News 4/2

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1084439&format=text
Sloppy C’s sidestep Bulls
Turnovers, treys mark 59th victory

By Mark Murphy | Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by AP
CHICAGO - On nights like this, with the playoffs eight games away and the regular season at a low ebb, they are going to be vulnerable.

A mediocre team like Chicago, harboring an outside hope of grabbing the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff seed, can pull off the improbable.

The Celtics [team stats] certainly were open for that kind of upset last night, before shrugging off their aches with a 106-92 win against the Bulls at the United Center. The result pulled the C’s within one game of their 60th win of the season, with the Indiana Pacers - another team with eyes on that eighth spot - on the schedule for a game tonight at the Garden.

The 1985-86 team - the last Celtics entry to win an NBA title - also was the last to cross the 60-win threshold (67-15). These Celts would match that record by winning their last eight games. However, based on last night’s sloppiness, they have no business thinking that far ahead.

“Teams are trying to find what they need to do to beat us,” Ray Allen said of the Bulls’ typically swarming, relentless attempts at shutting down the Celtics, and Kevin Garnett in particular, inside. “We’ve been in control and we know what we have to do, but we have to remember to keep it simple.”

The Celtics finally secured a victory with one of their best 3-point displays of the season. They shot 14-for-25 (56 percent) from downtown, including five 3-pointers from Allen (22 points) and three treys from James Posey (11 points). The 14 treys were one shy of a season high.

Garnett finished with 20 points and Paul Pierce [stats] added 17 on 6-for-9 shooting.

The C’s also turned the ball over 20 times. The fact that the Bulls only were able to turn those mistakes into 14 points was a blessing.

The win also moved the C’s record against sub-.500 teams to 32-1. There’s a good reason for that kind of consistency.

“Most people, when they talk about who you play and who you match up against, are talking about the best teams,” Allen said. “But it’s the ones that have subpar .500 records that are the ones you have to be concerned about. Those are the teams that you have to beat. So our focus is establishing what we do every night and sticking to that.”

Turnovers, a plague in the first half, continued to be a problem for the Celtics in the third quarter. Though they continued to hit from 3-point range at a furious pace (10-for-15 in the quarter), the C’s also continued to fork the ball over at an alarming rate.

The Celts turned the ball over seven times in the third, fueling the Bulls just enough to cut the Celtics’ lead to 79-73 by the start of the fourth. Tyrus Thomas had a 10-point third for Chicago on the way to a game-high 24 points.

The mistakes probably would have provided the recipe for defeat against a better team, but the Bulls, who were almost as turnover-prone, simply couldn’t produce a late run.

Chicago’s Andres Nocioni was able to answer a Sam Cassell bomb with a trey of his own before the Celtics answered with three free throws. Ben Gordon hit a trey for the Bulls, only for Allen to bury a 15-footer and Cassell to add a pair of free throws with 6:16 left in the game for a 93-81 lead. Posey hit his third trey of the game with 3:47 left for a 98-87 lead, and the Bulls were unable to respond.

“On paper the games you are supposed to win are just that - on paper,” Garnett said.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1084440&format=text
Animated discussion
Benny the Bull launches beef

By Mark Murphy / Celtics Notebook | Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by AP
CHICAGO - Even the mascots are getting tough.

Last night, in the process of the Celtics [team stats] completing a series sweep of the Chicago Bulls for the first time since 1986-87, Kevin Garnett and James Posey engaged in some late-game trash talking with Benny the Bull.

“Bulls can talk,” said Garnett, who initially was upset after he and Posey were hit in the back by clothing fired from a T-shirt launcher during a timeout in the closing minutes of the C’s 106-92 victory. “Walking off the floor we got hit by some shirts.”

Garnett initially had to be restrained by a member of the officiating crew as Benny stood a safe distance away.

“I turned around, saw the guy in the bull hat, and we had some words,” Garnett said.

