a sense of urgency in the second quarter – just the extra effort plays. They had us on our heels most of the second half.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “The Celtics did a decent job on Tim Duncan (8 points, 9 rebounds over 26:31), but Rivers said the team had no answer for Ginobili. ‘Oh, I could look at the box score before the game and say, ‘I would take that on their end.’ Except for Ginobili, he said. “When Ginobili has points and assists they usually win. And 28.7 assists is a great indicator for them. That means his hand print [is there and] Ginobili dominated this game. All the loose balls that he kept alive, that he didn’t get credit for, defensive plays — I thought he single-handedly was the will of the game. And then Blair just followed in. But once you get a chance to beat a team on the road, and a team like us, your energy does go up. And you can see that with them in the fourth quarter. It was going to be tough to turn it around.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Popovich has the same issues as Celtics coach Doc Rivers. He has to preserve his veterans for the postseason, season his youngsters, and fight for playoff seeding simultaneously. Popovich accomplished all three last night. George Hill (15 points) is turning into quite a player with Tony Parker out with a broken right hand. Ginobili wore out the Celtics with 28 points, and he was two steps into the paint before any Celtic reacted. ‘Playing against the Spurs, you know, it’s the extra pass,’ Rivers said. ‘You’re not going to beat them off the bounce. And it seemed like we were hellbent in trying to do that. And it’s like [Popovich] said before the game to me, ‘You’re not going to beat the Celtics off the bounce.’ And they didn’t. They moved the ball. They kept swinging it, kept passing it. They did what we were supposed to do.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Playing against Finley for the first time since letting him go, Popovich made two things clear: the matchup was not with Finley alone, and that there are no hard feelings. ‘I don’t blame him a lick,’ Popovich said. ‘He’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever coached, but he wanted to keep playing. He didn’t want to sit on the bench for the rest of the season. There’s nothing wrong with that. He wanted to play.’”

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