
| Marlon Wayans on Kevin Garnett vs. Carmelo Anthony | 01.10.13 at 7:54 am ET |
I knew Wayans brothers movies were bad, but this bad? Maybe supposed Knicks fan Marlon Wayans should have taken a cue from Kevin Garnett after Wednesday night’s Celtics game and responded to any questions from TMZ about Carmelo Anthony by saying, “Y’all have a good night, OK?”
| Kevin Garnett talks Jared Sullinger but not Carmelo Anthony | 01.09.13 at 11:34 pm ET |
Kevin Garnett thinks Jared Sullinger is playing like a “madman” on the glass. And that’s just what these Celtics need right now. On Wednesday night, the rookie out of Ohio State had 16 rebounds and 12 points and powered the Celtics to an 87-79 win over the Phoenix Suns at TD Garden.
What makes a great rebounder?
“First off is effort,” Garnett began. “Anytime you’re playing defense, anytime youre stealing the ball, rebounding…all that’s effort. Obviously his timing, body positioning, he has the perfect body for rebounding. He can take the pounding and bump a little bit and he has great anticipation when it comes to the ball, and he has great hands. Put all that in the pot, you got Jared Sullinger, that’s what makes him great.”
Apparently, Sullinger has been paying close attention to Garnett when learning how to respond, using his words carefully and economically when asked about his secret to good rebounding.
“You gotta have a go get it attitude when it comes to rebounding and that’s what I have,” a confident Sullinger said.
Sullinger is just one part of a Celtics bench that carried the load Wednesday night, as Sullinger, Jason Terry and Jeff Green were all in double figures in scoring. But Garnett pointed out another member of the bench who shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I think the combination of Courtney Lee and no disrespect to Rondo or any other guards we got, but Courtney Lee and Avery are impacting the game from a defensive stand point from the guard position where it all trickles down to all the forwards,” Garnett said. “When we see them up like that, we get up and then we up to what we call major pressure. Any time you can pressure the guards and take time off the shot clock, you put the other team into a panic and now they gotta go into a pic and roll versus some play the were gonna call on us.
“I don’t know, you know. But they’ll definitely start to make some noise. I think Doc’s starting to understand the rotation he’s going with, and I think the rotation we are going with, he’s confident in it, and everybody kind of knows their niche right now.”
But as for his thoughts on Carmelo Anthony and his one-game suspension for waiting outside the Celtics locker room and team bus to confront him after Monday’s game, Garnett had only this to say: “Okay, you all have a good night, okay?”
Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony has been suspended for one game without pay by the NBA for confronting Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett in the arena tunnel, near the players’ locker rooms, and in the parking garage following the Celtics at Knicks game on Jan. 7. The announcement was made Wednesday by Stu Jackson, the NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.
“There are no circumstances in which it is acceptable for a player to confront an opponent after a game,” Jackson said in a statement. “Carmelo Anthony attempted to engage with Kevin Garnett multiple times after Monday’s game and therefore a suspension was warranted.”
The Celtics had different reactions to the suspension.
“I get suspended for a phone hang-up and people just get away with anything in his league,” said a tongue-in-cheek Rajon Rondo, who was suspended one-game for allegedly bumping official Rodney Mott on Saturday in Atlanta and being “unresponsive” to a league inquiry on Monday. “Oh, my goodness, so that’s the same thing huh? The rep I’ve earned, I’ll have to deal with it.”
Coach Doc Rivers had a different take on the Melo suspension.
“I don’t believe guys should ever be suspended,” Rivers said. “It’s not a surprise. [Teams] get in trouble for sitting players and then you suspend players; it’s the same thing. If you’re a fan, you’re not happy with that.”
Anthony will serve his suspension on Thursday when the Knicks play the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
| Videos: How Carmelo Anthony-Kevin Garnett feud unfolds during quintessential Celtics-Knicks battle | 01.08.13 at 7:47 am ET |
Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony barked at each other throughout Monday night’s 102-96 Celtics victory against the rival Knicks, and for once KG didn’t appear to be the instigator. Instead, Anthony pushed and prodded Garnett every chance he got, stormed through the visiting tunnel towards the Celtics locker room after the game and eventually waited by the C’s team bus to confront his fellow All-Star.
