Miami 120, Boston 107

[recap] [box score]

Pretty entertaining season-opener. For posterity's sake, let the record show that Miami broke this game open in the third quarter, leading by as many as 18. But LeBron James had to sit the final nine minutes due to muscle cramps, and Boston was able to cut the lead to four before going scoreless over the final 2:09.

Given the unique composition and playing style of these two teams -- no true center played a single second of this game, for either side -- it's pointless to draw any real conclusions about lineups and how Doc Rivers is planning on using all of his newfound depth. At one point in the fourth quarter, Jeff Green and Paul Pierce were in the frontcourt with Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry, and Leandro Barbosa in the backcourt. I don't expect we'll see much of the three-point guard, two-small forward lineup this year.

The defense was awful, too, as bad as it has been in the last five seasons. For now, I'm going to chalk that up to all the fresh faces, and offseason rust. I'd be surprised if defense was a major problem with this team all season. (With that said, I do wish we'd stop giving up so many easy transition buckets to the Heat, something we could do simply by paying a little more attention as we run back on defense.)

I don't want to get too far ahead of things and read too much about the team into one game. But I do think it's appropriate to give some quick thoughts on how particular players looked in this one.

Courtney Lee, replacing the departed Ray Allen and the injured Avery Bradley in the starting lineup, looked very good guarding Dwyane Wade in the early going. He got into foul trouble, though, for the same reason that Bradley often found himself in trouble with the referees last year: Neither has a good feel for when, on a given play, to dial down the physicality. Bradley is young enough to develop that instinct and to earn some more respect from the officials as his career goes on; Lee's already got several years in the league under his belt, so it's a concern worth keeping an eye on. Offensively, Lee was pretty passive, but did find a couple of open jumpers by running the floor.

Rondo put up another gaudy stat line, picking up where he left off last season. His aggressiveness on offense in looking for his own shot was good to see; he rarely took an ill-advised, and we're so much more effective offensively when the defense has to respect his scoring ability. He was a little sloppier with the ball than I'm comfortable with, but at this point, I think that's just something we'll have to live with.

Leandro Barbosa exploded for all 16 of his points in the fourth quarter, looking like the Brazilian Blur of old. Barbosa clearly can still fill it up off the bench, the kind of player we've been lacking the last several years. Barbosa was basically an afterthought this offseason, signed solely for depth. He showed in his first game in green, however, that he's more than that. He's one of several players we supposedly have who will bring much-needed scoring punch to the second unit.

I say "supposedly" because the other two -- Jason Terry and Jeff Green -- were uniformly awful. Terry's shot was off all night, and when he's not hitting, he's not effective. I'm not worried about him. Green, on the other hand, still worries me. The ball just stops when it gets to him. It's not that he's selfish -- at least, I don't think he is. He honestly looks like he just doesn't know what to do with the ball once he gets it. He's too indecisive, which allows the defense to recover. Even his on-court demeanor is disconcerting -- facially, he looks meek and overwhelmed out there. Given that this is the same stuff I was worried about when I saw him during his first half-season after he came over from Oklahoma City for Kendrick Perkins (he missed all of last year), I'm worried. I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but I'm worried.

Not to alarm anyone, but I didn't think that KG looked right. Nothing noticeable like a limp; it simply looked like that he maybe didn't have his legs under him yet. Hopefully, that's all it is. But he was mostly a non-factor on offense, and he let Chris Bosh beat him for a huge bucket down the stretch after the Celtics had cut the lead to four. Boston would do well to remember how effective Garnett was offensively last year against Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. Even when we're playing small-ball, we shouldn't forget the favorable matchups we might have underneath.

Brandon Bass turned in a typical Brandon Bass game. And that's a good thing.

Pierce had a strong first half but faltered a bit in the second. He looked like a different player than the one who limped to the finish line last year. It sounds like he doesn't have any lingering injuries.

Due to the unique circumstances of the game, rookie Jared Sullinger didn't get a lot of action in his regular season NBA debut. I didn't see much to report on, other than I think he found himself in a switch situation matched up against James, and he actually forced James into a jumper. Given that defense is the biggest concern around Sullinger (well, that and his health), I'd consider this a good sign, too.

Two other quick notes. First, Wade said that Rondo's flagrant foul on him in the waning seconds was a "punk move." That's up for the individual to decide; Rondo did get him around the head and neck area from behind. Either way, though, I find it ironic that Wade would speak out, given that he basically did the same thing to Kobe Bryant last year -- in the All-Star game (breaking Kobe's nose in the process). And isn't it some fundamental principle of basketball that if you take the ball to the basket in the waning seconds of a game you already have in hand, against perhaps your chief rival, you're gonna get hit?

Secondly, damn you, Ray Allen, for making it so hard to quit you. After saying all the wrong things in the weeks leading up to the game, he said all the right things in the post-game interview with Craig Sager. I was all set to write him off, and then he has to go and talk about how much he loves his former teammates and how he's a New Englander for life. I know I' being played for a sucker here, that he's just telling me what I want to hear. But I guess I'm not ready to hate Ray yet. (Although if he consistently plays as well against us as he did on Tuesday, that day will come soon. Also, how jarring is this? Say it ain't so, Flo!)

Don't despair. It's one game out of 82, and we have a lot of new pieces to integrate. Plus, at least we're not the Lakers, who marked the debut of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash with a listless loss to the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks.

Milwaukee's up next, on Friday, and their deep front line should be an interesting contrast to Miami's small lineup. That should afford us our first extended look at Sullinger, as well as give an idea of how Doc plans to use Darko Milicic and Jason Collins. (I don't think Chris Wilcox will be ready.) Heck, we might even see Darko in the starting lineup. Anyway, NBA League Pass is running its annual free preview week to start the season, so check this one out. And if you're in the Washington Metro area, we're at the Wizards on Saturday.

End of an Era

Ray Allen is leaving the Celtics.

After meeting with the Miami Heat on Thursday and leaving without making a decision, Allen's agent confirmed on Friday night that the veteran shooting guard had agreed to sign with the defending champions. It won't be official until next week, but Allen is expected to sign a three-year deal for around $9.5 million.

While it's not completely unexpected, it is still in many ways a head-scratching move. In what is likely to be his final NBA contract, Allen is leaving a significant chunk of change on the table -- Boston's offer was reportedly two years, $12 million. He was rumored to be unhappy with losing his starting spot to Avery Bradley, but he's destined for a bench role with the Heat. (And let's face it: At his age, he and his twice-surgically-repaired ankles could use a few extra minutes on the pine). He (understandably) was upset at being at the center of rumors at the most recent trade deadline, but Boston was reportedly ready to give him a no-trade clause or a trade kicker in his new contract if he wanted one. The Heat probably give him a better chance to win another ring, but let's not forget that a very hobbled Boston team came within a quarter of beating Miami this past postseason -- and has added a couple of weapons in the offseason.

No, Allen to Miami just doesn't add up when you take the above into account -- it's less money for a similar situation, only with a tarnished legacy and legions of betrayed-feeling fans in his wake. There simply has to be more to it. Rumor has it that his fractured and deteriorating relationship with Rajon Rondo (which has been hinted at, without being detailed, in various news reports) played a big role in the decision, but I'm not buying that. Unless Rondo was literally beating Allen up and taking his lunch money, then leaving that kind of cash on the table to sign elsewhere doesn't make sense. You don't give up two-and-a-half mil just because you don't like one of your teammates.

As of this writing, Allen himself hadn't commented yet, and we may or may not ever know the real reason or reason that he decided to sign with the Heat. If I had to guess, I would say it's a little bit of ring-chasing and a whole lot of feeling under-appreciated by the organization. Allen has always been the third member of the Big Three, and from the trade rumors to the rise of Bradley to the offseason signing of Dallas' Jason Terry, Allen's role on the team -- and his ego -- undoubtedly has taken a hit over the last few months.

The kicker, though, is this: Allen apparently wanted three years and $27 million from the Celtics, an amount so misaligned with his on-court value to the team that it was either meant to be a non-starter and he was planning on leaving from the beginning, or he was looking for some sort of "hometown bonus." The former seems unlikely because of how long it took him to make the decision. That leaves the latter, that he wanted to be compensated for his service to the team -- a concept that doesn't seem so outrageous outside the context of professional sports.

Basketball-wise, letting Allen go was a no-brainer for the front office, given his demands. He likely isn't worth the contract we offered him -- he certainly isn't worth an additional year and an additional three million per. And while I have no doubt that the Celtics were sincere in wanting Ray to be part of a four-guard rotation with Rondo, Bradley, and Terry, shooting guard is a position of strength for the team even without him. It'd be great to have another guard, but Bradley and Terry -- and maybe even E'Twaun Moore -- have it covered. Allen wasn't the Allen we're used to last season, and at 37 and twice-operated on, there's a pretty good chance he's not getting back to that level. Indeed, the biggest blow to the Celtics in all of this, in terms of personnel, is that due to league salary rules, the team can't use the money it would have used to re-sign Ray to sign someone else. Last year, the Celtics desperately needed legitimate NBA rotation players, and whoever we get for the veteran's minimum or biannual exception isn't going to make the same impact that Allen would have made. Even if that player actually becomes a productive part of the rotation, we'll still likely be a half-player short of where we'd be with Allen.

