CELTIC TALK

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REPORT: SPURS INTERESTED IN GARNETT
By: Christopher Price

The Spurs are interested in Kevin Garnett, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The 36-year-old Garnett, who is an unrestricted free agent, has played the last five seasons for the Celtics, and averaged 19.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game this postseason as he helped lead Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals.

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BOSTON HERALD

Past, future uncertain

Hard to analyze C’s Big 3

By Steve Bulpett

Danny Ainge pondered the question for several seconds. It’s been five years since he brought Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in to play with Paul Pierce [stats] and a skinny second-year point guard.

With one or more of the veteran triumvirate quite possibly moving on, there will be much looking back. But what did Ainge expect as he looked ahead from that press conference in 2007?

“Well, I didn’t really ‘expect’ anything,” said Ainge. “I mean, to me it was like, I knew they were good players and we’ll see what happens. But that was something you had to let play out.


“I was hoping that we would be able to win a championship and possibly two championships. That’s what I was hoping.”

The Celtics [team stats] did sew a 17th banner in their first season together, and there was a Finals loss in 2010 and a departure from the Eastern Conference finals two nights ago in Miami.

And while Ainge is no longer allowed to take shots, he does get to decide who will be on the Celtics roster to shoot them. Thus, there is the question of whether he got everything out of a core that was on the back nine when he assembled it. Have the Celtics maximized the years together of Pierce, Garnett and Allen?

“Hey, there’s always more that we all can do, so, no, I won’t say that things have gone perfect and that we’ve gotten all the people that we’ve wanted,” said Ainge. “But within the sort of structure that we have and the business model we have, I think we’ve done a good job in putting players around them.

“But, no, there’s things that I wish had gone differently. There are decisions that I would have done different if I had to do them over again. But I don’t think many of those decisions prevented us from winning. I don’t think that in 2010 there was anything that I would have done different that prevented us from winning.

“And this year things didn’t go real well physically, health-wise, for our team, and I think that if they had gone better we would have had a better chance.”

As for what moves he regrets, he said, “There’s a few guys, minimum contracts where you had some opportunities, and you picked some right ones and you picked some wrong ones that might have helped our team in a different fashion. But coaches don’t coach perfect and GMs don’t make every decision perfect and players don’t make every decision perfect. But I feel like organizationally we’ve done very well over the last five years.”

Ainge then acknowledged that championship runs take more than just great talent playing to its capability. (You might recall those 2008 Celtics may never have made it out of the second round if not for P.J. Brown’s 20-footer in the last quarter of Game 7 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.)

“I think in 2008 when we won, things fell our way,” he said. “I mean, we were a good team in a few of the years of this little stretch with these guys, but things have to go right. And for the most part they have.

“KG, Ray and Paul have been healthy for the majority of this stretch, but KG was hurt in ‘09 and Ray was not healthy in these playoffs. And you can see the difference in our team when those things happen.”

But while there have been disappointments and missed opportunities along the way, none carries the impact with Ainge as does the Game 7 fall to the Lakers two years ago. The Celts gave up a 13-point second-half lead in that one, letting the big trophy dribble through their legs.

“Those are the kind of losses that stay with you,” said Ainge. “I had a loss or two like that as a player. It’s hard to ever forget some of those bad losses. Those kind of things just motivate you to try to get there again.

“It’s not like I’m consumed by those losses, but they’re memorable and they’re painful moments. And not so much painful for me, as I wish that such a great playoff stretch didn’t have to end that way. Those are the kind of things that change the legacies of players.”

If one or more of the older crew departs, the Celtics [team stats] will have gotten five seasons from the team that was living for the moment from the moment it began here. Pierce, with Rajon Rondo [stats], was expected to be the bridge to the next generation, but Garnett and Allen, now both 36, were long-term issues.

“I thought that KG and Ray would still be playing now,” said Ainge. “I did. You know, I had no idea at what level they’d be or anything like that, but I think those guys still have a lot of basketball left in them. I think they’re going to play for another couple of years even after this.”

