ESPN Recap • Hot Hot Hoops • Peninsula is Mightier
It’s sometimes a bit of an exaggeration to declare just how much of an impact a bench player had on a contest. Yet, I can say, without hesitation that Tony Allen was the story tonight, leading Boston on both ends of the floor and helping them rebound from a 14 point deficit in the 3rd quarter and pull away with a 10 point win to give them the early 1-0 series lead over the Heat.
Think I’m going a little bit overboard with that statement? Check out how the numbers break down after the jump.
First let’s cover the defensive aspect. TA entered the game with a little under 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The Heat had charged out to 17 points in the first five minutes of the frame, turning a 3 point halftime lead into a double digit deficit.
Once TA entered the game, the Heat scored just 10 points in the next 17 minutes of this contest, which transformed the 14 point deficit into a 10 point Celtic lead, that the C’s held onto in the closing minutes of mayhem. So to recap:
Without TA in 2nd half: C’s were -11
With TA: in 2nd half: +24
It all centered around Tony, since he kept D Wade in check for the entire 4th quarter, playing disciplined defense holding him to just 2 of 6 shooting in the final quarter.
The C’s as a team, with Big Baby filling in for Perk in the final frame played tremendous team D in the fourth quarter, limiting Miami to 19 percent shooting in the frame. Rotations were sharp, long challenged jumpers were the main opportunities and the Heat were overwhelmed and gun shy in the heat of the moment.
I have to give Doc Rivers a lot of credit for tonight’s game for sticking with Tony and Glen Davis in the 4th. Not a lot has been routine and Doc had to search long and hard to find the right combo tonight after nothing (besides TA) was seemingly working in the first 30 minutes.
He found the right mix of youth and energy off the bench to go with a combo of Rondo, KG, and Pierce and it paid off big. To see the shock on Ray Allen’s face when Paul pulled him out of the game with 3 minutes left, with TA still out there was, well priceless. You know what though? It was the right move and quite frankly the only move.
TA’s offensive game was terrific tonight as well with 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting, with just one or two ugly jump shots mixed in there. There were a mental mistake here and there, but you know what, he was so aggressive and the pros of his game sharply outweighed any real mistakes. And you know? No turnovers. Zach probably died of shock when he saw that number.
A few more quick bullets here before further analysis tomorrow as we breakdown postgame reaction from the Garden
* First, the melee with KG, Pierce, and Richardson. Zach covered it indepthly in the post below so I encourage you to cover it there. I will say KG showed a lot of remorse in the postgame press conference and realized he overreacted and likely got himself suspended for game 2, which I wouldn’t argue with it at all. Richardson instigated the whole situation obviously, but KG took it to another level and with a blatant elbow that connected, I think we
*Richardson is a …..well I’ll just say a jerk and keep it PG. I don’t care if you thought Pierce was faking or whatever, but you still don’t go over there and stand over an injured player when they are down. That’s bush league and I give credit to KG for standing out for his teammate. He just took things a bit too far.
* Rondo with a really gritty effort tonight. 10 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists in 43 big minutes. He without a doubt was slowed down with the flu, but this team just couldn’t afford to have him out of the game given the huge offensive drought they had in the 2nd quarter without him. Tremendous work and a huge bucket to put this team up 10 with 2 minutes left.
* KG looked pretty solid before he was tossed out of this one. Encouraging news, but will be curious to see what’s he got from line 2.
* 2 of 9 shooting for Ray Allen. Hopefully, just an offnight this team can’t afford many more of them though.
* 39.7 percent shooting for Miami and 23 percent shooting from deep. That’s the Boston defense I remember.
*Perk is painful to watch on the offensive end right now around the hoop. 4 turnovers tonight including a couple traveling violations. He needs to regain his confidence in that area of the floor.
* Glen Davis seemed to find every big rebound down the stretch of this game.
