Marcus Thornton: 'I would like to stay here'

BOSTON -- After the Celtics secured a third straight victory and sixth win in their past 10 games, everyone's wondering what's gotten into them since the departure of Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green.

"Guys in here are trying to win," said Jae Crowder, the only one left from the Dec. 19 Rondo deal. "A lot of people counted us out, so we have a lot of pride in this locker room, and the city has a lot of pride, so we want to keep playing for those guys, playing for ourselves and playing basketball the right way to give ourselves a chance."

The Celtics own a similar record after the Rondo trade (10-16) to before it (9-14), but since the Green deal was finalized on Jan. 12, the C's are 7-7, including the first three road wins against Western Conference teams of the Brad Stevens era. For better or worse, this hodgepodge of young talent and expiring contracts is playing to win.

But some within the Celtics locker room are waiting for the other shoe to drop, or at least it sounds that way.

"It's been great," said Marcus Thornton, who netted 16 points off the bench in Friday's win over the 76ers, of the team chemistry since a series of trades also saw Brandan Wright come and go. "It's still not over yet. Feb. 19 is still a long time from now, so we'll see how that goes, too. For the time being, everybody's just here playing."

Feb. 19, of course, is the NBA trade deadline, and Thornton seemed awful familiar with that date. "No, I'm not thinking about that," he countered. "Whatever happens, happens. I would like to stay here. Who wouldn't? We've got a good thing going, but like I said, it's not controllable. I can't control it, so whatever happens, happens."

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Видео Marcus Thornton: 'I would like to stay here' канала Ben Rohrbach