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.
Allen has the perspective of having seen similar pressure on the New Big Three in Boston, when he and Garnett joined Pierce in 2008. The demand for a championship was there from day one.
“It’s all the same stuff,” Allen said. “If you compare the players, we had very celebrated players. The tradition in Boston, obviously, was a lot greater. But when you get inside these lines, the same ideas, the championship thoughts and mentality are the same. You don’t see anything different. It feels the exact same.
“You’re on a quest for greatness, winning championships. When you lose, you feel worthless; when you win, you’re on Cloud Nine. It’s the same grind. Last year was the same, and ’08 was the same, and in 2010 was the same. That’s the great thing about experience; you learn to stay in the moment and don’t get outside of it too much.”
We’re super protective of the Boston sports experience in these parts, but I don’t have a problem with Ray Allen’s words. Shocking, huh?
There’s a ton of pressure on Miami, er, mostly LeBron, to win championships. That 2010-11 Heat team was crucified in the media for their unimpressive regular season and loss to Dallas in the Finals. Back-to-back titles reigned in the critics, but another loss will conjure up the “LeBron isn’t as good as Kobe or MJ or Russell” chatter.
Notice Ray said, “inside these lines.” Very smart. Because Boston and Miami couldn’t be more different “outside those lines.”
My all-time favorite Celtic promo is this one:
On Page 2, who the hell is Kristaps Porzingis?
Porzingis is the hot name right now. He surprised everyone when he declared for the draft and the more due diligence teams have done on him, the more they have fallen in love with him. He could now go as high as No. 14 to the Magic and the Hawks at No. 15 are also looking at him as well. Porzingis won’t slide past the Thunder at No. 21. General manager Danny Ainge has two picks and can afford to gamble on one of them. At 7 feet with both athleticism and a nice shooting touch, there’s tons of upside for Porzingis. He’s just a couple of years away.
Excuse me, but it’s hard to get excited about an 18 year old project from Spain. Let’s hope the Wolves like this kid and use the package we send for Kevin Love to draft him.
For those tracking draft workouts, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reports Doug McDermott, Aaron Gordon, Jerami Grant and C.J. Fair will workout tomorrow for the Celtics.
And finally, my new favorite NBA reporter:
“How does a team in their first home game in the Finals get stomped the way they did?”
Meet Bobby Ramos, a radio host in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bobby didn’t quit after that first question:
“Is the problem your lackluster defense or lackluster offense?”
It’s safe to say Bobby Ramos will never get hired by ESPN.
Oh, and keep laughing Lebron. Your defensive performance last night on Kawhi Leonard was hilarious.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston – To serve and rim protect | Olynyk visiting Vietnam | CSNNE – Blakely mock draft 8.0 |
