Schwan: NBA stands for No Box-out Association

By Henry Schwan When was the last time you saw anyone in the NBA box someone out for a rebound? Boxing out at the highest level of professional basketball is as extinct as the Woolly Mammoth. Case in point, the Celtics Thursday night loss to the Lakers. In fourth quarter crunch time, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum played volleyball above the rim while the Celtics stood around and watched. Many “expert” analysts will say the Lakers’ Twin Towers were too tall and long for the C’s. That line of thinking is as accurate as a vote count in Syria. The only way to have stopped Bynum and Gasol was to get a body on them. It’s as simple as that. Doc Rivers even said it after the loss. "Longer teams, you have to hit them,” said Doc. “You've got to put a body on them. If you think you can just turn and rebound when a guy is five inches taller than you, it's not going to happen.” The late Red Auerbach was preaching the importance of boxing out years ago. If you can look beyond Bill Ru...