Show Me The Negative Contest

[indeedproceed]

Summing up:

We have A. Sherrod Blakely saying "This year looks worse (than last year's end of the regular season)" (link)

We have Bill Simmons saying "Not a feel-good story: "Celts becoming first NBA title favorite to make a deadline deal that morphed them into an also-ran." (Link)

We have Paul Pierce saying something kind of rambling: "We've got to make up our minds right now," Pierce said. "This is a weird time to be talking about with nine games to go in the season. This is the type of stuff you talk about at the beginning of the year. We're about to get into the playoffs and we shouldn't be talking about this stuff. It's just mental, how bad we want it going into the playoffs. We can't think about what happened last year and ease into the Finals. That's not going to happen..." (Boston Globe)

Anyone think they can beat that?

[Roy H.]

This guy is apparently from Minnesota Public Radio:

Stick a fork in the Celtics. Sorry, KG, it's a young man's game.

KG had 6 points last night in another Celtics loss. Dude is getting close to Harmon Killebrew/Willie Mays territory.

http://twitter.com/NewsCut

[indeedproceed]

Jermaine O'Neal, one of the two guys who could help put the Celtics back on the right track: "Whatever it's going to be, I'm physically prepared for," O'Neal told CSNNE. "And if it doesn't pan out the way I want it to be, I can say I know I've given it my all." (LINK)

Sounds about as confident as a chicken headed to the fryer.

[indeedproceed]

This guy is apparently from Minnesota Public Radio:

Stick a fork in the Celtics. Sorry, KG, it's a young man's game.

KG had 6 points last night in another Celtics loss. Dude is getting close to Harmon Killebrew/Willie Mays territory.

http://twitter.com/NewsCut

Bah, he doesn't bother me. He spends all day writing about Minnesota tax policy and water levels. Being hyperbolic and salacious is just in his nature, its those bright lights of Minneapolis.

[StartOrien]

Trey Kerby

Nine fouls in 42 combined minutes for Kevin Garnett and Nenad Krstic, which might have contributed to Roy Hibbert scoring 26 on 17 shots. I’m sure the Celtics total lack of tall guys depth will be fine in the playoffs though, because Shaquille and Jermaine O’Neal will both be back in time and ready to contribute for sure.

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/

[indeedproceed]

If you noticed your comment is missing, look here:

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=46143.msg960640#msg960640

[PosImpos]

I don't know the exact quote, but the look on Dan Shaugnessy's face combined with the tone of his voice on Globe 10.0 the other day when asked if he thinks this year is worse than last year (comparing how he felt last year, when he predicted they'd flip the switch, to now), was pretty bad.

He didn't look gleeful or anything in proclaiming that he thought the Celtics were in trouble.  It was like legitimate, geeze, this is bad guys.  Just sounded hopeless and defeated.

edit:

http://www.youtube.com/v/NpcArP_s5ac?version=3

[FLCeltsFan]

I spilled cereal in my bed this morning. Like half a bowl of milk and all. It was still more enjoyable than watching the Celtics play.

http://twitter.com/#!/nbamusings/status/52755723913932801

 

[Assassin70]

I spilled cereal in my bed this morning. Like half a bowl of milk and all. It was still more enjoyable than watching the Celtics play.

http://twitter.com/#!/nbamusings/status/52755723913932801

 

Wow...when I spill my cereal like that, it is always the start of a bad day lol.

[barefacedmonk]

For some reason, I wasn't worried about our utterly underwhelming regular season performance last year....but the way we've been playing lately has me very worried. It looks like the players are trying this year...but its individual efforts...not collective. Just 9 games to go...and our team is still searching for some answers. Doesn't bode well for a team with championship aspirations...but I cautiously optimistic.

It's odd to hear this. We were 3-7 in our last 10. We got blown out by Washington at home, with a dejected sounding KG and we lost to Chicago (clinging to the 8th seed at the time) the second to last game of the season where it really seemed like we gave it our all.

I don't know how anyone could have felt better about last year. We were so terrible last year. We got overtaken by the Hawks and people thought the best we were going to do was lose in the second round to the Cavs.

Odd for you...but that's how I felt. Yeah, a LOT of people thought we would lose in the second round...and there were many who even thought that we would lose against Miami. I wasn't one of them. Last year, Doc shut them down...it was all about health. I didn't see Doc criticize our team in public last year. He didn't call them selfish.

This year is different....we were clearly trying to get HCA. For some reason, we lost our way this month. Yeah, it might be odd for you to hear this...but that's how I feel.

[StartOrien]

Jermaine O'Neal, one of the two guys who could help put the Celtics back on the right track: "Whatever it's going to be, I'm physically prepared for," O'Neal told CSNNE. "And if it doesn't pan out the way I want it to be, I can say I know I've given it my all." (LINK)

Sounds about as confident as a chicken headed to the fryer.

Ye have little faith in Murph?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCwuhHef5mo

[Raising 18]

listen to simmons podcast.. hes back to being the typical national media live in the moment guy

[StartOrien]

Shucks fellas, I thought we were going to have fun here  

EDIT: God, things might be going wrong. I don't think I've used an emoticon since 1997

[Roy H.]

Man, I hadn't read a lot of those quotes BFM cited.  I sort of wish I hadn't; it makes me feel even worse about where the team is at.

[indeedproceed]

Man, I hadn't read a lot of those quotes BFM cited.  I sort of wish I hadn't; it makes me feel even worse about where the team is at.

I moved the debate over to the HIStory thread but here were BFM's quotes about this season:

Deny it all you want...our problems this year are nothing like what we had last year.

“We’re just not ready to win right now with the way our approach is to basketball games,” Rivers said. “Right now we’ve become very, very selfish.”

As he watched his players walk off the court crestfallen, Rivers came to the realization that he has never been as discouraged as he is now during the Big Three era and questions their championship credentials.

“Instead of how the team is playing, everything is about individuals,” Rivers said. “You can see it. A guy struggles, he pouts, he moans. Everything is me, me, me on our team right now. Feeling sorry for themselves instead of giving themselves to the team and playing.”

It isn’t just the coach who feels this way. After dropping four of their last eight games and falling two games behind Chicago in the Eastern Conference standings, the tension is also reverberating throughout the locker room.

Once a cohesive unit, players are complaining that their teammates aren’t making the extra pass and that too often they become consumed with individual performance, echoing Rivers’ complaints.

Link

Pretty nasty stuff.