Jackie MacMullan throws the ultimate gauntlet down on Jeff Green

For Celtics fans missing this scowl and all of its intensity:

Being asked to replace it with stoicism such as this has been a tough sell:

MacMullan eloquently presents the argument that the upcoming series against Miami will be Jeff Green's time to prove his worth on this team. She paints the picture of Boston fans impatiently waiting to see what made Green so valuable that he was worth trading Kendrick Perkins away for, "discerning New Englanders have stood stiffly with their arms folded and lips pursed waiting for proof that Green's presence enhances the Boston Celtics' chances of still being 'championship driven.'" 


It is indisputable that Jeff Green is in a tough place here. He is being asked to make himself over as a player, and do so in a drastic reduction of minutes from what he played in Oklahoma City. He's supposed to be the spark off the bench, to be offensively versatile, to maintain any lead compiled by the starters, to be comfortable playing in a myriad of different lineups at different positions- oh, and while he's doing all of this, he's supposed to be guarding the best player on the other team, so Paul Pierce and Ray Allen can catch their breath. And don't forget- we're supposed to be winning a championship here, so the margin for error is nonexistent and the pressure is off the charts. To expect him to be immediately effective is unrealistic, but in his short time here, he has displayed tremendous athletic ability and a willingness to try and morph in to the player the Celtics need him to be. He also played stints of successful defense against Carmelo Anthony during the first round of the playoffs, which is perhaps what prompted MacMullan to throw the gauntlet down on him. With Lebron James seemingly looming near in the Celtics future, expectations for Green will continue to rise, and, "If Jeff Green has anything to do with sending LeBron and the boys packing, the discerning fans' stiff arms won't be folded anymore. New England will embrace him as one of its own. But, if it goes the other way, the poker-faced forward better be ready. Those pursed lips know how to boo, too."

All the news you need to know in increments of 140 characters (or less)

Jermaine O'Neal rocked last night:

Chauncey Billups got hurt: 

Rondo might have hurt his knee too: 

Krstic definitely hurt his knee (but not during the game):

Shaq won't play tomorrow.... Surprise!!

But he does dress like an OG. Nice suit and sneakers, Big Man:

This next one takes Zero characters, but it is a visual depiction to all Knicks fans about why they shouldn't be complaining about the officiating: 

That, my friends, is a call that indisputably went the wrong way at a pivotal point in the game, similar to the situation last night involving Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce that so many Knicks fans are up in arms about.

And in news unrelated to last nights game, but still about the Celtics, Flo Allen ran the Marathon today.

She ran it last year as well. Good for her! 2 in 2 years is an unbelievable accomplishment! And her hard work shows, she looks amazing. 

The Association, Kendrick Perkins, Jeff Green and a new manicure.

It might be kind of weird, but I've avoided watching "The Association." I have a couple of reasons for this. One of them is that I'm very much bored with reality television and secondly, the Celtics are already incredibly all consuming in my life. I eat, sleep and breathe them. I don't need to watch any additional footage of them, because as you may have guessed, I'm borderline compulsive as is. But today I stumbled on these deleted scenes from Episode 5:

And after watching, and laughing, I decided to sit down, bite the bullet, and watch an episode. Big mistake! It opened up with this incredibly candid interview with Rondo, where he talked to the camera about how hard it's been for him to deal with Perk being gone. Me being the huge water head that I am, I was immediately inconsolable and weeping, so I turned the episode off. I was left with a great feeling of unease. I truly do believe that this team can win a banner and I have great faith in them. I also believe that, in Perks absence, people have built him in to something that he never was, due to the great emotional attachment   we all felt to him. Today I allowed myself to relapse in to missing him, so I got a manicure in his honor. I also included an homage to Jeff Green in this manicure, because I think it's important to embrace our new pieces and have faith in he team as it looks now... And what better way is their to express diplomacy, hope and optimism then through a manicure?

Shaq in action! Will he play in Game 1 or won't he?

