(NSFW language in video)
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.
“I told our guys, it’s a great win, a terrific win, but we’re still not where we want to be,” said Rivers. “We have to keep marching toward that. Whether we win games or not, our goal hasn’t changed. We want to be ready in April. These games are important to getting there."
ESPN Boston: Celtics get it done in Dallas
The Celtics walked into Dallas' house, on the back end of a back-to-back, and went toe-to-toe with the team playing the best basketball in the NBA.
Awesome.
But like Doc (and Wolf) said, this is only step one of the process. The Celtics are cleaning up one mess they've made, which the mess that had everyone writing them off. Now they've got to take step 2... which is playing consistently good basketball going into the playoffs.
Coming up, Page 2... where Doc was racing the clock with his bench.
“I said, OK, if we get down by 6 then I have to sub,’’ Rivers said.When his starting five was on the floor, Dallas had no answer. But he didn’t want to burn them out.
“I told our staff we have to buy minutes for these guys,’’ Rivers said. “I was literally subbing on the clock. I just kept looking at the clock and even though they [the second unit] were not scoring at all, they weren’t running away from us.’’
Rivers slowly rotated his starters back in, and the Celtics climbed back. With 5:39 on the clock, Kevin Garnett tied it at 86 with an elbow jumper off a feed from Paul Pierce, who then drove in for a layup that gave the Celtics a lead they never relinquished.
Globe: Celtics deep-six the Mavericks
Figured I'd keep with the movie clip theme this morning. Go ahead to the 4:39 mark... and you'll why William Wallace asking his troops to "hoooold!!" in the face of the King's stampeding army reminded me of Doc just waiting for the right minute to put his starters back in.
The bench didn't exactly tear it up... that's true. But the bench also didn't completely fall apart. They didn't force Doc to go to his bench sooner than he wanted.
Maybe the better clip would be of some WWE tag team wrestling... where one guy is getting his ass kicked but he manages to tag his partner in... and then he tears it up... hits his finisher... and they run off with the belts.
Anyway. The bottom line is the bench did enough of its job. They didn't get blown out. They kept it close enough to let Doc sit the starters long enough so they could come back in and be effective.
The rest of the links:
Herald: Celtics step up in Dallas | Seeing no difference | Haiti trip transforms Celtics physician | Globe: Finally coming into their own | Team finds next gear on the road | ESPN Boston: Postgame notes: Confident Pierce | First impressions | CSNNE: C's regain 4th quarter swagger | Souza: Time to be a focused group | Celtics Blog: Are we back? | Hardwood Houdini: The bench we expected has arrived | North Station: Big Baby - The Big Difference?