The Bruins and Celtics played their rivals from New York at the same time yesterday, with the Bruins dropping a 4-3 decision to the Rangers down at Madison Square Garden and the Celtics defeating the Knicks 115-111 in OT at the TD Garden.

CSNNE had pre and post game coverage of both games. Not soon after the Celtics game ended, they put Mike Felger on screen to say “It’s the Knicks, they SUCK, why is anyone excited about this win” Needless to say, the channel was quickly changed after that.

Rajon Rondo – yeah, the guy I (stupidly) said I was “done” with last week, put up an otherworldly stat line with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists in the win.

Major points were earned for this one – Bob Ryan has those in attendance yesterday getting to see a real basketball game.

Can Rajon Rondo make Celtics dangerous again? – Paul Flannery looks at Rondo’s performance and whether he can make the Celtics a dangerous postseason team. Chris Forsberg looks at the team’s play and wonders if they have some of that old magic left in them.

Rajon Rondo turns it on for Celtics – Jackie MacMullan has Rondo coming up biggest when the lights are the brightest.

Behind Jeremy Lin phenomenon lies youngster with room to improve – Steve Bulpett has Jeremy Lin getting a lesson from Rondo.

Jeff Green gives lift as he sits – The Herald notebook has the forward, two month removed from heart surgery, sitting with the Celtics and cheering them on. The Globe notebook from Gary Washburn has Doc Rivers tightening up the rotation.

Bruins vexed again by Rangers  – Steve Conroy has the Bruins with a strong game, but not enough to beat the Rangers.

Thomas needs to be better for Bruins to thrive – Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins goaltender needs to be almost perfect.

Could Bobby Valentine’s batting order strategy actually work? – Rob Bradford says the Red Sox manager’s lineups might have some surprises this season.  Tim Britton has more on the lineups.

The Patriots are expected to use their franchise tag on Wes Welker sometime before the deadline this afternoon.

Greg Bedard had an excellent report on the Saints’ bounty scandal in yesterday’s Globe, a column that garnered national attention. Bedard (along with Jim Donaldson of the Providence Journal) also talked to former Patriots OC Bill O’Brien about the pass Wes Welker couldn’t handle late in the Super Bowl. ESPN picked up the story, but originally just said that O’Brien “told reporters,” a move which drew Bedard’s ire. ESPN updated the article to read that O’Brien “told reporters for The Boston Globe and Providence Journal on Saturday.”

 

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

12 thoughts on “Celtics/Bruins Split With NY Rivals”

  1. espn not giving some one credit for something???? as someone who used to work there not shocking at all

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    1. Didn’t ESPN put out a policy on this? I recall something like them basically wanting their reporters to use every means necessary to make sure they didn’t have to quote another paper/reporter not under ESPN’s payroll unless necessary (like the Brady/WEEI interviews where they clearly can’t plagiarize). However, aren’t some local reporters just as guilty? I’ve harped on this for a bit, along with some others here, but it seems like once one big insider puts it out on twitter, and the usual suspects R/T, it’s “common knowledge”.

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  2. One caveat to the Rondo performance: he’s put up similar numbers against the knicks early in the year and last year. The No Defense Knicks should be taken with a grain of salt.

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      1. Knicks follow the 7 seconds or less formula that D’antoni preaches, thus jacking up quick shots, many of which are 3’s, which cause long rebounds (favorable for PG’s to grab). Combine that with the Celtics poor rebounding as a team, there’s your explanation.

        Clear enough?

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  3. I only caught Felger on SportsSunday last night so maybe he just repeated what was said on the pre/post with the “New York Battle Royale”.

    – He made a good point that he’s been making for a bit. In order to be a “SuperStar” or “Great” you need to do or produce a similar performance yesterday over the bit. He claimed that Rondo, within the next month, will go back to his 6pt/4rebound like games. I can’t blame him here because I think this is what the league sees. No? And, like many, there are questions as to if you can build a team around him. This point has also been made by folks outside the media.