* +17 for TA, + 15 for Glen Davis
* D Wade has a nice line of 26-6-8 but the 7 turnovers (18 for the team) loomed very large
* C’s still have no offensive rebounding and kept the turnovers relatively under control. They also did a great job of getting to the line in the final frame.
That’s it for now, much more to come on this one.
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Lots of good in this one, nicely summarized above. TA was revelatory – some of the best D I’ve ever seen on Wade. He could barely get a step below the arc. KG played hard the whole game. Very impressed.
That said – the first half was not well-played. This was still not a full 48 minute effort. It’s the same team we’ve seen all year. Need to play like we did in the second half for all of game two.
And KG may cost us that game with the elbow. Justified or not, you can’t do that in the playoffs.
One play that stood out for me was TA driving coast to coast past defenders that just stood there dumbly for a quick lay up. Reminded me so much of Powe in the Championships against the Lakers.
Sheed played a solid game. No bad shots, nice D on Jermaine O’Neal, and a closeout on Haslem that made me almost think he was playing Celtics-style defense. Nothing will really justify the lack of effort during the regular season, but I’m still hopeful he actually will be able to pick it up a notch for the playoffs.
Ray definitely didn’t play well tonight, but let’s not forget last season’s Game 1 against Chicago. Ray had 4 points, 1-12 FG, 0-6 for threes. Game 2 he went 9-18 FG, 6-10 threes to make 30 points… and I’m sure we ALL remember he was the one who hit the game winning three in Joakim Noah’s face. He also came up huge for Boston the rest of the series, including his 51? 54? point shootout in the triple OT game 6.
I still have faith in Ray!
@rondo-is-love: I’ve been thinking the same thing reading some comments about Ray.
As for Tony, all I can say is “Bravo!” Such an awesome game. I think he’s been one of our most consistent players throughout the year. I hope he can carry this through and finally get some respect for his game from Celtics fans.
Totally agree about Richardson’s jerk move. It’s about par for the course for him however.
I didn’t think Doc had it in him, but he stuck with TA & GD. Doc has proved his manhoodedness, at least for tonight.
TA played amazing D. He basically stayed down & moved his feet. Best D I’ve ever seen him play, just downright exceptional & sensational! It was a very, very nice. Only problem…got to put a body on D Wade after the shot goes up (whether it’s Wade or some other Heat player shooting). Wade bolts to the basket all the time trying to get an offensive rebound or put back. TA would do great staying in front of him & then relax once he saw the shot go up—meanwhile Wade is rocketing to the rim for a rebound. Come on TA & finish the deal.
TA had great cuts tonight & positioned his body well so Wade could not block him. The Heat were bragging about watching tons of film. Must of not watched any film about TA’s game. Many times Wade cheated off TA & doubled elsewhere so TA just went straight to the front of the rim & put his hand up. Nice. TA, you had a fantastic game, but please just forget about the jumper. Just do the ball fake up & bolt for the rim or pass it inside.
With Rajon & TA out there together there is so much quickness that the chance of thievery skyrockets. After the theft, TA can keep up with Rajon for an ez deuce. Their combined quickness on D could lead to a lot of ez points in transition.
Glad to see Rajon is soooo tough. I was a little mad at him at first for leaving Carlos wide open for shots, but he started to pick up the D as the game went along. He was in frenzy mode at the end, simply beautiful. KG looked 10 years younger to me tonight. KG & TA are pretty much automatic when someone picks up their dribble to pounce on them & pressure the ball. Rondo is lazy at times & will not do it, but when he gets into frenzy mode he jumps all over them just like KG & TA. We were always taught that when someone picked up their dribble there was blood in the water & we were the sharks. We got a lot of steals pressuring the ball & laying in wait just off the passing lane to the closest man. Almost always the distressed dribble picker upper would get so frustrated that he would heave a pass to his closest teammate. Then one of our guys who was waiting would strike to intercept. Funny how when you see someone pick up their dribble you remember all that stuff.
