Say it aint so Powe! Say it ain't so!

Today is a dark day for Celtics fans around the world. Leon the Great. Neon Leon. Leon Showtime Powe... Done. In the blink of an eye, Leon goes down- and so do the Celtics chances of repeating.

I thought that Leon and Big Baby Davis could carry the weight to an extent when KG went down. Now, it seems as though there are just too many injuries on our bigs to go on. Now, maybe if the Celtics signed Joe Smith or Drew Gooden instead of Mikki Moore, we'd still be ok... don't get me started.

It's tough that it has come down to this, but it just proves how everything has to go your way to win a championship. It's not easy to win one, and it's even harder to repeat.

You know what though? I'm not devastated. I'm definitely upset, but I mean, the goal was to win a championship when Ainge got The Big Three together. We did that. I'm not saying I want to be one and done for another 20 years, but I dont expect that to happen with this management team. I'm still high off our championship win last year. Bench help was an issue coming into the year. I think a few guys stepped up a lot, but in the end it was the injury bug that got us good.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Celts got out of the first round, but I just can't see us taking down Cleveland or L.A. unfortunately.

This does NOT mean that Pierce isn't a superstar. I'm sick of people saying that the Celts had no chance without KG. Sure, it's harder, but Pierce is the most unheralded player in the NBA, and gets no respect outside of Boston.

The big thing now is to get everyone healthy in time for next year. Big Baby and Powe are both free agents. I love Powe, and until recently he was much better than Baby. I think because Baby has mastered the elusive jump shot, he may get the edge over Powe. Also, Powe's injury could not have come at a worse time for his career. He was in line to get some big bucks, and his story is just so amazing.

Last nights game will not be the last you see of Leon Powe. He will be back in the league and stronger than ever. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be with the Celtics now. I'll hold out hope though.

Celts lose again, whats up Doc?

Well, well, well Mr. Rivers. You think you know somebody, then you think they change, but in actuality you knew them all along.

Listen, I'm not about to throw Doc under the boat here. He has come a long way in the past couple of years and the Celts players really like him, so I'm all about it.

That being said.... Marbury starting again? Clearly Doc isn't a TOCT reader. No hard feelings. I'm not going to sit here and disect the numbers, because it's pretty clear. Marbury, 24 minutes 0-6 fg, 0 points, 4 assists. Then Mikki Moore chipped in with a solid 0 points and 4 rebounds in 18 sloppy minutes. Like I always said, the guy's name is Mikki, what do you expect? Until he starts going by Mike we can't take him too seriously out there. Even I plan on making the transition to Jim sometime within the next five years.

For the House lovers out there, I'm with you. House droppped 12 points in the same amount of time that Marbury had, and also didn't have a tattoo on his head at any point.

Also like I said earlier, Leon Powe is a MAN. 23 points and 13 rebounds in 43 minutes. Woooo we! Keep him in Doc, that's what I'm saying.

Pierce only took 10 shots tonight? Whats up with that? It's not like JR Giddens played any minutes : (. Pierce still ended up playing 41 minutes while Allen played 40. Again, these are a lot of minutes for these two guys while Walker and Giddens look on...

Walker got 14 minutes of playing time which was nice. He ended up with 8 points, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 reb, and a +12 on the night. Those are solid numbers considering. I think he will start to see more playing time down the stretch.
--JT--

UPDATE: Under the boat? It's late, goodnight.

March Sadness : (

"Will somebody tie my sneakers tighter?"

Rajon Rondo (G), Tony Allen (G), Brian Scalabrine (F), Kevin Garnett (F), Glen Davis (C).
No folks, that's not Wednesday's starting lineup, although it could be if we were playing a number of poor teams in the NBA. It is the injury report. Those five players will not be playing Wednesday against the Heat.

Rondo is out with a bad attitude.

TA is out with a headache.

Scals is out with pink eye... and is being treated for a massive sunburn after two sunny days in a row here in Boston.

Garnett is "so hype right now".

Davis is chowing down on Filet O' Fish's at McDonalds.

I don't want to sound like a broken record here. Injuries, bench help, etc. etc. are all going to be important factors down the stretch obviously. The Celtics are in a tricky situation. They need to get their guys healthy, while not overtiring the guys that are already healthy like Pierce and Ray, and they need to stay in the hunt for first place in the East.

