Thoughts while wondering how many hours a day Sam Cassell has his back wrapped in an ace bandage…

Random List of the Week

NBA players who’ve impressed me (on different levels) during the playoffs:

PG: Chris Paul, New Orleans - The superstar who’s entered completely unchartered territory in terms of potential. If someone told me today that Paul will retire with five championship rings, I couldn’t argue.

SG: Rodney Stuckey - The unpolished rookie who’s coming into his own in just enough time to be ready to potentially torture the Celtics in the conference finals. I hate that I’m automatically going to have to hate him because he’s on the Pistons. Seems like a dude I’d enjoy rooting for. Pretty much the same way I feel about Al Horford in this Hawks series.

SF: Devin Brown, Cleveland - The random role player who’s I’ve inexplicably liked all year. Not sure what it is about Brown but I’ve always enjoyed his game. Although part of it might be because half the time he’s on the court I mistake him for Lebron.

PF: Luis Scola - The foreign-born player who I enjoy watching which says a lot because I’ve grown to dislike watching many foreign born players. The Spurs gave Scola away because he didn’t fit in with their philosophy, and thought little enough of him to have no problem dealing him within the conference.

C: Chris Bosh, Toronto - The budding superstar who is ready to claim superstar status. The Raptors might have gotten owned by the Magic, but it wasn’t because of Bosh. Even in defeat, his 39-point, 15-rebound performance is Game 4 was one of the best I’ve seen all season.

(Note: What do you think the record would be of an NBA team that trotted out this starting five? In the Eastern Conference, I think they’d be a four or five seed.)

(Note 2: I don’t really hate all foreign players. I love Dirk, Nocioni, Calderon, Kirilenko, etc., but my hatred for Manu sometimes takes over and I end up making ridiculous generalizations. Sorry for that.)

Loser of the Week: Doc Rivers

I’m not going to try and not be too reactionary here.

They say you can only pass judgment on the info you have at hand, and here’s what we have on Doc so far this year:

Off the court, he’s been ideal. He was integral in the development of a team chemistry which most pundits felt would be the Celtics biggest down fall but ended up being one of their greatest strengths. But when we’re talking about actual in-game coaching, (adjustments, rotation, etc), there was never anything that impressive. Then again, it didn’t have to be. There wasn’t a night over all 82 games when the Celtics weren’t the most talented team on the court, and in the regular season that counts for a lot.

But here’s what got me: When people talk of Bill Belichick’s greatness, they always bring up his record when playing a team for the second time in a season. (No, sorry. First they make any unfunny cheating joke, and then they bring that up). Before the last Super Bowl, it was a given that if you played Patriots earlier in the year, you had no shot of winning the second time around. Belichick had/has the unique ability to critique his own game plan, realize what didn’t work, figure out what, in turn, will work, and make the adjustments.

In 2007-08, Doc Rivers was the anti-Belichick.

Of the Celtics 16 losses, seven came at the hands of three teams (Washington, Orlando and Cleveland). Another came against Charlotte, which didn’t beat the Celtics earlier, but had a game won before Ray Allen’s ridiculous three. Five more losses came to Toronto, Utah, Golden State, Denver and Philadelphia. In each case, the Celtics had played and defeated the team at an earlier date.

That leaves only three games/losses - Detroit, at Phoenix and at New Orleans - where the Celtics played a team once, lost, and then rebounded at a later point to avenge it.

A similar scenario arose on Monday night, The Celtics were coming off a tough loss the Hawks on Saturday. They were up 10 points in the fourth, and had a chance to essentially slam the door on the series. They couldn’t do it, and that was in large part due to Rivers’ inability to manage his roster and adjust to what Atlanta was doing-even if it was something as simple as "Hey, let’s give the ball to Joe Johnson and let him go one of five every time."

I’m no longer worried about this series (even if they lose tonight, there’s no way the Hawks win a game in Boston) and I still like them to at the very least reach the conference finals. But judging by the information at hand, I don’t know how Celtics fans can be confident in Doc’s ability to win a close game in the playoffs or really even overcome any serious adversity in a big playoff series. Yeah, I know, it’s the players who ultimately win or lose these games, but its the coach’s job to put his players in the best position to win, and you can’t be sure Doc will do that.