That's just the basketball side of things, though, and if there's one thing I hope you've learned from reading this blog, it's that basketball means so much more than putting the ball in the hole more times than the other guys. It's about teamwork, pride, brotherhood, loyalty, disappointment, elation, success, failure ... the list goes on -- a metaphor for life. And this where I stop talking about "Allen," and start talking about Ray.

Although all of the Big Three deservedly get credit for subordinating their own offense for the good of the team and the championship cause over the past five seasons, it is Ray who has made the biggest sacrifice. Kevin Garnett's per-game scoring average has taken approximately the same hit Ray's has during their five years in green, but KG's oversized personality and the credit he gets for the team's defensive identity outshine that dip in production. Paul Pierce had to give up a few shots, and his scoring average dropped a couple ticks correspondingly, but as a career Celtic and the team captain, he is the guy who is announced last during pre-game introductions, and he was the guy who everyone was happiest for when we won the title in 2008. And importantly, he is the guy whose number Doc Rivers has most often called in the closing moments of tight games.

These are big sacrifices for a guy like Ray -- whose identity on the court was built solely on his ability to put the ball in the basket -- to make. And yet he made them -- and more, when Rondo emerged to take some of the spotlight, and still more when Bradley seized his starting spot -- largely without complaint, and with the same unwavering workmanlike effort that shaped his jumper into what is probably the prettiest shot any of us will have the pleasure of seeing.

As you might imagine, there's quite a bit of vitriol on the Internet directed by Boston fans at Ray. People are calling him a traitor -- "Judas Shuttlesworth" is my personal favorite -- and even going so far as to wish further bone spurs upon his tender ankles. Lapse of time will probably temper some of those reactions, but it will be interesting to see how the fans react the first time Miami comes into our barn next season. Boston fans -- hell, sports fans in general -- have a history of reacting negatively to this sort of thing, though the fact that Ray left for less money, and not more money as is usually the case, certainly adds a twist.

Me, I'm not mad at Ray. One of my buddies (who isn't a Celtics fan) asked me earlier this week how I'd feel about Ray if he left Boston to go to Miami. My response was that I'd have no hard feelings, that the organization hadn't exactly shown him loyalty recently, and if he wanted to give up a few million bucks for a little stability, that was fine with me. This was before I had heard about the no-trade clause/trade kicker aspect of his offer from the Celtics -- and, if he truly did have such an offer, that makes me feel a little less warm and fuzzy about this whole thing. But Ray was an unrestricted free agent, and as such, he had the freedom to sign anywhere he was wanted. He owed the organization, and the fans, nothing. (Whether he owed his teammates anything is between him and them.) His decision may be puzzling for all the reasons I already outlined, but it was his to make.

I'm just sad. Sad that I have to hope for Ray to fail. Sad that I won't again see Flo, his mother, wearing a bedazzled replica of his number 20 in the stands of the TD Garden, cheering him on. Sad that I'll never again perform my Ray Allen Big Shot Celebration, gliding backward in my office chair as he rises perfectly for his jumper, then thrusting a fist in the air and yelling "Walter Ray!" (his middle name is Ray) as the ball inevitably snaps through the net.

More than anything, I'm sad that the era is over; that this team that got me to fall back in love with the NBA is no more. Sad that it was finished off not by injury or age or the front office, but from within, while the window was somehow still open. Sad that ubuntu and the bonds of brotherhood are only so strong. Sad to be reminded that, as much as I want it to be, Boston no longer is much different from every other NBA franchise, and that even Celtics fans are, in essence, rooting for laundry.

And if we can squeeze another championship out of the final seasons of Pierce and KG? I'll be sad that Ray won't be around to share in it.

Thoughts in Advance of Game 7

Lately, my recap posts seem to be focusing on the intangibles; the story, rather than the Xs and Os. The Celtics' resilience and LeBron James' ability to rise to the occasion will no doubt play a part in determining who wins Saturday night, but there's actual basketball to be played, too. I want to spend a few minutes talking a little bit about some "basketball things" that I've got my mind on heading into Game 7. They're in no real order.

1. Paul Pierce is due for a big game. We showered him with praise after he that dagger in Game 5, so it's fair to say that he was awful in Game 6. I'm inclined to forgive him more for the defensive end (no one was stopping LeBron in that one) than for the offensive end, where he shot 4 for 18, including missed layups and clanged jumpers. The problem is that Pierce really hasn't been very good all series, with just two games of shooting that could even be considered decent. Given the shots he's getting, and missing, I assume that it's his knee, and I'm not bringing this up to criticize him. Rather, I mention it to say that anyone who expects him to come to our rescue with a huge game akin to Cleveland in 2008 is probably going to be disappointed.

2. With that said, Pierce is still a key component to our offense and one of the game's most clutch performers. To that end, we need to figure out a way to keep him on the floor. He's fouled out twice this series (in addition to getting DQ'd from Game 7 against Philly), and he picked up 3 fouls in the first half of Game 6. He's had success guarding James in the past, and he hasn't gotten any favors from the officials, but I think it's clear that the knee is hampering his performance on that end, as well, just as you'd expect it to. Some of this is on Pierce, who needs to play smart and not take bad fouls, but some of it is also on Doc. If you're willing to let Mickael Pietrus and Marquis Daniels and even Brandon Bass check James when Pierce is out of the game, then you have to be willing to put one of those guys on him to protect Pierce when he's in the game. For example, in Game 6, when Pierce came back into the game in the second quarter with two fouls, he went right back on James, picked up his third foul with like six minutes to go, and had to sit the rest of the half. To start the third, Doc put Bass on James, ostensibly to protect Pierce. But by waiting until Pierce was already in serious foul trouble before making a move, Doc kept Pierce off the court for a big chunk of the second quarter. The key is to start protecting him before it affects his playing time.

3. We only saw a possession or two of zone in Game 6, and absent truly exigent circumstances, I hope that means we've seen the last of it in this series. Miami was reasonably effective scoring against the zone in Game 5; what worked is that Boston was changing defenses and disguising what they were running, and that led to confusion and some wasted possessions when we went back to man-to-man. The element of surprise is gone, however, and Miami not only is ready for the zone, they are ready for us to switch it up. That particular trick isn't going to work anymore, and the zone itself isn't effective enough on its own.

4. Rajon Rondo has to be aggressive. He is charged with a nearly impossible task; he's the only Celtic who is able to consistently get easy baskets for himself, and yet he also has to get the other guys going, too. What Rondo must realize is that his offense opens up the floor for everyone else; when he is penetrating and getting into the lane, shots open up for others, whether it's Kevin Garnett on the pick and roll, Garnett and Bass on the pick-and-pop, or Pierce and Ray Allen spotting up along the perimeter. It's fine to run a few plays for Pierce and Allen early to try and get them a few jumpers, but if that isn't working, Rondo needs to shoulder a heavier scoring load himself, quickly. We can't afford to waste half a quarter trying to get the other guys going. If Rondo's attacking, then the rest of the offense should establish itself.

5. We need something from the bench. While a performance like the one we got from Pietrus in Game 5 would be nice, something to that degree isn't even necessary. I expect Rondo to play the full 48 minutes, and I expect that James will, as well. But Garnett won't, and neither will Pierce and Allen. Pietrus, Daniels, and Keyon Dooling must play their usual strong defense while scoring at least enough to keep us in striking distance.

6. I don't think that home court advantage will affect the players; we've played our two best games of the series in Miami's barn. I do worry that the home crowd will affect the refs. Officiating played a huge role in Boston's Game 2 loss. While I don't know who is assigned to Game 7, I do know that I don't want to see Eddie Malloy or Billy Kennedy, two officials who have shown anti-Boston proclivities and who seem overmatched by big games. And regardless of who is officiating, the players need to put any bad calls behind them quickly.

7. Finally, Boston must be resilient. Miami is a strong defensive team with a couple remarkably talented offensive players. It's nearly impossible to play a game against the Heat without them going on a couple of six- or eight-point runs. The key will be preventing them from turning those spurts into 12- and 14-point surges. Boston can win this game if they are down a few points entering the fourth quarter, but if they're down double-digits after the third, the task may be too hard. The Celtics were resilient in Game 5, and it paid off; Boston stayed in it when things weren't going right in the first half, then made their run when the shots started falling in the third quarter. They were resilient in Game 6, too; the difference is that we couldn't get anything to fall even as we continued to hang around. As long as we stay resilient, then we'll have a great shot at this. Fortunately, staying resilient is one of the things we do best.

Game 7 starts at 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. Let's do this!

Boston 94, Miami 90

[recap] [box score]

You want to know when I knew the Celtics were going to win Game 5?

It was well before Kevin Garnett grabbed Dwyane Wade's desperation three-pointer and flung it downcourt as the final seconds ticked off the clock. It was well before Garnett hit a pair of free throws to keep the Boston lead at four points in those final seconds, and before Ray Allen knocked down a pair the possession before. It was even before Paul Pierce, his team clinging to a one-point lead with less than a minute left, shook off a 5-for-18 shooting night, stared down the MVP, and drilled perhaps the Truthiest shot of his career.

