Your Morning Dump... The Celtics relive the Game 1 pain

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.

“Well, they had a clip — we had a film clip with all the 50/50 [loose balls, long rebound] plays, and I don’t think we won none of them,’’ Celtics guard Rajon Rondo said, shaking his head at the podium. “They got all the loose balls. They dove on the floor first. They were the more aggressive team. Winning none of those categories, it’s hard to win a game.’’

The Celtics were burned by dribble penetration, which forced their big men, mostly Perkins and Garnett, to help on defense, which opened up lanes for Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Of Gasol’s 14 shots, 10 came inside the paint, including four layups and a dunk.

Three of Bynum’s six shots were dunks and five were in the paint. The Celtics’ defense did little to push LA’s two big men away from the basket, and it resulted in easy hoops and a nonexistent Boston transition game.

Globe - Loud and Clear

We've been down this road before; Game 3 vs the Cavaliers (124 - 95) and Game 5 vs the Magic (113-92).

The Cleveland loss was even more demoralizing because it happened on the Celtics home court and gave the Cavs a 2-1 series lead.

Those losses and the Game 1 debacle spurred talk of old age. Garbage. The Celtics will bounce back and play with more aggression and intensity in Game 2. Why? Because that's what they do. Can you tell I'm annoyed with the media coverage?

“It’s not my job to figure out what they’re going to do. It is my job to make amends for the physical aggression that we lacked,” said Ray Allen. “I think we, tendency wise, got early fouls, and it put us on our heels a little bit more than we would like. But those fouls, we just play through it, but we’ve got to keep our aggressive nature.

Herald - Celtics looking to bounce back

While the case can be made that a tightly called game hurts the Celtics, Ray is right. The Lakers also had early foul trouble, yet they managed to play through it.

On Page 2, Doc gives us a great reason to ignore that 47-0 stat.

Doc Rivers wasn’t in the mood to hear about the big Phil Jackson stat of the moment - the Lakers coach’s 47-0 record in playoff series when his team wins Game 1.

But Rivers came prepared with a little numerology of his own yesterday. He pointed to the Celtics’ comeback from a 24-point second-half deficit to win Game 4 of the 2008 Finals as an example of what is possible. No team had ever recovered from that kind of deficit in the history of the Finals to win a game prior to that night.

“Well, you know, it’s like I told our guys, because I assumed that this would come up,” said the Celtics coach. “I don’t know the record. I said also the last time we were in the Finals no team had ever come down from 24 in the second half. At some point, it happened.”

Herald - Rondo has a plan (Celtics notebook)

Ahh... that Game 4 comeback. One of my all-time favorite Celtics victories.

The rest of the links:

Globe - Gasol smack dab in the middle | Bynum no worse for wear | Pierce won't hear of it (old age) | Rondo faces big problem in paint | Herald - Gasol accidentally fuels fire with KG | Green not going into panic mode | Celtics looking to bounce back in right direction | CSNNE - Cs looking to avoid foul play | Tony Allen looks to get back on track | Why Glen Davis is wearing ear plugs | WEEI - What Ray needs to learn real quick | Lakers key to defending Rondo | ESPN Boston - Gasol assessment of KG on mark | Cs can't linger in the moment |