(Note: Speaking of coaches, is Michael Jordan really going to sabotage another NBA team? He was a mess in Washington, and hiring Larry Brown brings him yet another step closer to doing the same in Charlotte. I realize that in large part, Brown helps the Bobcats sell tickets, and you know they need that, but after last year, the Cats look like they’re are on the verge of building something decent. They need a coach who will help them along the way, be stern but also sympathetic to the inevitable growing pains a young guy faces in the league and also someone they can relate and feel comfortable talking to. Larry Brown is none of those things. He’s a stubborn old school guy who will be there for two years and then quit to take more money somewhere else. And when he does, the Bobcats will be no better than they are now.)

(Note 2: Looking back on Jordan’s time in Washington, there’s one glaringly hilarious string of transactions. It’s right before the 2002 season and at this point Jordan’s back playing and "technically" no longer running the team, but it’s fair to say that he’s still the guy making most of the decisions. It’s also fair to that the Wizards probably should have been looking to the future. They had drafted Kwame Brown a year before (and he was still supposed to be great), had another promising big man in Brendan Haywood and a 23-year old Rip Hamilton, who’d just cracked the 20-ppg barrier for the first time in his career.

Coming off a 35-47 year, things weren’t great, but they were looking up. Here’s what the Wizards did in the month leading up to the 2002 season:

September 10, 2002: Signed free agent forward Bryon Russell (32 years old), who had been with the Utah Jazz, to a two-year contract.

September 12, 2002: Traded guards Richard Hamilton (23) and Hubert Davis and forward Bobby Simmons to the Detroit Pistons for guard Jerry Stackhouse (28 and a ball hog) and forwards Brian Cardinal and Ratko Varda.

September 17, 2002: Named Patrick Ewing assistant coach - this is just funny because Ewing (as anyone who watched the Ahmad Rashad Show last year can attest to) is an absolute moron.

October 12, 2002: Signed forward Charles Oakley (39).

Good Stuff, MJ.

In the Wizards defense, they did get a little younger earlier that summer they signed Larry "I play to enjoy myself, some people take this the wrong way, but winning a championship is not what I base everything on" Hughes. Um, yeah.

Winner of the Week: Jon Lester

Here’s what I love about Lester. He just goes out and pitches. You don’t have to coddle him like Buchholz (even though he’s only about six months older and not even two years removed from cancer) or worry about his confidence like Dice-K (even though Lester has a far less impressive body of work from which to draw confidence from). When his spot in the rotation comes up, you don’t worry about anything. You know he’s going to give a solid effort. There won’t be much flair, but there also won’t be any unnecessary drama.

While his numbers aren’t terrific (or even close for that matter), Lester’s been a stable presence this season on a staff which has been about as a reliable as the old "It’s ok. I won’t get pregnant. I know my own cycle REALLY well" method of birth control.

And his performance last Tuesday night proves that even though he isn’t as high-maintenance as the other prospects, he still has the potential to be just as effective.

Commercial Success of the Week: NBA and Iron Man.

Last week, I admitted to secretly disliking the NBA half face commercials even though it’s the type of thing I typically love. This week, the reversed happened with the NBA on TNT/Iron Man cross promotion. I hate when the league does this. They take an institution as great and storied as the NBA Playoffs and sell it out for some Hollywood crap (although, I’m starting to think Iron Man might be awesome). Anyway, I wanted to hate this commercial, and I did the first couple times, but now I can’t get enough. Unfortunately, it’s no where to be found online (if you know where it is, please throw it in up in the comment section), but here are the two scenes that got me:

1. "They say the best weapon is the one you only need to fire once" - as Dirk drains a three.

2. "Yeah, I can fly" - as Kobe rocks a 360 in traffic.

(Note: I also strongly want to dislike another of the commercials TNT’s running into the ground - the new Dockers San Francisco ad - but I can’t do it. The song is terrific; especially the beginning.

(Note 2: If you want the whole song, it’s called California Soul by Marlena Shaw.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmk30mvVz3Y[/youtube].

Although personally, I think Dockers made a good choice stopping when they did. The tune definitely goes down hill from there. If this song were Christian Laettner’s career, Dockers cut the music right after his senior year in college.)

Link of the Week: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26K6HU6Cz_E[/youtube]

Just because I feel bad about talking so much trash about His Airness.

"Prediction for Next Week" of the Week: Celtics in seven!

See You Next Friday

Rich Levine is a sports columnist from the Improper Bostonian. You can also check out Rich’s Podcast "The Dino Radja Experience", on ComcastSportsNet.com.