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.
Despite another valiant effort, one that most winning teams don’t even produce on a nightly basis, the Celtics added another loss to the ledger, this time courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks, who held on to issue their guests a 94-89 defeat.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Celtics (22-46), and it was their third straight loss while wearing their festive sleeved uniforms.
But more importantly, at least as far as history is concerned, the Celtics finished their season winless on the road vs. the Western Conference (0-15) for the first time in franchise history.
“The West is clearly better than the East,” coach Brad Stevens said before the game. “I don’t think anybody would argue that.”
But afterward, Stevens was more resolute about how hard his team played considering it was without starting point guard Rajon Rondo, who sat out the second game of a back-to-back to rest his surgically repaired right knee, and considering it had just fallen in overtime in New Orleans the night before.
“I feel like a broken record, to be honest, talking about silver linings, but I guess that would be one silver lining,” he said.
Boston Globe – Celtics fall to Mavericks for fifth straight loss
There haven’t been many silver linings in the C’s playbook this season (see what I did there?) and capping off an 0-15 showing against the Western Conference with a close loss to the Mavericks is another notch in that belt. It’s been well over a full calendar year since they’ve won in the better conference on the road and it’s incredible to think that even the abysmal 1997 and 2007 editions of the green actually won out west. In case you were wondering, the 1997 edition went 1-14 with the lone win at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. That 2007 edition? They won a whopping four games out west, going 4-11, winning at Portland, Houston, Memphis and incredibly defeating the soon-to-be-NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. That game was remarkable for many reasons, one of which ended what was about a 40 year drought of defeating San Antonio anywhere. But I digress.
Back to the real world where this version has set history and it’s a team with a long history. The Celtics for the most part have battled hard throughout the majority of games this year, but just fall short. Last night was no different and along with Sunday night’s tough loss to New Orleans (as well as the Portland and Golden State games) they were all winnable. There are encouraging signs, like the C’s recent explosion of offensive rebounds, including destroying Dallas overall on the glass last night. But this schedule doesn’t get any lighter and Coach Stevens will continue to experiment with combos as best he can. With 14 games to go, the true silver lining won’t happen until the end of May. Enjoy March Madness on both the college level as well as the local pro product you’ll get on the court for the rest of the year.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston – Olynyk taking charge for C’s | Road proved tough out West
Boston Globe – Raising NBA age limit to 20 a hot topic to Celtics’ Jared Sullinger
Boston Herald – No luck for Celtics in Dallas | Celtics Notebook: Rick Carlisle likes Celtics approach
CSNNE – Bayless hets up, but it’s not enough in loss | Good, bad & ugly: C’s finish winless out west | In the bonus: Ellis doing more with less | Cowens high on Kansas’ Joel Embiid
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