None of the guys on this new Sports Illustrated cover will be playing when the Celtics wrap up their regular season tonight. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will be around town, but they won’t be at The Garden
At the event, Pierce talked with Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News and confirmed that he will not be playing in Wednesday night’s preseason game against theBoston Celtics — neither will Kevin Garnett — but he did say he will be making the trip to Boston to “enjoy” some of his “favorite restaurants.” He then said he will not attend the game.
We knew they wouldn’t be there, but now we know they’ll be in the city. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them show up at the World Series game.
I know we all have a little bit of a Nets obsession right now (and maybe, for some people, the whole season), but Danny Ainge says everyone involved is moving on.
“I think that we’re already there,” Celtics president Danny Ainge said on the phone this week. “I think they’re there and we’re there. They’re moving forward and they’re expecting to win a championship, and we’re moving forward in our direction.”
That direction is the dreaded “r” word, as in “rebuilding.” Ainge has done it before, and he has no compunction about doing it again — even though he’s aware there are no guarantees it will work out as famously or as quickly this time around.
“I don’t know exactly how much pain there will be, but I think that another thing that this time gives us an advantage is the fact that we have a lot more draft picks and better young players as we start this process,” Ainge said. “Ownership, management and coaching communication is great, so that’s huge that we’re all on the same page.”
Some fans will hate Ainge for where the Celtics are right now, but I’m with the “moving on” mentality. I’ll shed my sports tears for Pierce in January when he returns, but other than that, I’m focusing on the now. The team will be bad, but that’s necessary to later become good.
Meanwhile, one former Celtic is making a return tonight.
Total guess, but thinking tonight’s starting five will be Livingston, Terry, Anderson, Evans & Blatche.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) October 23, 2013
That’s right, Jason Terry will be there tonight. I wonder what kind of reception the 15 people who attend will give him. Basically, this game will be a way to root out those few Bostonians who don’t care for baseball or the Red Sox.
If you DO care about the Red Sox, be sure to check out our Sox blog TedsArmy.com, and follow @TedsArmy on Twitter (hey, it’s never a bad time for some self promotion, right?)
As for the Celtics, expect them to take the game a little more seriously. Whatever lineup they throw out there will likely be the opening night lineup. This will be a bit of a tuneup for the opener, and after Gerald Wallace called them out, I’d expect them to go out with the intent to not lose to the Nets scrubs. I expect the Celtics to come out and play harder than they have, and actually win this game.
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