Miami 115, Boston 111 (Overtime)

[recap] [box score]

I don't believe in moral victories in professional sports, especially in the playoffs. However, as fans, we're allowed -- in special situations -- to appreciate, even in defeat, when a team plays its guts out and leaves everything it has out on the court. And that's what the Celtics did in Game 2 on Wednesday. Boston battled age, injury, adversity, the officials -- and, oh yeah, the Miami Heat -- to come within a possession, or an inch, or a whistle, of winning the game and tying this sucker up at one apiece. As fans, we pick a team to root for, and then we're kind of stuck with whatever we get. Over the years, of course, Celtics supporters have been very fortunate with the hand they've been dealt. But even now, down 2-0, staring elimination and the possible end of an era in the face, there's isn't a franchise I'd rather root for. There's isn't a team I'd trade for the guys who put on the green jerseys Wednesday. That's the honest truth.

Miami put this game away in the final minutes of overtime, but it was lost in regulation. Not during the third quarter, when Boston let the last of a 15-point first-half lead slip away. And not on Miami's last possession of the fourth quarter, when Kevin Garnett couldn't corral a LeBron James miss, costing Boston a chance at a buzzer-beating game-winner. It was lost during the two-minute stretch beginning with 3:13 remaining, when Ray Allen missed an open three-pointer in transition, and ending with Udonis Haslem's baseline jumper with 1:07 to go. During that stretch, Garnett missed a 12-footer in the lane over James and Allen missed another good look coming off a screen, while Shane Battier supplemented four James free throws on the other end with a three-pointer from the right corner. During that stretch, the score went from 94-89 Boston to 98-94 Miami, and though Boston battled back to tie the score on a three from Allen to send it into OT, they had lost their best chance to win it.

That's not meant as a criticism of Allen and Garnett. All three shots were on line and missed by the tiniest of margins: the first was maybe an inch short; the latter two perhaps an inch long. Basketball games are often won and lost by those small margins. Doc likes to say it's a make or miss league, and in the final minutes, the guys named Battier and Haslem made, and the guys named Allen and Garnett missed. It happens. I'd take those guys, those shots, in that situation again in a heartbeat.

If you watched the game, or saw the highlights, or looked at the box score, what I'm about to write is obvious: Rajon Rondo was straight-up unbelievable. He played every second of the game's 53 minutes, obliterated his career high with 44 points, added ten assists and eight rebounds, and tossed in three steals against just three turnovers. Miami had no answer for him, while he was Boston's answer to nearly everything Miami did. In the postgame, Magic Johnson called it one of the best performances he's ever seen in all his years in the game. I lack the writing ability to adequately describe the way Rondo played, and the technical details of just how he turned in his finest performance as a pro wouldn't do justice to the gravity of the moment. I'll say only this: From this moment forward, anyone who questions that kid's heart and his value to this team is wrong. Flat-out wrong.

I hate doing this, but I have to: The officiating was bad again. And unlike Game 1, it likely cost Boston the game. It was bad all night, uneven, overly protective of James and Dwyane Wade, but one call, or no-call, stands out: The reverse layup Rondo missed in the final 90 seconds of overtime with the score tied at 105, when he was raked across the face by Wade. This was an inexcusable miss by the officials, and it had double the consequences. Not only was Boston cheated out of a trip to the line, but -- because Rondo was on the deck, checking to make sure his eyes were still in the right place -- the Heat had a five-on-four going the other way that they quickly turned into a Haslem dunk. It was a huge, momentum-shifting play.

It's frustrating for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that this wasn't an isolated miss, but rather part of a pattern of calls going against the Celtics. But mostly, I'm irritated that this unbelievable performance, by Rondo and by the team, might have been enough if not for a missed call the the officials would have made 100 times out of 100 had it happened on the other end. (Perhaps Rondo should have thrown his arms in the air and kicked his legs out, the way Wade does when anyone breathes on him, in order to draw the foul.) As swollen with pride as my heart is as I type this, it also aches. Not because we lost, not because we're down 2-0, but because, to a man, the Celtics deserved to win this game, and certainly deserved to not have the opportunity taken from them in this fashion.

Game 3 is Friday. It's in Boston, in front of the home crowd, and with any luck, maybe we'll get a few calls. The most concerning thing for me is all the minutes the Celtics played tonight. I already mentioned that Rondo played all 53, but Garnett played 45 and Pierce and Allen played 43 on bad legs. It was necessary, but how these guys will have anything left is beyond me.

Knowing these Celtics, though, I wouldn't bet against them finding something.