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit (but not really) that I actually dreamed about this last night. I can't remember that much about it- just when I woke up this morning I thought to myself, "Did you really just dream about whether or not Shaq will be ready for the playoffs?" And yes, wonderful readers, I really did. Thanks to the ever diligent Chris Forsberg at ESPN Boston, we have footage of Shaq shooting around at practice. Not too much to gather from this video... Except the most important thing of all: he's wearing basketball clothes and he's on the floor. Chea! We can all sit around and talk about how the Knicks don't have a true big man, so that lessens the necessity of Shaq coming back in time, but I think we all know that we'd rather have him ready. We must walk before we run, and this seems to be walking. 

And so it begins: Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 7:00 PM. Celtics-Knicks. Game 1.

There is definitely a shroud of uncertainty surrounding this team as they enter the postseason, but I remain confident that they can prevail. The starters will enter the postseason riding the most rest they've had since the season began, and the rest of the roster will be similarly well rested. Shaq and Delonte will presumably be back in action, but even if they're not immediately available, there is plenty for this team to feel confidently about.

The introduction of mass media to the sports world has done much to damper optimism and make all increasingly fickle. Every misstep, every injury and every losing streak is not only documented to a tee, but is analyzed, discussed, dissected and dwelt on infinitely longer than if Internet and television weren't such influential, strong forces. This fickleness has caused us all to become much more pessimistic than I think we should be. The NBA regular season is 82 games long. It is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be ebb and flow: winning streaks, losing streaks, injuries, team feuds, chemistry issues, great victories and head scratching losses. All of that is inevitable. Chicago's season has been painted as the most successful of the regular season, with San Antonio coming in at number two. Chicago undoubtedly experienced great success: Derrick Rose is a superstar and Tom Thibodeau a mastermind of a coach, but until Monday night, the number 1 seed in the East wasn't even firmly decided, that's how close the race for number one really was. 

This Celtics team endured the marathon. They may not have done it in the most graceful of manners, and they certainly didn't finish with the best time, but they made it to the end. Yes, at the onset they wanted to finish with grace and with the best time, but part of being successful is being realistic. They were not able to stay as healthy as they wanted, so adjustments had to be made and it became unrealistic to shoot for number one. That's why the starters sat against Washington. It's why the starters played limited minutes in the showdown against Chicago where they got their butts handed to them. Now, it is a sprint, and because of the adjustments that they made, they are poised to win the race. Now, they rely on their bread and butter. It's the time of year when experience, chemistry and poise are the deciding factors. It's no longer about flash or individual accomplishment, and teams that rely on those things will find themselves at home for summer quickly. 

The series against New York will likely be challenging, physical and tough, but it is a series the Celtics should win if they play their brand of basketball. That means controlling the pace, keeping Amare and Carmelo in check as much as possible, minimizing the impact of their role players and exploiting the Knicks weakness in the half court game and lack of team defense. 

P.S.: Not that you can take much from this regular season finale, but I do contest that it shows the Celtics feature more depth than the Knicks, and that is certainly a valuable asset. 

Swizz Beatz produced a Knicks anthem.

It's called "Go NY Go." He shot a video for the song at MSG with Carmelo and Amare:

And here's video of Swizz and Amare:

Here's what I have to say about this: so unfair!!! I love Swizzy!! He's all cool and fashion forward and the Celtics are over here playing cheesy 80's rock music and hip hop songs from last year. In any case, while Swizzy is one of my favorite producers, the Knicks can have all the cool, trendy fans. I'd rather send them packing with our corny music and solid team defense. Chea!

Who's a better first round opponent for the Celtics? Sixers or Knicks?

I've been thinking that the Celtics should purposefully get the 3 seed, so that they could match up with Philly instead of New York... And after last night, I'm sticking with that thought.

Chris Forsberg broke it down yesterday and made a really good argument about why the Celtics should fight for the 2 spot. He argues that the team with home court advantage in the conference semi-finals is statistically more likely to advance to the conference finals. The team with home court advantage wins the series .787 % of the time. The numbers for all of the other series are lower: the first round is .769 % advantage to home court, conference finals is .685 %, and the finals is .788 percent %. He also points out that even though the Celtics made it to the finals from a 4 seed last year, it wouldn't be as doable this year, since the competition atop the Eastern Conference has become significantly more staunch. These are all valid points, but it's just not enough for me to change my mind.

