Ryan Gomes Is Aware Of The Celtics Priorities

On Friday night, the Boston Celtics clinched the league's 2nd-worst record (congratulations!) by losing 104-102 to the not-quite-as-lowly Milwaukee Bucks. Forward Ryan Gomes had 13 points in 24 minutes through three quarters, and then sat out the fourth. With thanks to CelticsBlog.com and Tom Ziller at the NBA FanHouse, Ryan Gomes like you to know why:

"I probably (would have played), but since we were in the hunt for a high draft pick, of course things are different," Gomes said. "I understand that. Hopefully things get better. Now that we clinched at least having the second-most balls in the lottery, the last three games we'll see what happens. We'll see if we can go out and finish some games."

He backpedaled just a little bit today:

"The players weren't thinking about the lottery and all that," said Ryan Gomes, "but reality is reality. Now that our position in the lottery is set, hopefully we can go out and win some games.

"Things could change now, but another thing you've got to think of is that he (Rivers) was doing that for a reason. It could be for that reason (lottery position) or it could be for getting the younger guys some playing time or seeing who's going to be here next year. There's a lot of things that go into that."

Ryan Gomes is in his 2nd year in the league. Just in case you were starting to buy that "getting the younger guys some playing time" bit.

Gomes put himself in a tough spot, though. Now, if Doc Rivers decides it's OK to win some games, and he puts Gomes out there for the entire game, it becomes totally obvious that he was tanking. I'd think he'd like to at least keep some doubt in peoples' minds.

Ryan Gomes Sold Doc Rivers Out [NBA FanHouse] More Gomes Comments [CelticsBlog.com]