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Celtics Finish Tough, Outslug Knicks at MSG

March 22, 2011 By

The Celtics once again found themselves trailing by double-digits on the road last night, digging themselves an early hole against the new-look Knicks. A taunting New York crowd seemed to fire up Paul Pierce and the Celtics, who closed the game on a 23-4 run in the fourth quarter for a 96-86 victory.  

I’m a little bemused when I see CSNNE and others proclaiming Knicks/Celtics at “Rivalry Renewed.” There hasn’t been a rivalry between these clubs since the Nixon administration (that’s Richard, not Trot). A few competitive games does not a rivalry make. Things have generally been pretty one-sided in either direction for the two teams, with the brief exception of the Bernard King era in the 80′s.

Get all the coverage on this one at CelticsLinks.com.

Celtics tough enough - Julian Benbow looks at a bloodbath at Madison Square Garden, where things picked up another notch when Doc Rivers called his team “soft” at halftime.

A playoff preview perhaps? - Paul Flannery wonders if last night was a preview of the first round of the playoffs.

Let’s not play this game - Gary Washburn says that that there is no need to panic after every loss this Celtics team has. They are after all, well ahead of where they were last year.

Ray Allen hits the bloody deck - Mark Murphy’s notebook has Allen shaking off a seven-stitch cut on the head to return to the game. The CSNNE notes from A. Sherrod Blakely has the Celtics winning with hustle. The Globe notebook from Gary Washburn and Julian Benbow has the agent for Jeff Green saying that his client is already comfortable in Boston and open to a longer-term stay. NESN’s Evans Clinchy has a Shaq update and six other Celtics thoughts. The ESPN postgame notes from Chris Forsberg has Kevin Garnett talking about green squirrels.

Sox swim in deep end - For the second straight day, a Herald columnist gushes over Theo Epstein and the team he has put together. Today it is Gerry Callahan’s turn.

Tough guy Callahan this morning called Paul Pierce “selfish” and ”gutless” for not naming the guy who stabbed and nearly killed him back in 2000.

This after a conversation with the attorney for Brandon Meriweather, who said that no one who witnessed the shooting incident in Florida initially reported it to the police, including Meriweather, and that this sort of thing was “not unusual” in that situation and environment. Callahan couldn’t grasp that people might have doubts that they or their family could be adequately protected in situations like these.

Red Sox prospect has special moment - Gordon Edes has an obscure Red Sox prospect getting the chance to stand in against Roy Halladay.

Agent Boggs wades right in - The Globe notebook has the agent for Adrian Gonzalez checking in on his client. The Herald notebook from Scott Lauber has Matt Albers looking good this spring. The Red Sox Journal from Tim Britton has Jon Lester with mostly a positive outing yesterday.

Tyler Seguin’s improved play could improve chances of staying in the lineup - DJ Bean has the rookie getting better late in the season. Joe Haggerty says that Seguin is starting to “get it.”

Boston Bruins running out of time to correct problems at home - Mike Loftus has the Bruins looking to make a stand at home.

N.H. scribe’s vile Plan B - Kevin Cullen weighs in on the guilty plea of former Union Leader sportswriter Kevin Provencher.

Bill Belichick’s passion shows through - Mike Reiss has the Patriots coach talking about proposed rule changes.

Typical Bill Belichick, little to say - Ian Rapoport had a different take on the coach’s comments yesterday.

This morning at the NFL Meetings, Belichick was the only one of the 32 NFL coaches who did not meet with the media at breakfast. This of course kicked off a wave of Twitter whines among Patriots reporters:

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Can you really blame him?

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I love this one. Belichick won’t talk??? I’m going to run and tell on him and see if he can get fined!!!

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So really, the reporters don’t care whether Belichick talks or not, it’s about the FANS. THEY deserve better. What’s he going to tell us? What is he going to say that he didn’t say yesterday?

National, too:

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If there were an actual rule about this, maybe this clown would have a point.

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Yup, this guy is credible. In his next Tweet, he proceeds to sing Rex Ryan’s praises.

Seems like they just went and brought up Belichick’s absence to other coaches as well:

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Bill Belichick has clearly once again committed crimes against humanity.

Update: What’s great about all of this, is that Belichick later came down and spoke to reporters.

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • Lance_

    Reading Bedard's tweets it's very easy to imagine him wearing speedos and taunting kids who are playing in some athletic event against his. "Belichick and Belichick alone is the reason I'm incapable of doing my job." The Boston media at the event should just go out and do a group enema so they can do some bonding.

  • tl;dr

    "Things have generally been pretty one-sided in either direction for the two teams, with the brief exception of the Bernard King era in the 80′s."

    Just because one team has won the majority of the games in a "rivalry" doesn't mean it's not a rivalry. The Red Sox and Yankees have a rivalry and it's pretty one-sided in the Yankee's favor (over 100+ years).

  • tl;dr

    Bill Belichick, history's greatest monster.

  • norwoodzip

    Dear Greg,

    You don't speak for me.

    You don't know what I want.

    You don't have any idea what I'm interested in reading about.

    Please don't toss around the strawman "fans deserve it" argument.