It was with 9:37 left in the game. Not a moment you remember? Read on.

With Boston leading 70-67, Garnett picked up his fourth foul on the offensive end, having allegedly thrown Dwyane Wade to the floor while fighting for post possession. KG took a few steps downcourt while cradling the basketball, raised it to his lips for a quick kiss, then flipped it to a referee.

I didn't know at that moment. I didn't know until a couple of seconds later, when they showed the replay, and I saw that Garnett hadn't touched Wade; Wade had gotten his feet tangled up with James as the latter was chasing a Celtic on the perimeter. It was a bad call at a crucial moment -- and Garnett didn't say a word.

"These guys are dialed in," I thought. And that's when I knew.

Really, I should have noticed it earlier. Doc Rivers did; at halftime, he said was proud of his guys for sticking it out in the first half, which was a nightmare of missed layups and clanked jumpers. (Despite shooting just 33% in the opening half, they went into the break down just two.) They survived two early fouls on Rajon Rondo and some quasi-foul trouble on other key players. Garnett had a monster dunk in the third quarter while getting fouled by James Jones, and didn't so much as look at Jones, never mind bark at him or brush shoulders as he walked to the free throw line -- the kind of stuff we've come to expect. There were some lapses -- Rajon Rondo's backcourt violation, Rondo allowing Norris Cole to chase him down from behind on a two-on-one break, Brandon Bass picking up a technical for spiking the ball in frustration -- but for the most part, this was the most focused the Celtics have been in this postseason.

This was in contrast to the Heat. They were once again preoccupied with the officials, though perhaps not as badly as in previous games, had some major lapses in transition defense, and at times seemed afraid to take shots or run any offense whatsoever.

Boston's focus culminated in what seemed like a postseason's worth of loose balls in the fourth quarter. The first, and the one that everyone's talking about, was the Rondo tap-out to Mickael Pietrus after Wade made an incredible block of a Bass dunk. It was an incredible play and gets a lot of attention because of it staved off a major momentum shift in favor of Miami -- the Heat were already up six, and Wade's block was so spectacular it would have taken the roof off the building. But the second Rondo deflection, this time off an Allen miss, was an even more remarkable play. Instead of simply tapping the ball to a nearby teammate, on this play Rondo -- while moving forward and slightly to his right -- essentially threw a tap bounce pass across his body to the left, past a Heat defender and into an open space where Pietrus could retrieve it. MP got the ball to Pierce, who penetrated and kicked to Garnett, whose jumper gave Boston a one-point lead.

The final loose ball that went our way was the luckiest. Pierce threw a bad pass to Allen that was deflected, bounced off a Heat player, then off Allen's leg. Allen dove on it, and from the floor, kicked it out to Pierce, who hit Pietrus in the corner. Pietrus hit his second huge three of the quarter, balancing out a Mario Chalmers three on the previous possession. These were plays that we simply hadn't made earlier in the playoffs.

This was a huge win, but the series isn't over yet, and Boston has to be ready to play a full 48 minutes of focused basketball on Thursday. There's always the chance, I suppose, that the Celtics can deliver an early knockout punch like they did in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals -- these Heat aren't mentally tough the same way those Lakers weren't mentally tough -- but huge games from James and Wade are a more likely scenario. Garnett was huge, again, but he may have his hands a bit more full in Game 6 with Chris Bosh, who inexplicably played just 12 minutes in his return to the corner. Pietrus had his best game of the postseason, on both ends of the court. Other than those two, however, no one could really get going, and the Celtics will have to find a way to get the offense going while being prepared, like they were tonight, for things to get cold again. They must anticipate that James and Wade will get every call in a close-out game, and keep their composure and play through any frustration. They can't count on Miami missing open looks, or being confused by Doc switching defenses the way they were in Game 5.

They can close it out at home, but to do so, they'll have to play their best game yet.

Boston 93, Miami 91 (Overtime)

[recap] [box score]

This team really is unlike any other I've ever seen.

When it's clicking, Boston's offense is as pretty as anybody's in the NBA, unselfish, the ball flowing from the hands of a young point guard whose creativity and court vision is unmatched, to one of history's best passing big men, to the franchise's second-leading scorer, to the greatest outside shooter in the history of the game, ending in a jumper so pure you can feel the snap of the net even as you're sitting in your chair. In the same game -- hell, in the same quarter -- that same offense can deteriorate into what ESPN's Bill Simmons calls a clogged toilet, a series of forced isolations that are now in their fifth straight year of accomplishing nothing but letting the opponent back in the game. They've played more playoff games than any other team over the last five years -- more often than not getting the job done -- and yet they have inexplicable trouble closing out a game, or a playoff series. They do nothing easily, and watching them barely scrape by or hang on, you get the feeling that it's going to come back to bite them in the collective ass.

Watching this team, in essence, is an exercise in waiting for the other shoe to drop.

You'll forgive me, then, for thinking that Dwyane Wade -- standing alone, 24 feet from the home goal at the Garden, with Boston up two and the final seconds of overtime ticking away -- was that proverbial other shoe. You'll forgive me for thinking that his three-pointer was going in.

But it didn't. It was short -- just barely, maybe an inch (probably less) -- but short. And so Boston, which had given up all of an 18-point first half lead, was let off the hook. Doc Rivers was let off the hook for mismanaging the end game in regulation (more on this later). Paul Pierce was let off the hook for fouling out for the third time in five games. Kevin Garnett was let off the hook for the late offensive foul that gave Miami a chance to win it in regulation. Mickael Pietrus was leaving LeBron James wide open -- and I mean [i]wide open[/i] for the game-tying three with 37 seconds left. Rajon Rondo was let off the hook for his petulant kick at Shane Battier (and ensuing technical) late in the first half. Marquis Daniels was let off the hook for letting Wade shake him with a pump fake for that final look. I could go on, but I won't.

If you read the above, you're probably under the impression that the Celtics were lucky to win this game and go back to Miami tied 2-2 instead of in a 3-1 hole. And it's true: Boston was fortunate to win, as any team must be when it continually lives so close to the edge. But it's also true that you make your own luck, and for everyone in the above list (and everyone else who played, for that matter), I could point to something they did that was absolutely instrumental in this win, whether it was helping build the big first-half lead or recovering after Miami surged ahead. It was yet another mix of brilliance, horror, and resilience -- and everybody played a part in all of it.

A few scattered thoughts:

1. I mentioned earlier that I thought Doc blew the endgame in regulation. Specifically, when James hit that three to tie it up with 37 seconds left, Boston had two timeouts remaining. This was a perfect two-for-one opportunity; Doc could've called timeout to advance the ball, then drawn up one of his signature out-of-bounds plays for a quick shot, leaving enough time on the clock that they'd get the ball back after a Miami possession (after which they'd once again be able to advance the ball with a timeout). It's basic NBA strategy -- you get two possessions to your opponent's one -- and while I think it can be overused and teams often end up getting two bad shots, there was enough time to get something good on the first possession and still leave enough time for a good look on the second possession. And it would have been particularly appropriate in Sunday's game, when Boston had basically gotten nothing in the flow of the offense in the second half. But, to my shock, Doc let them go, and Garnett was called for a foul for trapping James' arm as a way of preventing him from challenging Rondo's drive. Boston was able to survive Miami's potential game-winning possession due to some strong defense and a really poor play on the part of the Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra, but had they been able to score and win the game there, Doc's error in the fourth would have the lead of this post.

2. Rondo turned in what is becoming a typical Rondo performance: brilliant first half, some dicey moments in the second half, big buckets when the team needed them down the stretch, and the frustrating, if momentary, loss of his cool (the Battier kick). He added something new: unprecedented candor during the halftime interview. After a 61-point outburst over the opening 24 minutes, Doris Burke asked him what holes the Celtics were exploiting. His response: "Them complaining and crying to the referees in transition."

I'm curious what the reaction will be. What he said was true: In what is becoming an annoyingly common occurrence in the NBA, the Heat actually were giving up buckets in transition because they were barking at the officials instead of getting back on D. The Heat players might try to use it as some sort of motivation, though I imagine Spoelstra wouldn't mind someone else pointing out to his guys that all the bitching actually hurts them. I also wonder if it was a calculated move on Rondo's part, or just him being honest. There certainly shouldn't be any fallout with the league -- he wasn't criticizing the officials.

3. I'm beginning to wonder if Boston's habit of slowing the pace down in the second half is an energy-conserving tactic. The Heat have been going to increasingly small lineups, which has shortened Doc's big man rotation (Greg Stiemsma played all of 32 seconds in Game 4 and Ryan Hollins didn't get off the bench). Garnett is playing too many minutes (43 on Sunday) and Pierce and Allen are battling injuries. I don't think we'll find out if that's the case -- it's not the kind of thing you admit during a series. But it's hard to find another rational explanation for why Boston goes to an offensive strategy that almost never works, then goes back to running their normal offense when they absolutely have to.

4. The officiating in the fourth quarter and in overtime was just bizarre. James flopped trying to deny a Garnett post-up, and the official -- Billy Kennedy, I think -- whistled a double foul. Pierce's sixth foul, a late call by Kennedy early in overtime, came on a minor bit of contact between him and Shane Battier, who flopped to the ground on the play. And James was disqualified with his sixth foul later in overtime by Joey Crawford for muscling Pietrus to the floor. I think that it was inconsistent enough that both teams had gripes and that you really couldn't say one team had the advantage over the other, but there were a bunch of weird calls, particularly late, that had me scratching my head once again.

