Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The Celtics have lost three straight games, and sound perpetually exhausted. After teasing themselves as well as their fans with a 3-3 western road trip that hinted at improvement, they are back to their old habit of slow starts.

Yesterday they put a 31-point first half on the board that was only a point better than their season low. A brief saving grace was Miami’s 44-point slog over the same stretch.

The Celtics rediscovered their defensive energy, tied the game at 55-55 with 2:42 left in the third on two Marcus Thornton free throws, but never took the lead.

Thus their exhaustion. The Celtics expend their best energy simply trying to get back into games, and generally don’t have enough left to finish.

Coach Brad Stevens was reportedly a bit angrier than usual at halftime. His players understand why.

“Just because the last two games in this building, after coming in off the road trip, we should have won,” said rookie point guard Marcus Smart. “But we just didn’t compete in the first half. We can’t wait for the crowd or coach Stevens at halftime to try and get us going. The teams we play are coming out from the get-go with energy. This is very disappointing. As coach keeps saying, we don’t have any more mulligans.”

Boston Herald – Injury-depleted Celtics hurt by sluggish start

The Celtics, injury-riddled and coming off a pleasantly surprising 3-3 road trip that triggered a brief identity crisis among green teamers, players and John Hollinger’s playoff odds, have come crashing back down to earth over the last half-week. That earth just happens to be made out of ping pong balls.

Get used to it. The Celtics are now closer to the bottom five of the standings than they are to the Eastern Conference 8-seed.

The Cs really struggled to find their offense over the weekend, with yesterday’s effort against a team at the bottom of the playoff standings in the east, ostensibly a team the Celtics could catch. They’re banged up and desperately need one of their building blocks to assert himself as a steadying force night in and night out (more on that on Page 2).

This week offers a pair of home/away, back-to-backs for a tired, banged up squad, with the first three games coming against teams with  losing records. If the Celtics win, say, three of four, they’d be right back in the mix for the 8-seed, which is so ridiculously absurd when you think about the quality of ball from over this past weekend.

It’s been hard to question the Celtics’ effort this season, in fact, it’s been something to applaud and recognize. Coming off a disheartening homecoming weekend, this last full week before the all-star break should tell us plenty about the players’ intent for the rest of the season.

On Page 2, What’s going on with Jared Sullinger?

For Sullinger, being late was simply not a good look. While he is only 22, Sullinger is one of the most veteran members of this team, his three-season tenure trailing only Avery Bradley and Brandon Bass. He is essentially a veteran presence, and when he arrived late, Stevens had to assert that it would not be tolerated in a locker room full of impressionable young players.

Ever since the Celtics overhauled their roster and dealt away both Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, one could make a case that Sullinger is Boston’s most talented remaining player. If nothing else, he has the potential to be the best player on this rebuilding team and this should be an opportunity for him to assert himself as a focal point.

Unfortunately for Sullinger, his transgression Sunday came at a time when he’s struggling on the court. During the 16 games in January, Sullinger couldn’t find his touch from the perimeter (21.3 percent beyond the 3-point arc), had consistency issues on the defensive end and finished minus-56 in plus/minus (a particularly jarring number when you consider what a plus/minus darling Sullinger typically has been, including being plus-21 over the first two months of the season).

ESPN Boston – Never to late for Sullinger to step up

First, let’s defend Jared Sullinger.

He’s being asked to defend taller 4s and even 5s and is unsurprisingly struggling against them on the defensive end. He’s being asked to carry a pretty large offensive burden due to the stripping of this roster and the injury to Kelly Olynyk. He probably isn’t ever going to become Kevin Love 2.0, as many fans began postulating last year. Those expectations are not fair. It’s hard to be tabbed as a leader of a team when you’re only in your third year as a pro.

Now, the case against Sully.

It seems as though the defensive struggles are just as much about a lack of effort. Gorgui Deng, Donatas Motiejunas and Hassan Whiteside have enjoyed some of the best performances of their careers over the last three games. On offense, Sully’s completely lost his long-range stroke, and it may have cost the Celtics the game against Houston (0-3 from deep in the 4th quarter). Regardless of his ceiling as a pro, Sully is looked at as part of the Celtics’ future. He’s the last guy that Eddie Paladino calls during his pre-game introductions and he spent a year on the roster of a Celtics’ playoff team in 2012. So, to show up late to a Sunday morning practice is unacceptable. He then let it affect his performance, and it isn’t hard to deduce that his crappy play as of late may have influenced his being tardy.

Let’s see if Sully can put this past month and past weekend behind him, because like it or not, if this team becomes competitive again, he’ll be a major part of it (whether through a trade haul or his play).

And Finally, Congrats to the Patriots

“(Belichick is) an unbelievable coach and he’s done an unbelievable job throughout his entire tenure. I think he’s one of the guys that people across sports look up to,” Stevens said before Sunday’s loss to Miami. “I think when you talk about people in basketball like that, you probably talk about the Popoviches of the world. He’s in that. Basketball people look at Belichick like people across other sports probably look at Pop.

“I just think it’s an incredible thing what they’ve accomplished over time. It’s incredible that they’re back in that moment again and playing as well as they have throughout the entire year.”

Mass Live – Brad Stevens: ‘Incredible’ what Bill Belichick, New England Patriots have accomplished

Brad goes on to state that while he’s exchanged texts with BB, he’s never met him. Please, Brad, go have dinner with the greatest coach of all time and take copious notes.

On the night that Belichick and Tom Brady won their first super bowl against the Rams, the Celtics defeated the Clippers 104-91. The Clippers were lead by 27 and 15 from Michael Olowokandi and got 10 off the bench from Darius Miles. Antoine Walker had 27 to lead the Cs.

If that doesn’t put into context the longevity of the Belichick/Brady reign, I guess you’re just not that big of an NBA junkie.