Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 As the saying goes - The most stress is caused by things over which we have no control. Well, that is what Celtics GM, Brad Stevens is experiencing, after being forced by ownership to cut monetary costs by stripping the once-Championship roster considerably. Stevens came to Boston as Celtics coach prior to the 2013-14 season . Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry, all members of the 2008 Title team , had been traded, and the roster had youngsters such as Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and Jordan Crawford vying for playing time. The Green ended the 2013-14 regular season with a 25-57 record , obviously missing the playoffs. In the following years, GM Danny Ainge left for Utah and Brad Stevens took his place as Head Honcho, eventually winning the 2024 NBA Championship with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the way. Back to the present. The ravaged roster , now minus Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Kornet (all lost to trades or free a...

  The Athletic chose a panel of 43 writers, podcasters and editors to vote for their 25 top NBA players of the 21st century - a tough task, indeed. But they did it anyway, and it was gratifying, as a Celtics fan,  to find three members of The Green , both past and present, on that list . Kevin Garnett came in at #11 , and his MVP Award in 2004 , as a member of the Timberwoves , was mentioned in the article - but his 2008 Championship with Boston was somehow omitted . That omission sticks out because "The Big Ticket's" addition to the Celtics was the transaction that spurred the Title. Paul Pierce came in at #20 . As one would expect, "The Truth's" 2008 Title with Garnett, and his Finals MVP Trophy in the same year, got him into the list. Jayson Tatum was the "Third Celtic Picked" (at #23) , and he belongs . His Eastern Conference Finals MVP Award and 2024 Championship got him there.   Voting in such a poll appears to be highly subjective . ...

      Founding Fathers... Episode 1       The Celtics have been in the forefront of social justice and of course winning. Red Auerbach was the leader of all of that. A man who was unafraid of what anyone would say. Bob Cousy was ahead of his time the way that man could handle the rock and distribute it! He was a magician on the floor! I personally remember meeting Couz as a young man. He was doing a game at the old Springfield Civic Center. Amazing that despite all the undertones of racism in Boston, the Celtics were the first team to draft a black player in Chuck Cooper. Something to be said for Cooper and Cousy who built a friendship despite looking different. As it should be!      When the Celtics drafted Bill Russell everything in the course of NBA history was set afire. Red knew he could be the most dominant player on defense, I mean let's be real on both ends of thr floor. Pairing Russell and Cousy was one of the most genius sports move...

  Jayson Tatum may not be Superman on the court, but he certainly is the Celtics "Iron Man" . He rarely misses games and leads his team in five key statistical categories.   Is he "soft"? I think not. Here are my -eight tough Celtics players from the past as compiled by my readers when I wrote for another blog. Bill Russell . Few in the NBA at the time could handle Russ in the middle. He rebounded and defended like no other. He averaged 42.3 minutes per game in the regular season over the course of his career - and 45.4 MPG in the post-season. He backed down to no one - including Wilt Chamberlain. Larry Bird : Larry could play either way - as a finesse guy or a hard-working warrior. He was tough - both mentally and physically. Never forget his head bouncing off the floor in that crucial playoff game versus the Pacers - and his triumphant return to the court to the surprise of everyone watching the game.  Isaiah Thomas : I am not talking "toughness-per-inch...

  Poise: definition Merriam/Webster: :  easy self-possessed assurance of manner  : gracious tact in coping or handling. also : the pleasantly tranquil interaction between persons of poise. no angry outbursts marred the poise of the meeting. b. : a particular way of carrying oneself : bearing, carriage "Easy self-possessed assurance of manner". "Gracious tact in coping or handling". "No angry outbursts". That describes the Jayson Tatum fans have seen and heard throughout the 2024 playoffs. I started noticing the change in the 26-year-old superstar when he took a hard foul by Miami's Caleb Martin . Tatum hit the deck hard, but bounced right back up with no verbal explosions or physical reaction, He simply walked away. #Celtics brothers and sisters all we heard for the last couple of weeks was how Tatum was underperforming. Check out the graphic below. ESPN showed this last night on Sportscenter, but you won't here achievement coming out of the mo...