How does Doc do this?
1. He needs to not start Marbury and instead start House who is much more familiar with the offense. Let Marbury gradually get used to it. Don't throw him into the lineup against teams like the Magic (oops you already did that Doc...)

2. Start playing Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens. Listen Doc, you can't keep throwing Pierce out there for 45 minutes a game, sorry. Same with Ray Allen. I'm not saying reduce their minutes to 25, but get those young guys in the rotation a bit.

3. Leon Powe(sey)- I LOVE LEON. Finally, it takes three centers to get injured for Leon to get the playing time he deserved. Leon could be that fire off the bench that the Celtics had last year like Posey. I know Powe is nothing like Posey, but he can spark the bench like Posey did. Powe will take a charge from an 18 wheeler coming down I-93 if it means the Celtics will gain posession because of it.

Joe Smith to Cavs... Mikki Moore to barber shop

Say it ain't so, Joe, say it ain't so!

Celticsblog.com is reporting that Joe Smith is signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Put.... the gun.... down....

On second thought, don't. This is terrible news. I hope I'm making too big of a deal about this than it actually is, but I just can't get past the fact that the only team we really need to worry about the most got the guy that WE should have gotten. Here we are with a grown man named Mikki in the paint while the Cavs get Joe Smith, Celtic killer last year in the postseason. Smith was supposed to be our PJ Brown.

To make matters worse, Smith will be in action on Friday against our very own Celtics. I'm not saying Cavs are guaranteed to win now, just that it sucks that we have to see him so soon after we were screwed out of getting him. No time to heal. It will be interesting to see Moore and Smith go one on one.

To make matters EVEN worse, Scals is out until at least April. Damnit... I feel like Moore is out there playing with a constant concussion, but Scals needs to sit a month? Come on!

Drew Gooden and Joe Smith bought out, Mikki Moore sound asleep

Well, late last night around 12am, two players, both much better than Mikki Moore, were bought out. Joe Smith was bought out by the Thunder, and Drew Gooden bought out by the Kings.

As you are all well aware, I was begging for Smith to be bought out and come to the Celtics. One thing lead to another and it got delayed, forcing the Celtics to make another move. So now the Celtics are stuck with the second coming of Mark Blount while Joe Smith goes to the Cavs, great.
Anyone remember Joe Smith killing us last season in the playoffs? Well, now he's on the team that poses the biggest threat of stopping the Celtics' chance to go back to the Finals.

These last couple of weeks for the Celtics have been nothing short of disasterous. KG went down, Scals went down, TA went down, and to top it off we're stuck with Marbury and Moore now.
Joe Smith was the answer the Celtics were looking for. Last year the answer was Brown and Cassell. The fact that Smith goes to another contender while we throw small players out there to guard big ones scares the hell out of me.

I'm losing more and more confidence in this team by the day, but all hope is not lost yet. Obviously when KG comes back back things will change. I'm still pulling for that #1 seed. Every team goes through a rough patch. If we can get our guys healthy before the playoffs then I guess I can't ask for a whole lot more. As long as Glen Davis continues to nail 18 footers all night, we've still got a chance...

Moore signed, Marbury next?

ESPN is reporting that the Knicks and Stephon Marbury have agreed to a buyout. This means that all signs point toward Marbury joining the Celtics, that is if they Celtics want him. Although I haven't heard Ainge say he wants Marbury, there have been indications of the sort.

I have been critical of Marbury in the past and feel that he doesn't add a whole lot of positives to a team. He has never been a winner, and has shown numerous signs of selfishness in the past.

This is what I want to know: By trading away Patrick O'Bryant and Sam Cassell for essentially Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore, have we really gotten better? Granted, POB was nonexistent, but I can't see Moore doing a hell of a lot more. As far as Cassell goes, he didn't play this year, but Marbury hasen't either. Cassell has the leadership and the experience of playing with this current team, not to mention he is a proven winner. Having Cassell on the bench is worth more to me than having Marbury on the bench.

I just don't see why we need Marbury I guess. I feel like the cons heavily outweigh the pros. With Rondo, House, and Pruitt at the PG position, where does Marbury fit in? Does Marbury even deserve a ring if the Celtics are lucky enough to get that far? I was fine last year with PJ Brown and Sam Cassell joining late, because they filled clear voids on the team. Moore will not be PJ Brown, not a chance. Brown could actually rebound, and we saw him hit clutch shots. I can't even picture Moore being in the game in a situation where clutch was necessary.