5. Ray Allen looked more like himself on Sunday than he has since he came back. That's a great sign. I've got no doubt he's still hurting, but it's not affecting his shot as much as it was.

I think we should be feeling good heading back to Miami. Boston had some trouble closing out these last two games, but they outplayed Miami for big chunks of Games 2, 3, and 4. The Celtics seem to have figured out how to keep James and Wade out of the lane as much as possible, which is crucial to beating the Heat. Miami has been making big adjustments on what seems to be an almost constant basis -- playing different people at center, going small, trapping the pick-and-roll, switching the pick-and-roll, putting James on Rondo, etc. That makes them a little bit hard to game plan for, but it also suggests to me that we're a bit more comfortable than they are. There's also been some rumbling that Chris Bosh might return for some part of this series, which would be interesting -- I'm honestly not sure whether that'd be bad or good for Boston.

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Miami, at 8:30 Eastern on ESPN. We've got the momentum, but it's crucial to remember something that I keep reminding my girlfriend (an avid Spurs fan): Nothing's happened in this series yet. Both teams have held serve at home, and Miami has the advantage of being able to win the series without winning on the road. Boston, on the other hand, has to win at least once on South Beach. No better time than Tuesday -- if that's not too easy.

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.

Boston 101, Philadelphia 85

[recap] [box score]

This was not your typical 16-point blowout.

I think most people expected the veteran Celtics to come out strong at home in Game 5 against Philadelphia, taking back the control they gave up in blowing a big second-half lead on Friday. But it was the Sixers who seemed to dominate the first 24 minutes, making shot after shot and being opportunistic in transition. Boston didn't play poorly in the first half, but with the halftime score 50-47 in favor of the visitors, it certainly felt like the Celtics were the ones hanging on for dear life. (Looking back, there was reason to believe that things would swing toward Boston in the second half. Philly was scoring mainly on jump shots -- leading to a big free throw advantage for Boston that helped us stay close -- and they were hitting some tough looks. Boston was often getting better shots, but they simply weren't dropping.)

And it got worse before it got better. Trailing by six early in the third quarter, Kevin Garnett threw an uncertain pass out front that Andre Iguodala stole. Trying to prevent an easy dunk, Paul Pierce reached out and grabbed the Sixers forward. It was a good thought and a defensible reaction, but the result was a clear path foul, two shots and the ball -- potentially a four- or five-point possession, one of the biggest momentum-grabbing moments that can happen in a professional basketball game. But Iguodala missed both free throws, and Philly turned it over on the ensuing possession. And then, as Philly coach Doug Collins pointed out, the game turned, irreversibly, in favor of Boston.

That was when Brandon Bass, of all people, took over. He scored 18 points in the third quarter alone, two more than the entire Philly team combined. He did it first inside, with a handful of explosive dunks in traffic, precisely the kind of finish we never got from Glen Davis. He then moved out to more familiar territory, drilling a number of the midrange jumpers that have been his staple all season. Bass, who had been solid but not spectacular in the Philly series after having a tough time against Atlanta, had a game-high 27 points, and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.

If Bass gets the game ball, he owes an assist to Rajon Rondo (which he gave, by the way, in his post-game comments to David Aldrich). Rondo was, of course, the catalyst for many of Bass' buckets. But while his primary role was distributor, particularly in the third quarter, he provided much needed scoring at crucial moments -- initially in the first quarter to keep the game close; most crucially in the fourth quarter, after Boston had extended its lead out to double digits, when the offense has historically bogged down.

Honorable mention to Greg Stiemsma, who had eight of his ten points in the first quarter and blocked three shots in just 14 minutes of game action. Stiemsma has played sparingly this series and didn't see the court in Game 4, which is an indictment of Doc, really, now that we know that the rookie's foot injury isn't what kept him out of action. He was a little late closing out on a couple of Lavoy Allen foul line jumpers, but his first-quarter offense was crucial and on one second-half possession, he made a great catch on a tough pass from Ray Allen, then made a pretty left-handed dish that resulted in a couple of Bass free throws. His health permitting, Stiemsma needs to be the first big man off the bench moving forward, not Ryan Hollins.

Speaking of Ray Allen, since I gave him a hard time for his defense in Game 4, I should wrap up this post by acknowledging his play on that end of the court in Game 5. Retaking his place in the starting lineup from Avery Bradley, whose bum shoulders kept him out of this game, Allen contributed little offensively, canning one three-pointer early but making just one other shot the rest of the way. But Allen was more or less as effective as he's ever been for Boston on defense, fighting through the pain of bone spurs in his ankles to stay in the faces of Philly's younger, quicker shooters. Boston's entire defense was really good in the second half, and it feels wrong to single out just one guy. But Ray deserves special mention because of everything he's going through.

Garnett and Pierce were their usual excellent selves. Garnett against Philly's bigs is a better matchup than Pierce (with the sprained knee) versus Iguodala, and so KG is carrying a bigger offensive load than we've come to expect. Garnett overcame a slow start to score 20 points on 8-for-17, while Pierce scored 16 points, going a perfect nine for nine from the free throw line.

Back to Philly for Game 6 on Wednesday (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). Twice before, Boston has seized the momentum in this back-and-forth series, and twice, Philly has answered -- though to be completely honest, Boston has been complicit both times. With all the injuries, avoiding Game 7 would be huge. Boston is fully capable of winning Game 6 -- Boston has fairly dominated three of the four halves of basketball played in Philly thus far in the series -- but it's not going to be easy. It'll take the same kind of effort, only better, with one less day of rest than we had between games 4 and 5. And I expect we'll have to do it without Bradley again; Doc's pre-game comments on Monday seemed to suggest that he may be only sporadically available the rest of the way. Things aren't getting any easier, but that seems to be when these Celtics play their best.

Philadelphia 92, Boston 83

[recap] [box score]

I don't want to write about this game any more than you want to read about it, so this will be uncharacteristically brief. If you hadn't heard, Boston went up 14-0, had an 18-point lead in the third quarter, and lost.

Philly's execution was much better than Boston's in the fourth quarter, but this game was really lost in the third. Boston went cold, stopped going to Kevin Garnett in the post, and started forcing passes and turning the ball over. Meanwhile, some questionable calls against the Celtics allowed Philly's free throw advantage to balloon to something like 30 to 12, and Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Brandon Bass all picked up their fourth fouls. With our short bench, and the fact that Bass was having his first good game in a while, having those guys sitting really hurt -- Garnett couldn't take his normal rest (which hurt in the fourth) and the offensive sparkplugs we so desperately needed were on the sidelines.

I thought Doc made some tactical errors in the fourth, too. Most importantly, I thought it was a big mistake to counter Philly's small lineup of Jrue Holiday-Louis Williams-Andre Iguodala-Thaddeus Young-Lavoy Allen with Rondo-Bradley-Ray Allen-Pierce-Garnett. Specifically, Allen instead of Bass or Mickael Pietrus made little sense to me. Allen is not a good defender, and this lineup has him trying to guard bigger men -- Iguodala or Young -- while dealing with bone spurs in his ankle that make it impossible for him to establish a strong, solid base.

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be so bad, because Allen, when healthy, poses obvious matchup problems on the other end. But Allen isn't healthy, and whether it's because he's out of game shape or because his ankles are really bothering him, he's been almost a complete non-factor in this series. Because he's not able to free himself up on offense, he doesn't balance out the liability on the other end of the court.

I get that Doc trusts Ray, and that Young, a combo forward, poses a tough matchup for Bass, as well. But if you have to live with a mismatch on the defensive end, you need to be able to balance it on the offensive end, and Bass does that better than Allen in Allen's current condition. And if not Bass, then how about Pietrus, who was a non-factor on offense but who at least has a chance of guarding someone.

The other mistake, I thought, was putting Rondo on Williams and Bradley on Holiday. The Sixers were playing through Williams, who came up with some big buckets. Rondo is no slouch defensively, but Bradley's supposed to be our lockdown guy, and Rondo was having problems with Williams.

We've got an extra day of rest before Game 5 on Monday, and it's one we need. Garnett played 40 minutes tonight, and this should give us some time to get Allen and Pierce (whose knee, for the second straight game, didn't appear to hamper him much) a little healthier. It does mean an extra day to stew while the Sixers have an extra day for their confidence to grow, something that could be a concern under certain circumstances. But the Celtics are veterans, familiar with this process, and used to not having things come easily. I expect they'll answer the bell yet again and win Game 5, and eventually, the series. But games like this, in addition to being frustrating to watch, may come back to haunt the team -- if not this series, then the next one.

Boston 107, Philadelphia 91

[recap] [box score]

As I was thinking about Game 3, in the hours leading up to it, I was struck by the thought that in the past five seasons, you could predict Boston's success in a post-season series based on how they played immediately following a game they weren't supposed to or shouldn't have lost:

1. In the 2007-08 season, the championship season, Atlanta and then Cleveland each took Boston to seven games -- but the Celtics went 8-0 in the Garden. It wasn't until the Eastern semis against the Pistons that the Celtics coughed up home court advantage, in Game 2. Boston went to Detroit, won Game 3 by 14 and the series in six.

