The Celtics have nobody to blame but themselves for this one. No star player fouled out. The refs actually had a pretty good game (Heinsohn said so, so it's 1,000% true). The C's had chance after chance after chance to end this game and this series.
After going on a 23-3 run in the 4th, leading 99-91, the Celtics scored 2 points in the last 3:38. Rondo missed a pair of free throws. A very slow-starting Celtic offense was forced to let Tony Allen shoot to avoid shot-clock violations. On the other side of the court, the Bulls scored 10 points and forced a 101-101 tie. The C's were once again sluggish on offense, running out of shot clock before even starting their offense. And the game went to overtime.
In the 1st OT, the game was tied 109-109, and the Celtics had the ball for the last possession. Once again, like some college team or something, they took their sweet ass time to start moving on offense. Chicago only had to defend for 5 or 6 seconds, and Pierce missed a 15 footer to send the game to OT #2.
2 minutes into the 2nd OT, a Celtics shot clock violation. What, the, FUCK?
3rd OT, 123-123, 0:38 on the clock, an uncharacteristically indecisive Paul Pierce forgoes a drive down the lane, seems to think about shooting, then he was going to pass it to Scal or fake pass it? I don't know what he was trying to do. More importantly, HE didn't know what he was trying to do. Noah steals the ball, Pierce fouls him (too late), and Chicago takes a 3 point lead.
127-128, 21 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich misses a lay-up, giving the Celtics a beautiful present, and Rondo's shot with 7 seconds left is blocked.
No killer instinct.
A 51 point night from Ray Allen goes to waste. Rondo finishes with a mere 8 points. He seemed to have no edge, and no will to drive the ball after he was called for a flagrant foul (C's may have lucked out on that decision).
Regarding the Rondo/Hinrich incident, it was MORONIC of Rondo to pull thuggish crap like that right in front of the ref. But I'll also say this. Kirk Hinrich weighs 190 pounds. Rondo's no slouch, but he and his 179 pounds don't have the strength to toss Hinrich around like a rag doll. Kirk did a good job of embellishment. And Bulls like him and Brad Miller are exceptionally good at being pussies like that. Nevertheless, really dumb by Rondo, and he/the Celtics are lucky the refs didn't throw the book at him.
The Celtics were -3 when Pierce was on the court.
Only 11 points from the bench in 63 minutes of basketball. Scalabrine had 7 of those points.
The Celtics have the highest scoring starters in the playoffs, and the lowest scoring bench.
Glen Davis is having the series of his life. 10/18 shooting with 23 points and 7 boards tonight.
Game 7 Saturday night and who knows what to expect? There have been 7 overtime periods in this series. Even with the blowout in Game 3, the Celtics are only averaging 3.3 points per game more than Chicago.
I think the Celtics will win if Paul Pierce returns to his confident and decisive self in Game 6. Same goes for Rondo.
Source:
ESPN.com
Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
That game was quite a thriller! As many opportunities as the Celtics had, the Bulls had a lot of opportunities to shut the door and just didn't execute. They will learn to do that though next season. Are we at the point yet where we can just pencil in the Bulls for the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010?
ReplyDeleteAs for Rondo/Hinrich, I think you are underestimating Rondo's strength, the guy is solid muscle. Hinrich hit the scorers table pretty damn hard and if he was faking it, that's WWE level impressive fakery. In any event, Rondo has spent the last few games establishing himself as this generation's Bruce Bowen and he's casting himself as quite the villain. I know I love to hate that fucker.
In game 7 I see the Celtics winning. The Bulls just don't have it in them at this stage to pull off a game 7 win on the road.
Whatever team wins this series will be too gassed in Round 2 to put up much of a fight.