There were times last year when I wanted to strangle Sam Cassell for hoisting terrible shots. If Marbury takes the same path, I'm not sure if I'll have the patience of keeping the game on TV.

Update: It appears I'm in the minority in not wanting Marbury, as over 75% of celtics fans over at celticsblog.com want the Celts to sign him. Hey, I hope I'm wrong about the guy.


--JT--

The Suffolk Voice: No Garnett, No Problem

The Boston Celtics have played two full games since the injury to Kevin Garnett, and as the legendary Ron Burgundy would say, "In no way is that depressing."

The Celtics, coming off a blowout win in Phoenix 128-108, were still on fire from Sunday when they took on the Denver Nuggets and won convincingly 114-76.

The reason the Celtics are blowing out semi-respectable teams in the West is because guys are stepping up in the absence of Kevin Garnett.

Read the rest of this amazing article HERE!

Celtics curb stomp Thuggets, Scalabrine's head hurts

"Brian Scalabrine- 4.6 pts, 3.4 reb, 1.5 ast, 0.3 concussions"

Did you see what I did with that title? I took Nuggets, and incorporated the fact that they played like thugs last night, and came up with the word "Thuggets." Thats the type of creativity you get here at The Ole' College Try (.blogspot.... still working on that). Gotta love it.

Anyways, how obvious was it that the Nuggets were out for us last night? First, they take down the man known simply as Veal. I'm no doctor, and I don't claim to know a whole lot about concussions, but I do know that when you're fresh off two concussion it's probably not a good idea to get another one. Hey, I'm just saying. Well thats what happened to Mr. Scals last night as he was visciously jumped on by some hooligan. Let's go through what happened:

Rondo gets under the basket and dishes it to Scals, who surprisingly was not parked out at the three point line. Scals goes up with ball when some punk named Petro decides he is going to sit on Scalabrine's head. Huh? Listen folks, it's red hair, not a target. What happened to wrapping your arms around the dude with the ball and calling it a day? Why the hate? Is it because he's a ginger? Honestly. Because if it is... I guess I can understand. Kidding, of course. So Scals gets creamed, and ever so graciously flops lifelessly to the ground. Based on the way he fell, I thought he was out cold. What happens next? The trooper turns over and looks around like it's Christmas morning and he can't believe all the presents he got. Just Scals being Scals.

Let's hope our token Irishman is back before St. Patrick's Day.

Also, Ray Allen got mauled by Kenyon Martin driving to the hoop, and then crushed by Billups while taking a three pointer. I don't know why anyone would be out to get Allen. The guy is the classiest player in the league hands down. Listen Denver, I realize that being down by 47 points puts you in a bad mood, but here's an idea that may work... play defense. Box out. Grab Rebounds. Show a little respect for the game. Oh well, we won't be seeing these bums in the NBA Finals anyways.

--JT--

Rondo beats career high of...26?

The Celtics cruised past the Suns today just like they did in the Garden when they played them. I don't know what it is with the Suns, Rondo just owns Nash completely. It's just that Nash cannot contain him. I wasn't surprised that the Celtics curb stomped the Suns today in Phoenix. The Suns are not a very good team. When you don't play defense you won't succeed. The Celtics, although giving up 108 points, generally play better defense than every team in the league. It will be interesting, however, to see how this team performs defensively without KG on their ass all game.

So Rajon Rondo scored a career high 32 points today... Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for the guy. But I keep thinking to myself, "This guy's previous career high is only 26 points?" I guess I was just surprised to hear that, being that Rajon Rondo is so important to this team's success. He has never really been asked to score, and not needed to. Maybe now with Garnett down for an extended period of time, he will have to step up his scoring. The points have to come from somewhere. Rondo is an interesting PG. He reminds me a lot of Jason Kidd except without beating his wife. He's a play maker. He hustles for the ball. He's not afraid of getting hit going up for a rebound or a loose ball.

The saying has always been that the Celtics go how Rondo goes. He will have to step up even more so now that KG is out. As tough as it is to make guys like Scal and Baby look like actual basketball players, Rondo will be asked to and expected to do so.

