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.
But by the third quarter Wednesday night, fans at the TD Garden were reduced to cheering for a Tupac lookalike and an opposing assistant coach. In all fairness, the assistant coach was Brian Scalabrine, who became a legend of sorts during his Celtics tenure and should forever be loved in Boston.
But a fake Tupac? Well, I guess chanting for him beat cheering for a home team that exhibited a poor habit of passing the ball to the wrong team, committing 22 turnovers during a 108-88 blowout loss to Golden State.
Seriously, the crowd chanted for a fake Tupac.
One of the best decisions I’ve made recently was bailing on the 2nd half of this game to watch House of Cards. The crowd did the same, turning to Fake Tupac and Brian Scalabrine as means of entertainment.
There’s no sense over-analyzing what transpired last night. The lack of effort was an aberration and not the norm in this miserable season.
Stevens has found ways to inject positive reinforcement into his team, but even he was stupefied by the effort after he said the team had a productive practice Tuesday. The Celtics have spent the season making a favorable impression on NBA observers by playing hard for Stevens most every night, but these types of games are becoming more prevalent, especially after there were no trades at the deadline.
“I don’t think this is indicative of our mind-set,” Stevens said. “I thought we played really poorly. I see nothing but recognition that we didn’t play well with pride that we will play better and the expectation that we are gonna come to work and be better and that is the expectation, period. I’ve heard people say that when our record is what it is, you’re playing for pride. Well that’s a lot. To me, that is a lot. It’s important that we show ourselves a lot different than we did today.”
Keep ya head up, ooh, child, things are gonna get easier.
Keep ya head up, ooh, child, things’ll get brighter.
(Fake Tupac photo courtesy Jared Weiss)
On Page 2, old friend Jermaine O’Neal looks like a new man
Jermaine O’Neal, in his 18th season and on his seventh team in Golden State, was asked last night for his thoughts about No. 5 on the list: the Celtics.
“Two of the hardest years,” the Warriors center said of a period in his career marred by injury. “When you come in and the team is expected to compete, and with the knee injury and wrist injury, it was hard. The (Warriors) guys asked me what I did here, and I said that aside from after-game meals, I can’t remember coming out much in two years. That’s where I was mentally.”
But O’Neal, who has had a renaissance during the past two years thanks to the same blood treatment (experimental medical procedure knows an Regenokine) used by Kobe Bryant to great effect, got to live on.
Ah, the ole experimental blood treatment seems to be working well for lazy-ass Jermaine.
He was a disaster during his two years in Boston. He couldn’t shoot, rebound or defend. He made excuses regularly and was disliked by most of his teammates.
His signing was one of the biggest mistakes made by Danny Ainge.
And let’s end on a positive note…
Louis Corbett didn’t see the Celtics win but I guarantee the kid has a heckuva night.
Check out this Facebook page for great photos from Louis’ night.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston – C’s not on same page | Crawford’s return bittersweet | CSNNE – Warriors defense does in Celtics | Now a Warrior, Crawford still at home in Garden | Herald – Crawford misses Celtics | Celtics register flatline | Globe – Celtics routed by Warriors
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