Posey, not a favorite in Chicago dating back to when he was a member of the Miami Heat, cringed in mock fear.

“I don’t know - I feel threatened,” Posey said. “I don’t feel safe. They really have tough love here, but it was definitely an inside job. They made the mascot do it. I got hit in the back walking away. That spot on my back is sore. I might have to get treatment on it.”

The Benny encounter brings to mind an incident four years ago when Ricky Davis returned to Cleveland for the first time in a Celtics uniform and witnessed the sight of Moondog, the Cavaliers mascot, mopping the floor with a replica of his old Cleveland jersey. Moondog later was suspended for the act.

Defense rests

Celtics coach Doc Rivers has reached the point of nausea when asked to discuss Garnett - and by extension Paul Pierce [stats] - as a candidate for the MVP award.

Maybe the focus is all wrong. Considering the Celtics’ emergence as the best defensive team in the league, perhaps defensive player of the year is the honor that should carry Garnett’s name.

“I think it is that, for sure,” Rivers said. “The change has been amazing. But I think he deserves a lot of recognition for that. Clearly, for me, the defensive award should be a given for him. There’s no debate with that one.” . . .

Rivers was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for the second time this season, making him the first C’s coach since the honor began in 1982-83 to win twice in the same season.

KC Jones won the award twice in separate campaigns (1984, ’86). Jimmy Rodgers (1990) and Chris Ford (’92) each took the honor home once.

Mohawk trail

Glen Davis is sporting a new, forehead-to-the-nape-of-his-neck Mohawk haircut, and no, Big Baby didn’t catch a recent viewing of “Last of the Mohicans.” Nor was this a case of some late-season rookie hazing.

“I never tried it before,” Davis said. “They didn’t think I was going to do it, but I did it anyway.” . . .

Bulls guard Ben Gordon, who was born in London, is the latest NBA player to be selected to the fledgling British basketball team that’s trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. British Basketball named Gordon and Bulls teammate Luol Deng to its 33-man squad to play in Eurobasket qualifiers.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1084441&format=text

Powe fights hard for PT

By Mark Murphy | Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics

Photo by AP (file)
CHICAGO - Inspirational images resonate with Leon Powe in his quest to maintain a spot in the Celtics [team stats] playing rotation.

There is the memory of his late mother Connie Landry, as well as the four brothers and sisters Powe supports by an NBA salary. There is his son, Leon Powe III.

So just try and knock Powe out of relevance on the most vital team in the NBA. Better men have failed.

“If I don’t play hard, it’s food that’s not going on the table for my family,” said Powe, who had six points and six rebounds in 16 minutes of last night’s 106-92 win agains the Bulls in Chicago.

As Powe has discovered in his second NBA season, the task of staying on the floor can be hard.

“Just staying on the floor, man, that’s the goal,” he said. “We have so many forwards on this team, so any way of fitting in and making a contribution is what you have to do. I just try to go out and work hard. You don’t take days off. You figure out what it is that they need, and you provide it.”

Perhaps the most amazing part of Powe’s development in the midst of the Celtics’ stretch drive for homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs is that his contributions often have been of the game-winning variety. The forward has fed off his more celebrated teammates.

“I think that playing with Kevin (Garnett), Paul (Pierce) and Ray (Allen) has obviously helped Leon,” coach Doc Rivers said. “He just has really good focus. He’s a player of great character. All of these things have kept Leon out there.”

There is one quality, above all others, that eventually will define Powe’s burgeoning career. Rivers noted last week that when the forward collects a big NBA payday, defense will bring in the currency.

“Guarding Kevin Garnett every day in practice really prepares me,” Powe said. “It prepares me for everything else. I wouldn’t say that I’ve surprised myself so far, because I knew that if I could get in, then I would stay there. It’s hard to get on the floor on this team.

“You just don’t get this chance too often. You have to make it count.”

