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Tony Battie interested in return to Boston

Via WEEI.com:

On Friday, Yahoo! Sports reported Tony Battie is a candidate to be bought out by the Nets before Monday’s deadline. WEEI.com has learned the Celtics are one of the teams Battie would be interested in signing with if he is bought out.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Battie would eye the top three or four teams in each conference, which makes sense for a veteran player who is trying to maximize the years he has left in the NBA. According to the source, Battie, 34, considers himself to be the in twilight of his career and a serviceable big man who could rebound, play tough defense, and give timely fouls. He has not, however, had any conversations with the Celtics organization.

If there is absolutely no one else available, I'd welcome Tony back to Boston. After all, what team can't use an other big man? Maybe if Doc gave some of Sheed's minutes to Tony, Wallace would get the message and drop some of his lazy habits.

Are the Celtics dead yet? Don't you believe it

By DRJ

Seems everybody's in shock. Disgusted, upset, speechless. Comments have died down. People are giving up. Why? Cs lost to the Nets. The Nets!!

But wait a second...

The Nets are NOT, as many have said, "the worst team in the history of the NBA". Far from it. If you look at their roster, they actually have some good to great individual pieces. Lopez is certainly an excellent player, could be great. Harris is a very good PG; surround him with great players, and he could shine. Lee is an excellent ball player, someone I was really surprised Orlando let go. CDR shows a lot of promise (still can't BELIEVE Danny chose Giddens over him!) Dooling and Humphries have some talent too. This team SHOULD NOT have the record they have. I have no idea why they do... not my concern, don't care to find out. But clearly, with the players they have, the Nets should always be considered CAPABLE of playing a very good game.

So they chose Saturday to have one of those good games. They played hard, and more importantly, they hit their shots when it mattered most. At the same time, the Cs chose this day to MISS most of their shots when it mattered most. It happens. Losses happen. The Nets earned this win. So? It doesn't really MEAN... anything.

But the time is drawing near when games really will matter. If the regular season is one long practice session -- a Celtics viewpoint about which we theorized, and is now corroborated by the players themselves -- then they need to PRACTICE WINNING. Because "practice", by definition, is preparation for the real thing. How you prepare determines how you perform. Time to start preparing properly.

Enemy Chatter: Ha Ha, Ha Ha

I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics. Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from New Jersey.

There were a ton of great individual performances for the Nets yesterday (Devin, Courtney, CDR, Hump), but in my opinion the most impressive performance came from Brook Lopez.  Brook showed everything that makes him the great player that he is.  Brook might not have the best lateral movement for a big man, but I think he runs the floor with the best of them. He just puts his head down, sprints right into the paint and puts himself in position to get easy buckets. But where Brook really showed out was in the post.  Now, Kendrick Perkins is a fantastic defender.  He is physical, he positions himself well, and he has pretty good reaction speed.  Brook Lopez treated him like a little kid yesterday, absolutely dominating him:

If the Celtics would have pulled this game out, the hero would have been Marqius Daniels.  His size gave the Nets guards so much trouble he was able to get some key offensive rebounds and score in the lane at will (16 points on 8-9 shooting).  Daniels was saddled with foul trouble too.

How scared were you when Ray Allen let that three go when they were down 6?  I almost peed myself.

Nets are Scorching (TrueHoop)

Found some solid game analysis on the NAS blog. They do good work over there.

And then I found this:

Given how little Nets fans have had to celebrate this season, I have this simple message to the Celtics and the wonderful fans of Boston:

Guess I can't blame them.

RedsArmy.com Player of the Week: Kevin Garnett

Games this week:

• Vs. NY:    16 pts (6-11 fg), 8 reb, 6 assists
  
• Vs. CLE:  10 pts (4-10 fg), 10 reb, 5 assists
• Vs. NJ:    26 pts (12-16 fg), 9 reb, 1 assist

KG had his best offensive game in the team's lowest moment.  We have seen a steady improvement in Kevin Garnett this week, including a slow return of his explosiveness (marked by a few alley oops and dunks).  He's getting down into the post a little more often, though not as much as we'd like yet.  If he continues to improve at this pace, we'll see enough of the KG that we need by playoff time.  It's not what he gave us in 2008, but he won't be what he was immediately coming back from the knee strain, either.   

Your Morning Dump... Where the words don't match the effort

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.

