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.
WEEI: Lebron: "We don't like them and they don't like us"“We don’t like them and they don’t like us,” he said. “Wasn’t surprised at all.”
...
“It comes from a tough seven-game series that we had,” he said. “From them wanting to be really great, them winning a championship and us wanting to win a championship, having to come through Boston to try to win, the regular season battles that we’ve had, the battles between me and Paul [Pierce]. I don’t know, the competition.
“That’s what’s good about this game. I think this game has lost a little bit of that in the years, as far as teams not liking each other. That’s the same thing I kind of figured out last year when I walked off the court in Orlando. People were mad because I didn’t shake hands. Why should I be happy? I’m disgusted that I lost and I move onto the next season. That’s what the game has lost, it’s lost what it had in the '80s and the early '90s when teams really didn’t like each other.”
Yep... a hard fought battle, LeBron. Wow... you played 45 minutes?
Amazing. That's a lot of minutes.
45 minutes in a hard-fought, physical game against a team you don't like? Man... it's amazing you didn't foul out.
What's that? You had ZERO fouls???
Oh.
That's just impossible.
LeBron James... a mack-truck of a human being... managed to avoid fouling anyone in 45 minutes of play?
C'mon.
Hey refs... I know you want to protect the guy... but don't make it THAT obvious. We noticed things like that.
And I don't know about you guys... I'm not feeling the Celtics-Cavs as a rivalry yet. It's only been a couple of years. Maybe you can call it a "budding" rivalry... but it's Cleveland. I don't hate Cleveland. I pity it and the people who are forced to swallow all those crappy sports teams. Even when they say silly things like this... I think "oh.. isn't that cute? They're trying to talk trash." I don't get riled up at all.
Maybe the guys on the court feel differently... but as a fan... I'm still not feeling it the way I feel it for Lakers or Sox-Yankees.
Coming up, Page 2... where what we see is what we'll get
Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
"I told the guys that was the rotation that we’ll use, that’s pretty much our playoff rotation, and, minute-wise, the only concern there was conditioning, and I don’t know if that played a factor in it or not.”ESPN Boston: Glimpse of playoff rotation
...“[Tony Allen] just plays hard," said Rivers. "He’s our best defensive player. He’s just bought in completely to the team and the way the team plays. He’s no longer trying to score; scoring just happens. He’s trying to be the best defensive player on our team, and I think he’s figured out --‘That’s how I’m going to play.’ He gives our team energy. He really does.”
Sometimes when you're at a game, you get caught up in the flow of things and you realize things late.
In the 4th quarter, I realized Nate Robinson didn't play a second in that game. It's surprising because he had been such a spark early on. I have a hard time believing that he's earned ZERO minutes. True, he still runs around like he's in D'Antoni's offense... but he's still energy off the bench. I've seen Doc say things about his rotation before. I'll believe it when I see it.
Marquis... well, he's clearly fallen out of favor, which is too bad. And Sheed's only getting 10 minutes was a little bit of a surprise.
Let's see how this goes.
The rest of the links
Herald: LeBron James: Passion, venom spice up rivalry | Allen sets bench mark with defense | Celtics don't bow to King, Cavs | Ray Allen eats it up | Globe: Victory was hot stuff | Loss doesn't throw Cavs | Team's meal tickets delivered | WEEI: James took lessons learned from battles with Pierce | Celtics Blog: Just like old times