Between the whistles, the referees did a poor job controlling the escalating feud. On the play preceding their double technicals, Garnett and Anthony exchange shoves for what seems like a lifetime directly in front of referee Violet Palmer, and as my wife said upon her first Dick Bavetta sighting, “Is he even alive?”
As Anthony’s Knicks teammate Marcus Camby said of Garnett, “He talks a lot, but that’s pretty much to pump himself up. He’s been doing that so long that it’s amazing how guys still succumb to it.”
| Irish Coffee: Why Atlantic Division matters to Celtics | 12.04.12 at 1:36 pm ET |
The Celtics (9-8) are almost a quarter of a way through their season and rank fourth in the Atlantic Division.
The Knicks (12-4), Nets (11-5) and 76ers (10-7) all own better records. During the first four of their five consecutive Atlantic crowns, the Celtics owned no worse than a five-game lead through 20 games and seemingly had the division wrapped up by Christmas. Last year, the C’s started 10-10, fell behind by four games and spent the season chasing the Sixers for a fifth straight title. And that was without either of the New York teams involved.
“When you look from top to bottom, it’s a well-balanced division,” said Paul Pierce. “So, each and every game is important. At the end of the day, our goal isn’t to try to win the division; our goal is to win the championship. As far as the division is concerned, it’s about as competitive as it’s ever been since I’ve been a Boston Celtic.”
Declaring they’d rather win an NBA title than the Atlantic Division sounds nice and all, but announcing their aim “isn’t to try to win the division” is a mistake, since doing so gives them a better chance to reach that larger goal.
The Celtics need look no further than May as a prime example. If they hadn’t caught the 76ers, a) the C’s face the Bulls as the No. 7 seed on the road and likely lose in the first round if Derrick Rose doesn’t tear his ACL; and/or b) they play Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Philadelphia, where they lost 2-of-3 playoff games.
Can the Celtics win a sixth straight Atlantic Division crown and set themselves up for another date with the Heat in the conference finals? Of course, but it’s going to be a lot tougher to chase down three teams rather than one.
| Irish Coffee: Do Celtics really have NBA’s best bench? | 10.26.12 at 1:45 pm ET |
By now, you may have heard the latest in a long line of uberconfident Jason Terry quotes about his Celtics.
“We haven’t made [me coming off the bench] official yet, but if that is the case we have the deepest bench in basketball,” Terry said after Thursday’s practice. “The Clippers may have something to say about that, but for us in this locker room, our mission every night is to go out and outwork and outscore everyone’s bench.”
Similarly, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, “If you could play 10-on-10, we would beat everybody.”
The mission here is simple: Determine the accuracy of their claim, breaking down the C’s division, conference and eventually the entire NBA. But first let’s look at Boston’s depth behind a not-so-bad starting five: Rajon Rondo, Courtney Lee, Paul Pierce, Jared Sullinger and Kevin Garnett. (For the purposes of this exercise, we’re inserting Terry and Sullinger into the starting lineup, since both took the floor first for 5-of-8 preseason games.)
| Rajon Rondo being Rajon Rondo on Jimmy Kimmel Live | 06.20.12 at 9:29 am ET |
Well, it turns out the Knicks can’t even beat the Celtics at a scavenger hunt. Appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” via Skype, Tyson Chandler and Rajon Rondo ran around their homes in search of three items: 1) The last book they each read, 2) an embarrassing item their teammates would make fun of them for owning, and 3) a wig.
Rondo being Rondo, he instantly located, “The Other Wes Moore,” a book by one Wes Moore (an Oxford alum, U.S. Army Captain and host of the Oprah Winfrey Network’s “Beyond Belief”) about another Wes Moore (a convicted cop killer). Naturally, Chandler found a basketball-themed book by Jerry West. Advantage Rondo.
Chandler’s decorative flying pig won Round 2, although Rondo’s old school red telephone is pretty amazing.
Finally, both searched for wigs. Neither found one. Chandler put a towel on his head. Rondo returned to his King Louis XIV-style chair in a shower cap. Game, set, match Rondo, regardless of whether Kimmel called it a tie.
Thought you would catch a glimpse of the enigmatic man behind the Rondo mask during his appearance on a talk show? Think again. For all we know, Rondo receives all calls from Danny Ainge on his red rotary dial phone while wearing a shower cap and reading upon his throne. Classic Rondoism.

