2. The following year, Boston dropped Game 1 in Boston, eked out a win in Game 2, then took home court back in a Game 3 blowout that was the only lopsided affair of a truly epic playoff series.

3. In 2009-2010, Boston went up 3-0 on a pre-Big Three Miami, lost Game 4 in South Beach, then closed the series out in five. They then lost a winnable first game in Cleveland to LeBron James and the Cavs, bounced back with a Game 2 victory, then mysteriously didn't show up for Game 3 and got blown out at home. Rather than pack it in, the Celtics turned the momentum of the series, winning the fourth game -- then the fifth, then the series-deciding sixth. In the Finals against the Lakers, Boston rebounded from a Game 3 loss to take the next two at home, putting them on the brink of a championship that went unfulfilled when Kendrick Perkins tore his ACL in the opening minutes of Game 6.

There are exceptions, but generally speaking over the last five seasons, when Boston has found itself in a tough spot in the postseason and immediately dug themselves out of it, they've won. When they haven't, they've lost. Other than those first two series way back in 2007-08, the Celtics hadn't won a series in which they lost consecutive games -- and hadn't lost a series in which they'd avoided back-to-back losses.

Having written that all out, it seems sort of obvious -- avoid consecutive losses, and you'll do well. But before the game Wednesday night, I was nervous, and thinking "Boy, we'd better win tonight." The pressure was particularly heavy because of how poorly the team had played in both Games 1 and 2 -- we sort of assumed that the problem was a lack of focus, a failure to take Philadelphia seriously, but in this compressed season, with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen hurting, there was always the chance that we simply didn't have what we needed. A third straight lackluster performance, especially from Pierce, would have severely shaken my confidence.

Writing this a few hours after the game, I obviously feel much better. The Celtics did more or less what I hoped they'd do, which was come out and defend like they had in Boston while finally playing with some energy and purpose on offense.

What was particularly interesting about this game, however, is that despite the large margin of victory, Boston wasn't in control from the beginning. In fact, the opening moments went about as poorly for the Celtics as they could have gone. Kevin Garnett was called for two early touch fouls and Pierce missed something like his first six shots, while Philly came out hot from the field. But Rajon Rondo kept us within striking distance and Pierce finally broke through, moving quickly on the catch to escape the double team and driving and dunking on two consecutive possessions. Still, all the loose balls seemed to be falling Philly's way; down two at the end of the first quarter, Rondo made a steal but couldn't quite corral it, and the ball bounced right to Louis Williams, who made a long three-pointer at the horn. Coming on the heels of the lucky shots the Sixers hit in Game 2, and the fact that the refs had taken KG (our best offensive weapon with Pierce ailing) out of the game, it suffices to say that I was very frustrated at the end of the first quarter.

I didn't have to worry long. Boston took control in the second quarter and didn't look back. Garnett came back in and scored three straight buckets, and Boston set the tone for the rest of the game with a 33-17 second quarter. The loose balls kept finding Philly -- at one point in the third quarter, the Sixers scored on three consecutive possessions on which the Celtics deflected a pass or dribble right to another Sixer -- but Boston never lacked for a response.

Almost everyone got into the act, but credit for this win should be distributed more or less equally among Pierce (24 points, 12 rebounds), Garnett (27 and 13), and Rondo (23 points, 14 assists). Pierce shook off his knee injury, two bad games, and a rough opening few minutes to register the first real Truth-like performance since he re-tweaked his knee in Game 4 of the Atlanta series. The Sixers simply cannot guard Garnett, who is getting no protection from the officials and would be putting up even bigger numbers if Elton Brand weren't allowed to manhandle him in the post. And Rondo responded to the (oft-aimed) criticism that he too often subordinates his scoring in favor of passing by doing both beautifully. He had a number of brilliant assists in this game, including a sweet behind-the-back dish to Pierce in traffic on the break, but my favorite was a much simpler play late in the game, with the outcome more or less decided. Philly trapped the ball in the left corner and Rondo flashed in to the paint. He received a pass in the middle of the lane and was momentarily wide-open for a layup or short jumper. Most players would have taken the shot themselves. But Rondo, knowing that a) Mickael Pietrus was spotting up in the right corner, and b) the guy who was supposed to guard Pietrus would be coming over to try to challenge his shot, pivoted quickly and fired the ball to Pietrus almost before he had a chance to look. Pietrus caught the pass, and with enough time to make and eat a Croque Madame (and wash his hands afterwards!), drained the three. It was just a great instinct play from a point guard who sees the floor the way very few have in the history of this game.

The Celtics won convincingly despite getting a combined three points (on just three shots) in a combined 45 minutes at the two-spot from Avery Bradley and Ray Allen. If there's one negative about this game, that was it -- both are nursing injuries, and it'd be nice to have some assurance of meaningful offensive contribution from these two going forward. But all in all, this was a very satisfying -- and more importantly, reassuring -- win.

Game 4 is Friday night in BostonPhiladelphia (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). It's a must-win for Philly, and it'll be interesting to see how they react. Here's hoping that the Celtics' focus from Game 3 carries over.

A Few Thoughts on the Sixers

I know Game 1 is just a few hours away (8 p.m. Eastern), but I fell asleep at like 9 o'clock last night. This is a hurried attempt to get a few words up about Philly before the series starts.

1. The regular season games weren't competitive. The teams played three times, each registering a blowout, with Philly taking the other game rather comfortably. How much does this matter? Not a whit. This is the playoffs, and as hard as it is to glean anything useful about a playoff series from regular season games, it's even harder when the regular season matchups were as anomalous as these were.

2. Additionally, it's even harder to predict postseason success based on regular season performance with Philadelphia because of how deep they are. They've got eight guys who averaged around 25 minutes or more this year (Boston has five). But rotations tend to tighten up in the postseason, and that obviously negates some of the advantage of having a deep bench. Against the Bulls in the first round, for example, Thaddeus Young played three or four minutes per game fewer than he did in the regular season, and Jodie Meeks' playing time all but disappeared.

3. With a deep bench usually comes balanced scoring, and Philly is no exception. All eight of those guys who play at least 25 minutes per game average at least 8.4 points, but no one averages more than Louis Williams' 14.9. In fact, two of their top three scorers, Williams and Young, come off the bench.

With that said, their best player is Andre Iguodala, who has subordinated his own scoring in recent seasons to adjust to the brand of ball Philly has been playing. (He was rewarded with his first All-Star appearance this year.) Iguodala creates for his teammates from the three position as well as anyone in the league right now not named LeBron James, but he's a capable scorer who will have the ball in his hands in crunch time. It was just last year, in fact, that Iguodala scored a couple of tough baskets late in games against the Celtics; if memory serves, one was a game-winner and the other would have been if not for some last-second heroics from the Celtics. Iguodala is also a good defender, and while it's not like Paul Pierce has struggled against the Sixers in his career, he'll have to work hard for everything he gets.

4. I really believe Pierce's knee is the x-factor here. He's really hurting. Atlanta doubled him a couple of times in the second half of Game 6 and Pierce turned it over, both times because he was unwilling or unable to put all his weight on that injured leg and make a strong, assertive pass out of the double. He left a couple crucial jumpers in the Hawks series woefully short, likely due to not getting his usual lift. Even on the late layup he did score in Game 6, he barely got off the ground. Philadelphia is pretty good defensively, and if Pierce isn't close to 100 percent, then it's hard to see where the points are going to come from.

5. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Doc puts Ray Allen back in the starting lineup at some point during this series. Avery Bradley really struggled offensively in the Hawks series, shooting just 37 percent from the field and making two of ten three-pointers. With Pierce hobbled, Boston may want to spread the floor for him, and Allen does that in a way that Bradley doesn't. Doc also might want to make sure the first unit has enough offense, in case Pierce struggles, to avoid getting into a hole early. Most importantly, though, is that moving Bradley back to the second team means that he's in a better position to guard Williams, Philly's most dangerous scorer.

6. Finally, I'm a firm believer that in the playoffs, experience really matters. Both teams were equally unimpressive in closing out their first-round victories, but Chicago -- without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, remember, gave away Game 6 by missing some free throws and not getting back on defense on Iguodala's game-winning coast-to-coast drive. Boston, on the other hand, won it by making some big stops and big baskets (and, okay, getting a little lucky that Al Horford missed a free throw). When it was over, Philly celebrated like crazy, while Boston looked relieved and a little annoyed that they hadn't taken care of business more convincingly. This stuff matters.

I haven't been able to articulate this very well, but I also think Doug Collins respects Boston and Doc too much for his team's good. Collins has done a good job in Philly, but I always feel like he talks about the Celtics not as an opponent, but more as an analyst, which was his role before he went back to the bench. In recent days, we've seen a number of coaches making public statements about the other team; Frank Vogel of Indiana, for instance, came out and said that Miami, the Pacers second-round opponent, were the floppingest team in the league. I don't think actually saying that makes a difference to the referees, but it shows the players that you're on their side. Collins, on the other hand, came out in March and said that he wouldn't sleep on Boston in the East -- this while the two teams were battling for the top spot in the Atlantic division. It may be nothing, but I'd choose my words more carefully if I were him.

