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’m very crazy. I play angry, I play mad,” Portis said. “I play very angry. Every game, I sit in the locker room and I have visions of the players on the other team slapped my mom. So that’s why I get mad and now I get you because you slapped my mom.”

While it may seem a bit extreme in terms of psychological games that players play on their own minds, Portis’ approach stems from a dark, painful past that was riddled with domestic abuse.

“That (domestic violence) propelled me,” Portis told ESPN.com in 2014. “To want to do something with this basketball stuff to get my mom out of that situation.”

[…] So it should come as no surprise that Garnett is a player that Portis compares himself to in terms of energy and intensity.

“I feel I bring that same physicality, that same passion, and that same log on my shoulder that he plays with,” Portis said.

CSNNE: Portis: “I’m very crazy. I play angry”

Arkansas forward Bobby Portis is definitely a guy who’s on the Celtics’ radar at 16. I brought his name up a few days ago, and the more I hear from him, the more I think he’s the guy. Remember, he’s the SEC Player of the Year. Kentucky is in the SEC. Yet he’s the guy that won. That at least says something.

As for the mini-KG thing…

This stuff he’s talking about is pretty intense. It’s a deeply personal drive to get out there and picture your opponent slapping your mom around and to whip yourself into that kind of lather is a bit over the top… but to be an elite player you need to have the ability to take your mind to crazy places and use those things as motivation.

My big question about this approach would be… can he do it for 82 games or more, year after year? Kevin Garnett never really spoke of what he did flip that switch on a daily basis. And when he’s not on the court, KG is an affable, funny, generally good guy.  He manages to get himself into this mode regularly, somehow, and come down from it after games without much issue.

Can Bobby Portis spend 82 nights doing it? Can he still find that drive after finding the success?

We’ll have to see. I like guys who can take their personal rage and channel it on the court in a positive way. It sounds weird to read that, probably, but that’s basically what most of our favorite players are doing anyway. They’re all using their personal rage at something. Whether it’s Steph Curry trying to prove to everyone that he shouldn’t have been recruited more out of high school, Michael Jordan STILL harboring resentment towards everyone who wronged him in the past, or Kevin Garnett using whatever dark demons he conjures to switch into that thing he becomes on the court, they’re all doing some version of this.

So an angry, crazy Bobby Portis isn’t a bad thing for me at all. I’d rather reign a guy like that in a little than try to draw the fight out of someone. We see that with Kelly Olynyk sometimes.  We see it with Jeff Green. We need guys to be good, old-fashioned, assholes sometimes. It’s easier to say “ok, you crossed a line there, let’s dial it back” than to hook the Clydesdales to a player and drag him towards that line.

Page 2: Paul Pierce isn’t sure he’s coming back

“Truthfully, what was going through my mind is, I don’t have too much of these efforts left, if any,” Pierce said. “These rides throughout the NBA season, throughout the playoffs, are very emotional. They take a lot out of not only your body, but your mind, your spirit.”

[…] “I don’t even know if I’m going to play basketball anymore,” Pierce said.

Washington Post

I never put any stock into what an emotionally crushed player says immediately after the game.

Paul Pierce struggled last night, as did the rest of his Wizards teammates, in an ugly, turnover-filled Game 6 at home. But there they were, having done enough to hang tight, with the ball in Pierce’s hands, again, and a chance to tie the game and go to overtime.

And again, Pierce somehow escaped a double team. Again, he got a good shot off. And again, it found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded. Paul Pierce was the hero. Again.

Except…

The ball was in his hands a tenth of a second too long. If he had 1.5 instead of 1.4 to shoot, it would have counted, and who knows where the game would have gone from there.

It was a crushing loss, one game after Pierce had bailed out the Wizards AGAIN, only to watch his teammates let Al Horford beat them on a put-back.

Pierce, at 37, had one of his most clutch postseasons ever. He consistently carried the Wizards in their wins and helped them stay close in their losses. He torched the Raptors and nearly dethroned the top seed. He certainly has good basketball left.

But, getting prepared for the season takes a lot of hard work. And the regular season is a grind. And after a while, it gets to just be too much.

Is this that time for Pierce? I don’t think so. I think he’s going to play one more year in Washington and a hopefully more battle-tested team where Bradley Beal and Otto Porter can make offseason leaps in to stardom, John Wall can further mature into one of the NBA’s great floor generals, and Pierce can coast his way through 82 games and become Mr. Dagger one last time.

At least that’s what I hope. I’m not harboring any misconceptions about a return to Boston. I’m not entertaining that thought anymore. I think he wants one more run at one more ring. Washington is not that far off.

And Finally… Steph Curry is just sick

There is absolutely nothing quite like watching Steph Curry get hot from field. After the depression of watching Pierce’s soul get crushed last night, I immediately was treated to the basketball pornography that is Golden State and Stephen Curry.

I don’t know how else to describe it. He does things on the court that just blow my mind. I get an endorphin rush at every behind the back crossover, stop-on-a-dime-as-the-defender-flies-by, quick-release 3. I’m slack-jawed at the ease of his greatness. It’s like he’s operating at a different speed than everyone else.

There are no edges to Steph Curry’s game. He’s a Donald Byrd record in Under Armour kicks.

And we get to watch it. Right now. In our adult lifetimes, with the cognitive ability to watch it, retain it, and create legendary tales that we’ll spit back at some punk kids 30 years from now when they try to tell us some guy who, at this moment, isn’t born yet, is the greatest shooter ever.

“Pffft. Sit down young fella and let me tell you about what Steph Curry used to do.”

Amazing.

The rest of the links

Herald: Versatile Connaughton puts on show for Celtics  |  CSNNE: Will NBA teams take a chance in Upshaw  |  C’s have growing interest in Cauley-Stein  |  Hollis-Jefferson: Celtics need “one more piece” |  Globe: Crowder progressing in return from knee strain  |  MassLive: Cauley-Stein: Celtics mix of youth & success “amazing”