--JT--

Will Solomon traded to Kings

Well, that was fast.

10 minutes after we trade for Solomon, we trade him to the Kings for another heavily protected second round pick, essentially nothing. So all in all, we traded Patrick O'Bryant for nothing. Surprised? I'm not. We go back about exactly what O'Bryant was worth.

Now we have two roster spots open, and got rid of some salary. Joe Smith and Marbury perhaps? I hate Marbury, but I'll take the bad with the good if I have to.

--JT--

Patrick O'Bryant traded for Will Solomon

"There is Celtics speed, and then there is Patrick O'Bryant speed." -Doc Rivers

Looks like the Nocioni trade isn't happening, not surprised there.

Patrick O'Bryant was traded to the Sacramento Kings today for a mediocre PG, Will Solomon. This really isn't a big deal, but it probably means that Stephon Marbury isn't coming to the Celtics, which to me is a good thing.

Rumors are the Celts are still waiting to see if Joe Smith gets bought out. Other than that, I don't see any major moves for them. All we can do is pray the Cavs don't make any moves either.

--JT--

Nocioni to Celtics for garbage?

I read this on Celticsblog.com (by far the greatest Celtics website known to man).

Supposedly there is talks about the Celtics getting Andres Nocioni for (ready?) Brian Scalabrine, Tony Allen, Glen Davis, and Patrick O'Bryant.

I know what you're all saying to yourselves. "Wait a second, we can get rid of these four players and actually get something in return?"

You read that right folks. The only one I'd be hesitant to give up would be Glen Davis, but ONLY because I'm not sure if we could get Joe Smith. If Joe Smith becomes a Celtic, and Ainge will know his chances of getting him in advance, ship Davis out on the next plane. I'm just skeptical of trading guys in the middle when thats who we need.

Scalabrine has been a scrub all his career here except for the past like month, Tony Allen will never live up to the expectations, and Patrick O'Bryant is a complete and utter joke and won't touch the floor in the playoffs.

This trade seems too good to be true, so I'm not getting too attached to the idea... but it's fun to think about.

--JT--

Shaq to Cleveland?

It's NBA Trade Deadline day, and fans of contending teams all around are waiting to see what happens, if anything.

There is a lot of talk surrounding the Cavs. This scares me. There was some talk late last night about Shaq going to the Cavs for Wallace and Pavlovic. This would wreak havoc for the Celtics. Basically, the Cavs can't succeed in getting a big man or the Celtics are in trouble. Also, there was some talk about Camby to the Cavs as well. The Amar'e talks have died down so I doubt thats going to happen.

There was this encouraging news from ESPN though:

Chris Sheridan: A source who has been in the know for years tells me that Joe
Smith is keeping his fingers crossed that the Thunder do not find another trade for him now that he's back in Oklahoma City.
Smith, the source said, would like to do a buyout and then sign with the Boston Celtics as this season's version of P.J. Brown.

It seems more and more unlikely that the Celtics are going to make any trades. I have a feeling it is going to be Joe Smith or bust. But then again, who the hell am I?

--JT--

Tony Allen to have surgery, Joe Smith traded to Hornets

Well, call it the OCT jinx. Not even 12 hours after I propose Joe Smith could be a Celtic, he gets traded to the Hornets. It's unlikely he gets bought out now, as even though the Hornets did this to save money, they can still make a playoff run with Wilcox and Smith. This sucks for Celtics fans. In other sucky news, Tony Allen is having thumb surgery and will be out until at least the playoffs.

I'm not saying Tony Allen was worth a lot to us, in fact he was a huge disappointment this year to me, as I thought he would step up in Posey's absence- he didn't. But he was a body out there and gave guys like Pierce and Ray rest when needed, and he could defend at times. Now with Allen out, the Celtics are forced to move some bodies around. I'm not sure how this affects trading players too. We might not be able to afford to trade those young guys or rookies I talked about now. Will we see more playing time for Gabe Pruitt and maybe Bill Walker? Time will tell. The Celtics lost a PG and a SG today, and haven't gotten a big man yet. I wouldn't call this a good day by any means, but there is still time to fix our problems.