Boston 83, Atlanta 80

[recap] [box score]

There's no disputing that in his five years in green -- has it been that long already? -- Kevin Garnett has been a franchise-changing player. From the little things, like racing over to pick up a fallen teammate or knocking the opponent's deadball jumpers away from the rim, to the big things, like a single-minded devotion to defense and team play or an obnoxious-to-some swagger, the Celtics of this era have been heavily influenced by No. 5. Paul Pierce may be the captain and Rajon Rondo the flashy future, but these Boston teams have Garnett's mark all over them.

And yet, through nearly five seasons of big games and big moments, there have been only a handful of times where the big fella has really put the team on shoulders and carried it to victory. Part of it is because he has one of the game's best closers and one of the great deadeye shooters of all-time as teammates; Pierce and Ray Allen rightly command the ball a great deal, particularly in crunch time. But part of it is KG's personality and playing style: his endearing unselfishness, sometimes to a fault; his frustrating refusal to play a power game. Garnett is consistent as they come from 17 feet out and every night he brings an intensity that is unmatched by anyone in the league, but in terms of being a go-to offensive option, night-in and night-out, well, that's just not him.

So nights like Thursday are always fun, because they are so rare. Garnett was assertive from the game's opening minutes, gave us the breathing room that should have been enough to win the game in the second half, then hit the game-winning bucket in the final minute.

The last bucket was my favorite, and not only because it was the game-deciding points. The Hawks trapped Pierce and he got the ball to Allen in right corner with KG flashing to the middle and Brandon Bass on the strong-side baseline. Allen found KG with a great pass, and the Hawks had one defender between Garnett and Bass and another recovering off of Allen on the baseline. Watching the play develop, I was terrified that Garnett would pass up the short jumper in favor of a tricky drop-down to Bass that, at best, would have been knocked out of bounds. It's exactly the kind of pass we've seen for all these years from KG, the kind of pass we wish he wouldn't throw, but can live with because we know where it comes from. I should have known better, though, because Thursday night was different. It was KG's night, and he went up confidently and feathered it in, the last of his game-high 28 points.

Garnett was great on defense, too -- he had five blocked shots and three steals to go along with 14 rebounds -- but it was Pierce who came up with the most timely defensive play. After Garnett's go-ahead basket, the Hawks had an uninspired possession that ended in a long Josh Smith jumper that was well short -- the exact reason the Celtics have always been willing to let Smith take (and make) those shots early in games. Allen made just one of two from the line -- he's 8 for 14 in the series and I think his ankles are bothering him at the line -- and after a timeout, Atlanta got the ball to Joe Johnson, who went to work on Pierce. Pierce's knee is really affecting his play, and Johnson got by him fairly easily. Pierce didn't give up, however, and he gritted his teeth and recovered just in time to block the shot. It was fitting that on a night when Garnett made the big offensive plays, Pierce came up with the biggest one on the defensive end.

This wasn't a particularly good game for the Celtics. They came out sluggish, and I honestly think that if Atlanta hadn't been so concerned with merely surviving the first quarter, we might have been in some real trouble. The second quarter was strong, the third was alright, and about midway through the fourth it looked like we were going to put Atlanta away. But we missed some good opportunities to extend the lead when Garnett went to the bench for some rest, and had to come from behind to win.

Philly beat Chicago by the skin of their teeth Thursday night, too, so we'll be playing the Sixers in the second round. There's a quick turnaround for Game 1; it's Saturday at 8 Eastern in Boston. I'll try to get a post about the Philly series up on Friday.

Boston 101, Atlanta 79

[recap] [box score]

This was it. This was the performance I was hoping for in Game 3.

The Celtics just blitzed the Hawks on Sunday night. Came out strong, hit 'em in the mouth, knocked 'em down, and never let 'em back up. Boston came out with a purpose offensively, with Paul Pierce creating his own shot and Rajon R-ndo getting shots for others with sometimes spectacular assists. Pierce was on fire; he had 24 points in just 16:37 of court time, including several heat-check three-pointers. R-ndo had at least a dozen assists in the first half alone, and finished with 20 points to go along with 16 helpers and just 1 credited turnover -- though I remember two more turnovers in the second half that they didn't give to him.

The one piece of bad news is that Pierce tweaked his knee a bit in the second quarter. I heard him say after the game that he had actually initially hurt it during shootaround before the game, and then he got tangled up with Josh Smith on a screen and tweaked it a bit more. He came out of the game, but did return to start the third quarter. He drilled a couple of threes before Doc took him out, content with the big lead and seeing no reason to push the captain. I don't expect that the knee will cause any real problems -- Pierce plays through injuries like this in the playoffs all the time without ill effects.

Atlanta barely showed any fight. Perhaps their most courageous moment of the game actually came before tip, when Josh Smith decided to play through a sprained knee and Al Horford suddenly reversed course and suited up for the first time since tearing a pectoral muscle in January. The Horford decision seemed particularly odd, given that a week ago he had ruled himself out of the series. It doesn't seem like he could have healed that much in a week, and having been out of action for so long, it was going to be hard for him to have any sort of positive impact. Indeed, Horford was completely overmatched on an early Kevin Garnett post-up, and didn't improve much from there. He's unlikely to be a factor in this series, even if he does continue to play.

The only other time Atlanta showed signs of life was late in the third quarter, when they cut a 37-point lead to 22, with Pierce and Garnett out of the game and presumably done for the night, circumstances permitting. But R-ndo and Ray Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers to stop the rally, and Larry Drew didn't even bother playing his starters in the fourth quarter.

As well as the players played, give Doc some credit for this win, too. Recognizing how tired the team was after Game 3, he gave them Saturday off, and they responded with a performance that was infinitely more energetic and purposeful than the previous one. As much as I think some of Doc's in-game decisions are still questionable, he's one of the best in the biz at managing his players.

We shot extremely well in this game and played extraordinarily well overall, whereas Atlanta played pretty horifically. I wouldn't expect either team to repeat its performance in Game 5, which is back in Atlanta on Tuesday night. (I'm surprised at the lack of a travel day.) Philips Arena is a tough place to play and the Hawks will come out fighting. It's a winnable game, though, and it'd be nice to finish the series early so we can get some rest.

Boston 90, Atlanta 84 (Overtime)

[recap] [box score]

Game 3 was ugly. That's all you can really say about it. Boston's defense was good throughout, but we only played well offensively for like a five-minute stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter and then a few possessions in overtime. It was enough, though.

Rajon R-ndo is getting all the attention with a 17/14/12 triple-double in his return from a one-game suspension, but don't be fooled by the stat line or the headlines -- he didn't play that well. I was actually a little disappointed in him at the beginning of the game; I had hoped he'd come out with a lot of energy, determined to get his team off to a good start -- something like a "I've got this one, fellas" after his teammates picked him up in Game 2. Instead, he -- like the rest of them -- came out lackadaisical and uninspired on offense. There really wasn't any urgency from anyone, which bothered me, and given the circumstances, the lack of urgency from R-ndo bothered me the most.

With that said, R-ndo was the best player wearing white on Friday night and he's the reason Boston won. He was the catalyst for the aforementioned rare stretches where the Celtics played well offensively. And while Kevin Garnett sealed the game with a follow-up jam late in overtime that put the Celtics up, it was R-ndo who drew KG's defender, freeing the big fella up for the rebound.

Ray Allen came back, alleviating fears held by me, anyway, that he wouldn't suit up again this year. He made his first shot and finished with 13 points (despite uncharacteristically missing two free throws), but he definitely didn't look in rhythm with the offense. That'll come, though. What was encouraging was that he moved well out on the court and apparently held up well over 37 minutes of playing time (the extended burn necessitated, I guess, by Atlanta's "medium/small" lineup, discussed below). It's good to have Ray back; hopefully the ankle responds well and he'll be in the lineup moving forward.

Atlanta was without Josh Smith, making them even more shorthanded inside than they had been already due to injuries to Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia. When Jason Collins got into early foul trouble, they had really no choice but to go small, bringing in Tracy McGrady, who was surprisingly effective in the first half before spraining his ankle. With McGrady, though, Atlanta's "small" is really more of a "medium," which explains why Mickael Pietrus played as many minutes as Avery Bradley. As good of a defender as young Bradley is, he still struggles against guys who can shoot over him, fouling too often instead of making them make a tough shot. Joe Johnson got hot and hit a couple of big shots late in regulation, but Pietrus played well him well -- they were just really tough makes.

And while it's probably encouraging to the Hawks that they hung close despite missing so many key players inside, I'm still not that scared of them. Their offense has pretty much the same theme even when Smith is on the floor; it's just a lot of guys trying to do their own thing. Even when you have multiple guys who are having success getting their own on the same night, it's very hard to beat a very good defensive team like Boston. If you're not moving the ball and creating for others, the defense knows where to focus. On some nights, you'll make enough shots to win; in most games, you won't.

Smith promised he'll be back on Sunday for Game 4, so we'll see if he makes any difference. The game's at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT.