"It's different [the 2007-08 season], guys are really anxious to get to the playoffs," Perkins said. "You've got veteran guys -- Rasheed, [Kevin Garnett] -- you can tell the regular season, it really don't excite them. Even with Paul [Pierce] and Ray [Allen], but you still gotta go out there and compete, it's not an excuse for losing. Guys just really want to get to crunch time."

There's 24 games left in the regular season. It's safe to say we're into crunch time. Yet Celtics players still don't seem as concerned as those outside the locker room.

"We only have 24 games left, and to have a lot of uncertainty, that definitely has to raise a couple flags," Wallace said. "We gotta knuckle down."

..."There's too much heart and drive, we'll find a way to figure something out," Wallace said. "No one in here is giving up. Just because we didn't [beat the Nets], that's not the end of the season. No one in here is giving up. There's too much basketball knowledge to let this go away.

ESPN Boston - Bored Celtics better wake up

“It ain’t the system, it’s our heads,’’ Rivers said. “It’s between our ears. And we’ve got to come out and play.’’

The players could do nothing but agree.

“Doc gives us direction,’’ Garnett said. “Guys have to go out there and follow the plan and execute. That’s all it is.’’

Rasheed Wallace added, “We can’t sit up here and say, ‘Oh, it’s Doc’s fault that we lost.’ Or ‘Doc’s not doing this’ or ‘Doc’s not doing that.’

“Doc’s not on the floor. It’s the five guys that’s out there. So we have to come up with ways to win.’’

Searching for more answers to the same questions, Ray Allen paused long and hard, staring over the heads of the media members before coming up with a response.

“I’m not concerned,’’ Allen said. “I’m disappointed."

Globe: New Low: Nets cut down Celtics

“I don’t know how many wake-up calls we need,” Kendrick Perkins said. “We’ve had a few this year. We’ll see how we bounce back against Detroit (on Tuesday). We’ve got a few days to think about these last two losses."

Herald: New low for Celtics

I don't know if Rajon Rondo is disappointed in his and the team's performance in that picture... or if he's just catching a nap.

You know... these guys are pissing me off just as much as they're pissing the rest of you off.  But I'll tell you what I'm not doing... and that's writing them off.

Maybe I'm being naive.  Maybe I'm being the eternal optimist.  But when your team's problem is mental rather than physical... I see hope.  I see the potential for something to snap in these guys and for them to play well.

My point is simply that we're not watching them play their best and not be good enough.  We're seeing them play their best and dominate... then just take early showers.  It's frustrating as all hell.  But I see no reason to dismiss them as being unable to find whatever that thing is.

It would be nice if the Celtics can just go out and prove that point, though.  Maybe they did in Portland and we just choose to ignore it.  But I'd love to see a beginning-to-end domination just so the C's could say "see... this is what we're capable of... now let us coast for a couple more weeks."

And yeah... I know how I am.  I feel like the girl who's dating a total prick and she's just looking for that one little sign of something so I can go tell my girlfriends "No really.... he loves me... look at what he did today" while he goes off and screws around some more.

Yep, Celtics... you're the prick boyfriend.  How much more of this can we fans take before we just say screw it and break up with you?

Coming up, Page 2... where Big Baby says he's getting a bad rap

Associated Press Photo

T-Mobile Recap: Celtics Flatline

Lazy. Uninspired. Gutless. Pick a word to describe your 2009-10 Boston Celtics.

Less than 24 hours after Danny Ainge said he wouldn't be afraid to blow up this team in the off-season, the Celtics laid one of their biggest eggs of the season.

That new sign Doc posted in the locker room - "Individuals win games, but teams win titles" - apparently went unnoticed.

So how did the Nets do it? They were more aggressive. Period. The 41 to 11 advantage in free throws proves it.

Kevin Garnett may have played his best game this season - 26 points (12-16 FG), 9 rebounds. in 26 minutes. But the problem is, this team no longer feeds of him and his intensity.

Rajon Rondo had 13 points and 17 assists. Ray Allen struggled - 10 points on 3-11 FG.

The eternal optimist will say the Celtics can use this rock-bottom loss as motivation to turn things around. I say the Celtics are pretenders with zero chance of winning the championship.

