Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
“Man, nobody respects us,” Thomas noted near the end of his six-minute chat with reporters after Boston’s off-day practice. “Except our peers, the guys you play against, respect us. But when it comes to, like, national media, that’s just what it is.
“We don’t have LeBron James on our team. We don’t have the Steph Currys and those type of guys. Not to throw shade at any of those guys, but that’s just what it is. We’re a group of guys who have been counted out our whole careers. We like staying under the radar. That’s just who we are.”
Taking over the top spot in the East has done little to chisel at the chips on the shoulders of these perpetually motivated Celtics.
Do not misinterpret: Thomas said he believes that the Cavaliers will pull themselves from their late-season funk. He stressed that the road to the NBA Finals goes through Cleveland.
Yawn.
I mean, Isaiah and the Celtics can use whatever motivational tactics they want, but I’m tired of the disrespect card. It’s overplayed. It lost some luster when elite, mega-stars like LeBron James and Tom Brady started throwing it around in recent years.
I don’t get the sense the Celtics are being disrespected. I think it’s fair analysis to say the Celtics – despite their #1 seed in the East – are still less talented than teams like Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio. In the NBA, talent usually wins out.
But (and I’ll throw a few more cliches at you) this game isn’t played on paper and anything is possible because sh*t happens.
With that said, maybe Brad Stevens should print out this article and post it on the bulletin board:
Those are among a variety of factors that now see the Celtics as the top seed in most projection models, which brings us to our big question: Should they outlast the champs to claim regular-season supremacy, would the 2016-17 Celtics be the East’s worst No. 1 seed of all time?
The Celtics are on pace for 53 wins, but own an underwhelming (for a top team) average point-differential of plus-2.7 and a net rating of plus-3.1 per 100 possessions. Those numbers usually reflect the performance of a team in the high 40s, not in the mid-50s, and it’s important to remember that point-differential is often a better predictor of future/postseason success than win percentage is.
To that point, in the 70-year history of the NBA, only nine teams have won 64.8 percent of their games – as Boston is currently doing – while posting an average point-differential worse than plus-3.0. And only three of those nine finished atop their respective conferences, with the most recent example being the 1975-76 Celtics.
As the ladies like to say, point differential matters.
On Page 2, the Celtics have the 3rd best front office.
I won’t argue with these rankings.
PS – The Lakers are 23rd and the Knicks are dead last.
And finally, Jae Crowder’s motivational potato.
Jae Crowder got a potato pic.twitter.com/sKDANDOiU7
— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) March 28, 2017
Poor Mark Cuban.
For those wondering about the race to the bottom, both the Nets (16-58) and Lakers (21-53) lost last night. Brooklyn owns a 5 game lead with 8 games remaining.
The rest of the links
Globe – Schedule favors Celtics | Herald – Stevens downplays slim lead | Mass Live – Horford nudges teammates back on track at practice
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