The Boston Celtics have plenty on their plate as they prepare for what they hope will be another championship run.
Coach Doc Rivers' Green has been busily trying to blend a number of new players into the rotation, has worked on getting healthy and has been trying to maintain the best overall record in the Eastern Conference in the process.
Do the Celtics have the necessary ingredients to make a run at another championship?
"Once we get healthy, we'll be looking scary-good," said veteran guard Ray Allen.
The Milwaukee Bucks play at Boston on Sunday.
The Celtics were one of the busier teams around the trade deadline, as they acquired Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic from Oklahoma City for Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson. They also shipped out Luke Harangody and Semih Erden to Cleveland and Marquis Daniels to Sacramento for draft picks.
Other recent additions include free agents Sasha Pavlovic, Troy Murphy and Carlos Arroyo.
Arroyo worked last week in practice with a second unit that included Green, Murphy, Pavlovic and Avery Bradley, who as a rookie was more familiar with the system than any of that group.
How do the Celtics veterans feel about management turning over one-third of the roster at such a crucial time of the season?
"Whenever you make trades, I trust in our organization that they want to win," said Allen. "It's an amazing, amazing thing when you look up and having won the championship, you look at everybody that you're on board with and everybody wants to go the same route and do the same things and it's not BS.
"It's not people just talking because I've been around a lot of people that have talked about wanting to win a championship and they don't put forth the actual habits and discipline to do it. This organization has been doing (the right thing) since I've been here. We're trying to make sure that we push forward very deep into those finals and to win on our floor, so I have faith in that and everybody else has faith in it so we're very confident."
Said Rivers, "(The free agents) chose us because they want to win. So when everyone is committed to winning, everybody is willing to sacrifice and work it out."
While admitting it's difficult to reshape a team on the fly, Rivers has complimented the new players for being "phenomenal." Rivers said the team had held two practices on some days, with one being just for the new players who have also hung around after game-day shoot-arounds to get in extra work.
"They're really putting in the time," said Rivers.
There will be more adjusting when the players who have been sidelined by injuries -- Glen Davis, Von Wafer, Delonte West and Shaquille O'Neal -- return to the lineup.
Of course, it helps that the newcomers are veterans.
Arroyo made his Boston debut in last week's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and, because of his familiarity with the Celtics' system from being an opponent, ran a play that the coaches hadn't even given him yet.
"I thought, 'Man, this guy is pretty good,"' said Rivers.
The Celtics have been scoring more since the flurry of transactions but also have been giving up more. One thing, though, remains a constant where the Celtics are concerned.
"I do believe we're always surprised when we lose," said Allen. "We expect to win every game."
Shutout hurts
After the Heat had swept the two-game season series with a home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, and with the team not scheduled to leave for Dallas until the next morning, Kobe Bryant decided to get in some extra work at Miami's arena.
Bryant soaked his feet and spoke to reporters after the loss, then donned some sweats and returned to the court.
With the arena cleaning crew looking and Heat ball boys rebounding, Bryant shot for about an hour and 15 minutes. The clock struck midnight, and with the arena folks ready to turn out the lights, Bryant hit the weight room and finally got back to the hotel about 1:30 a.m.
Asked why he had put in the additional work, Bryant said, "It's my job."
Mo is on a roll
The Clippers won four of their first five games with guard Mo Williams in the lineup after he was traded from Cleveland, and that included a 28-point performance in a victory at Boston.
Williams has declared the development of center DeAndre Jordan to be his own personal project and on an off-night in Boston had dinner with Jordan and Blake Griffin . Williams said the Clippers had "turned the corner" and he was happy to be with the team.
"I learned a long time ago, you've got to put the past behind you," said Williams, formerly of the Bucks.
Sweet on Cheeks
While in Philadelphia last week, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks told reporters how as a rookie with the 76ers in 1988-'89, one of his responsibilities was to carry the uniform and warm-ups of Maurice Cheeks, who was then an all-star with the 76ers and is now a Thunder assistant.
Brooks was such a fan of Cheeks that he kept Cheeks' uniform after the final road game that he played with the 76ers and still has it.
"Back then, they made you pay for your uniform," said Brooks. "If you wanted your uniform, you had to pay for it. He didn't even know I had it. He got deducted $175, whatever it was, out of his check."
K-Mart leads the way
The Denver Nuggets won six of their first eight games after trading Carmelo Anthony, and much of the credit is being given to Kenyon Martin . The veteran forward says he is playing like he did before battling knee problems for a year, spearheading the team's defense and showing leadership with the new young players.
"I'm just trying to help out the new guys as much as I can," he said. "If I see something that I know that can help them, just come to them and tell them to do it the right way."
How ya doing?
Before beating the Lakers, Miami had lost five straight, yet the Heat players contended they were feeling just fine about where they stood.