The question is where they will play, and Ainge has made it clear he has never kept this group together because of sentiment. After seeing the Celtics stay intact but come apart in the late 1980s, he’s wanted to stay ahead of the reaper.


“My objective is never to stay the course,” said Ainge. “My objective is to get better each and every year, so every year is a new year and every year is a re-evaluation of what you have. The fact that they’re still here is a testament to them and how good of players they’ve been.”

Good enough to win one championship. Not good enough — or healthy enough — to win two.

Whether that’s good enough for the era is up to others to decide, but the newest flag in the Garden rafters meets Danny Ainge’s minimum expectation. But not necessarily his hopes.

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CSNE

Ainge not ruling out contract offers to Garnett, Allen

BOSTON — When the final seconds ticked away in Boston's Game 7 loss at Miami, there was a sense that the Big Three era in Boston was over.

Not so fast, people.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is in evaluation mode of the top free agents to pursue this summer.

Ainge has maintained every year that the goal -- through the draft as well as free agency -- is get the best players.

If he sticks to that formula, you can bet Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, both of whom will be free agents this summer, are very much in the mix in terms of being targets of the C's in coming back to Boston next season.

While free agency is still a few weeks away, Ainge told CSNNE.com that all of the current Celtics who will become free agents next month are in the talent pool that the C's will be looking to pluck from in order in constructing the 2012-13 season.

When asked whether he was leaning one way or another in terms of which players he wanted to bring back, Ainge responded, "That's a tough 'yes' or 'no' question. We want guys back that we have on our roster now. We'll have good dialogue . . . and figure out who is coming back."

As it stands now, the Celtics under contract include Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, JaJuan Johnson and Avery Bradley. All but Johnson are starters.

Brandon Bass is under contract for next season with a $4.25 million salary. However, he can opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, and multiple league sources told CSNNE.com this weekend that he's leaning in that direction.

Bass has indicated that he wants to stay with the Celtics, but in all likelihood he'll want to do so with a multiyear contract.
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Blakely: Doc never stopped believing . . . so neither did the C's


Big Four's future unsure; Doc: 'Just want to stick with them'
Doc Rivers says whether it's only for a few more days, he wants to enjoy this group while it lasts

BOSTON — When Doc Rivers shed tears following the Boston Celtics' season-ending loss to the Miami Heat, his players shared in his pain and suffering.

What he feels, they feel.

For NBA veterans such as Keyon Dooling, who has played for a number of coaches throughout his career, the bond that forms so quickly between Rivers and his players is unusual.

But after spending a few months with Rivers on a daily basis, Dooling gets it.

"We love Doc," Dooling said. "He takes care of us. He's got it figured out. These young coaches who feel like they have to be Caesar on steroids, one of these dictators . . . it's such a waste of time and energy. Doc takes care of us. He respects us as men. He appreciates what we do. He demands a lot out of us, though. It's a healthy respect. He's figured it out. He's a flawless coach. Straight up. I can't say that of any coach I've had. He's flawless from a coaching standpoint."

Having such reverence for Rivers is among the reasons why the Celtics fared so surprisingly well despite a season filled with heartaches and hardships.

Through all the turbulent times, Rivers never swayed from his belief in this team that they had so much more to give than anyone - outside of himself - believed was possible.

That's why he was willing to go to bat for this crew to stay together when the trading deadline came near, knowing C's president of basketball operations Danny Ainge was as open as he's ever been to making moving members of the Big Four.

"I kept telling [Ainge], do what you think is best for the team. But if you don't think it's best for the long run, short run I want to stay with this group," Rivers said. "Make no short-run moves involving them."

Ainge kept the group intact, to the relief of Rivers.

Throughout the season, players would speak about the positivity that Rivers was constantly filling them with, but at the same time not allowing them to wallow in self-pity when things didn't go their way or get too high or too low.

Rivers was the steady hand behind the wheel, constantly driving this team to be better than they were the day before.

And while Rivers has maintained how special a team this Celtics group was, he has often compared it to the 2003 Orlando Magic team he coached.