[FLCeltsFan]

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/04/02/celtics_keep_firing?mode=PF

Celtics keep firing
Unlike Pistons, they won't rest
By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | April 2, 2008

CHICAGO - With the Pistons more or less throwing in the regular-season towel, the Celtics got one step closer to clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Celtics defeated the Bulls, 106-92, at the United Center last night as their All-Star trio combined for 59 points. Ray Allen scored a team-high 22, Kevin Garnett had 20, and Paul Pierce added 17.

The Celtics' magic number to clinch the top seed - a combination of Boston wins and Detroit losses - is now three. The Pistons are seemingly conceding, as they rested Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace for last night's 94-90 victory over lowly Minnesota.

"If that's what they decide to do, that's what they decide to do," said Garnett about the Pistons perhaps resting their All-Stars the rest of the way. "Doc [Rivers] hasn't communicated anything to us that we are going to do something like that. We are forming this thing here around something special to get some consistencies going into the playoffs.

"We can't worry about what other teams are doing or copy them. Doc hasn't said anything to the leaders of this team or the vets of this team. We're going to keep on keeping on and trying to win as many games as we can."

The decision to rest Billups, Hamilton, and Wallace came from Pistons general manager Joe Dumars and coach Flip Saunders. Detroit (53-21) has eight regular-season games remaining. Rivers has said that his starters' minutes might taper off during the final eight games, but he doesn't plan on sitting them.

Asked about Detroit's move, Rivers said, "I don't coach the Pistons. That's it. I don't coach the Pistons. They do what they want to do. We are going to do what we want to do.

"I'm not going to get into all that stuff. We like what we are doing. We like the rhythm of our team. We are going to keep doing what we're doing."

The Celtics swept the four-game season series against Chicago for the first time since 1986-87. With a win tonight against Indiana at TD Banknorth Garden, they not only will reach 60 wins for the first time since 1985-86, they will have the third-best record in franchise history through 75 contests.

The Celtics nailed 14 of 25 3-point attempts (56 percent), with Allen hitting five, Pierce four, and James Posey (11 points, 7 rebounds) three. "It was great," said Rivers. "It bailed us out. We made timely threes, too."

Said Allen, "The 3-point line can be very tricky at times because you have so many open looks. I know I'm capable of making them. Paul knows he's capable of making them. But I think there is a stigma attached that when you shoot too many threes you're settling."

Boston was ahead, 50-43, at halftime, but the Bulls opened the third quarter with an 11-6 run to trim their deficit to 56-54 after a Luol Deng lay-in. The Celtics responded with a 9-1 run to vault ahead, 65-55, following a Rajon Rondo jumper. Joakim Noah made two free throws with 1.6 seconds left in the third to slice Chicago's deficit to 79-73.

"This is a nice win," Rivers said. "I don't think we played great. We were sloppy with the ball; 19 turnovers is what we had. Overall, I think our effort was good. Chicago played hard. That's what they do."

A 3-pointer by Sam Cassell gave Boston an 86-75 lead with 8:44 remaining, and Posey nailed a 3-pointer to make it 98-87 with 3:46 left. Allen's 3-pointer with 2:49 remaining sealed it by pushing Chicago behind, 101-87.

The Bulls were limited to 41.7 percent shooting from the field and allowed 23 points off 16 turnovers. Chicago forward Tyrus Thomas scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Said Chicago coach Jim Boylan: "Boston shot the ball extremely well, but that is what they do. They move the ball and find the open man."

[FLCeltsFan]

www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/04/02/bulls_eyes_on_their_backs?mode=PF

Bull's-eyes on their backs
Garnett and Posey targeted by mascot
By Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff | April 2, 2008

CHICAGO - Bennie the Bull literally took a shot at Kevin Garnett and James Posey last night.