  I started following pro basketball in 1960 . My next-door friend was from Lawrence, Massachusetts - and like most young guys from that city - he was a hoop fanatic . As a senior in high school, I quickly became one. These playoffs will be number-64 for me. The present version of my home team has been brilliantly constructed . They have been close to omnipotent in the regular season and should have corrected any weaknesses that have revealed themselves in the past several post-seasons. Physically, they really lack nothing . The starters - the bench - the role players are all there. Scoring? Check! Defense? Ditto! Luck? They have that. Unlike a few opposing teams, they are healthy.   My point here is that: "You can not tweak your little finger without your brain initiating the action". -- Tom Lane It seems the only thing that can get in the way of Banner 18 for the Boston Celtics would be mental lapses . Taking plays off - repeating bad habits - overreliance on 3- pointe...

 I Don’t Think the Celtics Will Win Guest article by "The Sports Machine" with Slim Something hit me like a ton of bricks the other day when a friend told me that he “hopes the Celtics win it all”. Those words have changed my life. For years I have believed that the Celtics were better than they actually were. We won three titles during the 80’s. I thought we were going to win 5 or 6. During the 90’s, I knew we had potential, and I delusionally thought we might even be good enough to win a title a couple of those years. The 2000’s brought some serious hope, and eventually we did break through with KG (Love that man!). Still, I was positive that we were going to win it all in 08-09 and in 09-10. I'm a hard core, tried and true Green Teamer. These past few seasons, I have put my money where my mouth is. Starting back during the bubble season, I have bet substantial sums of money on the Celtics to win the title each year. As you know, I lost those substantial sums. I j...

 Here I go with my whimsy at full tilt once again. If each NBA team could clone a member from the past and team him with the present squad - who would that be for the Boston Celtics? Every NBA team should be allowed to clone one all time franchise great like in Foundation — jason concepcion (@netw3rk) December 20, 2023   Of course, for Boston, Bill Russell and Larry Bird come immediately to mind. Russ playing alongside Tatum and Brown would be hard to beat. His superb athleticism, quickness, rim protection and rebounding would offset his lack of an outside shot. Bird was a super-skilled, non-athletic, somewhat-slow white star before the overseas invasion by the likes of Nikola Jokic, Luke Doncic and Domantas Sabonis . He is the type of player that would fit anywhere. Bob Cousy would have his advocates, but I would not be into that. But Kevin Garnett, Dave Cowens and Kevin McHale are another matter. They would need special consideration. Paul Pierce and John Havlicek co...

  Bill Russell didn't do it. Larry Bird didn't do it. But Jayson Tatum does it - all the time. When he gets frustrated on the court, his arms-in-the-air gesturing after calls and no-calls has got to stop. The NBA has become a player's League , and it just may be that coach J oe Mazzulla is reluctant to penalize his best player for his actions. I have labeled Jayson as a "transcendent" NBA player , but I have grown tired of his act. Next time it occurs, I would like to see Mazzulla call an immediate timeout and sub someone else in for Tatum. The Duke product is one of the smoothest and skilled players ever to take to he parquet, and he has displayed a more-physical form this season. But he is overly-sensitive to being buffeted and man-handled - and responds as such to the officials. He has earned a reputation as a "whiner" because of it. This kind of frustrated gesturing is not the sign of an on-court leader. We n ever saw much of it in Russ, Larry...

 I am not talking saviors here, but rather the players that made the difference that yielded Championships for the Boston Celtics. It starts with Bill Russell . Cousy, Sharman and Company were good but there were no Titles until Bill showed up. From 1957-to-1969, The Green racked up 11 Championships with Russ manning the center spot. The team had an off year until the next big guy appeared in the person of Dave Cowens - add two more Titles. "Big Red" made a big difference. Than came the immortal Larry Bird just as Dave was starting to slow down due to injuries. The Green earned no rings in Larry's first season, but then Red Auerbach picked up two more big men ( Robert Parish and Kevin McHale) , and that sealed the deal - resulting in three Finals victories in the 80's. Paul Pierce was very good - and very loyal to Boston - but he needed help. It came in the body of 6'11" Kevin Garnett . He was the missing piece that put another Larry O'Brien Trophy in...

