Max: "No fire in the belly..."

Via CSNNE.com:

"There's no fire in the belly," he told Felger. "When this team has played well, you heard Kevin Garnett barking and screaming at people. When this team has played well, [Rajon] Rondo has had the ability . . . to step up and get emotional . . . And Doc Rivers right now, coaching . . . I'm not sure exactly where this team is going and what they're listening to. It just seems like, everybody's going in another direction right now."

He said he doesn't think the players have tuned out Rivers -- "I think Doc still has their ear. But I think collectively right now, as a unit, they've tuned out each other. And that is a bigger problem." -- but that their attitude has to change.

"I still think they can get healthy, but I think they have to get healthy in a mental respect," he said. "They still have a very talented basketball team.

"Now, in 1977 when I got to the Celtics, we had a very talented basketball team. Seven guys who had made the All-Star team. And then, all of a sudden, we became a paper champion. This right now is what the Celtics are becoming: A paper champion. Until they get out with the attitude and the aggressive nature and the posture, get out there and kick some booty, they're not going to win anything . . .

"[Right] now, the way they're going, I could go out there, if I was with New Jersey [last Saturday], I could have [gotten] 15 points and 10 rebounds."