Close-out Run

Pierce's Charge Celtics into Finals

It was about time ! Down 70-60 in the 4th quarter, it looked like deja-vu all over again for the Celtics. After having lead most of the game only to see their lead evaporate and then become a deficit, this “front-running” team seemed to have played themselves into a scenario often repeated during these playoffs: lose a close game on the road and have to rely on playing in the old-faithful Garden to pull out the series. But then a funny thing happened. Just like in Game 7 in the quarters, Paul Pierce proved that he could carry a team on his back. He proved he is the only Celtic capable of taking over on the offensive end. He proved he can will his team to a win when it’s needed most. He proved to be, as the veteran Celtic on the squad, worthy of old-faithful status.

The Celtics went on a ridiculous 28-11 run to put this game away. Having finally gotten rid of the “unable to win on the road” gorilla in Game 3, they proved they could win again, in the most improbable of circumstances, on the road down 10 to a well-tested Pistons team. They got contributions from Kevin Garnett (who didn’t whiff this time) and Ray Allen (who finally seems to be coming out of his slump), and a key steal from James Posey towards the end to help to start to put this game on ice. But mostly it was the same recipe that worked in the clincher against Cleveland: Give the ball to Pierce and get the hell out of the way.

These playoffs have been the Celtics’ learning curve in knowing how to win in the NBA’s second season. They have weathered two Game 7’s and won at home, and now they have proved that they can close out a determined and veteran opponent on the road. I believed that this was a must win game for the Celtics so that they could both rest physically and get needed mental confidence against what will surely be their most stern test, the Los Angeles Lakers. They also did not want to have to play yet a 3rd Game 7 in these playoffs, for surely this is a gambler’s nightmare. After all, how many times can you keep rolling the die and win. One of these days it will catch up to you. And Boston didn’t want take their chances against the Pistons in Game 7. Paul Pierce said it best: "We wanted to win it here; we didn't want to have to go back to Boston for another Game 7."

Speaking of the Lakers, they closed out San Antonio in impressive fashion the night before with a stunning comeback of their own. Down by as many as 20 points in Game 5, they too proved they knew how to close out a veteran championship team. They understood the stakes and they took care of business.

The NBA finals will be the 11th meeting of the two most storied franchises in the league. Of the 60 NBA championships played so far, the Lakers and Celtics have won 30 (Boston with a slight edge 16-14). In face to face meetings, Boston rules 8-2. However, the Lakers have made 29 finals appearances.

Basketball is probably the most fascinating game of matchups. This is not the 1-1 of baseball or 11-11 of football. There are only 5 players on the court and 12 on a roster. The dynamics in the game and the constant substitution juggling that take place during the game make it the most chess-like sport there is. Coupled with the legendary history, this is what will make the Finals so interesting.

Will Pierce guard Kobe one on one, and if he does can he be as effective as he was against LeBron and Prince ? How will Kobe handle having to guard Pierce and will his vaunted offensive game suffer like LeBron’s game did ? How will Boston’s vaunted defense, led by Garnett, handle the trio of Kobe, Gasol, and Odom ? How will the Laker defense handle Boston big three ? Boston appears to have a deeper bench but can Rivers find an effective second group ? Or is Phil Jackson simply too good of a coach to be outfoxed by Rivers and his superior army of players ?

As Paul Pierce said: “Bring on the Lakers. It’s going to be great. Watching the Lakers-Celtics in the 80’s is what got me into basketball.”

Watching Bird and Magic fight it out in the 80’s was some of the best basketball I’ve ever seen. For this series, my wish is for a 7 game series, with a OK corral type of showdown between Boston’s and LA’s three studs in a wire to wire series, with huge momentum swings and end to end offensive action and defensive toughness. For the climactic Game 7. I want to see Pierce and Kobe fight it out until the end, with the championship decided in overtime, with the winner making a buzzer-beating 3 pointer to win it all.

The Truth vs The King

Let’s face the truth, the epic battle between The Truth and the King in Game 7 was as good as basketball battle as there has ever been. To say that Pierce played the best game of his career in leading the Celtics to their Game 7 win against James and the Cavs on Sunday would be a huge understatement. The truth be told, Boston’s inability to win a single road game is at this point a moot point because the team has been flawless at home. Should this trend continue it would be a historic although improbable (many would say impossible) path to a championship. Truth be told, if “The Truth” has a couple more games in him like Sunday, Boston wouldn’t be having these issues anymore and would be sweeping their way towards the gilded prize.

