What's Wrong With the Celtics?

Lots of people are talking and writing about the Celtics these days and the subject is the same:

What's wrong with the Celtics? Well, I'm here to answer this question.

NOTHING!!!!

Stop freaking out people. Yea, the Celtics have lost recently to two bad teams - the Knicks and the Bobcats. They are a small skid but it's nothing to worry about.

With that said, here are some things to consider:

- It's an 80 game season. We're not even half way there yet. So relax.

- Every team that the Celtics play are going to bring their A-game. The Celtics are the champs until some knocks them off of their thrown. Every team they play are going to try and match the intensity that the Celtics bring to the floor every game.

- Since this is the same team as last year for the most part, other teams have had one year to analyze the sets they run and the defensive schemes the employ. Nothing has really changed from last year other than the fact that Rondo is more aggressive this year than he was last year.

All in all, I think the Celtics will get to the Eastern Conference finals and have some troubles with Cleveland, but in the end prevail. It'll be Celtics v Lakers again.

What I think is really happening to this team at this moment is that the guys need a good stretch of being "off." They ended the season in June and picked right back up a couple months after that. It's a long season with all the travel and the hype from the playoffs, parades, guest appearances, etc. That's why the sports gurus say it's so tough to repeat in any professional sport. The chips are stacked up against you, big time.

One last thing contributing to this whole "it's over" mess is the fact that we're not seeing the same production out of KG as we did last year. Yea, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are playing very well, but we're not seeing the same KG as we did last year. Some speculate that the big guy is hurt. I think he might be slightly banged up, but also tired. He's working hard out there - maybe harder than last year.

Who knows. In the end, that's why they play the games.

So C's fans, let's not give up. Keep supporting the team. Keep watching them religiously. Keep wearing your Celtics green because at the end of the day, I think we'll have another parade to go to. Read more!

It's official, I am a...

Courtesy of www.perkisabeast.com. Santa, if you're watching, I want one of these T-Shirts. XXXL please. Thanks.

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Two sports articles worth a read this morning

As you're sitting around your house, apartment or condo this morning watching the fresh white flakes hit the ground on the sidewalk outside, give the following two articles a read, especially if you're a Boston sports fan.

These are two pieces of two sports figures in Boston - one current and one former - that show the human side of sports.

There stands Paul Pierce. The Celtics forward, once the seeming embodiment of what Jordan sneeringly called "New Jack players"—underachieving and self-involved, persona non grata with the national team after leading it to its implosion in 2002, bearer of a contract that will pay him $18,077,903 this season—is hunched over. He's a wreck. Havlicek hands him the trophy, and Pierce dips his head onto the legend's right shoulder. Pierce lifts his head, tears streaming down his cheeks, and it suddenly becomes clear that we're witnessing a rare moment in modern sports: not market-tested, not spun, close to pure.

Read the rest here from SI.

Shifty receiver Deion Branch has made moves far better than this one. So have his Seahawks.

The former Super Bowl MVP held out of the New England Patriots [team stats]’ minicamp in June 2006, then all of training camp. He racked up almost $600,000 in fines from the team until his forced trade to Seattle in early September of that year.

Read the rest about Deon here. Read more!

Inside the mind of Kevin Garnett

Love this video. The guy is a menace. Glad he's wearing Celtic green.

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ALCS game 4 recap

As I am typing this the Sox are down 13-3 in game 3 of the ALCS. I'm not too pleased. We're suffering from bad pitching, no hitting and a group of Ray starting pitchers who are hitting their stride at the right time.

Tomorrow's media coverage will be interesting - lots of postmortem stuff; we've been down 3-1 before crap; and a big heaping plate of this team is too old and it's time to rebuild.

Here are my thoughts:

- Sox will take game 5. This is the "let's throw everything at them so we can get a win" game. The problem with this is that it leaves you sort of flat for game 6, which is in Tampa. Not good.

- Game 5 will feature a loud Boston crowd from the get go. If by chance, the Sox get whooped again, especially early, I bet a Sox pitcher is going to plunk Longoria. This will be great because it'll carry over to the following year - really getting rivalry going.

- I think that if Tampa does end up beating the Sox, that they will win the World Series. They seem to be a resilient bunch and are hitting their high point at the right time. Again, they could be so high off of beating the Sox that they let down for the big show.

