Your Morning Dump... Where this is your morning dump

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.

“I worry sometimes that they could have too much success too soon, because they will be humbled — this league does that to you,” Ainge told the Herald last week.

Boston Herald

Danny Ainge: Prophet

“Sometimes you get your butt kicked,” Stevens told reporters in Chicago after falling to the Bulls, 108-85, in the Celtics’ worst loss of the season. “It was as simple as that. Chicago dictated the whole game. They played harder than we did. They played with more presence than we did. They played more competitive than we did. They played with more authority than we did. You’re not going to win very many games when you play like that.”

MassLive

So I decided to put about as much effort into the Dump’s title and graphic as the Celtics put into last night’s game.

As you may know, I went to South Dakota State University. Home of the Pork Classic where, yes, they do in fact auction off a live pig during the middle of a basketball game.

Anyway, the football coach has been there 21 years. And like clockwork every year there is at least one game where the team just flat-out no-shows. They step out onto the turf and proceed to get pushed up and down the field by a team that, regardless of its record or personnel, looks like the ’72 Dolphins.

I have no idea why it happens, what exactly the staff does or doesn’t do that week, but it always happens at least once (he’s a good coach, by and large, the are Jacks 11-2 this season and still playing).

The team strolls out onto the field figuring that their reputation precedes them and that a mere token appearance will suffice.

And that’s about the time they find out that there is not that big of a talent gap between the best and worst teams in the conference.

So too the best & worst teams in the Eastern Conference. The schedule has to be catching up with Brown & Tatum; Sure it’s Brown’s second year, but he’s playing way more minutes than last year. These guys aren’t used to playing this much basketball at this heavy of a pace.

You got this team full of young guys, and you can be sure Horford and Irving and Stevens told them, ‘no, you don’t got this, you’re going to have to go out and take it away from them just like you do every other night.’

And all that went in one ear and out the other. Sure they heard what the old heads were saying, but they didn’t really believe it.

Until they found themselves laying on the floor of the United Center trying to figure out what exactly just happened and whether anyone got the number of the bus that hit them.

Page 2: Where the goggles, they do nothing

Celtics wing Jaylen Brown shed the eyewear during the first half Monday night. He still shot 3 for 7 from behind the arc while scoring 13 points, but it would probably be better if he figures out how to see well while playing basketball.

Ibid

Jaylen Brown says he ditched the goggles after the 1st quarter because they were fogging up and were too uncomfortable. “Everything was still blurry, I don’t have very good vision, but at least it’s more consistent than when the glasses start fogging up.”

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 12, 2017

I have to think that Jaylen’s defense suffered way more than his offense after he ditched the goggles. At any rate, you had to figure this was coming, right? I mean, Kyrie’s mask issues weren’t going to be the end of it, right? What particular bit of medical/rehab equipment will the Celtics have issues with next? Al Horford going to get a staph infection from his knee brace?

Finally:

Long delay for the #Celtics flight home tonight. The pilot just announced that "two malfunctioning deicing trucks" are causing the delay at O'Hare. The wings are covered in snow, so we're going to be here for a while 😐

— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) December 12, 2017