In Boston, They’re Not Talking About Practice

Somewhere, Allen Iverson is shedding a tear. Just like last season, the Boston Celtics aren’t exactly big on that whole practice thing, which hasn’t hurt the team at all. The Herald reports: “They may win the NBA championship this season, but the title of ‘Hardest Working Team in Show Business’ is probably out of reach. And that’s by necessity. Doc Rivers knows he must preserve his veterans if he hopes to lead them to a successful June. If that means they lose touch with the moniker worn by the late James Brown, well, so be it. But the coach knows it’s a fine line he’s walking — though it’s currently led to a 10-game winning streak. Rivers was talking about defensive slippage before the Celts pushed the listless Bobcats into 62 points on 33.8 percent shooting from the field Saturday in Charlotte, N.C. And he’s still disturbed that his club is losing touch with some of its principles and timing. ‘Absolutely,’ Rivers said. ‘We’ve been talking about it a lot. There’s definitely been slippage. That’s why I keep getting concerned. But it’s there for sure. You can definitely see the difference in the way we play and the way we execute when we don’t practice.’ … The Celtics managed to deal well with the run of three games in four nights that ended Saturday, even incorporating rookie Erden into the starting lineup in the last two outings when center Shaquille O’Neal was held out with a lingering right shin and calf injury. And the best-in-the-East record of 19-4 speaks pretty well for them, too. As point guard Rajon Rondo put it while he iced his feet late Saturday, ‘We’re doing a pretty good job without practicing.'”