If the debate is about who would be a more attractive first round match up for the Celtics between the Sixers and the Knicks, I pick the Sixers every time. Yes, the Sixers are a younger and more athletic team than the Knicks, and those types of teams have given the Celtics trouble in the past, but I think that over the course of a 7 game series, the Sixers are more mentally vulnerable than the Knicks. They simply don't have the offensive weapons and veteran experience that the Knicks do.

The Knicks possess one of the most formidable scoring duos in basketball, in Amare and Carmelo. I'd like to remind everyone that Amare averaged 37 points in the 2005 Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Yes, that was a couple of years ago now, but I think he's still physically capable of posting similar numbers. That wouldn't be any fun. The Knicks also have an experienced, veteran point guard in Chauncey Billups. He's an NBA Finals MVP and he won't rattle under pressure, and we all know how valuable that kind of experience is. It's true that the Knicks don't exactly play defense, but at the end of the day, if you can score more points than the other team, you win the game. I think that the Knicks have enough offensive firepower to potentially outscore a Celtics team that has at times struggled to put points on the board. A drought in scoring would be an easier storm to weather against the Sixers than the Knicks. It's much harder to shut down Amare, Carmelo, Billups and a host of other trigger happy perimeter shooting players that can get it going in a hurry, than it is to stifle Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday. Finally, one of the things that's so hard about playing the Celtics is that in the final minute, if someone needs to make a big shot, you never know who they're going to go to. The same could be said for the Knicks- they have three legitimate options.

If the Celtics are going to get to the Finals, it's seemingly inevitable that they will have to defeat Miami and Chicago. Another reason why I'd rather see the Celtics in the 3 is that it means Miami would match up against New York in the first round. Philly hasn't beat Miami this season. New York has. The Heat don't have a big man that can out muscle Amare, and I truly believe it would be possible for Amare to bruise his way to a victory. Someone always gets hurt against him, it's inevitable. I believe that Miami could be rattled by the physicality- and even if they don't lose the series, they will advance to the second round having exerted considerably more energy and effort than they would against the Sixers. The Celtics can match Amare's physicality- but it's not exactly a desirable idea in the first round. The Celtics want to preserve their health and energy, and at the end of the day, I think that the Knicks would take more out of them than the Sixers. Lastly, while the Sixers may be a more athletic team than the Celtics, and many view this as a reason why the Celtics could be vulnerable matched up against them, the same can not be said for the Heat. Lebron and Dwyane Wade are not only freakishly athletic, but both have more playoff experience than probably the whole Sixers team combined.

The celebs were out at Celtics v Knicks

Whoopi Goldberg and Lala were sighted chatting it up. An interesting pair...

Too bad Ciara couldn't make it last night. She usually sits with Lala... And wears the most amazing things. And shout out to Mike Gormon... When he and Tommy were talking about the celebrities present and they showed Whoopi and Lala... Mike Gormon had no idea who Lala was and only pointed out Whoopi. There's absolutely no reason why Mike Gormon should know who Lala is... But still, how refreshing! You go Mike. 

And you already know Spike Lee was in the building. He was seated next to Flo Allen. I can only imagine how that conversation went. Hilarious! Also, when Mike and Tommy talked about Flo and Spike, Tommy goes, "Nice hat! Where did he get that? Marthas Vineyard?" I'm not sure why that screams Cape Cod to Tommy... But hey. Whatever he says. 

Doc Rivers: "It was a good win, a bloodbath. But I thought it was beautiful." Celtics beat Knicks 96-86.

I talked about it before and Bill Simmons talked about it with Steve Kerr in his BS report: did the Kendrick Perkins trade take the fight out of the Celtics? Have the Celtics lost their fight? Are they less physically intimidating post-trade? 

These questions have arisen because, frankly, the team has played like the wind had been taken out of its sails. That wasn't so last night, and it was such a relief to see. After getting their butts handed to them in Houston and playing the worst that they have in years, they traveled to New Orleans and squeezed out a win against a much inferior team. In the face of these less than impressive last two games, I was nervous about the match up with New York. The Knicks are a team dealing with identity issues of their own, but the prospect of facing Amare and Carmelo was daunting. The Celtics did nothing to quell these fears in the first half, scoring just 37 points while allowing the Knicks to put 51 up on the board. There were some signs of life in the third... But they really turned it up in the 4th. 

