Celtics – Lakers: Fast Breaks

I debated whether or not I should sit down and write my reactions to the Celtics – Lakers game immediately following the end of the action last night (well, early this morning, actually).   Figuring very few of you would be up looking for my thoughts on yet another game the Boston Celtics should have won, but did not, I decided to sleep on it and gather my opinions this morning.  Here, then, are some of my reactions to the action!

Feb 21, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard

(2) shoots the ball as Boston Celtics guard

(11) and Boston Celtics forward

(43) defend during the fourth quarter at Staples Center. The Lakers won 101-92. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

•  MarShon Brooks may actually get a chance to enjoy his NBA career.  Look – most of us knew that Brooks had game.  Whether or not we feel like he got jobbed by the Celtics is irrelevant – Boston didn’t feel like he had a future with the team, and they shipped him out to Golden State.  Nothing personal – although all the the media wanted to do was play last night’s game up as a “revenge” match.  I would like to think that Brooks was more motivated to show the entire NBA that he can play, instead of simply trying to burn one of the many teams that had him and traded him, and I was glad to hear Brooks downplay the “revenge” factor after last night’s game:

"I guarantee you that no one is happier for me than Brad Stevens & Jay Larranaga. . . Even tho he wasn’t playing me, he stayed in my ear and told me, ‘Just continue to work. Your day is going to come.’"

With Kobe Bryant out for what would appear to be at least another three    weeks, and with LA clearly out of the playoff hunt, Brooks should see a lot    of playing time as the 2013-2014 regular season winds down.  I hope he continues to make the best of this opportunity.

• Celtic Pride has taken the 2013-2014 season off.  Remember when Jared Sullinger and Tommy Heinsohn were talking about how the Celtics were not trying to tank, that the team that has won 17 championships would not do something like that?  Yeah, those were the days!  I’m not complaining – this roster is spare parts, and if Danny Ainge didn’t feel like he could swing for the fences and make a deal for someone like Kevin Love, Omer Asik, or Gordon Hayward, you ride what you have straight to a top-ten pick – but there was actually a point this season when the Celtics could have said “We’re not tanking” with a straight face.  Since then, Boston has traded Jordan Crawford (who was playing quite well and could have been dynamite coming off the bench as Rondo’s back up) and Brooks (who had a solid rookie campaign and could have produced for this team if the Celtics had let him) in a pretty clear-cut case of “Let’s put an end to our winning ways.”    That message is clearly resounding with many players on this team, so we should expect to see more half-assed efforts like the one we saw last night as the season progresses.  Yuck.

I’m totally speculating here, since the Celtics didn’t really make

Feb 21, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard

(6) battles for the ball with Boston Celtics guard

(9) during the second quarter at Staples Center. The Lakers won 101-92. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

much of a push to trade Rondo, but with all of the rumors floating around about how much he was worth, Boston’s point guard might be starting to realize that his days in Boston are numbered.  Just two nights after enjoying a feisty duel between himself and Phoenix’s Goran Dragic, Rondo looked very un-Rondo-ish.  Now, the same could be said for pretty much any member of the Celtics who took the floor in the fourth quarter, but Rondo is supposed to be the sort of transcendent player who can make his team better through sheer force of will.  How could Rondo play so well against Dragic and Gerald Green, and then get smoked by Brooks and Kent Bazemore?  Rondo admitted that trade rumors can be “annoying,” so can it be that his annoyance is with his club shopping him, instead of committing to rebuilding around him like Danny Ainge has said so many times before?  I don’t know – I could be reading into this – but it is something I intend to watch as the season plays out.

That’s it for now!  Stay tuned for our coverage of tonight’s Celtics – Kings game here at Hardwood Houdini!