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Celtics in trade talks to send Doc Rivers, Kevin Garnett to Clippers

The Boston Celtics are deep in discussions with the Los Angeles Clippers on a blockbuster deal to send coach Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to Los Angeles, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The final hurdle of a deal centers on the Clippers’ willingness to include guard Eric Bledsoe into a trade package with Boston, sources said.

Boston and Los Angeles are discussing a package that will send DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks to the Celtics for Garnett and the right to hire Rivers as coach, sources said.

Garnett will waive his no-trade clause to go to the Clippers, where he’ll be reunited with Rivers and likely Celtics assistant Ty Lue, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

Doc Rivers and Clippers may have mutual interest

The Los Angeles Clippers have not formally requested permission to interview Celtics coach Doc Rivers in the wake of widespread reports about Rivers’ potential departure from Boston, but there is strong mutual interest between the parties, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources told ESPN.com on Thursday that Rivers is highly intrigued by the idea of coaching the Clippers in the event that he and the Celtics part company after nine seasons together and one championship in 2008. Sources say the Clippers, meanwhile, would immediately vault Rivers to the top of their list if he became available as they continue a coaching search that, to this point, has focused on Brian Shaw, Byron Scott and Lionel Hollins.

The Los Angeles Times, citing several NBA executives, reported Wednesday that if Rivers decides he doesn’t want to coach in Boston anymore, the Clippers would be interested in him and he would become their No. 1 choice.

ESPN.com has also learned the Celtics and Clippers — in an offshoot of February’s Kevin Garnett-to-L.A. trade talks — discussed expanded trade scenarios that could have sent both Garnett and close friend Paul Pierce to the Clippers before the league’s Feb. 21 trade deadline.

Reported by Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com

Doc Rivers still undecided on future

The shroud of mystery surrounding Doc Rivers continues to leave many unsure, the Celtics included, as to what his plans are for the future.

ESPN reported on Wednesday that Rivers believes “it may be time for a change” in his status as Celtics head coach.

But a league source contacted by CSNNE.com on Wednesday indicated that Rivers continues to mull over whether he will return to Boston, and he hasn’t made a decision one way or the other.

“He’s really torn up about this,” the source said.

Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE (Blog)

Jason Collins marches in Boston gay pride parade

NBA veteran Jason Collins has marched in Boston’s gay pride parade with Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III, his onetime roommate at Stanford University.

Collins wore a T-shirt that read #BeTrue when he joined thousands of marchers Saturday.

In April, Collins became the first active player in one of the four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He wrote in an article for Sports Illustrated that the decision to go public came when Kennedy marched in last year’s parade and Collins didn’t feel that he could join him.

Reported by the Associated Press

Jon Lee gets second look from Celtics

The Celtics need for point guard depth might be answered in June’s NBA Draft, and they stayed local to get a look at what is out there for future prospects.

Former Northeastern point guard Jon Lee finished his second workout in the past week today with the Celtics in Waltham. Lee missed the first nine games of this past season for the Huskies with a foot injury, but returned to average 13.4 points and four assists a game. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound left-handed point guard worked out for the Celtics on Sunday and was ecstatic that his first and second workouts with an NBA team before the draft were with Boston.

“I went in there and I gave it my all,” Lee told the Herald. “It was an awesome experience.”

Reported by Tom Layman of the Boston Herald

Nets wanted to interview Doc Rivers

The next coach of the Nets won’t be Doc Rivers.

ESPNBoston.com reported Thursday night that the Nets reached out to Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge about potentially sitting down with Rivers to discuss the team’s head coaching opening, but that Ainge refused to grant them permission.

That Ainge would deny the Nets a chance to sit down with Rivers isn’t at all surprising, given that he still has three years and over $20 million remaining on the extension he signed with Boston back in 2011 – one that made him one of the game’s highest-paid coaches – and is widely to be considered among the league’s best coaches.

Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post (Blog)

Prosecutors delay bringing assault charges against Terrence Williams

Prosecutors in Kent, Wash., said Wednesday that they need more time to investigate allegations against Celtics guard Terrence Williams before filing charges.

Williams, a Seattle native, is being investigated for second-degree domestic assault.

He was arrested Sunday after a parking lot confrontation in which the mother of his 10-year-old son told police that Williams threatened her with a gun.

Williams spent Sunday night in jail and posted a $25,000 bail Monday. He was scheduled to attend a court hearing Wednesday, the deadline for prosecutors to file charges.

— Reported by Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe

Danny Ainge assumes Doc Rivers will remain with Celtics

Ainge seemed a bit surprised yesterday that the Boston future of his coach, who has three years remaining on his contract, is in question.

“From all I know, Doc will be back,” Ainge said.

He added that he’s yet to speak with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett about their plans and desires.

Rivers may have been speaking at a raw time several minutes after the Game 6 elimination to the Knicks, but he invited the questions about next year with his straightforward answer about coming back.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know that right now. I can’t make that decision now. I’m under contract, and we’ll see. I mean, honestly, I just can’t even think about that right now, so I don’t know.”

Asked if he would think about it, Rivers replied, “Yeah. I do every year. I do every year. You know, it’s not anything. I’m not leaning that way of not coming back, I can tell you that. But like I just said, I immerse myself and I need to just detox, and we’ll find that out.”

— Reported by Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald

Knicks hold off Celtics, advance to second round of NBA playoffs

Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and the New York Knicks held on after blowing most of a 26-point lead to beat the Boston Celtics 88-80 in Game 6 on Friday night and advance in the postseason for the first time since 2000.

Iman Shumpert scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half, when the Celtics cut a 75-49 deficit to four points. But Anthony made a jumper to give New York an 81-75 lead and then sank a 3-pointer, then J.R. Smith converted a three-point play to restore the double-digit lead the Knicks had nursed most of the game.

Jeff Green scored 21 points for the Celtics, who had rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the series and had a chance, at home, to force a decisive seventh game.

No NBA team has advanced in the playoffs after losing the first three games.

Paul Pierce scored 14 points on 4-for-18 shooting, making one of nine 3-point attempts. Anthony also struggled from in- and outside the arc, going 7 for 23 from the floor and missing his first five 3-point attempts — that was 20 in a row in the series — before sinking the key basket with 1:43 to go.

The Knicks had not won a playoff series since Patrick Ewing and Latrell Sprewell (and current backup center Marcus Camby) helped them reach the 2000 Eastern Conference finals.

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who now face another offseason of talk whether to break up the aging core that won the franchise’s record 17th NBA title in 2008 and returned to the finals two years later. Reserve Jason Terry scored 14 points — the only points the Celtics got from their bench.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Proud Celtics making stand against Knicks

It might be the last Celtics stand for the tandem of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett but they showed their class and determination as Boston humbled the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Age, a lack of depth on the roster and the strains of the National Basketball Association salary cap have put the Boston future of Garnett and Pierce in doubt but the gritty veterans refuse to go out quietly this postseason.

Teetering on the brink of elimination down 3-0 in their best-of-seven series, the Celtics won an overtime thriller in Boston to stay alive and followed with a 92-86 win on Wednesday to send the series back to Boston for Game Six on Friday.

The 36-year-old Garnett, in his 18th season after entering the NBA out of high school, scored 16 points and hauled down 18 rebounds in nearly 39 minutes on the floor.

Pierce, 35, who has played all 15 years of his NBA career in Boston, matched his running mate with 16 points and logged more than 44 minutes on court as the Celtics outbattled the Knicks using just seven players.

— Reported by Larry Fine of Reuters