"That way to Chicago?"

Tom Thibodeau turned down an offer to be head coach of the New Orleans Hornets, and the Hornets quickly signed backup plan Monty Williams.

Meanwhile, Thibodeau set his sights on the one team he’s wanted to coach all along: The Chicago Bulls. It looks like Thibodeau will get his way. If a Chicago Tribune report is to be trusted, Thibs will soon be the Bulls’ head coach.

Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf spent part of Friday at the Berto Center, where sources said positive discussions about Tom Thibodeau continued with executive vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman and that a formal offer is expected shortly.

The Celtics’ associate head coach quickly emerged as the front-runner to succeed Vinny Del Negro as Bulls coach after Paxson and Forman flew to Los Angeles for a Wednesday night interview on the eve of the NBA Finals.

Two sources familiar with the Bulls’ thinking continued to paint the situation as Thibodeau’s job to lose and that an offer is expected to come this weekend.

Now that all this head coaching interview stuff is almost over with, can Thibodeau please get back to doing what he does best — preparing the Celtics to play lockdown defense against any opponent? After the Game 1 debacle, the Celtics could use a fully-focused Thibodeau concentrated on nothing but shackling Kobe Bryant.

Danny Ainge has been fined $25,000 for his towel toss the other night. (ESPN)

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for tossing a towel to try and distract Cavaliers forward J.J. Hickson as he shot a free throw. [...]

Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, fined Ainge for “an unauthorized distraction and for conduct detrimental to the game.”

Well that’s a mighty hefty price for a towel toss.  If you ask me, the NBA needs to get over itself and allow things like this to happen.  Wouldn’t the NBA be a better place if Mark Cuban could do jumping jacks to distract a player’s free throws, or that new Russian billionaire everyone’s all excited about could scream Russian obscenities at Lebron James for not signing with the Nets this offseason?

If I’m not mistaken — and I’m not — Bulls GM John Paxson shoved his own coach Vinny Del Negro and went completely unpunished.  Actually, it was Del Negro who ended up getting fired.  In my opinion, shoving your coach is a little more fine-worthy than throwing a towel in a 23-point blowout.  Maybe it’s just me, but Ainge’s M.L. Carr impersonation wasn’t that bad.  I just thought it was kind of funny.

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.

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “They’ll face either the Heat or the Bucks in the first round, Miami more likely to clinch the fifth seed with a game against lowly New Jersey tonight. Boston hosts Milwaukee tonight. A team pegged at the start of the season as one of the favorites to reach the Finals, the Celtics now find themselves as sort of a sleeper. ‘We made our bed and now we’ve got to lay in it,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘We’ve just kind of got to make the best out of it. I think our goals were a lot higher than this, but we’ll take it.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Let’s be honest: The Celtics should get past whoever emerges as the No. 5 seed, whether it’s the Miami Heat (most likely) or Milwaukee Bucks. Given Boston’s inability to string together consistent efforts, it might not be a cakewalk, but there’s little doubt Boston will advance. And the Celtics’ reward, barring the unfathomable, will be a meeting with soon-to-be Most Valuable Player LeBron James and the NBA’s only 60-win team. Win that series and all the troubles are forgotten. Lose and the 2009-10 season will be remembered as one of missed opportunities. The Celtics seemed resigned to their fate. ‘It is what it is,’ said Rivers. ‘I would like a three, two or one, but we didn’t get it. It’s going to be a tough series, whoever we play. We just have to be ready to play.’ Echoed Paul Pierce: ‘It is what it is. It looks like we’re probably going to play Miami. Either way, three or four [seed], it’s going to be a tough road. One game left, we have everybody healthy going into the playoffs, which was the No. 1 goal going into the season.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Garnett had 14 points and nine rebounds in just over 28 minutes. He also had two steals and two assists. ‘Everybody is trying to find some kind of momentum, rhythm, whatever you want to call it. I’m no different from that,’ Garnett said. ‘I’m just ready for it. I think everybody in here has been anticipating this for a minute. The regular season is what it is. But the playoffs is a whole other season. I’m up for it, looking forward to it.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “Interestingly, with 5:28 left and Rose in the midst of a 15-for-22 night from the floor, Rivers sent Nate Robinson in for a struggling Rajon Rondo, who didn’t complain afterward. ‘I couldn’t stop (Rose) tonight,’ said Rondo, who went 2-for-10 from the floor (four points) with six assists and five fouls. ‘It seemed like he was making every shot. (Rivers) had to make an adjustment. I wasn’t going offensively or defensively, so he made the right move.’ Rivers took part of the blame for Rose’s explosion, saying, ‘We should have trapped a little bit more maybe. You always second guess it at the end.’ But whereas the Celts wanted this game, the Bulls simply needed it more. ‘You knew if it came down to desperation we were in trouble,’ Rivers said. ‘I don’t care how mentally tough you are. When you have one team fighting for their lives and the other team that can play in the third or the fourth seed, you knew, no matter what, that would be tough.’”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘I’ll let Danny speak for Danny,’ Rivers said. ‘I’m not getting into it. Listen — and I’ve said this only about 50 times now — it’s for you guys to judge our team. And if you all want to make opinions about it, go ahead. “Yeah, if we were healthy all year, there’s no doubt 50 wins were not good enough. Even not healthy, we should have won more games. Having said that, what do you want me to do? Worry about that or get ready for tonight, tomorrow night, and the playoffs? I’ll let you guys keep saying whatever we didn’t do and all that stuff. This is what I know: If we win in the playoffs, you won’t be talking about that. If we lose in the playoffs, you’ll be talking about it.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston – “Pierce connected on 12-of-17 shots Tuesday for a team-high 28 points, this after scoring 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting in a win over Milwaukee Saturday. ‘That’s two games in a row that he was basically un-guardable,’ said Rivers. ‘Going into the playoffs, that’s the best timing we could have.’ Added Pierce: ‘I’m feeling good. My body is pretty much healed, this is exactly where I want to be at this point in the season. I feel like I’ve gotten into a nice groove offensively and that’s something we’re going to need going into the playoffs. I hope to keep it going and do the things necessary to help this team win.’”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – “Pierce stressed the importance of gritty D in the playoffs. ‘The key for us is going to have to be our defense,’ he said. ‘I told the guys we didn’t get one stop the last three minutes of the game. It doesn’t matter what I do offensively — I can help carry the team offensively but if we don’t get these stops, it’s going to be tough for us to win.’”

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports – “Chicago Bulls executive vice president John Paxson shoved coach Vinny Del Negro twice in the chest and had to be restrained in a postgame confrontation late last month, multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports. John Paxson (right) got into a physical altercation with Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro in March, according to sources. After a loss to the Phoenix Suns on March 30, an irate Paxson walked into the coach’s office at the United Center and confronted Del Negro over a narrow breach of a management-imposed minutes limit on injured forward Joakim Noah(notes). Sources said Paxson first grabbed a hold of Del Negro’s tie and seemingly tried to provoke him with two successive jabs into his chest. Paxson was even heard to angrily challenge Del Negro to a fight.”

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

Is it just me, or did young Kenny Anderson have a whole lot in common with Brandon Jennings?

But the similarities between the two lightning-quick lefties isn’t the part of this highlight reel that interests me the most.  That honor goes to the Vinny Del Negro sighting at 2:15 in the video.  I know exactly what Del Negro was thinking while he watched the soon-to-be-graduate Anderson jet by him:

“I can’t wait to become a head coach so I can burn as many timeouts as I want. Muahaha.”