That group failed to make the playoffs, but their postseason fate wasn't decided until the last day of the season. And that team on paper at least, had no business being in the playoff race.

The key to that team's unexpected success?

Doc Rivers.

Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace was a member of that Orlando Magic team. He recalls one of Rivers' greatest traits being his ability to get those he coached, to elevate their play without realizing they're being nudged in that direction.

"Doc's a great coach," Wallace told CSNNE.com earlier this year. "He makes you believe sometimes when you don't want to. He has a way of seeing some things in you, in a team, that nobody else does. That's why he's such a great coach."

Said a Western Conference front-office official: "Doc didn't have to do anything this year special to be considered one of the best coaches in the game. But that team, all that they lost, to get all the way to the Conference finals and actually have a shot, a good shot at winning the series? Hands down, the best job he's done in Boston. Maybe the best job he's done ever."

Moments after the loss, Rivers acknowledged he couldn't yet fully appreciate all that the Celtics accomplished this season.

"I'm sure at some point I'll look back and say what a great run," Rivers said. "Right now, I'm just too competitive to see that."

And it is that competitive drive that you see in his players, a drive that allows a 26-year-old rookie center (Greg Stiemsma) from the D-League not only make the roster, but develop into one of the top first-year centers in the NBA this season. It infuses a player like Mickael Pietrus who was tossed aside by Phoenix, with the kind of confidence to be one of the Celtics' better on-the-ball-defenders.

"[Rivers] took me under his shoulder and treated me like his son," Pietrus said. "That is why I was so grateful to the Boston Celtics this year."

But as much as players trust in Rivers, it is his trust in them that fuels the most storied franchise in the NBA.

Near the end of his postgame monologue on Saturday, Rajon Rondo came on to the podium to join Rivers.

Rondo sat there, attentively, as Rivers answered a couple more questions.

As Rivers' press conference came to a close, he applied a firm father-to-son-like grip on the back of Rondo's neck, and said, "I'm going to give it to this guy. Like I said earlier, he's wonderful."

And so Rivers, clearly fighting off his emotions, walked off the stage and into an offseason of change for the Celtics.

But the one steadying force that's guiding it all -- Rivers -- will be back.

And if you're not sure as to why, here's a clue: He's a Celtic.
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WEEI 850

RAJON RONDO: ‘WE LET THIS ONE SLIP AWAY’
By Mike Petraglia


Not even Doc Rivers (left) could console Rajon Rondo after his triple-double wasn't enough in Boston's Game 7 loss Saturday. (AP)

MIAMI — Not even the great Rajon Rondo could save the Celtics on Saturday night, not even with his fourth triple-double of this playoff season, and a mind-blowing 23rd of his career.

How rare is Rondo? He became the first player in NBA history with two Game 7 triple doubles, scoring 22 points, dishing 14 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds in Boston’s 101-88 Game 7 loss to the Heat at American Airlines Arena Saturday night. This comes just two weeks to the night he had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Boston’s 95-85 win over the Sixers in Game 7 of the Eastern semis.

But that was hardly on Rondo’s mind after just missing out on his third NBA finals appearance in five seasons.

“Great season,” Rondo began before clarifying, “we let this one slip away. We had a lot of opportunities, and they made the 50‑50 plays, and they got to the loose balls, got the offensive rebounds and made plays.”

Rondo led the Celtics with six points in the fourth quarter but the problem was Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Ray Allen combined for nine, as the C’s were outscored 28-15 in the decisive 12 minutes of the game – and the series.

“We had some great looks, Paul, Ray, myself, Kevin, we just didn’t knock them down,” Rondo said. ” What I told them earlier, they got to the loose balls, offensive rebounds and made plays and executed offensively and made great plays.”

Did the Celtics and Rondo just run out of gas?

“Nope,” he said succinctly. “We missed shots.

