Celtics uncharacteristically outworked in first 'bad' loss of the season

You've gotta work harder than that.

One of my personality quirks is that a single word can send me into song at any point in a conversation. It could be something simple, such as “Don’t you think that bridge is a bit low?” And boom, I’m busting out, “Three, six, nine, damn, she fine
Hopin' she can sock it to me one more time.” To me, it’s funny. I love music, and I love to enjoy myself. But, at times, it pissess my wife and daughter off to no end.

It must be so difficult trying to hold a normal conversation with me. If you’ve ever listened to me on a podcast, I’m sure you’ve heard moments of me doing something like this.

I tend to only allow myself this quirk around people I’m truly comfortable with. After all, I don’t want everyone to think I’m a bit of a weirdo — even if it’s true.

I’m telling you this because recently when watching games and taking notes, I’ve been allowing my mind to drift into song. It’s kind of like a mnemonic to help me remember my takeaways from a game. I don’t always do it, but when I do, that takeaway is vivid until the next game I watch.

This morning, after waking up late, grumpily making a coffee, and sitting at my desk to watch the Boston Celtics NBA Cup game against the Atlanta Hawks, a mnemonic came to me. I don’t really choose what song comes to mind; it just happens. I’m sure I’m not the only one here, and hopefully, at least a few of you reading this do the same to some extent.

Anyway, through no choice of my own, I found Britney Spears’ “Work Bitch” playing in my head.

Ok, back up. Let me defend myself a little bit.

I am very much a Nu Metal, Rock, Punk-Pop, Rap and Hip Hop guy. Pop music isn’t my jam. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard any pop music or that I didn’t have a crush on Britney Spears as a kid. So yeah, that’s where my brain went.

What can you do?

Another one of my quirks is that I’m constantly making up parodies as I go about everyday tasks. Doing dishes? I’m probably remaking “Because I Got High” from Afroman, literally because it entertains me.

Well, I did the same again this morning.

“You want to start scoring?”
”Defense to stop snoring?”
”You want to defend the ring?”
”Make those shots sing?”
”You better work bitch”

Unfortunately, despite my bad parody and poor songwriting ability (I said I enjoyed it, not that I was good at it... although I have my moments), the Celtics didn’t work. At least, not on the defensive end.

Instead, they were out-hustled by the Hawks. Quin Snyder set out to play with physicality, leaning on their disruptiveness as a unit, aiming to capitalize on forced errors and keep the Celtics on the back foot.

It worked.

I’m a big believer in the value of deflections.

Deflecting passes can shake an offense. It forces them to reset a play, either with the shot clock ticking down or from the sidelines. Over time, multiple deflections can frustrate your opponents. They’re almost as valuable as steals, in my opinion, and can be a great tone-setter for a disruptive team.

Last night, Atlanta had 24 deflections.