Celtics Suffer 4th loss in last 6 games: Things aren’t going well for the Boston Celtics right now as Wilson Chandler’s 31 points and Al Harrington’s 30 points helped the New York Knicks past the Green at Madison Square Garden. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 31 points and Ray Allen was the only other Celtic in double digits with 16 points. The win for the Knicks ended an 8 game losing streak while the Celtics have now dropped 4 of their last 6 games. [ESPN.com]

The Texas Tech Red Raiders missed so many layups yesterday that head coach Pat Knight decided to pull a 12 year old from the stands to make a point with his team. The point? That a 12 year old can make layups.

“I was just tired of having 18- or 21-year-olds miss layups that a 12-year-old could hit, so I brought a 12-year-old in to let them know that he could hit layups,” Knight said. “He’s 12 and he can hit layups, so why can’t you when you’re 18 to 21?”

It worked as the Red Raiders went on to win. Maybe UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma should try this with Tina Charles.

Clay Buchholz: With the Boston Red Sox saying that they wouldn’t trade Clay Buchholz to the Texas Rangers for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and then allegedly offering him up in deal for Hanley Ramirez with the Florida Marlins, is Clay Buchholz really untouchable? Or were the Red Sox just pumping him up when they said he’s ready to make an impact? [Providence Journal]

According to Tim Graham of ESPN.com, the New England Patriots are considering putting the franchise tag on quarterback Matt Cassel.

Michael Lombardi, a former NFL executive with several teams, reported on this week’s edition of Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” the New England Patriots will put the franchise tag on Matt Cassel to prevent him from becoming a free agent.

“The Patriots are way too smart, and I’ve talked to people in the organization,” said Lombardi, who worked in the Cleveland Browns’ front office when Bill Belichick was the coach. “They are going to franchise Matt Cassel. He’s an asset and they can control their ability to trade him if they franchise him.”

With the differing reports on the health of Tom Brady’s knee, the Patriots putting the franchise tag on Cassel would be a smart thing because there’s no guarantee Brady will be back in 2009. And it gives the Patriots a very capable quarterback who can lead them back to the playoffs.

Red Sox will be contenders for the foreseeable future: “For us, this is something that’s going to happen for years,” said Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. “Year after year, we’re going to put ourselves in a position to win championships. You can’t ask for anything else.” [MLB.com]

The 2008 Shotties: David Scott took some time away from writing his book to let us know about a feud that is brewing between NESN and the Boston Globe. Hopefully the Globe keeps their sponsorship of the Red Sox pregame show because it would be a crying shame not to be able to see Amalie Benjamin on a daily basis. He also talks about the sign-off of Glenn Ordway on WEEI. [Scott’s Shots]

Last year we saw Robbie Maddison jump 322 feet in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. This year he decided to do something even crazier.

This is one of the most insane things I think I’ve seen someone do.

And of course we can’t leave out Rhys Millen doing a back flip in a truck.

Disarray in Dallas: According to the Dallas Morning News, former UConn Huskies fullback Deon Anderson and Flozell Adams were involved in a fight on the Dallas Cowboys flight back home after being embarrassed by the Philadelphia Eagles. The fight was broken up by Leonard Davis. [Dallas Sports Fans]

The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team has picked up another recruit for next year’s freshman class as 6-foot-5 shooting guard Jamal Trice has given Jim Calhoun an oral commitment to join the Huskies next year.

Trice is a Los Angeles area native who went to Mater Dei High School  but is doing a prep year at the  Mt. Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina. Mt. Zion is the school that Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady attended.

Today was the last day of Trice’s official visit to UConn and it looks as though he liked it. Trice joins Alex Oriakhi and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel in the Class of 2013 at UConn.

AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: This should come as no surprise to anyone who watches the New England Patriots play every week. The AP has selected New England Patriots lineback Jerod Mayo as the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Mayo received 49-of-50 votes with the other vote going to Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers. The 1st round pick out of Tennessee led the Patriots with 128 tackles on the season.