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.
After spending a week in Europe, the Celtics caught a few days of practice last week but will now plow through their remaining preseason slate. And that’s just fine by coach Doc Rivers.
“I love it. Listen, get them all out of the way, then you have practice time,” Rivers said before Saturday’s game. “I think we have [eight practice] days before the first game [in Miami on Oct. 30], and I like that better than having that last preseason game and having four or five days before your first game. I like the way we’re doing it. I think we should play eight in a row.”
ESPN Boston: Celtics plow through exhibitions
For a team like the Celtics, the preseason is a bit of a chore. Actually, for a team like the Celtics, almost every game before March seems like a chore. The game results are largely meaningless, but a lot of us treat them like it’s an April fight to the death… and I’m sure having to answer questions about lineups every day gets old for Doc. I mean, people are asking him about Micah Downs… a guy who has no chance of having any impact on this team… because, well, someone’s gotta ask about something.
The lineup shuffling is interesting in that we get to see Doc play with a different set of toys. I still say we see a more stable rotation when all is said and done with some wrinkles thrown in there. The Celtics will have a more steady attack throughout games now than they have over the past few years. But the way to get a lot of that ironed out is to go through practices and teach a bunch of these new guys how certain things are done… especially when you’re obviously going to be relying on a rookie like Jared Sullinger for so much.
I’m not quite as dismissive as doc is about the preseason games. I’d like to see them be more spaced out just so you could get your practices in and then see how it looks against your competition. But it’s pretty obvious the Heat game is an important one. It’s not like it’s Game 8 of the ECF or anything, but it’s the Celtics first chance to make a statement that they’re in the same class. Getting the preseason games out of the way so you can focus on that isn’t the worst thing in the world.
The rest of the links:
Herald: Terry never one to start trouble | Globe: Streamlined Celtics built for speed | Enterprise News: Celtics should rule Atlantic one more time
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