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.
“This team gave us problems last year, and we haven’t forgotten that — I haven’t forgotten that,’’ Garnett said. “All night I could hear [Wizards assistant] Sam Cassell’s voice about how they’re young and how they’re going to come at us and all that stuff. This team gave us problems last year and we made note of it.’’
Garnett, though, had Blatche on his radar. Along with Chicago’s Joakim Noah, Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut, and Detroit’s Charlie Villanueva, he has become a target for younger forwards, and he’s more than aware of it.
“My mentality is to play each person in front of me the same,’’ Garnett said. “I’m not trying to be your buddy. I’m not trying to be your friend. I’m very to the point. I couldn’t care less about what type of name you’re trying to make off of me. That’s what it is. It’s competition. If you’re not out here trying to defeat me, I’m figuring why are you out here. I’m understanding that.’’
KG had 18 points on 9-11 FG with 7 rebounds. He probably had 2-3 dunks off Rondo lobs. Eleven games into the season and he's running, jumping and rebounding better than I anticipated.
He's the old dog with a mighty bark, out to prove to the pups that he's still got some bite. So far, so good.
Not to take anything away from KG or the Celtics, but the Wizards defense was porous. During one pick-and-roll play last night, the Wizards left Garnett alone. He promptly drilled an 18-footer. From my (Comcast paid for) seat in Section 18 I turned to John and said, "How can they leave him alone, he's only been making that shot for 15 years." John looked up from his tray holding two hot dogs, sausage, nachos, and a pretzel, sipped his chardonnay and said "Yup."
On Page 2, Delonte rebounds from some 1st half jitters.
“In the first half, I just wanted to get my feet wet,” West said. “I noticed that my timing was off a little bit. I didn’t want to do too much. But sometimes not doing too much is not what the team needs you to do. But the second unit responded well in the second half. In the first half our timing was just off.”
West played off the ball much of his first-half stint, but he got the rock and pushed the pace thereafter. It was what his mates expected and wanted.
“I thought he looked really good,” Kevin Garnett said. “We saw him when we got back from the road trip, and you could just tell he had been doing double (workout) days. We’re just happy that he was out there. He’s going to be big for us, man. We’re glad to have him back.”
Delonte got a quick standing ovation upon entering the game. While a bit skittish in the first half, he found the groove in the 2nd half and finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists. Talk about a perfect stat line. If he can contribute anything close to those numbers, watch out...
The rest of the links:
Globe - No match for Garnett, Celtics | Erden's play far from foul | Home improvement | Herald - Garnett on Flip side | Pierce just goes with flow | CSNNE - Shaq enjoying twilight of career | Russell awarded Pres. medal of freedom | Garnett, Shaq expect Erden to be "the man" | Mature Big Baby contributes without scoring | West makes emotional debut | ESPN Boston - KG's mental check list | Worth the wait | Postgame notes | ESPN - Oden out for year | Bosh's 35 leads Heat |