Cassell traded to Kings for 2nd round pick

Marc Spears says that Ainge confirmed the Cassell trade. The Celts are trading Cassell and cash to Sacramento for a heavily protected second round pick in the future.

So what does this mean? Well, basically all this did was free up a roster spot in hopes a player of the Celtics' interest will be dropped after the deadline, or a trade will be made. Obviously Joe Smith has been the intriguing guy over the past month or so, but even that seems unlikely. If anyone remembers, Joe Smith was huge against us last year in the playoffs. It would be great to have him on board as he is just what we need. The Kings might end up waiving Cassell, which means a team in need of a veteran PG might pick him up (Orlando?). Or, he could end up back on the Celtics... remember the Gary Payton issue a few years back. The Celts can wait 30 days until after Cassell is dropped before they can resign him.

These next few days will be verrrryyyy interesting

The Suffolk Voice: Celts can't let Cavs do the trading

It was reported last week that the Cleveland Cavaliers made an offer to acquire Amar'e Stoudemire from the Phoenix Suns. It did not happen, but the idea of it happening is scary enough. There is a very strong possibility that the Celtics and Cavaliers will end up playing each other in the Eastern Conference Finals. If Stoudemire were to go to the Cavs and team up with Lebron James, you can bet they will end up in the NBA Finals.

Read the rest of the article HERE!

Marbury needs to stop, Celtics need a center, I need a drink

The things Patrick O'Bryant can do with a basketball: Palm the ball

Marbury, Marbury, Marbury...

What a tangled web we weave, hmm?

Or should I say in your case, what a gigantic line of cocaine we snort.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. There is no place for Stephon Marbury on this Celtics team. Why on God's great earth do we need this poor excuse of a human being? The guy is everything that the Celtics are not.

Last time I checked, Rajon Rondo and Eddie House were doing just fine at the point guard spot. And since we have been absolutely curb stomping opponents lately, we've gotten a fair share of Gabe Pruitt as well. Why the hell do we need Stephon Marbury on the sidelines checking out the Celtics dancers all night? Christ, Lucky the leprechaun would be a better fit for this team, and that guy is a jerk.

Did he talk to the Celtics? Did he not? Do the Celtics want him? Do they not? Who knows? Marbury sure as hell doesn't. The guy hasn't read a book his entire life most likely. He doesn't know how a business is run. He doesn't know how to win. He doesn't know how to spell win. I can go on forever on why this is a poor choice.

You know what we DO need? A CENTER! A BIG MAN! SOMEONE WHO CAN CLOG THE PAINT!

It was reported that Brian Scalabrine got a concussion today because he bumped heads with completely incompetent Patrick O'Bryant. This doesn't surprise me at all. Doc Rivers basically asked for this to happen. When you put two of the most unathletic and uncoordinated big men on the court at the same time, you are asking for a potential season ending injury. Hell, if you put Patrick O'Bryant on the court with ANYONE you are asking for it. If Patrick O'Bryant and God are playing basketball together, somehow God gets injured accidently, guarantee.

I have never seen a more useless big man in my life as a Celtics fan, and I was a fan during the Vin Baker years and the tail end Pervis Ellison years. You show me any Center more useless than Patrick O'bryant over the last 15 years and I'll show you a liar. When we signed this guy, I was willing to give him a shot, but now I want someone to just shoot/stab him in the hand or leg. Some place where he won't die but will be out for the season... I'm kidding obviously, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. But seriously, I'm not... Or am I?

It sucks that Scals is injured (never thought I'd say that) because we were already thin at the PF/C position. I honestly don't know what to do about this situation. Joe Smith maybe? Beg PJ Brown to come back? I'm out of ideas. I guess we could trade our young guys for a big man near the deadline but I do love Giddens and Walker so I don't know. I do know that Ainge needs to publicly come out and say, "We have zero interest in Stephon Marbury."

I'm freaking out about this, I need to calm down with a tall glass of scotch on the rocks, with ice.

--JT--

Ohhh right, the blog!

"Yeahhhh boiiiiiiiiii"

Sorry it's been so long since the last post, been doing a lot of guest spots on ESPN, FSN, etc. Nope, I haven't. In fact, I've been spending the last week wondering what the hell I'm doing with my life. Anyways, a lot has happened since my last post nine days ago.