I don't have any other place to write this, so I'm gonna write it here: Adam Yauch, the founding member of the Beastie Boys better known as MCA, died on Friday at the age of 47 after fighting cancer for three years. I love the Beastie Boys; while my musical tastes are mostly heavy metal these days, there was a time where I listened to almost nothing other than their first three albums. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm playing Paul's Boutique and, despite the fact that I haven't listened to this album in years, I still know nearly every word.

Artists tend to be able to identify their influences. They know what they listened to growing up and know what inspired them to become musicians themselves. They know how their musical style. And outsiders, if they're paying attention, can figure it out, too; you can listen to Led Zeppelin and hear the way the blues are incorporated into their music, the way you can listen to countless rock bands these days and hear Zep's influence

As a non-artist, though, I've found that it's hard to pinpoint the influence that music in general and certain musicians have had on me, other than affecting the music I choose to listen to now. And so it wasn't until after the Celtics game last night, when I sat down for an hour or so to read some of the tributes that had been written in the aftermath of his death, that I thought, for the first time, about what effect the Beastie Boys had on me.

A lot, as it turns out. My love of wordplay and allusion, something I (mostly unsuccessfully) try to incorporate into my own writing from time to time, definitely comes from the Beastie Boys' whimsical, reference-laden lyrics. My love of alter egos -- I'm H.S. Slam, Ph.D on here for a reason -- no doubt is inspired by Nathaniel Hornblower, Yauch's alter ego who has several Beastie Boy video credits and who once stormed the stage at the MTV Awards to protest REM winning best video. Hell, even my hatred of Bill Laimbeer has remained bolstered all these years by "Tough Guy" (off of Ill Communication).

Mostly, though, I thought about MCA's transformation from arrogant kid to thoughtful activist. My life in no way parallels MCA's, but his (and the band's) maturation in some ways mirrors my own. It's too personal a story for someone of my limited writing ability to really articulate, and so I think I'll leave it at that.

I've spent my whole life quoting the Beastie Boys, and yet I can't think of one appropriate to pay tribute. And I think that's fitting. One thing that's great about the Beastie Boys is that they never took their music too seriously, and that they were always about the bigger picture, particularly later in their careers. To try to pay tribute to the man's life with some silly rhyme he wrote years ago is as inapt as it is futile.

That being said, I know that tomorrow, as I watch New York probably get swept by Miami, I'll hear his words from "Unite" in my head: "Will someone on the Knicks please drive the lane?"

Thanks, Adam. RIP.

Boston 78, Miami 66

[recap] [box score]

Our bench is better than Miami's bench, which we knew. That's all that's worth saying about a hideous game in which LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh sat for Miami, and Rajon R-ndo, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen sat for Boston. Paul Pierce played 18 minutes (I'm not really sure why), and the only other regular starters -- Mario Chalmers and Dexter Pittman for the Heat, Avery Bradley and Brandon Bass for the Celtics -- played between 26 and 30 minutes apiece. Sasha Pavlovic and Marquis Daniels were the stars for Boston, putting together nice second halves after Boston trailed by 10 in the third period.

Boston stayed alive for home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs against Atlanta, but the Hawks beat the Clippers as well. That means the Celtics will need to beat the Bucks and have the Hawks lose to the Mavericks -- who are in full-on, rest-up-for-the-playoffs mode -- to get that home-court. It looks very likely we'll be opening the post-season at Philips Arena.

Let me use this otherwise boring post to go on record about something that I've been saying offline for a couple of weeks now: I'm not at all convinced we're going to see Ray Allen on the court again this year. He's got bone spurs in his ankle, and although he says they aren't as severe as the ones that required surgery a while back, he doesn't seem to be getting any better. Maybe I'm being paranoid -- I hope I am -- but the whole thing smells a lot like KG's knee in 2009: an injury, the severity of which we're not told until later, and then a return date that keeps getting pushed back. We know how that story went; here's hoping this one has a happier ending.

Boston 88, Atlanta 86 (Overtime)

[recap] [box score]

Tuesday night's win in Miami told us something about this Celtics team's confidence and ability to play at a high level. Wednesday night's triumph over Atlanta back in Boston told us something about this Celtics team's guts.

After that incredible offensive display on South Beach, after all those minutes in a highly intense game, most people would have given the Cs a free pass tonight against the Hawks. But I liked something that Tommy Heinsohn said during the broadcast -- that if you lose this one, you undo all the good work you did the night before. So the Celtics, instead of resting their legs or resting on their laurels or both, came out and fought for this win every bit as hard as they had fought for the one the night before.

It wasn't pretty. The whole night, Boston seemed a half-step behind, physically or mentally. They committed 19 turnovers, a full handful of which were caused by a simple lack of concentration. Particularly in the second half, you could see our legs getting tired, and the results: a slower pace, and flat jump shots left short. But Boston dug deep and never gave up on the defensive end, getting just enough stops to pull out a big win.

Some notes:
* Ray Allen sat out with soreness in his ankle, the same one that kept him out earlier. I think the idea here is that Doc wants to make sure that Ray's healthy for the playoffs, and not that Ray suffered some kind of setback, but it's a little disconcerting that he apparently hasn't fully healed.

* The Celtics controlled the glass, outrebounding the Hawks 56-39 and grabbing 15 offensive boards. I always thought of the Hawks as a tough team to keep off the glass, but with Al Horford out, they really don't go to the boards that well. The Boston bigs rebounded well, but I thought a big key was the small guys rebounding down on the defensive glass. Rajon R-ndo had ten boards, Mickael Pietrus had six, and Paul Pierce had five.

* Speaking of Pietrus, this was his first game since his concussion on March 23. He looked pretty good, knocking down a couple long jumpers and playing some solid defense. His return is welcome, especially if Allen is going to miss a bunch of time.

* Despite shooting just 3-for-16, R-ndo was brilliant, again. His stats were gaudy; 10 points, 10 boards, 20 assists -- his sixth triple-double of the season (a league high) -- but I thought the big key was his energy. Boston's lost a lot of close games over the last several year's due to slowing the pace way down on offense, and R-ndo, after playing more than 40 minutes the night before, took each and every outlet pass and raced up floor, forcing his teammates to at least get into their stuff at a reasonable pace if not attack on the fast break. The kid played 47 minutes tonight and looked just as fresh at the end as he did at the beginning. Words cannot describe how much I love watching him play.

* Boston did a nice job shutting down Atlanta's attempt at a game-winner at the end of regulation. Jannero Pargo was inbounding the ball on the far side without about six seconds to go, and he tossed the ball to Joe Johnson. As Johnson caught it, Pargo started to cut across the floor to the opposite wing, and R-ndo left him to double. Pargo took a little while to figure out that he was open and that he should get to some place he could shoot from, and he ended up with a rushed three at the horn that missed. I'm not sure if R-ndo or Doc gets the credit for that decision, but it really caught the Hawks by surprise and might have saved the game.

* Scary moment near the end of the game when Brandon Bass came down awkwardly and spent several moments on the ground, holding his knee. He stayed in the game, however, and it looks like Boston dodged a bullet there.

* The officials made two of the worst calls I've ever seen in overtime, both resulting in Boston turnovers. I haven't been able to find a video of them, but I'll post one if I can later. Just another thing the Celtics had to overcome.

So, here's the deal. We've mercifully got a day off before embarking on our road back-to-back-to-back in Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte. We've got a three-game cushion on Philly for the Atlantic crown, which would mean dodging Chicago and Miami in the first round. The final five games of the season are tough: at New York, home to Orlando, at Atlanta, home to Miami and Milwaukee. A sweep of these three upcoming games would probably give Doc the luxury of resting a few guys before the playoffs.

A sweep is a big ask at the end of what will end up being a very long week. But at this point, I'm not saying anything's out of the realm of possibility.

Ray A Sixth Man?

I should preface by saying that I've been busy and out of town and haven't had much chance to watch the Celtics or even read about them since Ray came back after missing six games with a bad ankle. So I'm basing this whole post on what I saw against Miami Tuesday night, what I can glean from the box scores of previous games, and from the pre-game interview Doc gave prior to the Miami game.

When I first heard that Allen was coming off the bench, I was concerned about the effect of the move on Ray. Not because I thought he'd sulk the way you'd worry about with some guys; he's too much of a professional for that. But even in a profession where routine is such a big part of success for so many, Ray is extraordinarily regimented: eating the same pre-game meal; arriving at the arena hours early; getting up a certain number of shots before tip. Before last week, Allen had come off the bench four times in his NBA career, the last time being in November of 2002, early in his final season in Milwaukee (he would be traded to Seattle later that season). How, I wondered, would a mid-season change in routine affect his performance on the court? At the very least, it seemed like the uncertainty would shake his confidence a little bit. Ray knows that his routine works; no matter how confident he is in his abilities, he has no point of reference as to how he'd play in a bench role.

Doc's pre-game interview on Tuesday assuaged some of those fears. According to Doc, while he had broached the topic with Allen earlier in the year, it was Ray's own suggestion that set the change in motion. So any discomfort Allen might feel from the unfamiliar situation seems to be minimized.

