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"The way we're playing shocks me," Rivers said. "Our attitude shocks me. We're just not ready to win any games right now the way we play, the way our approach is to basketball games. I told them that with about five minutes left. I said, 'If we win great, you find your own way.'
"Right now I just think we've become very, very selfish. Not as far as trying to get our own, but everything is about how we're playing individually instead of how the team is playing. You can see it, a guy struggles, he pouts, he moans. Everything is 'me, me, me' on our team right now. Feeling sorry for themselves instead of giving themselves to the team and playing."
That's the problem with a veteran team who has had a lot of success. They think they can do it their way.
Doc also mentioned how the guys "drop their heads" when the going gets tough. Is that when they quit? Is that when the say "screw this – this ain't the playoffs"??
Rivers is clearly annoyed. Scott Souza sensed it even before last night's debacle:
Then came Rivers’ pregame availability that was dripping with sarcasm for its entire six minutes. He dismissed most talk about Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal returning from injuries like those reports were from the boys who cried “Wolf!” He said of Shaquille O’Neal: “I’ve been saying one week for three weeks.” He said of Jermaine O’Neal: “He’s meeting us in Indiana (Monday). … He’s not going to play, but he’ll be in a suit on the bench. … He thinks he can practice.”
He even mocked the notion that Thursday’s workout – which he declined to speak with the media after – was this hard-nosed effort session some of the players had portrayed it as. When asked about Kevin Garnett supposedly not wanting to leave the court after practice, Rivers said he appreciated the sentiment, but qualified that at Garnett’s age he should know better.
Related links: CSNNE – Selfish Celtics looking out for 'me' | Globe – Big picture out of focus | No effort put forth in forth | Herald – No bracket, only a bust | WEEI – Rivers calls out Celtics |
On Page 2, Delonte West is in pain.
“I got out of house arrest this morning. I’ve got something to smile about,” he said.
But he’ll be carrying regret, too. The Celtics guard said last night he has a bone chip in his right ankle, stemming from a practice at UCLA on Feb. 27. Asked if he eventually will have to have surgery, West instead took a page out of the Shaquille O’Neal play-in-pain book.
West said he’s never had a cortisone shot before, but he’ll do it to stay on the floor in the playoffs.
“We’ll look at it in the next two weeks and then see,” he said after grimacing at the surgery question. “If it bothers me in the playoffs, we’ll do the cortisone shot.”
Herald – Delonte West suffering
You gotta love a guy who can joke about his house arrest.
As for the painful bone chip, Delonte is one tough bastard. He'll try to play through anything. I just hope he's still effective.
Related links: Globe – West still hobbled | CSNNE – West's injury plagued season continues | ESPN Boston – Ankle still bothering West |
The rest of the links:
Herald – Always a Celtic, Silas strolls down memory lane | CSNNE – Celtics drop 'should win' game | Marshall: Celtics need to focus | ESPN Boston – More struggles for Nads | WEEI – Pierce says 'hoo-rah' speeches won't cut it |
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