    All I "deserve" is a competitive, entertaining football team week in and week out.

    For the last 11 years, that's been the case with BB – the 40 years previous – I got them under Fairbanks and Parcells that was it.

  • supwithyou

    I don't think Rapsheet was complaining… He has this quirky sense of humor, but I've found him to be pretty good (you know, less bitching, more reporting)… Globe though is notorious with bitching…

  • arp

    Bruce

    In this war "war" between Bruce and the media, they are constantly criticizing him while Bruce appears to accept no criticism of him. Frankly, both sides are acting like children and it is starting to get old. I think it is a legitimate question as to why he did not show (especially when all others did). Yes, some comments are out of line, but to say it is not news for him not to show is also out of line.

    • tl;dr

      If something's voluntary, it means you can opt not to attend. If you opt not to attend, you can't get in trouble. Since there's no recourse the league can take against him, the only thing hurt in this situation is sports reporter's feelings.

      • sum dood

        So I guess you all would be fine with the entire Pats team skipping voluntary workouts in the offseason then (assuming there wasn't a lockout), you know since it's not "mandatory" or anything? Give me a break.

        No there wasn't a rule forcing him to be there, but if everyone else was, would you not want to hear an explanation? I love Belichick as a coach, but he continues to go out of his way to come off as a total dink. I'm okay with that, but just don't understand the Belichick toadies who constantly make excuses for the way the guy acts.

        • http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com Bruce Allen

          Yeah, those two things are exactly the same. What a horrible example.

          Sure, Belichick not showing up for a voluntary session with the media is exactly the same as players skipping weeks of actual work where they can improve, and make themselves better – and many have bonuses tied to the workouts, so they make money too. They get something out of these "voluntary" workouts. What does Belichick get out of a "voluntary" meeting with the media?

        • tl;dr

          "So I guess you all would be fine with the entire Pats team skipping voluntary workouts in the offseason then"

          Yes. That's why there's a distinction between "voluntary" and "mandatory". If there weren't, they're just be called "workouts".

    • Lance_

      Why is it a legitimate question/whine about why BB wasn't there? BB has been here since the 90's – he's predictable about things like this. And the Boston media can't stop whining about it. What's more annoying?

  • john

    Who is more gutless and spineless than callanhan. I can remembe when they had somebody on his show who was connected to the pierce stabbing. And all him and dennis did was kiss his ass and let him plug his album. When callers criticized them for it dennis said “well it would be easy for him to find out where we live”. Talk about gutless

  • Tony

    What's even more apparent is that Belichick clearly doesn't care what these media jackels say about him. We've always known this, of course, but the very fact that he was the only coach to not show up for this thing drives that point home with emphasis. So guys like Bedard and Borges and other haters from around the country will continue to take their shots at him, and Belichick will keep doing the job the Patriots pay him to do, without a care in the world about what these mediots think or say about him. In a way, it's a thing of beauty, because BB had to know he was inviting more media vitriol by doing what he did today, but he simply didn't care. Beautiful. And no, Greg Bedard, it's not about the "fans," it's about YOU, and it's always been about YOU.

  • Jack

    I agree with most of Callahan's political views, but sometimes he really puts his foot in his mouth. The Paul Pierce comment was just plain dumb.

    Did all of these people who are complaining about Belichik's absense really think he was going to tell them anything? Haven't they been paying attention for the past decade?

    I'm an old fart and I realize that technology has passed me by, but I seem to see a lot more harm than good coming out of Twitter. It seems to me to be just another way of looking stupid or getting into trouble. Because of Twitter, we now have a duck adding to the unemployment rate.

  • Alex

    i really don't care whether or not Belichick was at this breakfast. I'm more concerned for the whereabouts of Pete Prisco's neck.

  • mike_b1

    I refuse to click on Callahan's links out of principle, but doesn't that assclown realize that two men were convicted and jailed for the attempt?
    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_19…

  • Scott

    I don't care if Belichick went or not, but I don't understand why anyone would defend him for not going. Why does anyone feel the need to defend Belichick? Unless you know why he chose not to go, and I imagine only Patriots staff might, who cares?

    • http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com Bruce Allen

      Um, who exactly is defending him? I think all the comments here, and especially mine are aimed at annoyance that this is an obsession with the media. If that comes off as defending Belichick, I don't think that is anyone's intention.

    • tl;dr

      "Why does anyone feel the need to defend Belichick?"

      Because of the stupidity of the Boston sports media. BB and the BSM have been around each other for a long time. Trying to generate anger among the fans with this news is silly since most of us get BB and his personality.

    • Jon

      Apparently half the Boston Media is obsessed with BB's wearabouts. That's who cares. Not the fans, of course. We have lives.

  • Classless

    The media is sweating Belichick because there's a lockout and there's nothing else to report. We would never of known this if Free agency was going on as usual.

    Callahan should be sent down to Walpole for a scared straight session with his kids. He has no idea what Pierce went through nor does he understand the risks with naming your attacker if you know retaliation could possibly happen.

    Then again, Pierce is black and we know where Callahan stands on that subject…

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