During the fourth quarter of the Celtics' 106-92 win over the Bulls at the United Center, the Chicago mascot shot T-shirts out of a T-shirt gun that hit them in the back. The incident happened when Garnett and Posey were walking to the bench during a timeout with 2:49 remaining. Garnett and Posey gave Bennie the Bull a glare, and, said Garnett, "We exchanged words."

Garnett was sent back to the bench by the referees after trying to explain what happened.

"I felt threatened," said Posey, who is considered a villain among Bulls fans for his tough fouls when he played for Miami, and was booed every time he touched the ball last night. "They already don't like me here already.

"Two T-shirts were thrown at me and KG. I don't feel safe. The T-shirts were fired out of that gun or whatever.

"I feel a little sore in one spot. I might have to get treatment.

"First, I thought it was a teammate just tapping me. But then I looked down and there were T-shirts and there were only two down there. Let's see how the league handles this."

Bennie the Bull was not available for comment.


Rivers earns monthly award
The NBA rewarded Doc Rivers with monthly coaching honors for the second time this season. Time will tell whether a Coach of the Year honor is coming his way, too.

Rivers yesterday was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for March, having guided the Celtics to an NBA-best 13-3 record, including the franchise's first road sweep of the Texas Triangle (San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas) since 1987. The Celtics picked up nine wins in the month against teams that are currently playoff-bound.

Rivers also received the award for November.

"I feel the same way I felt when I got the other one," Rivers said. "I thank Kevin, Paul [ Pierce], Rajon [Rondo], Perk [Kendrick Perkins], and all of them. That's about it."

With the league's best record in hand, Rivers is a solid Coach of the Year candidate. His competition for the Red Auerbach Trophy likely will include New Orleans's Byron Scott, the Lakers' Phil Jackson, and Houston's Rick Adelman.

"If there is an award here, I hope it's with one of my players," Rivers said. "Other than that, there is only one award that we want and that's at the end of the year."

Garnett is a candidate for MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. Pierce is a dark-horse MVP candidate. Second-year point guard Rondo is a candidate for Most Improved Player.

Rivers believes the Celtics' dominance may hurt Garnett or Pierce's chances for the MVP Award. Sam Cassell suggested they are canceling each other out for MVP because they are on the same team.

"The MVP race, unfortunately, is a numbers-oriented race," Rivers said. "I think what people don't take into account about Kevin and Paul is - and I don't know how many games it is - but I think it's over 20 games we've won by plus-20 points. There are a lot of games where Kevin and Paul aren't even playing in the fourth quarter.

"Their numbers are literally affected by that. The great part about those two is they could care less. They could care less about the MVP thing. They could care less about the talk. All they want to do is win as a group, and to me that is what an MVP should be."


A Sutton supporter
Celtics guard Tony Allen was shocked to learn yesterday that Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton had resigned, two weeks after the Cowboys finished with a 17-16 record. Sutton, who was two years into a five-year contract, was an assistant coach under his father, Eddie Sutton, when Allen played for Oklahoma State from 2002-04. "Anywhere he goes, I'm still supporting him and I'm helping him with his recruiting," Allen said. "That's my man. I'm real surprised. He didn't even get a fair chance. All the players that came to the program were off Eddie Sutton. At least they should have given him three years to even see. They didn't even give him a chance to progress."


No style points for Davis
Glen Davis is now sporting a Mohawk. No, there was no rookie hazing involved. "Big Baby" said he has wanted one for a while and had his hair cut Monday. Asked what his teammates thought, Davis said, "They said it's horrible." Rivers joked, "I don't think you have to make Baby do things to draw attention to [himself]. He'll draw attention on his own." . . . Posey clarified that his recently born daughter was not a whopping 28 inches long, as reported, but 20 1/4 inches long . . . Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau has been rumored as a candidate for the Bulls' coaching job. "I don't get into that," said Rivers. "It's the middle of the season. I'm not commenting or talking about that. I want [all my assistants] to get [head] jobs. And they all deserve them. But that's all I'm going to say on that."