I just hope that deep down all the Cs realize that the 100+ 50%+ scoring Cs lost way too many games. We don’t want that wimpy finesse team here in the playoffs. The ugly, grinding, nasty, focus the majority of your energy on defense (let your great defense even create offense), Momma said to knock you out, bully Cs are the Cs who are going to get inside people’s heads & win games. The Cs were not scoring easily, but guess what? As long as you have the lead, all you have to do is play super extra ultra uber hard on defense & you’ll win!!!!!
That’s right! 3 of your stars can go 4-12, 4-11, & 2-9 AND IT DOESN’T MATTER! Why? Because you made them turn the ball over & you made them shoot even worse than you with your terrific defense. Now that the Cs are officially in the heads of the Heat it is time to continue to turn the defensive screws & make Miami so frustrated that they have zero rhythm on offense. Turn Miami’s offense into a big, chaotic miserable mess & take great JOY in your defense Cs…just like you used to…on your way to the title.
Everybody harps on TA’s mental mistakes, but these have largely disappeared this year.
What about Pierce’s unnecessary isos, Rondo’s wait-till-the-shot-clock-runs-down threes or flashy passes, Ray’s dribble-of-the-foot or weak passes, Sheed’s contested threes, Glen Davis’ putback-that-gets-stuffed right after an offensive rebound instead of a kick-out.
To be honest, our starters and other bench players make just as many mistakes as TA does. That TA makes those mistakes doing simple things while the others amke theirs doing overcomplicated moves does not excuse them, as the net effect is the same.
TA saved the day, cant believe I am saying this.
Big Baby was awful in the 1st half, better in second. (same with Rondo)
Perk was terrible the whole game, Sheed wasnt much better. THere is not an extra gear in that truck.
Ray couldn’t make a basket to save his life.
Rondo was nowhere close to 90%
Man, Finley is ahead of Robinson and Daniels, ouch!!!
I’ll second all that’s said in this post and comments about TA. Also really striking, especially on this team – he didn’t woof at all. On the outside, at least, he was really level-headed.
The guy who had me shouting at my tv in the last two minutes was PP. Against the right defender in the right iso he can be a good offensive option. But when they cleared out for him in the last two minutes, that was *not* a good idea. Look. The best thing that happened to him in those isos was that he got fouled – after somebody cleanly poked the ball away from him, and there was a scramble for the ball. He got lucky there. I really hope we’ll see less of that.
if kg does happen to get suspended lets play small .
pg-rondo
sg-TA
sf-rayallen
pf-pierce
c-perk
why not ? beasly played sf for most the year anyway ? so hes not much taller than pierce and this works out good cuz TA can shut down wade .
I’ve given TA props tis year more than I ever thought I would to be honest with you. After last night though he deserves everyone of them and more. The Defense he played on Wade… absolutely wonderful. The buckets when we needed them desperately. running the floor with Rondo…. us playing small ball. Good to see that defense back.
@Brian
Thank you for leading off the day with a solid recap rather than follow the media’s melee storyline.
Important?
Yes, but the real storyline came midway through the 3rd period. That’s when Doc called a TO and ripped into 5 blank expressions wearing Celtic uniforms. From that moment on the Celtics reversed back to the team we always expected them to be.
You really get a sense that an epiphany has sunk in by looking at Miami’s patheic stat line. Simply put they were smothered in the second half. More important was the Celts’ commitment to staying on the glass (badly beaten in the 1st half), and playing with a toughness not seen since December. It would be redundant for me to highlight the rest of the finer points you and all the apt bloggers eluded to.
I said we would have a huge mental advantage in this series, and Q. Rich and Mrs. Beasley are proving me right.
Once the pressers got underway, Kevin said all the right things. He made reference to Q. Rich having a thing with Pierce from his NY days, but he also took the high road like any veteran should. Conversely, here’s the diatribe coming from the Heat locker room…
Richardson on Pierce, KG: ‘I don’t like them’
Beasley: ‘The Celtics are going to try and punk us’
It’s official. It took but one game and the Celtics are in their collective heads. It’s going to be a long 3 day stay in Boston for the Heat.
