Shut Up and Play

The Boston Celtics avoided another embarrassing fourth quarter collapse by holding off Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to win 117-113. This was a game the Celtics really needed and one that the Cavs probably could have cared less about and for three quarters it showed.

The Celtics put up 98 points through three quarters of play and with about 5 minutes to go in the fourth had only added 5 more points to the total. It looked like what has become an all too familiar scene for the Celtics this year was about to play out. They were about to blow a 22 point lead and drop another winnable game to a team they will NEED to beat come playoff time.

Lebron James did his King James thing and turned it on in the fourth battling to bring the Cavs back and put them up one, but the Celtics held him off and were able to pull out a much needed win.

This game though, had an under current that I, for one, did not like. It's no surprise that Kevin Garnett is a talker, but today he was jawing with Lebron James to a whole new level. The two went back and forth and clearly got under each others skin (KG got at Lebron more then the other way around.) Lebron was distracted at the free throw line and missed a handful of key free throws that could've broken the Celtics' back. He missed them and the Celtics won.

It was more then the talking between players that gets to me, it's also the constant complaining to the officials. This game saw Cleveland pick up four technicals and Mike Brown get chucked. On the Celtics' side of the ball, they received two technicals, one from Rajon Rondo and one from Rasheed Wallace who is dangerously close to getting a one game suspension.

There was even more talking then that. Rasheed Wallace started mouthing off to Doc Rivers during one stage of the game, which caught him some pine, rightfully so.

Rasheed Wallace, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce...I implore you, take a cue from Ray Allen who had 33 points for the Celtics this afternoon. Ray Ray goes out and gets the job done. He keeps his mouth shut, for the most part and doesn't blame anybody else on the court for his struggles. Everyone in the league should take a cue from this guy.

The more NBA games I watch, the more I am disgusted by the attitudes of the players and how nothing seems to be their fault. They all do it and leading the charge are the superstars, Lebron, Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, they all do it and it is a detriment to the game.

I am not saying to never complain about a call or talk a little trash, but the extent to which the players in today's NBA talk distracts from the game and quite frankly it is entirely less effective then if you have a legitimate gripe with a call or a "real" beef with a competitor. When you're constantly complaining it loses a little luster.