Actions speak louder than words

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have led the recent defensive turnaround
for the Celtics.

Mark it down right now: November 28 will be known as the turning point in the 2012-2013 Boston Celtics' season.

For those of you who may have forgotten what took place on that night, allow me to refresh your memory. On that night, the Celtics hosted the Brooklyn Nets in what was dubbed as a big divisional game, which was quite unusual for a game so early in the season. Nonetheless, the Garden had a playoff atmosphere right from the tip. This atmosphere quickly disappeared once the Nets decided to make their presence felt.

The Celtics were getting man-handled by the Nets in every facet of the game. At one point, the Nets led by as many as 21. Finally, with 29.5 seconds to go in the first half and trailing by 16, the Celtics -- in particular Rajon Rondo -- finally decided that enough was enough. Rondo shoved Nets' power forward Kris Humphries after Humphries committed a hard foul Kevin Garnett, and madness shortly ensued. Total chaos followed, with much shoving and pushing taking place as well. After the dust settled, Humphries, Nets' small forward Gerald Wallace, and Rondo were all ejected. The ejection ended Rondo's double-digit assist streak at 37, but that was the least of the Celtics concerns.

The Celtics cut the deficit to as low as 9 points in the final frame, but the Nets were just too much to handle for the Celtics on that night. They couldn't handle their toughness, physicality; they couldn't handle anything, really. This led coach Doc Rivers to call his team the worst thing a team can be called: soft.

Rivers's comment did what it was intended: it gave his players the wakeup call they desperately needed. Kevin Garnett said, "I don't know any man that likes to be called soft, maybe some women. But where I'm from, most men don't like that."

Courtney Lee added, "Nobody wants to be called soft. Me, individually, I took that personally because I felt that I'm far from being soft. And I think our team took it personal, too."

Even Jason Terry chimed in, "There is nothing soft about me. I know this team. This is a group of guys that there is nothing soft about them either."

So now that they all have vehemently denied that claim, can they actually go out there and do something to change Doc's perception? So far, they've done just that.

Since that miserable November night, the Celtics have come together. They did what the 2012 Boston Red Sox failed to do: they united in spite of their coach and set out to prove him wrong. As a result, they're playing better, smarter, and most importantly, tougher.

Although their record since Doc called them out isn't pretty -- they're just 3-2 since that game against the Nets -- the Celtics are definitely playing better basketball, especially on the defensive end. Before Rivers called his team soft, the Celtics were giving up 92.4 points a game, their defensive field-goal percentage was a mediocre 45.9%, their defensive three-point field-goal percentage was 37.7%, and they were a -79 on the boards through 15 games for an 8-7 record. Since his soft comment, they've only given up 87.4 points per game. Also, their defensive field-goal percentage is 40.2%, their defensive three-point field-goal percentage is 25.3%, and they are +7 in the rebounding department.

Saturday's game is a perfect testament to the team's improvement. The 79 points they gave up was the second-fewest they've allowed in a game this season to the 78 points they allowed to Portland nearly a week earlier. "Our defense is why we won," said Rivers after the game. That was the first time he's said that all season.

"We see we're getting better day-in and day-out on tape," said Courtney Lee after Saturday's game. "But when we see it when we lose, we kind of look back at it like, 'are these things working for us? But like I said, you can see us coming together. Our rotations (defensively) and everything is getting better so we just have to stick with it."

When speaking about their performance the night before in Philadelphia, Paul Pierce said, "I told the guys after the game if we continue to play like that, then we're going to win a lot of games than we have. So we have to stick to our principles and stay consistent with that and continue to improve." And improving they are.

For the time being, the Celtics have erased this undesirable "soft" label. But, as we all know, it doesn't matter what they say or think, it matters what they do on the court. Because, in the end, actions speak louder than words.


Some news:

* In a bit of a head-scratching move, rookie Fab Melo has been recalled from the Maine Red Claws. What's surprising is that the Celtics do not have any known injuries, while Melo has been dealing with a strained quadriceps. In 5 games with Maine, Melo is averaging 6.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game. This move comes after the Celtics re-assigned Kris Joseph back to Maine on Saturday. Maine does not play again until Friday, so this could give Melo a chance to practice with the big boys.

* Chris Wilcox has been fined $25,000 after making an obscene gesture during Friday night's game in Philadelphia. During a timeout in the fourth quarter, Wilcox gave the middle finger to an in-arena camera that was doing a "Kiss Cam" segment on the videoboard. Come on, Chris, you know better.

* For the second time this season, Rajon Rondo was nominated for the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, and for the second time, he was edged out by an Atlanta Hawk. This time, Hawks' forward Josh Smith took home the honor. In a week in which the Hawks went 3-0, Smith averaged 21.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals a game. The Celtics went 2-1 and Rondo averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 12.0 assists, and 2.3 steals a game.

* On Saturday night, Paul Pierce became the 5th Celtics player with 4,000 career assists. The other four players? All Hall-of-Famers: Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Bill Russell, and Larry Bird.