The effect on the team's play as a whole remains to be seen, though it's hard to argue with the early results. Avery Bradley was outstanding in the starting shooting guard slot while Allen was out (the team won five of six during that stretch) and after losing to Chicago last Thursday in Allen's first game off the bench, the Celtics have now won three in a row. Bradley gives Boston a different look on offense, a player who looks to attack without the basketball, in many ways a more suitable running mate for Rajon R-ndo. And, of course, Bradley's tenacious defense is an upgrade on that end of the floor.

In addition, Allen's move to the bench gives the second unit some real scoring punch, which has been sorely needed ever since Brandon Bass moved into the starting lineup after injuries ended the seasons of Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox. Doc's monitoring of Kevin Garnett's minutes (limiting him to five- or six-minute stretches until the fourth quarter) means that KG has been spending more time with the second unit, and suddenly he and Ray give that lineup some real weapons.

On the other hand, Allen is the greatest three-point shooter of all-time, and he's still one the game's premier weapons from downtown. Employing him in a Kyle Korver-type role seems like a waste. He only took seven shots against Miami on Tuesday, and two of them were end-of-the-shot-clock jobs -- contested, off-balance looks that he was forced into. The problem, at least against the Heat, seemed to me to be that he wasn't getting the ball in the exact right spot at the exact right time. Allen's offense with the Celtics has been based on precision, running through a series of screens that are designed to lose his defender for a fraction of a second, just enough time for him to catch and release. If the timing is off, the moment is gone, and Bradley hasn't yet developed the chops to deliver the ball on time, every time. Keyon Dooling didn't play against the Heat for some reason, but I haven't seen much during this season or Dooling's career that suggests that he's the solution. That means to be effective, Allen is still going to have play a lot of minutes with R-ndo, which either means even more minutes for R-ndo or limited minutes for Bradley, whose minutes this whole thing is supposed to maximize.

Then again, it could just be me over-reacting to one game. Ray did take nine and ten shots, respectively, against Philadelphia and Chicago, just a couple below his season average, and he took 18 shots against Indiana. And he's shown throughout his career that he can come into a game cold or out of rhythm and still hit a big shot (he proved it yet again just last week, burying a late three against the Spurs that gave us a shot at the win).

The results so far have been great. But it's a risk. In order to make a deep playoff run, we're going to need Ray Allen making big shots in the fourth quarter. We know we can get those shots out of starter-Ray. We don't yet know if we can get them out of sixth man-Ray.

Boston 115, Miami 107

[recap] [box score]

This win's even better than the one back in Boston ten days ago. Any good team, like the Heat, can have an off night on the road, especially at the end of a long trip away from home. Any good team, like the Celtics, can put together a dominant performance in its own barn and wax a good opponent. Beating that same opponent on their floor in a payback game less than two weeks later, however, is not something every team can do.

I hope you watched this one, because it was an entertaining basketball game, but if you didn't, here's how it went: Miami predictably jumped out to a hot start, but Boston kept it close; Boston went on a big run to end the first quarter and led by double digits for most of the rest of the half; Miami kept chipping away in the third quarter to stay within striking distance; Boston lost their composure on a couple of early possessions and the Heat cut the lead to one point; Doc Rivers brought Rajon R-ndo and Kevin Garnett back a bit earlier than usual and, with the building going crazy and the game seemingly slipping from their grasp, they (along with Paul Pierce) calmly put the game away.

Those are the broad strokes, but there are some interesting details, and the most interesting is Boston's shooting a percentage: a torrid 60.6% for the game. Some will no doubt point out that the fact that the Celtics shot better than 60%, made 9 of 14 three-pointers and 20 of 25 free throws, and still only won by eight, is worrisome. There's some truth to that; Boston had to make a ton of plays to win this game, and they played exceptionally well -- a few more empty possessions at the wrong time could have brought a different result. But there are a couple counter-points to that.

First, while it's true that by the end of the game, Garnett and Pierce had to make some really tough shots, the whole game wasn't like that. Boston got pretty much anything it wanted in the first half, in which they scored 65 points, the most by a Heat opponent this season.

Second, the Heat had to make a bunch of tough shots, too, just to stay in it. And yeah, maybe Miami is more capable of making tough shots on a consistent basis because they have superior one-on-one players who don't rely as much on the jumper as the Cs do, but Boston has always been comfortable with letting individuals do their own thing against them. James had his usual game against Boston: huge numbers (36 points, even boards, seven assists) and a loss. Dwyane Wade was assertive in stretches (the second and fourth quarters), but when they play Boston, the two Heat superstars still take turns more than they seem to play together. Chris Bosh was once again a non-factor for much of the game, and once you get past him, you simply have to hope that the rest of Miami's unspectacular supporting cast doesn't have a big night. Those are chances I'm willing to take.

The big downside to this win was the minutes: 40-plus for R-ndo and Pierce; 39 for Brandon Bass; 33 for Garnett. (It's hard not to contrast Doc Rivers with San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, who left Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili at home on Monday night for a road game in Utah, even though the Spurs were tied atop the Western Conference at the time and fighting with Oklahoma City for home-court advantage.) The big concern with the minutes is the schedule; Boston heads back home on Wednesday to play the Hawks, then get one day off before a back-to-back-to-back in Toronto, New Jersey, and Charlotte. That many minutes, and that short of a rotation (Doc only played eight guys) could really come back to hurt the team.

Only eight guys played, but all played well. Garnett was the star, shooting 11-for-14 and finishing with 24 points and nine rebounds, but Pierce led the team in scoring with 27 points. R-ndo had 18 points and 15 assists (the 18th straight game he's had double-digit dimes), and Bass also notched a double-double with 12 points and ten boards. Avery Bradley had five early points, keeping the Heat from getting going, and finished with 11. Off the bench, Greg Stiemsma (eight points, seven boards) and Sasha Pavlovic (2-for-2 from deep) did most of their damage in the first half. Ironically, Ray Allen, who was 3-for-7 on the night, was the only Celtic who didn't make at least half his shots from the field.

Speaking of Ray, he came off the bench for the fourth straight game. I've gotta post about this...

San Antonio 87, Boston 86

[recap] [box score]

Crazy game that I wish I could write more about, but I'm waking up in just a few hours to drive to Vegas to celebrate the ending bachelorhood of longtime RwH reader The Assistant Commissioner, so I need my sleep.

The Spurs scored 55 points in the first 19 and a half minutes of the game, mostly with the pick-and-roll that inexplicably seemed to baffle the Celtics. They then scored 13 points over the next 16 and a half minutes, as they went cold from the floor and Doc Rivers' small lineups troubled them. Boston, though, went cold the same time San Antonio did, and could barely catch up, much less distance themselves, during the stretch. The Cs finally did pull ahead, but a couple of big rebounds and shots from the Spurs gave them a four-point lead with less than a minute to go.

Ray Allen, who struggled in his return to action, nonetheless buried a three from the corner, and Boston got the stop it needed. But Paul Pierce couldn't shake Tim Duncan and his 17-footer at the horn was contested, and off the mark. Boston's win streak ended a five games; San Antonio's moved to nine.

Truthfully, Boston gave away this game; there was a long stretch there in the second half where any sort of effective offense could have pulled them away from the Spurs. But too many guys were eager to be the one to hit the tying or go-ahead basket -- the "hero shots" Doc is always ranting about -- and we wasted opportunities.

It feels especially like a wasted opportunity because the Sixers, who lost narrowly in Miami on Tuesday night, got blown out at home by Toronto on Wednesday. That means the Celtics still hold a game-and-a-half lead on them for the Atlantic crown, which is the good news, but the bad news is that Boston missed an opportunity to put another game between them and Philly.

VIEWING ALERT: Boston's got another chance to pick up a half-game on Thursday night in Chicago. That one's on TNT at 9:30 p.m., Eastern, and is supposed to mark the return of Derrick Rose.

Boston 94, Utah 82

[recap] [box score]

I don't know if I'm in a writing funk or what, but I've had a really hard time coming up with things to say about the Celtics lately. And the ironic part is that, if we're not playing our best basketball of the season right now, we've at least gotten great results. On Tuesday night, Boston beat a hot but tired Utah team. That gives the Cs a 13-5 record since the All-Star break, which -- if I heard Mike Gorman correctly on tonight's broadcast -- is good for third-best in the whole league.

The Celtics are doing it with defense, at least in stretches: In each of the last three wins, Boston's opponent has gone through extended periods of offensive futility. The effort hasn't been consistent, however, and all three opponents have gotten back into the game -- often fueled in part, as the Jazz were, by Boston's own stagnant offense. The defensive glass also remains a consistent problem. The obvious explanation for the strong defense of late is Ray Allen's absence: His replacement, Avery Bradley, is a lockdown defender, so it'll be interesting to see if anything changes once Allen gets back. However, Greg Stiemsma, who has proven to be a fearsome shotblocker in his rookie season, figures to have cemented a spot in the rotation for the rest of the season.

A day off, and then the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Friday. Kevin Love has been an absolute monster for them, and keeping him away from the offensive glass will be top priority. They've had some injuries to other key pieces, and this is a very winnable game. Philly beat Cleveland on Tuesday, so we're currently tied atop the Atlantic with them, but they're in Washington on Friday night to face the 11-38 Wizards. Therefore, a win over the Wolves is probably necessary to keep pace.