[FLCeltsFan]

www.patriotledger.com/sports/pros/x1133488945
Pacers coach Jim O’Brien can’t catch a break
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By Mike Fine
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 01, 2008 @ 10:19 PM

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BOSTON — There isn’t a basketball coach out there who knows more than Jim O’Brien, but if you asked any of them if they’d like to follow O’Brien’s career path, they’d likely tell you they’d rather stick a fork in their thumbs.

The Indiana Pacers coach, who led the Celtics from January, 2001 until January, 2004, hasn’t had a whole lot of luck settling in. Hey, that January to January stint is the first clue. He resigned from his Celtics post, was fired from his Philadelphia 76ers job and then landed in Indiana, where center Jermaine O’Neal and point guard Jamaal Tinsley were injured and the Pacers’ season went down the tubes.

Now, with a meeting against the Celtics tonight, O’Brien finds himself with further uncertainty, with team President Donnie Walsh about to step down and Director of Operations Larry Bird’s status up in the air. Bird hired O’Brien, but if he decides to leave, O’Brien could be left working for a regime that wants to go in another direction.

It’s a shame, because O’Brien is a good guy, if not one who’s wound a little tight on game days, and he’s also a good coach. There aren’t many coaches who’ve worked 414 games and have a plus-.500 (213-201) record.

O’Brien graduated from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and was about to take a job as a sales rep for Procter and Gamble when his old college coach, Jack McKinney, told him to follow his heart. His heart said he should be a head coach, but after winding up as Rick Pitino’s right-hand man at the University of Kentucky, the New York Knicks and Celtics, he became identified as a second banana, albeit an indispensable one.

That’s where he found himself in the first week of January, 2001, when Pitino, beset with doubts about whether he could turn the Celtics around, resigned. O’Brien was appointed head coach, and went 24-24 through the end of the season. The Celts finished at 36-46 and didn’t make the playoffs, but O’Brien had established something. When his Antoine-Walker/Paul Pierce-dominated team returned the following October, it was thrilled to be playing an uptempo, 3-point style of attack. The Celtics finished at 49-33 and lost to the Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The following season was a bit more challenging, and the Celtics imploded in the Eastern semifinals. Unbeknownst to O’Brien, new owner Wyc Grousbeck and his group brought in Danny Ainge to run the basketball operations. That was the beginning of the end for the coach, who didn’t make it through the 2003-04 season.

Here’s what his father in law, Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay, wrote on ESPN.com on Jan. 27, 2004 just after O’Brien resigned: “Jim O'Brien just couldn’t take it anymore. He had watched powerlessly as the personnel of the Boston Celtics team that he had taken to the Eastern Conference finals just two years ago was reduced to two members (Paul Pierce and Walter McCarty) and last year’s squad, a surprise playoff winner over Indiana, was broken up by trades that he opposed. O'Brien did the honorable thing and resigned, forfeiting the last two years of a lucrative, guaranteed contract.”

Perhaps, but others thought he flat-out quit after Ainge sent his key scorer, Walker, along with Tony Delk, to Dallas for Jiri Welsch and Raef LaFrentz. He then sent Tony Battie, Eric Williams and Kedrick Brown to Cleveland for Chris Mihm, Ricky Davis and Michael Stewart, robbing the defensive-minded coach of any defensive presence he had.

O’Brien quit, sat around for a year and then got hired by the Sixers, a team facing all kinds of turmoil itself, on April 20, 2004. In his first season the Sixers won 43 games, but lost to the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. His first season became his last season. Ex-Sixer Maurice Cheeks was fired by the Trail Blazers on March 2, 2005. Two-and-a-half months later he was hired by the Sixers, the same day O’Brien was fired.

For two years O’Brien did some television work and writing Internet columns. Bird hired him last May 31. Then it began to fall apart. O’Neal had been injured (left knee) for much of last season, when the Pacers won only 35 games and missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years (and second time in 18 years). The coach was hoping O’Neal would heal and get his team off on the right foot.

