I'll update accordingly.Angry Shank is turning 70 month. It's time to take that full Social Security payout and get the faack out of the business.... https://t.co/JkmqLKa3M6
— Boston Radio Watch®️ (@bostonradio) June 24, 2023
It’s over. Has been for a while. Just grateful we got to do it when there were actual smart thoughtful fans/readers. https://t.co/yQJxqF5Yai
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 24, 2023
Getting Bob Cousy’s take on a busy week for the Celtics, and other thoughtsIt bears repeating - less Shank, more Cooz = better column!
Picked-up pieces while thinking about Marcus Smart’s place in Celtics history …
▪ Smart played 581 regular-season games in his nine seasons in the Boston backcourt. Other than Don Chaney, every Celtics guard who played more games than Smart has his number hanging over the parquet floor.
One of the above is 94-year-old Bob Cousy, who won six championships and was the NBA’s MVP in 1956-57. I reached out to the Cooz after Smart was dealt to the Grizzlies in a midnight deal late Wednesday.
Like just about every Celtics fan, Cousy has mixed feelings about Smart.
“I liked Smart,” said Mr. Basketball. “I didn’t like some of the things he did. He thought he was a point guard when he was not. His mind was more to create opportunities for himself. In my judgment, point guards have to come across midcourt thinking, ‘How am I going to set one of the other guys up?’ That was never his thing.
Was the Red Sox’ doubleheader sweep more about their impending turnaround or the toothless Yankees?This is a marked turnaround from Shank's unrelenting criticisms from the previous months. I think it's a feint and I'm not buying it. What do you think his next Red Sox column's going to be about after a three game losing streak? Back to business as usual, that's what.
Is this it?
Have the Red Sox finally returned to the “good times never seemed so good” days?
There were positive vibes all over the ballyard when the Sox pantsed the Yankees, 15-5, Friday. After Saturday’s rainout, I suspended my chronic skepticism and returned to Fenway for Sunday’s day-night doubleheader with the once-vaunted Bronx Bombers.
And the Red Sox won both, taking the day game, 6-2, then winning at night, 4-1 — both after falling behind in the first inning. These last-place Red Sox have come from behind in 23 of their 37 victories.
They have five straight wins after Monday night’s 9-3 rout of the Twins and have beaten the Yankees five out of six times. They are suddenly within a half-game of vaulting out of their American League East basement apartment. If George Steinbrenner were still alive, he’d have fired Aaron Boone for what the Sox did to the Yanks the last two weekends.
For Boston sports fans, this weekend is one huge what-could-have-been, and other thoughts
Picked-up pieces while thinking about the prospect of DeAndre Hopkins with the Patriots …
▪ This should have been the mother of all Father’s Day weekends.
I know the mature thing is to acknowledge that the Celtics and Bruins have work to do and simply celebrate the Denver Nuggets and Vegas Golden Knights. But we are sports people and we are not mature and I can’t get the thought out of my head:
The Celtics and Bruins were favored to win the championship in their respective sports.
Which is why we should be getting ready for Game 7 of the NBA Finals at the Garden Sunday night, wondering whether Joe Mazzulla can figure out a defense to stop Nikola Jokic. The Celtics should be getting ready to raise Banner No. 18 over the parquet floor.
Game 7 was supposed to be on Causeway Street on Father’s Day night. And the Celtics would have been favored. Just as they were heavily favored in Game 7 against the Miami Heat … before Jayson Tatum turned into a pumpkin and Jaylen Brown a turnover machine.
Ah, and the Bruins? If all had gone according to plan, they’d have played Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in Vegas Friday, squaring their series, 3-3. Game 7 would have been at the Garden Monday night — after the bull gang packed away the parquet for the summer and cleaned Celtic confetti from the lower bowl.
Taking a close look at the Red Sox after a little break — and the picture is not prettyIf Shank's not happy with the state of the Red Sox, he could always bring it up with his boss, John Henry.
Celtics playoffs and a European vacation took me away from the Red Sox for many weeks (happy to report that not a single person in Milan asked me about Kiké Hernández), but the Internet and dreaded Fubo enabled me to keep an eye on the Local Nine, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts as the Sox get ready for their “big” weekend rematch with the Yankees at Fenway Park starting Friday.
Other than Baghdad Bob NESN talents, all of us who watched this team’s 21-14 start knew it was fool’s gold. Predictably, the Sox lost 21 of their next 33 (7-15 since May 20) and secured their now-traditional spot at the bottom of their division, a whopping 14 games out of first place.
Let’s not try to soften the reality by citing the strength of the AL East or crying, “They’d be one game out in the Central.” Your team plays in the American League East and when this year is over likely will have finished last three times in four years, and six times in 12 seasons.
What, exactly, are the camera crew guys supposed to do, not show the stands? Should the Red Sox put a few hundred cardboard cutouts of people in the stands? Yeah, that'll fix it!A nice catch but actually bad optic for Red Sox because the zillion empty seats are the real takeaway here. https://t.co/NngsELaNz1
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 6, 2023
Please don’t be so negative. https://t.co/cuP6AJIqzL
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 4, 2023
Danny Ainge, the principal architect of this Celtics team, has some thoughts on their playoff runMakes you wonder who the real fraud and poser is, doesn't it? Shank continues with the name calling of the Celtics, using descriptors as chokers and (again) front-runners. Keep it classy!
Picked-up pieces after six weeks of Celtics playoffs …
▪ I had a couple of conversations with Danny Ainge over the last two weeks. We spoke after the Celtics went down, 0-3, to the Heat and again after Monday’s disastrous Game 7 at the Garden.
Ainge, who has been gone from Boston for two seasons and now is CEO of basketball for the Utah Jazz, was the principal architect of this Celtics team that has underachieved despite getting to five conference finals in seven seasons. Ainge’s son, Austin, is director of player personnel for the Celtics, and Danny still speaks regularly with Green Teamers.
“I work for another company now, but I’m trying to defend my friends,” said Ainge. “I know Joe [Mazzulla]. I hired Joe four or five years ago to work in our G League. I still cheer for my friends.
“I don’t think the team quit on Joe. There was pretty good evidence they did not quit on the coach. I just think they weren’t playing well. The team’s overall confidence struggled after the comeback wins against Philly, which was really the highlight of the season.
“No coach can go through a series and not make mistakes, just like players make mistakes, but we saw some patterns of isolation basketball and going through stretches of not making threes. That’s not just with this group; we’ve seen this throughout the NBA. Teams go on these long 3-point droughts. Their energy level is higher when they make shots, and the Celtics are not unique in that aspect.
“I understand something’s got to change, but knowing every one of the players like I do, it’s hard to identify. They need to do some imaging. You’ve got to find out what went wrong, and nobody is certain if they’re not there every day. If you asked each player and each coach, they would all have a different reason. And it’s Brad [Stevens’s] job to really find out what needs to be changed.