Let’s face another truth. Despite Pierce’s brilliance, The King is the best player in basketball because without a lot of help, he almost single-handedly willed his team to victory against a superior opponent on enemy territory. But Pierce proved that Shaq didn’t give him his nickname for nothing and on this night he ruled at the end. He proved that he too can be a pretty unstoppable player when he gets it going on.

What we got in the process was one of the best mano-a-mano confrontations in recent history as The Truth and The King waged epic battle. What Boston needed the most was for Pierce, their only true go to guy offensively, to drop the proverbial 40 so that the Celtics could vanquish the pesky Cavaliers. So he did one point better and event though it was 4 points less than James’ output, each one of these players carried their respective teams on their back by scoring a nearly half of total points in the game.

Sometime in the third quarter, James and Pierce spoke to each other and spoke of who could “will” their team to victory. "We were like: 'Who's going to give in?'" Pierce said. For all that Kevin Garnett gives you, he has yet to prove that he can dominate a game offensively the way Pierce did on Sunday. For all those jumpers Allen has nailed in his storied career, he scored a paltry four points and was pretty ineffective the entire series. It was on Pierce’s shoulders all along and at least for today, he got the better of James.

Many comparisons to the famous Bird-Nique Game 7 in 1988 were made but a better analogy both scoring and stylistic wise is the 1963 duel between Sam Jones (47) and Oscar Robertson (43) as this was only the second time that two players scored more than 40 points in a Game 7. Sam Jones played for the Celtics and LeBron James is the modern day Oscar Robertsont.

What was beautiful about this game was that everyone knew who the ball was going to, but the defenses couldn’t stop it anyway. Magic Johnson’s analysis that the Celtics didn’t have a player who could take over a game proved wrong. The pundits who said that on this team it would be Pierce who would take “the last shot” were right. He made all of the shots, including the last two free throws that put Boston into the Eastern Conference finals. Whether he can carry them to a championships still remains to be seen.

This may have been a defeat for LeBron James, but what he learned in the process will for sure enable him to win the coveted NBA championship many times over. What his management has learned is that they what James needs at least one pretty decent side-kick (Batman), a defensive specialist (Rodman) and a host of role players like Kerr, B.J. Armstrong, etc that he can confide on like Jordan did in all of those years of Bulls brilliance.

Because those pieces aren’t there, he can’t win yet. But the NBA is a game with a steep learning curve. Just as Jordan had to endure many defeats before finally conquering the mountain, so James climbs the curb a little at at a time. But speaking of learning curves, it was said that this Celtics team hadn’t accomplished anything in the playoffs. In the last two weeks, they have now won two Game 7’s. They too are learning fast. And that’s nothing but the truth.

On the Road Again (Same Old, Same Old)

The Celtics still suck on the road (and apparently so does every other NBA team except for the Pistons). The team with the best road record all season is now 0-5 in these playoffs. Sure, they’ve held serve in the Gahhden (6-0), but their Jekyll and Hyde personality is eventually going to derail this team from their quest for a 17th championship banner for the Boston franchise.

The problem with the Celtics’ inability to win on the road starts with their defensive breakdowns and ends with their offensive inefficiencies at the end of games. And the real donwer is that Celtics actually played pretty effective defense last night until the fourth quarter but by then they appeared to spent doing so to be able to knock down any shots.

More than tactical and or physical issues though, the real problem is that this road malaise will eventually become a huge psychological gorilla that will be hard to overcome. Most championship teams are tough mentally. This team doesn’t appear to be.

Paul Pierce said: "We're definitely not discouraged with the loss, especially on the road. Hopefully, we can play better at home and break this road streak so everyone can stop talking about it."

See what I mean, the doubt isn’t creeping in, it’s firmly established itself already.

A win last night (in what was a very winnable game) would have worked wonders for everyone’s mental attitude (the players, the fans, and perhaps most importantly head coach Doc Rivers) because it would have eliminated all of the burgeoning talk about the inability to win on the road and it would have put the Celtics within a home game of closing out this series. For a team whose stars are all over 30, some rest before the next round would have been huge.

