Celtics Players Talk Magic | North Station Sports

Celtics Players Talk Magic
November 20, 2009 by Nick Gelso

celtspractice

The Celtics gathered in Waltham yesterday to prepare for their match-up tonight with the Orlando Magic. It’s nice to hear the guys downplaying the impact last year’s elimination by the Magic is having on their performance tonight. Let’s face it though, this is total bull sh%@. The Celtics want to prove to the NBA that, with a healthy Garnett, last year they were the better team and would’ve won. Here’s what the guys are saying…

From The Boston Globe:

Coach Doc Rivers:

“They’re the team everybody’s chasing in the East,’’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They won the championship of the East last year. As far as we’re concerned, they’re the favorite and Cleveland’s the second favorite and we’re the third – going by the results of last year. So, it will be good to see where we’re at.’’

Paul Pierce:

“I’ve moved on from it,’’ captain Paul Pierce said of the playoff defeat. “Last season is last season. I’m not looking at this as a revenge game.

“It’s definitely a big game for us. Just try and make a statement against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. You’re talking about a team that’s going to be there in the end, one of the best records in the league. So, we’re playing for home-court advantage and this is a team that we have to beat.’’

“We have more guys, three guys we can put on Dwight Howard, three guys we can put on Rashard Lewis,’’ Pierce said. “Dwight Howard demands so much attention, and when you’ve got guys like Perk [Kendrick Perkins] and Rasheed and Kevin [Garnett] that can play him pretty much straight up – when you put [Brian] Scalabrine on him, it’s tough. We’re in a better position with the team we have and hopefully nobody will get hurt.’’

Kevin Garnett:

“I’m just looking forward to playing them,’’ Garnett said. “Their record says they’re one of the best teams. They’re deep, they’re very deep. People are not really talking about their depth, but the onus is on us. This should be a good test for us.’’

Kendrick Perkins:

“It’s just another playoff team we might have to go through to get where we’re trying to go, so I think it’s going to be a great test. They beat us in Game 7 at our house, actually I think they blew us out [101-82]. They were Eastern Conference champions so we’ve got to get that back, so we’ve got something to prove.’’

Asked if he believes the Magic are better than the Celtics, Perkins replied, “I think so. They’ve got more experience. I think we’ll see late into the season how teams are playing. It’s early right now. A lot of teams are playing well – Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Miami. So it’s hard to say right now, so you just never know.’’

“He is a physical guy who likes to bang,’’ Perkins said. “I like to bang. I have trouble guarding quicker guys on the perimeter, but guys who like to play on the post and make contact – that’s what I like to do.

“With Dwight, you’ve just got to try and limit his dunks, easy catches. You’ve got to play him like Shaq [O’Neal] a little bit and make him score over the top.’’

From the Boston Herald:

Ray Allen:

… on Rondo’s foul shooting woe’s

“I think he’s trying to understand what it means to be a good free throw shooter, because he does have the ball in his hands a lot and he’s going to the hole a lot and he’s getting fouled a lot,” Allen said. “So he’s going to be on the free throw line. That’s something he’s got to come to terms with, how to get there, step up confidently and be able to knock those free throws down.”