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.
ESPN Boston: Postgame Notes: Now what?"I don’t know what this feels like," admitted Rivers. "I’m not used to this. I just know it’s nice to get a day off tomorrow, because we need one... But it is nice to take care of business and that was great. Only I was a little disappointed in us [letting a 21-point lead slip to three at] the end of the third and fourth [quarters], because I thought it was our focus. We can’t do that. It’s very dangerous. We got away with it tonight."
...“It feels good that we were finally able to close out a team earlier," said Pierce. "We wish we could have done it in four, but maybe we needed a little bump in the road to kind of wake us up. [Now the Celtics] get a couple days of rest before we move on to the next round, so I am glad with the way we played throughout the series. I thought we really saw the sense of urgency throughout the whole series and I am happy with the win."
I don't want to get nit-picky here, but I'm not exactly thrilled with Pierce's comment that they needed a bump in the road to wake them up.
But whatever... I'd rather that be the case when they're up 3-0 than at some other time. And maybe this is just the haunting memories of the regular season getting into my head... so I'm just going to move on.
The Celtics losing game 4 might actually be a good thing because with the second round starting Saturday, three days off is just enough, but 5 days off might be a smidge too much. It's the difference between rested and rusty.
Maybe rusty isn't the best word for it, but I'm tired and don't feel like thinking very hard. The bottom line is 3 days might be just enough for the Celtics to feel healthy without coming out on Saturday and being OVERLY eager. The last thing we need is the C's back-rimming everything because they're too juiced and then they fall behind early.
Besides... I have no goddam idea how we would have filled this site during 5 off days.
On Page 2... LeBron's mystery injury
That's LeBron shooting his last free throw of last night's game left handed because his right elbow, apparently, randomly, got numb. Here's LeBron, via Cleveland.com, explaining they mysterious elbow problem.
My question is... did he REALLY need to shoot that last free throw lefty? I get this odd feeling that he's just being dramatic. I'm not putting any stock in that elbow injury story. I expect him to be 100%.
I wonder how busy local ER's got when LeBron put up that lefty shot and left holding his elbow? Either that, or there was a huge run on Pepto immediately after the game.
I'll bring up something that was brought up in the post game comments:
Charles Barkley said he'd bet everything he has on Cleveland.
And now I'll repeat the same joke people made in the post game comments:
Given Chuck's gambling history... how do you feel about that, Cleveland?
The rest of the links:
Herald: Celtics close with high 5 | Truth is, they're not done | Big 3 proves worth | Rondo plays big role | McAdoo part of history | Globe: Canned Heat | No time like the present to face Cavs | Bigger loss yet to come? | ESPN Boston: 3 point play-Baby, Defense, Cavs | C's-Cavs schedule | First impressions | CSNNE: C's gear up for another 1 man show | MWDN: Souza: Rest helping C's so far | Bring on LeBron | WEEI: KG press conference | Pierce, KG, Doc on Baby | Pierce press conference | Doc press conference | Davis plans on attacking the kingdom | Richardson: 'Paul's a great NBA player' | Camerato: Memories of miss motivate Allen