Nets 104 - Celtics 96

Box Score | Recap

Celtics/Nets Game Preview

Celtics (36-19) vs. Nets (5-52)

Game time: 1pm, TD Garden. TV - CSN, Radio - WEEI-AM (850)

Team Leaders

Scoring
Bos: Pierce - 17.9                  Nets: Brook Lopez - 19.1

Rebounding
Bos: Perkins - 8.0                  Nets: Lopez - 8.9

Assists
Bos: Rondo - 9.8                    Nets: Devin Harris - 6.7

Who'll go off:  Kevin Garnett. He's still good enough to feast on Yi Jianlian and Kris Humphries, right?

Who needs to be stopped: Brook Lopez. The smooth 7-footer is averaging 20 ppg, 7 rpg vs Boston this season.

The C's will lose if...  Remember the last time these teams met? The Nets shot 60+% in the first half and led after 3 quarters.  Yes, the Celtics won 96-87 but need a 4th quarter barrage from Eddie House. We know the story. If the Celtics play sleepy defense (even against a lousy team like NJ), they could find themselves in a dog fight.

Miscellany: The Celtics are 3-0 vs NJ this season and have beaten them 12 straight times. Rasheed Wallace has made 2-of-15 treys in the last five games. The Nets have lost 12 of 13. Nets F Jarvis Hayes (strained calf) is expected to play. Paul Pierce (thumb, flu) is doubtful.

Prediction: Celtics 103 - Nets 88

Cavs announcer says Glen Davis is a dirty player

Via Cleveland.com:

Austin Carr said Boston's Glen "Big Baby" Davis bent the unwritten rules the same way he tried to twist Shaquille O'Neal's already-injured thumb Thursday night in Boston. "I thought what 'Big Baby' did showed the kind of character, or lack of it, that he has," Carr said.

Shaq tried to stay in the game, and that's when Davis defended the Cavs center as he posted up by grabbing the tender thumb. Apparently, Davis mistook it for a wishbone when he had his heart set on knocking Shaq out of the game.

"He crossed the line," Carr said. "When I played, if a guy had a hand injury, I would go aggressively after the ball and try to knock it away. If I got his hand, too, it happens. I would not try purposely to hit his hand."

Show me the replay and I'll believe this.

Let's say Glen Davis purposely twisted Shaq's thumb. Don't you think Shaq would have reacted? Say, with a punch or a push?

Austin Carr is like Tommy Heinsohn. He sometimes sees things that didn't really happen.

Your Morning Dump... Where Danny will blow it up if he has to

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.

“I’m constantly thinking about that,” he said. “But I think what happens beyond this season will be based more on how this team performs from here on out than what’s happened to this point.

“I think we’ll know a lot more about this team over the next few months. All we can do now is speculate.”

And be ready to cut in widely divergent directions based on the findings.

“I’m prepared in either scenario,” Ainge said. “We’ll either add to this team or change it. “

And,” he added, “change it big or small. It will become more clear as the season winds down.”

Herald: A lot rides on Celtics finish

Steve Bulpett said it last night on The 2 Man Game:  The media and Celtics brass are watching the same things we are... and they have the same questions.  And Danny says it in the piece:

“(Thursday) night was a good example,” he went on, referring to the Cavaliers game in which the C’s led by double figures before losing by 20. “We were ready to play. We came out and we were playing good basketball. We didn’t play great in the first half, but we were playing good. Then in the second half we looked bored. We gave up four layups, and it’s like, where is the urgency?”

It sounds like something any one of us would have said.  The Celtics look bored... like the just don't care... as they piss away everything they worked for. 

The message from Danny Ainge seems pretty clear:  the ball is in the players' court.  You guys have the ability to play better.  Hell, you've shown the ability to play better.  You've PLAYED better... even in a lot of the same games in which you've utterly sucked.  So you had better play better... or else you'll be playing somewhere else.

By the way, if you missed Steve Bulpett on the The 2 Man Game last night... here he is with some great stuff:

Coming up, Page 2... where Nate is still learning

The 2 Man Game presented by T-Mobile tonight at 9 with Steve Bulpett

Ok... so the Celtics seem to be having some of the same problems they've had in the past.  A lot of you guys don't like what you're seeing... so we're doing a show tonight to let you vent.

But we'll kick things off with the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett to get an inside look at just what is going on with our Boston Celtics.

The show starts at 9pm.  As always... go to our show page to tune in... and call in.