As the season began last Oct. 31, the center was deactivated with a hyperextension of the knee. That would happen another three times. O’Neal returned against Miami Monday, just his 34th game. Tinsley has played in only 39. So the Pacers come into Boston tonight with 31 wins, three games out of a playoff berth, in danger of a second straight non-appearance in the postseason.

O’Brien, meanwhile, is in the middle of it all, plugging away as usual, working with what he has. Once again, it’s an uncomfortable position for a coach who’s just itching to succeed.

[FLCeltsFan]

www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/872760,CST-SPT-bull02.article
Bulls get the star treatment
Allen, Garnett, Pierce split honors; Thomas has 24 points but little support

April 2, 2008Recommend

BY BRIAN HANLEY [e-mail]
CELTICS 106, BULLS 92

Jim Boylan and Glenn ''Doc'' Rivers stood some 60 feet apart as they shared a sideline Tuesday in the Bulls' 106-92 loss to the Boston Celtics.

RELATED STORIES
Exceeding expectations
The figurative distance between the coaches' fortunes is nowhere near as close.

Boylan, the Bulls' interim coach -- unlike Rivers -- doesn't look up in his huddle and see All-Stars the likes of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Allen led the Celtics with 22 points, Garnett added 20 points and seven rebounds, and Pierce chipped in 17 points. Allen and Pierce combined for 9-for-12 from three-point range.

Tyrus Thomas led the Bulls with a season-high 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting. The rest of the Bulls starters combined for 8-for-30 from the field.

''In basketball, as opposed to other sports, one player does make a difference,'' said Boylan, whose team is five games out of the playoffs with eight games left. ''So when you can go out and get a so-called superstar, a guy who can bring a certain level of greatness to your team, that makes everyone else's job easier. At certain times in the game when a play needs to be made, that guy's ready to step up and make it for you. That relieves the burden on a lot of people; it allows people to relax and be more efficient and effective in the way that they play.

''So if there's a way for us to go out and secure somebody like that, I think it would make a huge difference to our team.''

Trading for Garnett and Allen last summer helped transform the Celtics from a 24-58 team last season to a league-leading 59-15 this season. Rivers credited the unselfish play of his three stars.

''I think we got them at the right time,'' Rivers said. ''If they were 23, 24, 25, this may have happened. But it would have been a tougher sell for me, I can tell you that. It was an easier sell for me in the fact they have won and done everything individually in their careers. For the rest of their lives now as players, everything will be defined on what they do on team success.''

Could a similar quick fix be made by the Bulls?

''Yeah, if they get a Kevin Garnett and a Ray Allen,'' Celtics guard Sam Cassell said. ''That's likely not to happen no time soon.''

The Bulls were hanging with the Celtics, trailing 34-33 midway through the second quarter, when Garnett went on one of those runs that shows why he's a candidate for league MVP. Within 88 seconds, the 6-11 forward scored six points on consecutive possessions, added a defensive rebound and blocked Joakim Noah's layup attempt.

''I think the defensive [player of the year] award is a given,'' Rivers said of Garnett. ''That shouldn't be a debate.''

Bulls forward Drew Gooden missed a second straight game with an abdominal strain, so Thomas, the second-year forward, again got a start and drew the primary defensive assignment on Garnett.

''You're a starting power forward in the NBA, you get tested pretty much every night,'' Boylan said. ''But going against Kevin Garnett, who's one of the premier players in the league, obviously adds a whole other dimension to it.''

Gooden, who visited a specialist before the game, dismissed the idea he would have to sit out the remaining eight games.

''Ain't no chance at all,'' he said. ''I'm going to finish this season out. I just need a couple days' rest with this injury.''

Guard Larry Hughes missed all six shots in just over 20 minutes. Boylan benched him for good with 7:08 left in the third quarter after he missed a layup and an 18-foot jumper on consecutive possessions.