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morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here…
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“Execution tonight was awful – I mean, it was awful,” said the
Celtics coach. “Out of timeouts guys were running to the wrong spots,
walking to their spots. We played with this swagger – this losing
swagger.
“It’s one thing to have the winning swagger where you go out and you
feel great about your team,” he said. “And then there’s another thing
when you just show up and you think the other team’s going to lay over
and fall over because you’re the Celtics.”
Herald – Celtics Day of Reckoning
“Sometimes,’’ said Perkins. “You win
a couple games in a row, you tend to just have this swagger like you
can just walk on the court and just win games.’’
Trying to explain it, the buzz words were “urgency’’ and “execution’’ and “energy’’ or the lack of it.
“The
ball for some reason stopped,’’ said Kevin Garnett, who led the Celtics
with 21 points. “I think our energy [stunk] all night. I think we could
have done a better job of having energy out there.’’
Globe – Celtics Roll to a Stop
Besides DESERVING this loss, I realized about 6 minutes into Q4 that the Cs NEEDED TO LOSE THIS GAME.
They've gotten cocky. They think they're invulnerable. They think they
can mess around, play sloppy, terrible basketball, and still walk away
with a win. Not so, boys, not so. And you should know better by now.
Since you've forgotten… he's a reminder. You lose. To Philly.
These are the eloquent words of Red's Army reader DRJ, posted after last night's loss. As you can tell by reading the quotes from Doc, KG and Perk, DRJ was right on the money.
We best resign ourselves to these types of losses. Despite the fact this team LOST in the playoffs last season, the guys play with the confidence of a repeat champion. We can only hope these lapses don't cost the team home-court advantage or gulp, a playoff series.
On page 2, Doc's reaction to the Rasheed Wallace ejection.
Asked if he was disappointed in the
ejection, Rivers replied: “Yeah, I am. I’m disappointed when anybody
gets thrown out of a game. You know, whether he’s right or wrong
doesn’t matter – you’ve got to control yourself to stay in the game.
But he didn’t. And I didn’t – I wasn’t going to try to stand there and
talk him out of it. He’s a grown man. And, you know, at some point,
it’s him – he understands his value to this team, and his teammates
understand his value to the team, and I think, at some point, that’ll
get to him.
“Listen, I can
[talk to Wallace]. And I will a little bit. But, I’m not going to have
a summit, I can tell you that. It’s too early. He’s been doing it a
long time. He’s an expert at it. But we knew that when we got him, and
I still love him. I think he’s great, he’s been great for our team, but
he’s going to have some of these days.’’
Globe – Wallace Ejection Costly
Wallace did not comment after the game. This is who he is. There will be no change in Wallace.
The rest of the links:
WEEI – A Sheed-Less Loss | WEEI Contest Winner Hits $50K Shot | Herald – Ref Leaves Sheed T'd Up and Off | No Green Fight on Friday Night | Globe – Quis Shooting for Feb. Return | ESPN Boston – Road Sweet Road | At Home Celtics Too Comfortable | LA Times – Gasol Agrees To Extension |
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