Instead, Cleveland definitely has the upper hand now because they are in a better position to get that one elusive road win that they need to win this series. LeBron said that “a series doesn’t really start until a team wins a game on the road.” Despite the fact that LeBron is struggling with his shot, the series is tied at 2, and if that last minute dunk over KG showed, James could be shaking whatever doubts he’s had in this series. He could explode like he did last year at Detroit. This could just be the liftoff that James needs to really get going in this series. And when he does, Boston does not appear to have an answer. If LeBron gets the 3 d's going (driving, dishing, and dunking), Boston better watch out. With a reenergized James and a host of shooters that can make open 3's, Cleveland could conceivably pull of 2 more straight wins.

Worse yet for Boston, it appears that LeBron is winning the mano a mano with Paul Pierce. Just as Pierce has done a good job defensively on LeBron, the converse is equally as true. And while LeBron has struggled with this outside shot, he is still getting plenty of points and assists in other ways that Pierce is not. Pierce has struggled offensively because he is expending so much energy on defense. Pierce scored half the Celtics points in the 4th quarter and seemed to be the only guy who was actually looking to drive to the basket aggressively but his offensive production in this series is a paltry 12.5 ppg, well below his season average of 19. For Boston that’s a problem because The Truth is the only real go-to guy the Celtics have on offense. but KG’s and Allen’s disappearance offensively in the fourth quarter drove that point home again last night.

There are also troubling signs that Rivers is really losing his grip. He is being outmaneuvered by the Cavalier’s Mike Brown in the day to day adjustments needed in multi-game playoff series. He and his players also seem to differ on why the Celtics aren’t playing well.
Coach Doc Rivers said his team needed to play better "under stress" during the final stretch of games. Pierce and Garnett begged to differ.
"I wouldn't say we're lacking poise," Garnett said. "In a situation like ours, we are trying to do everything that Doc wants us to do. He makes all the calls. He gives us direction. For the most part, we pretty much try to do what he wants."
Said Pierce, "I don't know what he means. I'm stressed every game. Stressed to get a win."
Boston will be favored at home in Game 5 but I think the line must be shrinking rapidly. If Cleveland does win in Boston, the Celtics will be facing a must win on the road at Cleveland Friday, which is probably too tough of a mental hurdle to overcome.

Doc stated before Game 7 in Atlanta that he doesn’t remember any big game pre-game speeches. He better try to gleam some talking points from Pacino’s impassionate oratory from “Any Given Sunday” or the Celtics will be history.

"All-out, beat-down, defensive fight." - KG

That’s more like it ! In the Celtics huge Game 1 win over the Cavaliers in their second round matchup, KG was the man down the stretch, as in the man offensively. The player so roundly criticized for his unwillingness or inability to take over games on the offensive end came up huge when it counted against the Cleveland in what was surely a must win game.

After a poor performance in Game 6 against the Hawks, KG says he got little sleep as he obsessed about the loss and watched game film over and over. This showed since the normally hyperactive Garnett put into an extra gear tonight.

KG scored 28 points total and 8 in the 4th quarter. Despite some misses and having his shot blocked by the huge Cleveland front line of Ilgauskas and former teammate Joe Smith, KG stuck to his guns and hit 3 key buckets down the stretch: a reverse layup, a long range shot, and a spinning move into the paint and right into the hole. Imagine that, Garnett taking it to the bucket strong late in the game. Imagine Garnett using his length in the right way to take over a game offensively. That was the winning ticket for the Celtics.

Sam Cassell, KG’s ex running mate from 4 years ago, also came up huge (13 points many of them clutch jump shots in the fourth) on a night when Ray Allen was held scoreless for the first time in nearly 11 years and Paul Pierce, Boston’s best offensive player scored only 4 points on 2-14 shooting.

LeBron James, guarded by Pierce and Posey most of the night, scored only 12 points on 2-18 shooting, committed 9 turnovers and missed a critical layup with time running out that would have tied the game. Arguably the best player on the planet had one of his worst playoff performances ever of his young career. Much credit has to be given to the Boston defense.
The Celtics were just barely good enough to win this game. Even though LeBron was way off, Cleveland were right there at the end. You know LeBron will rebound from this and he will have his say. On the Celtics side, Pierce and Allen aren’t going to combine for 4 points again either. So essentially the three superstars cancelled each other out and it was left to the Big Ticket to have the final say.

