Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
The players credit head coach Doc Rivers, who apparently stressed the importance of roles during the team’s Friday morning shootaround. Rivers didn’t discuss the meeting after the game — the players alluded to it after his press conference was already over — but he apparently lined up his entire team and, man-by-man, went down the line and reasserted to everybody what their respective roles are. It was a sequence that really resonated with the players and it showed on the court Friday night.
“Each guy is finding their role,” said Rondo. “Doc had a speech today about guys’ roles and I think tonight showed what guys took from it. A lot of guys responded well from it. You can go another way, but everyone in this locker room took it very well.”
Kevin Garnett was quick to echo Rondo’s thoughts.
“Doc kind of set us aside as a group today and kind of broke us down as a team and what he was expecting from each individual, and I thought it was very helpful,” he said. “It kind of clarified the air on guys’ responsibilities, roles, etcetera. And we came out and played like it. There wasn’t any hesitation on anything, guys played with confidence, played together, and there’s always that question mark of consistency, so we have to see if we can ride this momentum for a while.
ESPN Boston: Doc to C’s: Know your role
Nice to see Doc channeling The Rock in his pre-game and practice speeches. I hope that behind close doors, he also calls Jason Collins a “jabroni” and, when he’s stretching, gives him “the people’s elbow”
It’s a lot like I was saying last night on the Celtics Talk Radio podcast when I was talking about the C’s pick-and-roll defense. When guys trust each other and just do their jobs… they’ll be a pretty good defensive team. If they’re worried about doing other people’s jobs… then everything breaks down because, ultimately, no one is doing his own job.
That, more than anything else, is the Celtics problem. If everyone just does his job, and gets better at the job that’s been asked of him on this team, then this team will get much better. These guys have to remember, they’re not on Houston, or Dallas, or Atlanta or anywhere else anymore. They’re in Boston. Whatever your job was is part of history. Do your job now.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston: Origin story: Why JET lets it fly | CSNNE: C’s courtside club: Giving back | C’s finding out more to Barbosa than offense | WEEI: Jeff Green: Being aggressive turns out to be his niche | Why Terry thrives on closing games | Herald: Celts savor benchmark win | Sullinger seeing red | Globe: C’s need their bench to spell veteran stars
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