“I hope so,” said Marcus Morris. “This team, we’re resilient. Everybody on this team is ready to compete.

“We all feel disrespected. Kyrie, Marcus (Smart), (Daniel) Theis — all those guys are major for our team, but they’re not here, so we still have to approach the game as if we’re going to win and get as far as we can. We have great coaches that have been really good with us and really resilient with us. We’re ready to go, man. There’s enough talking.”

Herald: Celtics Notebook: Doubters fuel Celtics

As a reporter asked him about the conversation around Eastern Conference playoff seeding and an assertion made by TNT that teams were “dying” to play the Celtics, Morris started to smile a little. He cut the question off.

“I hope so,” Morris said, nodding. “I hope so. I do. I hope so. I really do.”

MassLive: Boston Celtics feel ‘disrespected’ by conversation around playoff seeding, per Marcus Morris

Oh you want to tank your way into the 7th seed, other NBA teams to face the Celtics?

The Celtics have a message for you.

Obviously it’s understandable why a team would want to face the Celtics in the first round as opposed to the Cavaliers or the Raptors. The Celtics are an injury-riddled team that just celebrated a big outing by Jonathan Gibson, a 10-day contract player getting minutes out of necessity.

Still, though, it’s easy to forget that the Celtics still have some pretty good players remaining and a head coach who is notorious for maximizing everyone’s production. For all their injuries, the Celtics still held onto the 2nd seed. They, until a few days ago, still had a shot at the top seed.

An opening round series against the Celtics will still be tough. The Celtics can still beat the Bucks. They can still beat the Heat. The Wizards… well… that one I’m not really so sure about. But the good thing is maybe the Morris Twins will work something out.

I asked Marcus about whether he and Markieff talk much about the playoffs and Marcus’ response, grinning, was, “man, everyday we talk about it. I honestly don’t want to play them first, can’t lie.”

When I asked him why, he responded, “Because it’s my brother. We’re going to war (in the playoffs) and when I go out there, like I tell him, ‘it’s war time.’ It’s like fighting for your life out here and I would hate for it to be my brother and it’s the first round? To have to be that bully to my brother when I know it’s going to be like the same.

Marcus said he has implored his brother to try and get the Wizards to go up to the sixth seed or drop to the eighth spot which is currently where they are seeded.

“He’s like, ‘I know. I know,’” Marcus said.

If the Celtics can avoid Washington I think they’ll get to the second round. Philly is the current 3rd seed, which poses an interesting potential semifinal matchup.

Philadelphia is a super-talented team, but also super-young, and I’m not sold on their ability to make a deep playoff run yet. Let’s not forget that they’re feasting on some really bad teams to end the season. They’ve got some good wins in there too, but this is one of the easiest finishing schedules in history.

A second-round matchup against Philadelphia will be very interesting. Al Horford has done well against Joel Embiid and Marcus Smart can, if he returns, check Ben Simmons. The height differential won’t matter because Simmons isn’t a jump shooter anyway.

I’m going to stop there because they need to get there first. We’ll let a motivated team with home court advantage take it from there.

Related links: ESPN Boston: Marcus urging twin Markieff for 6th or 8th seed

Page 2: Kyrie’s surgery went exactly as planned

Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving on Saturday underwent successful surgery to remove two screws from his left patella, the team announced.

“The surgery went exactly as planned, and we expect Kyrie to be fully healthy for training camp in the fall,” president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said.

Globe: Kyrie Irving has successful surgery

Here’s hoping the rehab goes well. On the surface, I can’t imagine things going wrong considering it was just the removal of some screws but there’s always the possibility of some setback.

Let’s forget that. Let’s dream of days of Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving running pick and rolls with Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown spotting up.

How will anyone stop that?

And Finally….

I hope the referees will eventually learn how to officiate James Harden…

This foul was called on Paul George, not James Harden pic.twitter.com/SwA5QYu4kU

— Ali B (@ali_behpoornia) April 8, 2018

This is embarrassing. This is as embarrassing as the flopping epidemic of a few years ago.

Referees can’t get played like this, and if they’re going to let the consensus MVP of this season get cheap, free points like this, then they’re going to be regarded as laughingstocks.

I know they’re not actively looking to miss calls. I know they go into games looking to do the best job they can. Well, this is a teachable moment, then.

Be better.

The rest of the links

NBCS Boston: Marcus Morris just wants to stay on the court | Looking at the major injuries in Boston sports since the fall | Daniel Theis staying positive and patient as he recovers

MassLive: Boston Celtics’ NBA 2K League team headlined by No. 2 pick, whose parents told him he ‘better get a job’ | Boston Celtics Injuries: Guerschon Yabusele will get MRI for sore knee, Celtics plan to rest | Boston Celtics’ Marcus Morris says refs ‘overreacted,’ promises no playoff ejections unless ‘blatantly cheated’

Herald: Thomas deserves his day

Globe: “They’re doing too much” Morris feels refs go too far | Here’s to the 40th anniversary of Havlicek’s final game

BSJ: NBA Notebook: Celtics should have no regrets about the Kyrie Irving deal

ProJo: Celts’ Morris ‘bully’ about new role

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