    – Is every Tim Thomas/Bruins loss going to cause Felger and the others that clearly have a problem with his politics to reiterate this? What if Felger sat on the other side and claimed that Theo spent so much money on players because he was liberal? Would he have a job around here? How is this at all even part of a discussion on someone’s performance?

    – Great post on sportsofboston.com by George Cain breaking down each of the 6AM-6PM numbers and head-to-head matchups. He tweeted out a link but if you didn’t read it before, it is here:

    http://www.sportsofboston.com/2012/03/05/sports-hub-once-again-tops-weei-in-latest-ratings/

    – I know that Felger has quoted before, so he must at least peek at Peter King’s MMQB. Most writers do because it is one of the most-read columns and remains quite popular. Flip to page 3 of it on the section about what the Steelers have had to do in order to go from being 25M over and now close to 12m. They’re still going to have to do even more in order to get below the cap amount (which is still unknown for the 2012 year I’ve read) but expected to be at or around 125m. If the “cap is crap”, why have the Steelers, one of your AFC rivals, done all of this work? What else can you throw at someone before they realize how much of a joke their mantra is? Peter King now writing an entire section on a nationally syndicated and respected outlet just to screw with you Felger? Let the conspiracy theories begin.

    link:
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/03/05/offseason/3.html

    And, there are some Pats stuff from the Superbowl there if you can tolerate reading it.

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    1. Felger last night was already preparing us for what is sure to be his offseason-long pounding home of the “Patriots should have locked up Wes Welker before it came to this (franchise tagging him) point” mantra. He said last night that the Pats should have locked up Welker “two years ago.” I’m wondering if he even thought about the words as they were leaving his mouth, because two years ago at this time Welker had just undergone reconstructive knee surgery, and no franchise in their right mind would have extended his contract in that situation. As was the case with the Brady contract situation, I’m sure Felger’s line all offseason will be “they’re making Welker beg!!!’

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  4. This link is making rounds on some social networks and I assume will be more widespread by tomorrow:

    http://spaces.covers.com/blog/MaximumWins/NFL/03042012-Reasons-Why-The-NFL-Is-Fixed-For-Profit.html

    Kraft’s name is mentioned in there due to the betting/Casinos connection. Probably best discussed elsewhere but an interesting read. Caveat: it is a guy’s conspiracy theory as to why the NFL is “fixed”, but has a bit of documentation and evidence. If this is not your thing, it would be best to move along.

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  5. who do you think should be the highest in the market the way the shows are currently constituted?

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  6. “But, I also don’t know the demands coming the other way.”

    A lot of fans/media don’t seem to understand this simple point of yours. They act as if teams can “lock up” or extend players unilaterally.

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    1. I reiterate my point above: midway through his five-year deal with the Patriots, Welker blew out his knee in a Week 17 game (2009) against Houston. A torn ACL is bad enough when it happens earlier in the season, but when it happens in Week 17 you’ve got no realistic expectation that the injured player will return before the midway point of the following year. In Welker’s case, he miraculously returned, I believe, in time to play the entire 2010 season. But realistically, when were the Pats supposed to extend Welker? It’s not good business to do it just halfway through a five-year deal, and it was too much of a business risk to do it after he tore his ACL and before he proved that he was again 100% healthy. Doing it prior to the 2011 season wasn’t really an option either given the uncertain salary cap climate created by the lockout. I’m not trying to go 100% Kool-Aid drinker here, but I think the torn ACL, and especially the timing of it, certainly justifies the Patriots letting Welker finish out his contract before discussing an extension.

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      1. I agree. We know NOW that Welker came back healthy and highly productive, but no one had a crystal ball 2 years ago. Also, Welker may not have wanted an extension at a rate that reflected the uncertainty and was willing to bet on his own health and production (similar to how Papelbon bet on himself and won).

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