 In his past role as Celtics head honcho, Danny Ainge lamented that his team lacked a clear hierarchy.  Most Celtics fans would agree that Jayson Tatum is the Alpha Dog with respect to talent in Boston's structure, but can he be the on-court leader in the mold of Bill Russell, Larry Bird or Paul Pierce?  As much as many fans hated to see Marcus Smart traded away, and I include myself in that bunch - in many ways he was the most-vocal member of the team, and probably the main driver of what took place on the hardwood. Smart's departure may clarify the leadership role in the upcoming season. So it may come down to the best player (Tatum) assuming the leadership role and running with it. Jaylen Brown, with one more year in the NBA than Jayson, may have an issue with that, and we may see a Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett leadership replay with both members of The Jay team sharing control duties. Stay tuned.

 After failing once again to take his team to the Conference Finals, It appears that Philadelphia Coach, Doc Rivers , may be out of a job. And to make matters worse, Doc took a shot from one of his former players . Rivers' comment on "cooperation" and J J Redick's response are seen below: I wonder if they cooperated — JJ Redick (@jj_redick) May 14, 202       "Not trying to take anything away from that [Clippers] team. That team was never going to win, when you look back at it. We just didn't get along well enough as a group and you can't win without cooperation. That's the only way you can win." -- Doc Rivers during an ESPN segment   "Everybody I've talked to about [Lob City] has kind of owned their own mistakes, if that makes sense, and realizes especially later on that we still could have had something special. And to not get any of that accountability from [Rivers], and the interesting part too, is he talked about players not gettin...

  Oh no, not Lebron again! Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers have defeated the 2022 Champ Warriors and will move on to the West Finals versus the Denver Nuggets . And Lebron James will potentially be seeking his fifth Title. It is possible that we could be seeing yet another Celtics-Lakers Finals if LA takes out Denver and Boston defeats the 76'ers in Game-7 of the East Semis and then takes care of business against the Miami Heat. That is a lot of "Ifs" , but it could happen, this time for all the marbles . He has battled with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett,  but this time, The King would be facing  Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart .  There is little question that yet another Celtics-Lakers Finals clash would draw a lot of attention, and the "age-versus-youth" hype would be loud and long. plus, the Tatum/James matchup would be interesting. But without suggesting any clandestine workings within the referee crew or NBA generally, the question must be ask...

 It's not over yet. The Celtics still have a shot at making the Eastern Conference Finals, but I must admit the thought of the 76'ers potentially ending Boston's run for Banner 18 this season makes me nauseous . Here's the deal. It's not the fact that Banner 18 would have to wait at least another year before being raised at TD Garden. It has only been 15 years since Beantown's last NBA Title, and the last I knew, there are 30 teams in the League. Do the math. I am not a "Title-or-nothing" Celtics fan . I can handle another "almost-made-it" season, but what I can't stomach is the thought of the Philadelphia 76'ers moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals - and possibly going all the way this season. My basis for this stand? Doc Rivers walked away from Beantown because he did not want to take on a rebuild after the departure of Paul Pierce andf Kevin Garnett . Nothing personal, but Doc has not exactly flourished since he left the Cel...

 My guess is that if Danny Ainge was still in command of the Boston Celtics, Danilo Gallinaro would just be a memory in Beantown. He will turn 35 prior to next season and has yet to play a minute for The Celtics after signing a 2-year, $13.3 million deal with Boston prior to suffering a season-ending injury (torn ACL). Would it be ethical to trade the Italian forward?  "The greatest good for the greatest number" is a maxim of utilitarianism. I would stretch that maxim a bit further and add "for the longest period of time".   Would Gallo be happy about being traded? Probably not . Would management, team members and Celtics fans benefit from a Gallo-plus-pieces deal that brought in a guy that would be a healthy and productive addition for the remainder of the season and playoffs? Highly likely. You get the argument. The right transaction could very well shore up an already-first-place team, resulting in increased chances for Championships for an extended period of...

 Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, Baron Davis, Mike Bibby and Rudy Gay . They all participated in the holiday high school basketball tournament known as the Beach Ball Classic - held in Myrtle Beach, Couth Carolina yearly between Christmas and New Years. The 2022 version of the Classic is now underway with the action starting yesterday, Tuesday, December 27, 2022. My wife and I are in that area for the next three months and will be taking in the action.  One of the big names in the Tournament this year is 6'5" Karter Knox , a shooting giard in his junior year at Tampa Catholic High School in Florida, His team defeated a local entry, Myrtle Beach, by a score of 88-51. Knox notched a game-high 27 points on 12-of-21 from the field . Here is one of his six dunks. The youngster also took down nine (9) rebounds and racked up three steals - pretty good for a shooting guard. Dunk of the Day! @thekarterknox or @tampacathhoops at the BBC in @MyMyrtleBeach ...

 FIRE AND ICE! I'm tralking about Celtics players that had both the fierce fire to keep competing - and the ice in their veins to accomplish the goal. It starts with Bill Russell . How many hearts of skilled opponents has he ripped out. And he had two fistfulls of Championship rings to prove it. Dave Cowens? Yup, he has to be there. Was there any Celtic that was more intense. He would take on the little guys on the perimeter and the giants under the hoop - and give an inch - never give any quarter . If this current Celtics crew regains the killer instinct they had early in the season, the El Deguello-no quarter-throat-slitting bugle call should be played in Crunch Time. When the Boston Celtics regain the fire & ice they displayed early this season, the El Deguello (no quarter-slit throat) bugle call should be played in crunch time. https://t.co/OshLVmRud2 Deguello (No Quarter - Slit Throat) (The Alamo) https://t.co/i2DEgUpaZ9 via @YouTube — Tom Lane (@CelticsSentinel) Dec...

 When comparing the 2008 Celtics team that took the Title against the 2022 crew that came reasonably close to a Championship, the first thing that stands out is the age difference . The 2008 group were led by Paul Pierce (30), Ray Allen (32) and Kevin Garnett (31).They were backed up by P. J. Brown (38), James Posey (31) and Eddie House (29) . Back to the present. Al Horford (36), Marcus Smart (28), Jaylen Brown (25) and Jayson Tatum (24) make the Banner-17 crew seem ancient. Other major contributors are Derrick White (27), Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard  (24) and Grant Williams (23) . You get the picture. And while we're on it, here is a comparison of the two benches from the Finals (combined averages/game): Posey, House, Brown (2008): 20.7 points - 9.5 boards - 4.5 assists White, Green Pritchard (2022): 18.2 Points - 8.5 boards - 4.7 assists Not a major difference in the bench production, is there? Yet that bench from 2008 gets a lot of accolades , as they should, whil...

 It's Fantasy Time in Boston. Pick an Elite Eight, all-time Celtics players to win one game in the current NBA landscape.  We are talking only eight players, so versatility plays a major role. My selections are also based on size, quickness, athleticism, scoring, rebounding, defense, rim protection, passing skills, ball handling, intensity and desire. Not asking much - right? I looked for Season MVP and Finals MVP Awards. Feel free to disagree (courteously please). There are no right or wrong answers here. Bill Russell: 5X MVP Bill checks all of the above boxes, with the exception of "scoring". He always had more rebounds than points, and he was a 5X MVP. Any questions?  Dave Cowens: 1X MVP As Russell's substitute, Dave wasn't quite the rebounder or rim protector that Bill was, but Big Red was a better scorer, and was quicker and more-athletic than most younger fans would know. His fire and intensity are rarely matched in Celtics history.  Larry Bird: 3X MVP, 2X F...

      Last week beating the Hornets was a must win , now as the Celtics enter Brooklyn, it is a must, must win. Let's see what my esteemed mentor Tom has to say .  . Kyrie is not cherished by many Celtics fans, and a Nets win would end their losing streak and give them hope, and in Irvings's  case - a higher (lower?) level of arrogance.      The Nets were the arrogant team last year who came into the Garden and flung disrespectful comments at Celtics fans. They also led by their petulant leader Kyrie who chose to stomp on the Celtics logo as a child would.       Now if I were the Celtics I'm going into Brooklyn tonight looking to BREAK this team even more. Injuries are mounting up and so are losses. Well deserved if you ask me, after what they did. The Nets are proof that three stars doesn't always work. They need to be selfless like the Original Big Three were and the KG Big Three.       The Nets small thre...