"We're a team no one wants to see in the first round, no matter if we lose every game from here on out," said guard Dwyane Wade . "We're fine. This is going to toughen us and strengthen us for this year, next year and the year after that. We're here for a long time. We're not going anywhere."
Mr. Angry
Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy, citing a statistic that he credited to the Elias Sports Bureau, said Magic center Dwight Howard had been fouled 593 times this season with none of them being a flagrant foul. Van Gundy made his comments last week on the day Howard was suspended for a game against Portland because he had accumulated 16 technical fouls.
"And for (Howard) to retaliate as few times as he has?" said Van Gundy. "With so many of those (fouls) being above the shoulders and hard, not one has been deemed a flagrant foul. Not one. Amazing restraint for those guys to hit him that hard and not go over the line and get a flagrant foul."
Pedal to the metal
The San Antonio Spurs were firing on all cylinders at the start of their game against Detroit as they made their first 14 shots, 17 of 21 in the first quarter and held a 14-point lead after one period. The last time a team made its first 14 shots in a game was on March 20, 2001, when Houston was on fire against Sacramento.
"I remember going to the bench and checking the (stats) and it was 100 percent," said San Antonio's Manu Ginobili . "It was probably the first time that ever happened to us. We moved the ball very well and they didn't look ready defensively. In the second half, they played better D, but our start was great."
Fast breaks
Gerald Wallace says he felt "stabbed in the back" by the Bobcats, who traded him to Portland, and he viewed the deal as a "slap in the face."
Portland assistant general manager Bill Branch on Wallace: "He speaks the inconvenient truth."
New Jersey's Brook Lopez had one double-double in the team's first 53 games but then recorded five in a 10-game stretch.
Devin Harris, on reports that some in the Nets organization questioned his commitment to the team before he was traded to Utah: "I don't get offended. . . they can never touch my effort."
At home, the Celtics are 19-0 against the East and 8-6 against the West.
------
DOWN THE LANE
THIS WEEK IN THE NBA
The struggling Pacers and Bobcats, both in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, have their hands full this week. Indiana has a busy week as, after a home-and-home set with the New York Knicks, it plays at Boston, at home against Chicago and at Memphis. "Clearly, we're struggling on the offensive end," said Pacers coach Frank Vogel. "We're struggling as a basketball team. We will work until we come out of it." Said center Roy Hibbert, "Teams are adjusting to what we're doing and we don't know how to win." Charlotte spends the week on the road at Toronto, Houston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio. The Los Angeles Lakers open a seven-game home stand Monday against Orlando, with their only other game this week against Minnesota. After leaving the Bradley Center on Saturday night, the 76ers headed West to play Utah, the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento and Portland. Phoenix and New Orleans, battling for the final two playoff spots in the West, meet Wednesday in New Orleans.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Who's the best team in Texas? We'll find out Friday when the Spurs visit Dallas. The Spurs have won two of the last three meetings, including the most recent Jan. 14 in San Antonio.
BUCKS WEEK
The Bucks meet three of the top teams in the East. After playing at Boston on Sunday, they'll be at Atlanta on Tuesday to play the game that was snowed out Jan. 11. Then, Dwight Howard and the Magic visit the Bradley Center on Wednesday followed by the Nets on Friday.
QUOTE
"I'm not a bad guy. I'm not a hothead because I get techs and I think that's the message that people want to put across. I guess last year it was I smile too much. Now I don't smile and now I'm a hothead." -- Orlando center Dwight Howard, on his technical fouls.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Recording his 52nd straight double-double, Minnesota's Kevin Love surpassed Moses Malone's modern-day record, but Wilt Chamberlain had separate streaks of 227, 220 and 133 consecutive double-doubles back in the day. "If you're looking in the grand scheme of things, you've got to look at the Big Dipper," said Love. "Wilt the Stilt. He's something special. It's not like I have my eye set on that. I'm pretty happy where I'm at." Love's No. 52 came in a blowout victory over Indiana in which he garnered 16 points and 21 rebounds before his services were not required in the fourth quarter. Love wasn't sure if he would play in that game because of a bum knee and said it was a "flip of the coin" decision to play. The best part of the night for Love was that his record came in a victory, since the Timberwolves have won only 12 of those 52 games. "This game was bigger than the double-double streak," he said. "We needed a win."
NUMBERS GAME
Chris Bosh's 24 points in Miami's victory over the Lakers were the most by a big man against Los Angeles in a non-overtime game this season in which Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol both played more than 30 minutes.
Houston's Luis Scola missed the first game of his NBA career, last week at Phoenix, ending his streak of 311 consecutive games played.
Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook leads the league with 44 points scored in overtime and teammate Kevin Durant is second with 36.
After the first quarter of consecutive games, San Antonio led Miami, 36-12; trailed the Lakers, 34-13; and led Detroit, 40-26.
After being called out as "soft" by Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, the Mavericks scored 72 points -- high for a half this season -- and limited New York to 34.2 percent shooting in the first half of their victory over the Knicks.
Comments