For one thing, the Celtics are back. I went to the game against the Suns last night and it was really not a contest from start to finish. I showed up like five minutes late and by that time the Celtics were already up by 10. That was the closest I saw it as Rondo made a bitch out of Nash all night long. I can honestly say that Rajon Rondo dominates Steve Nash more than any other point guard in the league.

You know when you realize you're sucking at something but can't do anything about it so you just start looking around angrily at other people and act like the problem is everyone else? That was EXACTLY Steve Nash last night. At one point during the second quarter, Rondo sliced and diced to the basket on Nash and put in one of those dipsy-do layups, all while Steve Nash stood there with his arms in the air. Thats the Rondo I got used to watching during that winning streak, not the one who started to suck during/after the Lakers loss.

Question: Why do you have to be 25 to buy beer at the TD BankNorth Garden if you aren't from Massachusetts? You don't have to be 25 to drink, just to buy? How does that make any sense? The Celtics obviously get fans from other states than Mass., so why make that a rule? If I go to the game with friends from Massachusetts, they can buy beer, but I can't? Thats stupid. All that means is I look like a d-bag handing my friends cash to go by me beer. I'm pretty sure thats not a rule at Fenway, and they don't have any problems with drinking there.......

--JT--

NBA: Where six men on the court happens

Absolute rookie bullshit from the referees tonight, wow. The Blazers played great, I'm not taking anything away from them, they're a sick team and to be honest, my favorite team in the Western Conference. Without Brandon Roy tonight they stayed in the game and fought the whole way through. THAT BEING SAID:

How can you allow points to count when you have six men on the floor???? HOW?! Is this rec league? Last time I checked the NBA was a five on five league. When there are six men on the court and the team scores at that moment, and it is pointed out right then and there, and a technical foul is called on that team, HOW CAN THOSE TWO POINTS COUNT??!

I am beside myself after watching this game tonight. The Celts were not on top of their game and the refs were not on top of theirs. That equals the home team underdog stealing one from the Celtics.

It might not seem like a big deal, one point, whatever. But it is. This was a close game all the way through. If the referees knew the damn rules of the game, they would have known that they were supposed to replay the last 10 seconds of that quarter to make it fair. You shouldn't benefit from doing something illigally.

Sucks that we lost, but the Cavs lost to a much worse team in the Miami Heat, so they didn't gain ground on us anyways. The bottom line is the Celts need to snap out of whatever slump they're in now and remember how to win a damn game. I think a nice home game or two will put us back on track, time will only tell.

Also, I love Kevin Garnett, but the schenanigans on the court need to stop. That elbow to LaMarcus Aldridge was scummy, and luckily Aldridge hit him back or KG would have been hit with a technical and it would have been a huge deal. KG, keep the intensity, but cut the shit out there.

Bah Humbug

Well, that sucked. But did it? I mean we had to lose eventually right? Nobody actually thought were going to go undefeated the rest of the year did they? Guilty. Oh well. Santa can do a lot of things but unfortunately he can't referee the Celtics game today. What a poorly refereed game. I'm not just saying it because we lost, but really that was bad.

I forgot how much I hated the Lakers until today. And what the hell was up with ABC. Did ABC buy the Lakers? Did I miss something? Everything was L.A., L.A., L.A. all game. The halftime show was terrible. I turned it off. I can't look at Kobe and watch him wish the troops in Iraq a merry Christmas, I just cannot do it. It's not that I don't want people to wish them a Merry Christmas, just that I don't want cry babies, egomaniacs, fakers, and not to mention rapists, doing the wishing. What can you do right? Somewhere in Iraq there was a Celtics fan who put a bullet through the television.

Vujacic is such a bitch, it's amazing to see really. What the hell is up with Gasol? What a douchebag. I expect that stuff from Kobe and Odom, but I didn't think Gasol was American enough to pull that shit. I CANNOT wait until L.A. comes into town and the Celts just manhandle those punks.

The Celtics needed to remember what it felt like to lose. This can only mean good things. This is just another loss for us. It's meaningless really. We are what, like, 12 games ahead in the division? Like I said before, we can go on a 12 game losing streak and still be in first place.

Doc kept the rotations the same while it was clear L.A. was all about this game and this game only. We aren't stressing about it. Business as usual, on to the next game. Not a better way to forget about a loss then to play Golden State the next night.

--JT--