Be History ?

Not Clutch - Celtics coerced to play Game 7

Before their big win in Game 7, the Celtics were on the verge of making history, as in becoming it. You know, just like that new Gatorade commercial featuring Kevin Garnett.

After their Game 6 loss – their third straight road loss against the worst playoff team in the field – against the Hawks, the Celtics had to dig deep to avoid becoming the victim of the worst 1-8 fold in the history of the NBA. That they won big in Game 7 is irrelevant; that they were extended this far is the real storyline.

The reason the Celtics found themselves in this predicament was a brutal fourth quarter in which they were outscored 24-18 and their vaunted defense failed to stop Atlanta. Even then, the Celtics were still hanging around but there was a glaring 3 minute stretch in which Pierce fouled out and KG made two huge errors on the offensive end that sealed the deal. With the ball at his hand, KG decided to pass the ball instead of take it to the hoop on two critical possessions. Once, he didn’t take on a 5 foul saddled Josh Smith 1-1. A second time, he again opted for a pass. Both possessions ended with disastrous results: one a steal and one a missed 3 pointer by Posey. KG’s totals for the quarter: 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 turnovers. KG’s reluctance to take over late in games is something that’s been a constant criticism of his game. It reared its ugly head again in the waning moments of Game 6.

Forget that the Celtics blew out Atlanta the next game at the Garden. I knew that they would win this game (although I never thought it would be another blow out). Their real task now is to beat Cleveland convincingly at home and on the road to dispel the notions that this isn’t a championship caliber team.

The matchups for the Celtics defensively are even more daunting against the Cavaliers than they were against the Hawks. If Boston had to expend so much defensive capital to contain Joe Johnson, how are they going to contain Le Bron ? And if they do, Cleveland has a host of outside shooters (Gibson, Wally, West) that can cause them real damage. It could be that 2 ex Celtics players end up haunting Boston the most, and in the process end Boston’s quest for that 17th championship. At least for this year.

The Celtics success in the regular season is only relevant in that they won home court. Nothing else really counts now. The playoffs are an entirely different season. Atlanta’s surprising challenge is testament to that.

Misc. Notes

Ever since Kevin Garnett came into the league in 1994 as araw 18 year old drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, I have been an unabashed fan of his game. Over the years, watching his development from a kid with promise into a superstar hardened my admiration as a fan. I have always really liked basketball, but over the years watching KG and the Wolves, through the bad times and the good times, I learned more about the game and it has now taken a firm second place in my own personal pantheon of sports I enjoy.

As KG matured as a player, there were many positives as well as negatives about his qualities as a player. One of the most astonishing things about his game is his passion and energy, which are exhibited in a a seemingly limitless manic fashion. I always thought his durability was always extraordinary because for as hard as he plays the game, he is hardly ever injured. I would bet that the number of minutes played were divided by number of minutes injured, KG would always rank pretty high in a list of contemporary player. The only other player I can think of that was never injured is Michael Jordan.

Always a very athletic player who could jump, run, shoot, KG probably excelled at defense the most. But his defense ability is not of the Bill Russell (a dominating center with incredible shot blocking ability) or Michael Jordan variety (a tremendous shutdown ability); his effect on defense is more subtle, and it basically boils down to enabling his teammates into accepting a team defensive philosophy and his ability to enable that using his incredible athleticism.

The big knock on KG has been his unwillingness to “take over a game” on the offensive end. Unlike Jordan, Kobe, or Lebron who seem to relish being the focal point on offense at critical junctures of games, KG has always chosen to “defer” to lesser teammates. As a result, he often disappears at crunch time and hasn’t always exhibited clutch like performance. The reason for this may be more psychological than anything else. I could see arguments being made for KG not having played that many crucial playoff games in his career, but this tentativeness has always been part of his game, regular or playoff season alike. Another factor, I think, is that KG expends so much energy on defense that his offensive tank is literally empty at the end of tight games. While he will probably be recognized by basketball cognoscenti as being an influential and dominating defensive presence, regular basketball fans don’t ever equate taking over a game with a player playing great defense. Last second shots always resonate louder than blocks or steals.