Chemistry much stronger this season for the Celtics

WEEI

With a 105-103 win against Golden State on Wednesday, the Celtics have now won eight of their last 10 games and coach Doc Rivers believes they are finally coming together.

"A lot of things are going on. Number one our team is really close right now. You can feel the spirit," Rivers said. "They knew they were struggling. Early [in the year] they would have been upset with each other. You could see one guy mess up and play and everyone had resolve. They just got over it instead of getting on guys."

Rivers noted that Paul Pierce accepted blame for a botched possession late in the game that led to a forced jump shot. But given another chance, Pierce made the pass to kick it to an open Kevin Garnett for the game-winner.

"He was the criminal in that one, but he came in and said, 'Hey my fault guys. That’s basically why I gave him the ball back at the end," Rivers said. "Usually when you make a mistake you want to do something good and he did. That was a heck of a pass he gave to Kevin."

We speculated a few months ago that Doc made a request to Danny to remove the knuckleheads from the roster, so that Doc could attempt to bring that ubuntu teamwork back to the Celtics. This year's squad does seem like a tight bunch and while they are far from favorites to win this year's title, they do still have a puncher's shot (especially if they can snag a quality center like Chris Kaman). I think you've seen a lot of addition by subtraction with this Celtics team.


Players like Rasheed Wallace, Stephon Marbury, Nate Robinson, Von Wafer, Delonte West, Glen Davis, and Shaq provide talent, but they also bring a lot of baggage. Today is a big day as well. When the deadline passes and guys know they will be here for the duration of the season and playoffs, it can only bring the team closer together. Don't discount chemistry. When the Heat start pointing fingers this spring when they lose some playoff games due to "3 Quarters" James, the Celtics players should be growing even closer. Someone (not sure who it was) once said "anything is possible." Give us Kaman and good health this playoffs and #18 could still be in sight.