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Shaq Signing Pays Off Big for Celtics

December 27, 2010   Tim Povtak   No comments

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When the Boston Celtics finally made the decision last summer to add over-the-hill center Shaquille O’Neal to their delicately-balanced chemistry — and to a roster already filled with big egos — even they wondered privately if it could possibly work.

Adding his larger-than-life personality yet rapidly-fading skills to a team that already had been to the NBA Finals in two of the previous three years carried a huge risk, delivering a potential recipe for disaster.

It has turned out to be the best thing they ever did.

It’s why the Celtics (23-5) go into Tuesday night’s game at Indiana still comfortably leading the Eastern Conference, despite seeing their 14-game winning streak snapped on Christmas Day in Orlando. It was no coincidence that the streak ended when O’Neal had his worst game of the year.

Yes, he has been that key.

 

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Stan Van Gundy Mocks NBA for Dominating Christmas Day

December 25, 2010   Tim Povtak   No comments

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Stan Van Gundy
ORLANDO, Fla. — Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was fined by the league last season for remarks critical of the NBA, and the way it makes Christmas Day games such a priority.

This time, he came up with his own plan for an around-the-clock NBA saturation on Christmas Day. And it was dripping with sarcasm.

“I think the NBA is so important to Christmas that what we really need to do is increase from five games to 10,” Van Gundy said Saturday afternoon before his Magic tipped off against the Celtics. “And we need to start them at midnight on Christmas Eve and play ‘em all through the day so there’s not a minute of Christmas Day where there’s not a game on TV. The NBA is Christmas.”

The Magic are playing on Christmas for the third consecutive year and the eighth time in franchise history. Van Gundy, who has four young children still at home, has been especially critical of the league in the past for playing on so many holidays.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers, when told about Van Gundy’s remarks, immediately jumped on board, endorsing the plan. His tone wasn’t so clear.

 

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Ray Allen’s Call to Aircraft Carrier Puts Christmas Day Debate in Perspective

December 24, 2010   Tim Povtak   No comments

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Celtics coach Doc Rivers doesn’t normally like to see one of his players sitting courtside on a cellphone, especially if it delays the start of practice preparation. That’s generally a big no-no.

Except for this time.

While most of his teammates were loosening up, or taking shots Friday morning — preparing for their Christmas Day game against the Orlando Magic — guard Ray Allen was on the phone talking with soldiers on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier sailing through waters in Southwest Asia.

His voice was being piped to an estimated 5,000 military men and women on the ship, smiling as he answered some of their questions, and offered them words of encouragement.

Allen, as much as anyone in the NBA, knows the sacrifices that those soldiers are making. He is the son of a military man, and he moved many times as a youngster as he followed his family from stop to stop. He has both friends and relatives now serving in the military around the world.

 

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Why Jonny Flynn’s D-League Assignment Could Be Most Important in League History

December 01, 2010   Scott Schroeder   No comments

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Jonny FlynnJonny Flynn, the sixth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, has been assigned to the NBA Development League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Flynn averaged 13.5 points and 4.4 assists as rookie last season while starting all 81 games he played. After undergoing hip surgery in the offseason, however, Flynn has just recently been cleared to play again.

“I’m excited just to get back out there. Just to get in the flow of things, shaking the rust off. You can’t do a lot of things in practice you can in a game situation,” Flynn told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Since I’ve been back, I haven’t had a chance to just full-out play. I just want to get a game feel: Go out there 35 minutes and just play. Play as long as I can, play as hard as I can and just see how I respond to that.

“I don’t think I could get a good evaluation just playing a little bit of time. I think it’s going to help. I’m really looking forward to it.”

 

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Cavs Routed by Celtics as Matchup With LeBron Looms Thursday Night

November 30, 2010   Pat McManamon   No comments

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Celtics vs. CavaliersCLEVELAND — The prelude to the game everyone is pointing to Thursday night featured the team that first demonstrated how to blend three stars into a team.

That would be the Boston Celtics, who brought Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen together and won one NBA title and came within one game of another.

That trio and the rest of the Celtics showed the Cleveland Cavaliers what happens when talent and teamwork are simply too much. They slapped the Cavs in the face — and reminded them what can happen Thursday night if they are not ready to play. Emotion, after all, can only take a group so far. Even when it is playing on the emotion of an entire city.

The Cavs were easy victims Tuesday, as the Celtics won 106-87. This prelude to the arrival of the Miami Heat and LeBron James was a ride on calm waters, as the Celtics clearly outclassed the Cavs.

“It kind of looked like a layup drill at times,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said.

 

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Ray Allen Still Rolling After All These Years

November 25, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Ray Allen doesn’t hesitate to reveal some secrets of his longevity to younger teammates. So at a Halloween party last month at Allen’s house, the Boston guard took Delonte West into his garage.

