Today's odds and ends are a little late because sometimes life gets in the way of basketball, sad as that is. Having been on the Leon Powe bandwagon since Day 1, I am understandably excited today. He proved he would play in the preseason when he got a chance and he proved he could play again last night. If Doc doesn't play this kid now, there is something wrong. The play of Perk and Powe did a lot to temper my disappointment in yet another close loss and failure to execute on either end at the close of the game. There is a lot going on in the Celtics' Nation today so here we go:

Steve Bulpett reminds us that the Celtics 1 and 6 record is the worst since that awful season in 1978-79. Most of us fans like to block that debacle from our memories. Hopefully this team will pull it together and not try to tank for Oden as we know how that worked out when we tried it for Duncan.

In his Celtics Notebook, Bulpett reports that Powe grabbed Doc's attention (along with a lot of Celtics fans too). This kid brings toughness inside, rebounding, shot blocking, and energy. All things that we desperately need on this team. The question is, why hasn't he been playing all along? Theo is going to be out indefinitely, but Al was seen at the shootaround. Pierce is making an attempt to up his rebounding this season.

Mark Murphy reports that Pierce says that the blame for last night starts with him and in a good part that is true. Pierce was way off on both ends of the floor. Perk had more to say on the subject.

“There’s nothing for anyone to point their finger at here,” said a bristling Kendrick Perkins. “It’s not coaching that’s the problem here, and it’s not our offense - it’s us and our commitment.

“I don’t want anyone blaming the coaches for this. We have good defensive schemes, and they put us in the right position to make plays. We just have to stick with it and see it all the way through.”

Perkins, one of the few Celtics who puts defense before his offense, believes that a shift in priorities is in order.
“If everyone comes in with the same mindset, and isn’t just out there thinking of their offense, then we’ll be all right,” Perkins said. “We can’t win games where a team is shooting 53 percent on us.

“That’s a matter of pride - deciding not to let them take those open shots. I came in with the pride in my defense tonight. I just couldn’t let somebody from the other team get off. We’ll put up points, everyone knows that. But we have to do both - defense and offense. I’m not just talking about pick-and-roll defense, but straight-up defense. All of us, me included, have to get better. You can’t go out there with just two or three guys thinking that way. Everyone has to say, ‘I’m not letting this guy get off.’