“We could have done a couple of things better defensively. Our rotations weren’t crisp in the pick‑and‑roll. We made bad decisions, overpenetration, gave up a lot of threes, two to Bosh, a couple to Battier. Give them credit. They spread the points out as a team tonight. And about five or six players scored in double digits. Give them credit. They played great tonight as a team. We just came up short.”
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Tough one to accept
Celtics’ Rondo remains defiant

By Frank Dell’Apa
Globe Staff

Rondo was suspended for the second game of the first-round series against the Hawks, and his absence could have meant an early ousting. If not for a Paul Pierce explosion and a strong bench contribution in Game 2 against Atlanta, there might not have been a second-round series against the 76ers, much less a seven-game Eastern Conference finals against the Heat.

When Rondo bumped referee Marc Davis in Atlanta on April 29, he crossed the line of being able to control his emotions. That impetuousness, combined with a penchant for defensive gambles and an inconsistent perimeter shot, have exasperated the Celtics for most of the last five years.

But as the playoffs continued, Rondo appeared to be moving past all of that. His 44-point game against the Heat showed what he can accomplish individually. Other statistics - 16 double-digit assist games, a team-leading 20.9 points per game against the Heat, 6.9 rebounds per game against Miami (second on the team) - indicate Rondo is achieving high-level consistency.

Rondo and the Celtics have had a stormy relationship at times. But after these playoffs, the bonds appear to have been strengthened - at least until the next suitor comes along with a proposition.

Most of the Celtics seemed to accept their fate after a 101-88 loss to the Heat in Game 7 Saturday night. It could have been the final game together for the Ray Allen-Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trio.

But Rondo remained defiant, contending the Celtics’ downfall was the result of simply missing shots they normally make.

“We had some great looks,’’ he said. “Paul, Ray, myself, Kevin. We just didn’t knock them down. They got to the loose balls, offensive rebounds, and made plays and executed offensively.’’

Told that coach Doc Rivers believed fatigue caught up with the Celtics, Rondo replied, “It could be. It’s your opinion.’’

It was a difficult result for Rondo to accept. He had displayed an almost flawless first half - 10 assists, zero turnovers. He finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists, his fourth triple-double of the playoffs.

Rondo gave the impression he believed he could almost will teammates to make shots.

“Great season,’’ he said. “We let this one slip away. We had a lot of opportunities.

“We could have done a couple of things better defensively. Our rotations weren’t crisp in the pick and roll. We made bad decisions, overpenetration, gave up a lot of threes, two to [Chris] Bosh, a couple to [Shane] Battier. Give them credit. They spread the points out as a team and about five or six players scored in double digits. Give them credit, they played great as a team. We just came up short.’’

The Celtics’ margin for error was thin, though.

They stuck to their guns, some impressive offensive execution and defensive anticipation helping produce double-figure leads in the first half. The Celtics were 21 for 40 (52.5 percent) from the field in the opening two quarters against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

And the Celtics were able to expose Miami’s flaws for much of Game 7, disrupting dribble penetration, getting into passing lanes. But they could only temporarily slow down LeBron James, who had 76 points and 27 rebounds while playing all but three minutes of Games 6 and 7, and were unable to contend with Bosh (19 points, 8 rebounds). Bosh shot 8 for 10 from the field, converting three 3-pointers, his only miss from long range on a hurried, last-second attempt at the first-half buzzer.

But the Celtics failed to live up to their reputation as closers. Only one Celtic - Rondo - was able to score in the final 6:10 of Game 7. During that time, the score was Miami 13, Rondo 4.

The Celtics were on fumes as they concluded this game, their 20th of the postseason. Nobody knew it at the time, but after a 94-90 win over the Heat in Miami in Game 5, the Celtics only had two really good quarters left. In the first half of Game 7, they showed just how proficient they can be when on their game, with forceful defending led by Garnett, and creative, precision offense under Rondo’s direction.

Rondo was still in form in the second half, and the Celtics still held the lead with eight minutes remaining. But it was no fluke that Miami closed the game with a 20-6 run. The Celtics displayed some impressive precision and resourcefulness in the series. Had they been able to win Game 2 - a 115-111 overtime defeat - they would have had a good chance of advancing to the Finals. But once Bosh returned from injury and the series became extended, the Celtics’ days were numbered.
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