Ray is Ray, I wouldn’t worry about him.
We’re going to see a lot of Tony Allen right now, only because we need him to take care of Wade. Ray is great offensively, but he can’t defend Dwade like Tony can. No one can defense him like Tony can for that matter.
He was all over him tonight, didn’t go for fakes, stay in front of him, and the few times Dwade actually did get a step, the help defense was outstanding.
If you watched the ESPN broadcast, Hubie made a comment about mid-way through the 4th that went something like “It’s incredible, it’s as if the Celtics defense stepped in a time machine and went back to 2008″ That’s not verbatim, but it’s close, and it definitely hit the money.
Oh, and Sheed, you still suck, so much for turning it on in the playoffs… Wtf was that little ass bump you gave on the baseline that ended in a 3-point play, idiot.
Great game. Some thoughts:
-1H: Cs played well but just got killed on the glass, and missed some open shots.
-3Q: Wade came out and just ripped up Ray, as expected. Doc made the switch to TA about 4 possessions too late.
- Cs reversed the rebounding gap in the 2nd half with Big Baby, and Miami foul trouble that lead to small ball lineups
- Pierce played good
- Rondo played good
- Ray was exposed on D, no way he should play Wade for extensive minutes. On O he missed some open shots he normally makes – no biggie, he’ll make em next time.
- TA won the game single-handedly. Not only did he shutdown Wade (yes, shutdown) whenever he was on him, he played a huge role on offense. Where amazing happens. (His only brainfart the whole game was when he stole with less than 2min left he tried to do a layup solo on the heat team instead of eating the ball and just killing clock).
- Perk struggled on O but played decent D on Jermaine.
- Sheed was terrible. No extra effort. I now question his contributions in the playoffs.
- Moment of the game: 4th Quarter, Pierce comes back in. Announcers says “Paul Pierce in for…….[30sec pause as Doc runs around looking confused, talks to assistants, etc] Ray Allen”. I give credit to Doc on that. It was the obvious decision, but I still expected him to pull TA. Hopefully he has the courage to do this in a game where TA is not playing superhero. D on Wade should be prioritized over O.
- Pierce Iso: sparked the whole scuffle. It is such a terrible play. Pierce fell out of embarrassment. Yet Doc goes to it time and again in crunch time.
- Next game: more minutes to TA on Wade (don’t overthink, Doc). Try and get Oneal in foul trouble early, Cs best lineup in this series is: KG, Baby, TA, Pierce, Rondo. Win.
@Perry ….Mrs. Beasley… thanks!
@Rav…. Agree. EVERY player makes mistakes. TA is trying harder & he is one of your BEST defenders. Boston WINS with DEFENSE. I know it’s like a root canal for Doc to take away a starter’s minutes, but you gotta go with what you see working out there on the floor. It’s all about winning not coddling egos. Doc says it is all about the defense……gotta get your BEST defense out there!!!
@Koolaid…. Nice @game breakdown. Sounds like you had a great time! I give you credit. You believed & backed it up with tickets.
I think it would be ok to start Ray Ray to see if he could play better D. Ray Ray does spread the court & create space, BUT it should be a very short leash. If the D effort or ability is not there then pull him & let Ray Ray feast with more open looks with the bench. Odom is really a starter for the Lake, but they win more with him coming off the bench so be like 10 time champion Phil, Doc & PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. DO WHAT WORKS DOC!
The nba does a lot of things based on ratings. Stern is into el dinero. Based on the drama & money principle the nba should let KG play.
@bubbles: i would also like to start TA in this series, but no point rocking the boat. essentially thats telling wade, ‘we are changing our rotation cause this guy will shut you down’. no need to put TA on an island. i would just make sure he comes in very early in the 1st and 3rd quarters. then bring ray back in as soon as wade goes off. then TA comes back when Wade checks back in.