There he showed off his $10,000 bike. It’s a recent investment to help keep Allen, 35, in great shape.

“I’m learning a lot from him just in the short time (of being in Boston after signing in September) in how he takes care of his body,” said West, 27, who figures to get even more tips from Allen after he was lost for several months Wednesday with a broken right wrist. “Not that many people invest that much money on a bike to ride. It’s like something Lance Armstrong would ride. But that’s what you do when you want to become the ultimate pro, you invest to keep yourself in top shape.”

Allen has been riding for about a dozen years and had the same bike. But earlier this year he upgraded to a bike designed specifically for him.

“I’d been looking to get a new one so I used this company out of Boston, Independent Fabrication,” Allen said in an interview with FanHouse. “I wanted something ultralight, and I just went to a bike shop to figure out what’s new and what’s out there. We put together a bike based on my specifications. It’s like one of those bikes you can pick up with two fingers. It’s just real light.”

 

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Much-Maligned Delonte West Realizes He’s a Role Model

November 22, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ATLANTA — Not only does Delonte West not want to be like Charles Barkley when it comes to retiring without a title ring, he won’t be taking any similar stances about not being a role model.

The Boston guard recently returned from a 10-day NBA suspension to start the season due a September 2009 incident in which he pleaded guilty to carrying three guns and two knives while on motorcycle outside Washington D.C.

What West said has been reinforced is that he needs to serve as a better example.

“I’m a role model, and I’m put in this position because of my talents to where other people’s children out there look up to us,” West said in an interview with FanHouse before Boston’s 99-76 rout of Atlanta on Monday night at Philips Arena. “We got to make sure that we keep that in perspective. It’s not about us. And bad decisions grownups should frown upon because their kids watch. I’m just trying to make better decisions, really.”

Still, West has found his name linked to negative situations since then. Just last month, West got into a locker-room fight at practice with teammate Von Wafer, an incident Boston coach Doc Rivers called a “bad day.” And there were rumors that with Cleveland late last season West had an intimate relationship with Gloria James, the mother of star LeBron James, who soon bolted from the Cavaliers to Miami as a free agent.

 

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Delonte West Completes Suspension, Eager to Help Celtics

November 15, 2010   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Delonte WestDelonte West is ready to turn off the television and lace up his sneakers.

Suspended by the NBA for the first 10 games of the season, West was allowed to play in the preseason and practice with the Boston Celtics but was forbidden from being in the arena during regular-season games. As such, he watched from his couch as his new teammates opened the season.

“I was like a fan,” he said, according to NESN.com. “I was cheering, annoying my neighbors, banging on the walls a few times.”

“This team is fun to watch,” he added. “I find myself just as a fan of the game, rooting for my guys, cheering, calling everybody I know, saying, ‘The game is on! We’ve got to watch the Celtics!’ It’s great, and it’s even better that I see those guys on TV and I can think to myself, ‘I’m a part of that.’ And then I come in for practice and I see these guys, and it makes me appreciate being in the NBA all over again.”

 

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Miami Heat Still Looking to Match Celtics’ Chemistry, Rhythm

November 12, 2010   Surya Fernandez   No comments

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Miami Heat MIAMI — Unsurprisingly, many NBA experts, analysts and fans are sharpening their claws, ready to pounce on everything the Miami Heat did wrong on their way to a second consecutive letdown in front of their home crowd at the AmericanAirlines Arena. Some of it is justified, of course, especially when only one of the five Heat starters showed up for the entire game.

But while there’s no question the Heat are a work in progress (and perhaps even their roster is, as well), not enough focus will be given to the Boston Celtics‘ game plan and execution, as their accomplishments are overshadowed by the Heat’s failures.

“I talked about greatness with the team this morning,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra before the game, presumably to motivate his players though he could have easily been talking about their opponent. “There is nothing flashy a lot of times. Greatness, really, is consistency; doing the little things and the same things every single time, every single possession.”

 

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Doc Rivers: What’s Said on the Court Should Stay Off Twitter

November 04, 2010   FanHouse Staff   No comments

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Doc RiversDoc Rivers stood by his player on Wednesday, vouching for Kevin Garnett‘s claim that he did not call Charlie Villanueva, who suffers from alopecia universalis and is completely hairless, a “cancer patient” during Tuesday’s win over Detroit. Villanueva made the allegation on Twitter on Twitter several hours after the game.

“I actually heard what Kevin said. I was right there, what he really said is in the statement. I’m going to leave it at that,” Rivers said, referring to the statement issued by Garnett’s public relations company Wednesday.

In the statement, Garnett admitted to insulting Villanueva, just not in a way quite as offensive. “My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact: ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league.’ I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure.”

 

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