- If the Sox lose to the Rays, Theo & Co. will not settle for second best next year. This loss will not sit well with this group - not after all the drama the team went through this year. I expect the Sox to be extremely aggressive in the offseason. As I said, this loss will leave a very bad taste in management's mouth. Same could be said for the fans.

- Last but not least...Tampa and Sox tickets will sell out quicker than Sox and Yankees tickets.

Since the Pats are in the crapper, we now hang our parade hopes on a repeat by the Celtics or, if pigs fly, the Bruin's hoist the cup. Read more!

Celtics lose Tommy Heinsohn on the road

Seems as if Tommy H. is going to be riding the bench when the C's go on the road. That stinks. I love listening to the "always objective" Tommy Heinson while he's providing color commentary for the C's game.

BURLINGTON, MA – The NBA Champion Boston Celtics will once again call Comcast SportsNet home as the Green begins its 28th season on New England’s original regional sports network.

Comcast SportsNet’s legendary telecast tandem featuring Dorchester native Mike Gorman and NBA Hall of Fame member Tommy Heinsohn return for their 28th consecutive season and will call 38 home games during the 2008-09 season. Comcast SportsNet’s studio analyst and former NBA player Donny Marshall will join Gorman on 40 road telecasts while courtside reporter Greg Dickerson will provide in-game reports on all Comcast SportsNet telecasts.

(Via Messenger Blog.)

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Celtics grab game 1; Tampa the new Yankees?

Boston was witness to a great sport day yesterday. First there was a baseball game played between fisticuffs and secondly, we witnessed a Bird-like performance from Paul Pierce as the Celtics beat the Lakers in game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Getting home slightly after six from work, I had about three hours to kill before the game started at nine. I could barely contain myself. I was so jacked for the Celtics game that I didn't want to waste time online, didn't want to read anything, didn't want to blog, didn't want to twit. I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted the damn game to start. In the meantime, I watched the Red Sox Tampa game.

Glad I do. Hold drama.

Tempers were boiling before the start of yesterday's game as there was a heated exchange between Coco Crisp and the manager of the Rays over what was called a dirty play by Coco in the previous game. Basically, Crisp was blocked from sliding into second on a play and he jammed his finger. The next time Coco slide into second, he came in high, legs and arms flailing in order to take out the Tampa second baseman. I don't think it was a bush league play as some have called it. I've seen worse incidents at second.

Fast forward to last night and when Coco gets up for the first time, he gets drilled in the ribs. He starts to trot up to first, then drops the helmet and blasts to the pitchers mound. What I thought was interesting in this fight was that Coco was clearly outmatched. Sheilds, the Tampa pitcher, is a much bigger guy. As Coco arrives to greet Sheids, the pitcher unloads a haymaker similar to what Marvin Hagglar would have. However, Coco dipped out of the way, making Sheilds fan on the punch. Then Coco connects with a left jab to the side of Sheilds head/shoulder area (Coco was just too short to connect squarely to the face. Then the catcher jumps on Coco. After that, it was your typical baseball fight where both sides are clawing at each other, etc. The one difference was that three other players - yea, three - jumped in on the Coco scrum and started to take punches at Coco while he was at the bottom of the pile. Now that was REALLY bushleague stuff.

Needless to say, I'll be paying closer attention to the Sox Tampa games this year. It'll be interesting next time they face them or if they face them in the playoffs imagine that, Tampa in the playoffs).

So finally, finally, the Celtics Lakers game starts and the introductions get me so amped I'm ready to suit up and do battle with Kobe. I'll give him six hard fouls. That would be my job. Defensive bull. Foul giver. Hack-a-Kobe. Just put me in coach.

Well, my dream didn't happen. I watched it on the plasma and man, I wasn't dissapointed.

The collective Celtics world was in shock as we saw Pierce being helped off the court and then in a wheel chair with an apparent knee injury. But in pure Bird fashion, Pierce emerges from the lockeroom, gets back into the game and proceeds to nail two back to back three pointers that absolutely ignite the crowd. We didn't look back from there. The Celtics, with some clutch free-throws and fantastic team defense, held off Mr. MVP and Co.

Game two Sunday. I'm already started to feel the blood pressure rise and my jacked-up-o-meter started to move.

Maybe a few Sox Tampa games will keep me at bay until then. Read more!