Paul Pierce had THE LOOK on his face, and it was so good to see it back. He was a man possessed: The Celtics were going to win that game, no matter what. He scored 13 points in the final frame. And his teammates were right there with him. They displayed hustle and passion that has been missing in recent history. KG out hustled Amare, sprinting and wrestling with him for loose balls. Ray Allen got clocked and blood gushed out of his head, but he returned to action and spread the floor just by being there. And Rondo.... People were saying Rondo was "back" after that game in New Orleans. He wasn't. He was back last night. Shots falling for him around the basket (13 points), and he broke double digits in assists, with 12. But it wasn't about the numbers- it was about his hustle. He stifled Chauncey Billups. He fought for loose balls- most notably tracking down a long offensive rebound in the fourth, out-running Amare and hitting it off of him out of bounds to regain Celtics possession. Oh and he inadvertently elbowed Carmelo in the face ('Melo later got 6 stitches)... But he did that because he was fighting for control over a wild inbounds pass, and wrestled the ball away from Mr. Anthony. Yes! Carmelo started off on a roll, and it looked like he was going to score at least 40. He ended up with just 22 points, and only scored 5 points in the second half. 

It was the kind of win that the Celtics needed. They played together, they didn't waver and they out toughed a team boasting one of the most physically imposing guys in the league (Amare). And mostly, they showed that they're still a team that possess the will to win. And they imposed it in New York last night. Sorry Spike!

The real reason why Carmelo went to the Knicks... According to one message board.

First of all, let me just say this: when I found out Carmelo had been officially traded to the Knicks last night, I breathed a serious sigh of relief. The Lebron drama went on all summer, and that was immediately followed by months and months of speculation about where Carmelo would end up. It seems we'll have a brief respite from all the drama... Just in time for the summer, when Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard will all be free agents. But enough is enough, people! All of the hype, all of the speculation, all of the bending over backwards catering to superstar basketball players with their super sized egos, all the shady dealings of gold diggers like World Wide Wes (google it if you don't know)... It all starting to make me feel so disheartened. I plan on not looking at Twitter or ESPN this summer, to shelter myself from the insanity. 

Anyways, one writer on a message board had this to say about Carmelo's move to the Big Apple: 

Melo is now in NY full time and he can spend more time with his babymama and side baby. 

The side baby is 10 months old and the reason LaLa and Melo got married in the first place. It was either they get married or La was leaving for good. 

Melo also has a side chick in Cali that he pays her bills and bought her a car. I wonder if the Cali side piece will remain in the picture.

sidenote: look forward to Amare and CiCi to creep even more than they already do since Melo is a Knick now. They actually might become public now with La being behind it all.

One sign that you read blogs too much: upon reading that Carmelo went to NY you immediately thought about how Ciara would be all up in MSG with Lala, and the rumors would start going about her and Amare again... Because that's exactly what went through my mind. **Shaking my head at myself.**

Sanity restored: Carmelo Anthony is now reportedly a member of the New York Knicks.

Finally! An end to the Melo-Drama! 

Carmelo is a huge pick up for the Knicks, but I was kind of with Amare on this one. The big man encouraged the Knicks to keep the team together and not blow it up just to land 'Melo... And I believe that trading away Felton, Chandler and Gallinari constitutes blowing up the team. Felton was having a great year for the Knicks, and even though Amare and Carmelo are both top notch players, I think it could be a little tough going forward without the point guard.

P.S. I'm so sad for Chauncey :( Why did he have to be involved?! All he wanted was to stay in Denver, and now he's been shipped off to New York.

It's a conspiracy: The NBA banned Dwyane Wade's migraine goggles, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz wore sparkly shoes and blinded D. Wade and Lebron... Heat lose.

Oh I'm on to them alright. D. Wade must be mad about this.

Nicely done, Alicia and Swizzy. Anyway, in all seriousness, the new couple looked cute and cuddly court side... And their shoes might or might not have blinded D. Wade and Lebron. I'm pretty sure Amare's goggles blocked at least some of the reflection out. (Amare's standard goggles, incase you're unfamiliar) 

More celebs court side after the jump.

Tracy Morgan enjoyed the cheerleaders

Kanye looked fly. J'adore, Mr. West. 

Elsewhere on the sidelines, Spike Lee was in uniform and amped about the win. 

Pictures jacked from The YBF.