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“I don’t know if it was good defense
by both teams or horrendous offense,’’ Rivers said. “Actually, I thought
it was good defense. It’s funny, people complain sometimes when it was a
low-scoring game and they never give those guys credit for playing so
hard. I thought both teams played hard, I thought they were physical and
both teams made it difficult to get a good shot.’’With the weight of the trade deadline off
his shoulders, Ray Allen knocked down 10 of his 15 shots on a 24-point
night, scoring 12 in the third quarter.
“Ray was huge,’’ Rivers said. “I think we
should threaten to trade him all the time and then pull him back.’’
Globe: Celtics beat Kobe-less LA
Ray is a human being. Of course the possibility of uprooting his life, moving a sick kid away from his doctors, and leaving a place you want to be has an affect on him. So predicting that he'd break out after the trade deadline passed was a pretty easy prediction to make. And that's something I did on last night's edition of The 2 Man Game.
We also got a live report from ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg at The Staples Center… who had reaction to the trade.
As for the game… Kobe or not, that was a playoff game in the second half… and the Celtics won it in Los Angeles. That counts for something. That counts for a lot, actually. The Lakers were playing well without Kobe. They fought the C's tooth and nail and the C's fought back.
The C's won that game the way the C's win game: by defending like hell and knocking the other team around. Kudos to the Lakers for fighting that fight and almost winning. But the C's won it. Be encouraged by it.
Coming up, Page 2… Where Doc's a funny guy
Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images
“As a player, you feel a little more
comfortable knowing you’re here for the rest of the season,’’ said
Davis. “You’re not getting traded to another team, you’ve just got to
keep playing, staying focused on what we have to do, staying focused on
the main goal.’’Said Allen,
“We were saying how it’s a lot of guys in grocery carts this past
month, because a couple of us have been shopped left and right.’’That morning at breakfast, just to gauge
the tension, Doc Rivers played a small joke. He called a
few players up one by one, as if bearing bad news. When they got there,
he told them he just wanted to say, ‘Hi.’ ’’“All the guys who had been mentioned in
trades, I thought they would get nervous,’’ Rivers said. “It was a good
joke.’’
Globe: Robinson comes over from Knicks
This is why guys love Doc. He's one of the guys. He's really funny.
It's also why he's best on a veteran team. You can't pull this stuff with a young team. Guys like Ray Allen can laugh it off. Young kids can get the wrong idea about a coach who likes to have some fun with his guys. They misread "breaking the tension" as "not taking things seriously."
By the way… that was pretty funny.
The rest of the links
Herald: Celtics get back at Lakers | Players miss Eddie, welcome Nate | Score one for Celtics | Kobe laments lack of Finals rematch | Doc likes what he's heard so far | Scouting report: Celtics @ Blazers | Globe: Trade should get Celtics moving | Sheed critical of tech for pushing Gasol | ESPN Boston: They'll take it | With TA injured, C's seek rush delivery of Robinson | First impressions of win | CSNNE: Defense steps up | Talking Points | Souza: Celtics hope Robinson is the answer | Celtics Blog: Trade "Losers" | Hardwood Houdini: Secret of success – Kendrick Perkins | Celtics Hub: Turning Point?
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