Enemy Chatter: The Celtics are yesterday's men

I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics. Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from Atlanta.

Celtic pride. Ever heard of it? Well, it should have been on display Friday night. Turns out all we saw was Celtic age. And all we heard was the whoosh of a younger team flashing past the regal C’s and sweeping them out the door....

The Celtics spent the offseason getting older. The Hawks spent it getting better. Trading for Crawford didn’t make one one-thousandth of the noise that accompanied Shaq relocating to Cleveland or Vince to Orlando or Rasheed to Boston, but that heist of Rick Sund’s was the move of the summer....

Put out a hit? For Boston, this was closer to a no-hitter.

But that’s the thing about these C’s. They’re yesterday’s men. They talk better than they play, at least against the Hawks. They were better than the local team  in 2008 and 2009, but now it’s Twenty-Ten and time marches onward.

Younger and stronger. Younger and faster. Younger and deeper. Younger and better. If you’re the Hawks, the Celtics are now the team you’re hoping to see in Round 2 come May.

Mark Bradley - AJC

Great column by Mark Bradley. Even though it pisses me off, everything he writes is true. Maybe the Celtics can use it for motivation.

If you have a shot term memory, Joe Johnson just dribbled around until he felt like hurting Boston's feelings, and upon that moment, he did. And if you remember the first half or were reminded by a steal, Jamal Crawford provided the "hey, we are going to score and you no longer have good defense" effort.

Peachtree Hoops

On Page 2, we hear from Jamal Crawford and a blogger's kind words for the Celtics.

"People say it’s only one win or one less, but it’s more than one win," said Crawford. "We know it’s a team we’re always measured against."

“We won’t stick our chest out yet,” Crawford said. “But we can stand up and look them eye-to-eye. We’ve got a lot of respect for them but we don’t fear anybody.”

Jamal Crawford

– Paul Pierce was a force. Mo did just about all you can do against him.

– KG isn’t yet KG. Once he is back for real, he no doubt will make a big difference should the Hawks see the Celtics in the playoffs.

– Doc held back ‘Sheed when he approached the Hawks while they were celebrating after the game. It turned out ‘Sheed just wanted to give the Hawks some dap.

Michael Cunningham - AJC