Apr 26, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics forward/center Kevin Garnett (5) hangs his head against the New York Knicks during the second quarter of game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

So uhhhhhhh yeah.

I really don’t know if I can call what the Celtics just played Basketball since one of the primary objectives of Basketball is to put the orange ball in the round net thingy. A simple yet for the Celtics daunting task  made this game almost excruciating to watch. To put it into simple matters they’re old, injured and really they’re without they’re best player and when you combine all of those things in the playoffs the by-product is the sad, slow and depressing brand of Basketball you just witnessed.

Doc mad a puzzling decision to start Jason Terry(!!!!!) over Brandon Bass. It didn’t really pan ut as JET ended up with the worst +/- on the team (surprise surprise!!) The opening sequence for the Celtics merely foreshadowed the rest of the game as they hilariously missed their first three shots (all at the rim). I’d go on about the rest of the game but all you need to know is that they scored 31 points in the 1st half and shot 28-70 from the field(40%).

Alright lets review the keys to the game from my preview:

Take Advantage of Paul Pierce Being Guard by Felton/Prigion/Kidd:

Well this one didn’t go as expected. Since Paul started out at SF he was mostly guard by Shumpert for most of the game and the FT line switches didn’t really come up until the 2nd half. It was kind of sad to watch Paul labor out there as he’s been bothered by nerve issues and just playing too many minutes out of necessity. He’s been like this most of the way but it’s weird to watch it happen so often.

Hit Open Jumpers:

28-70……..Yeah so this one didn’t go too well.

Live with Tough Shot Making:

This wasn’t so bad but it would’ve been easier to deal with had the Celtics not been allergic to scoring points.

Historically this season is over. NO Team in NBA history has ever comeback from being down 3-0 in a series. At this point  it’s just a matter of not wanting to get embarrassed two times in a row. Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday 1pm EST.

Dwyane Wade stood at the line, gazing flatly at the rim.  He pinned the ball against his hip with his left hand while his right hand, his shooting hand, dangled loosely at his side.  He bowed his head and bounced the ball into the floor three times.  He bent his knees, held, and then extended, a motion suggesting the compression and release of a well-worn spring.  Arms raised high above his head, he flipped his wrist forward, lofting the ball on a smooth arc toward the basket.  He stood as though posed for sculpture, frozen in place save a barely-perceptible bobbing from the toes, as he tracked the path of the shot.  The ball splashed through the net.  He de-rected himself and got back on defense.

There were 18 seconds left in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Wade’s shot, the second in a set of free throws, had given the Miami Heat a 112-105 lead over the Boston Celtics.  Eighty seconds earlier, the game had been tied at 105 apiece.  In the intervening minute-plus, questionable officiating (a no-call on a slap to Rajon Rondo’s face; a Dwyane Wade pre-shot karate kick that went un-whistled in favor of Kevin Garnett’s subsequent hack) and sloppy play (a turnover, the air-ball of a rushed, contested corner three with 14 seconds left on the shot clock) had conspired to submarine the Celtics’ chances of resetting the series to zero before shipping it up to Boston.

Marquis Daniels inbounded the ball to Rajon Rondo in a forward pass that found the Celtics’ point guard just a step or so below the half-court line.  With chants of “Boston sucks” booming throughout the arena, he advanced to the perimeter in two short dribbles, pulled up, and unloaded a shot.

Rondo had played every second of the preceding 52:45, and had been the single most dominating player on the floor.  He had scored 38 points, collected eight rebounds and three steals, and dished out 10 assists.  He had made 14 of his 22 shots and 10 of his 12 free throw attempts.  Statistically, it would be the greatest game he had ever produced, resulting in a career-high John Hollinger Game Score of 41.0.

As impressive as the numbers were and as complete his control of his team had been, the actions that pushed Rondo’s game into the realm of the truly unforgettable came in the waning seconds, when victory was all but out of reach.

Rondo’s shot stuck through the net like a blade, putting three points on the board and closing the gap to four with 14 seconds left to play.  The Heat inbounded and quickly found LeBron James, who was promptly fouled by Daniels.  James sank both of his free throws to increase Miami’s lead to six.

Once again, Daniels inbounded to Rondo, who drove forward to the arc.  He pulled to a halt and up-faked, hoping to bait James into a leap at a shot block, which would give him an outside chance at a four-point play; a shot into contact that would result in an and-one if it went down.  LeBron stayed on his feet, stepping toward Rondo to bother the possibility of a shot attempt, then sliding along his body to stay away from the foul.

Rondo pivoted away from James and swung the ball to a trailing Daniels.  Marquis immediately sent it back to Rajon, who now stood a good three feet beyond the arc.  He rose into the air and fired over the outstretched arm of LeBron James.  The ball seemed to sneer profanely as it went down, ripping the net with a defiant “f*** you” as it cut Miami’s lead to three with just under four seconds left on the clock.

Fourteen seconds ago, the Celtics had been out of the game entirely.  There now existed the slimmest possibility that they could force a second overtime.  It wouldn’t come through.  Miami inbounded to Dwyane Wade, who was quickly fouled by Ray Allen.  Wade made one of his two free throws, needing only the one to ensure a victory.  Two seconds were left in the game, time enough for Allen to get off one last shot which would have only closed Miami’s lead to one had it connected.  The Celtics left the floor, their hopes of a return trip to the NBA Finals reduced to a dim flicker.

And yet…

With those two improbable threes, Rondo had sent a message to the Miami Heat.  No matter how long the odds, no matter how dim the flicker, no matter how banged-up or injury-depleted, the Celtics would not relent at any moment of this series.  Fans, writers and talk show hosts had demanded they be blown up, calling them too old to contend.  They would never transcend their creaky knees, not to mention their point guard’s mercurial nature and dazzling-but-flawed game.  Meanwhile, they had lost two players to heart surgery and their best perimeter defender’s shoulder had been dislocated into uselessness.  In spite of it all, here they stood.  A little over two months ago, people were talking about the Milwaukee Bucks knocking them out of the playoff picture entirely.  Here they stood.

Off the Mat

June 1, 2012
Eastern Conference Finals, Game 3: Boston Celtics (1-2) vs. Miami Heat (2-1)

“The Celtics have too much pride, too much experience, to be demoralized.  Now, whether they have enough to win and enough energy to regenerate?  We’ll see.” –Jeff Van Gundy

We’ll see, indeed.  The Boston Celtics clambered back into the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night, beating the Heat by a score of 101-91.  Despite a scorching first half from LeBron James, in which he scored 20 of his team’s 42 points off 9-of-16 shooting, the Celtics carried a 13-point lead into the third quarter.  By the start of the fourth, they had extended that lead to 22.  Though Miami would make a spirited comeback over the game’s final 12 minutes, outscoring the Celtics 26 to 12 to pull themselves to within eight with two minutes plus left to play, the gap would prove unbridgeable.

The Celtics’ team performance was the most balanced of the series so far.  Rajon Rondo’s 21 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds were supported by 23 points from Paul Pierce, who shot only 7-of-21 from the field but was a perfect 7-for-7 from the line.  Ray Allen chipped in 10 points and 5 rebounds, and has now collected five rebounds or more in seven of the 14 playoff games he’s played in, after having only nine such games out of 46 during the regular season.

While the charge was orchestrated by Rondo, it was truly led by Kevin Garnett, who put up 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.  Garnett keyed an assault on the rim that saw the Celtics score a season-high 58 points in the paint, which accounted for another season-high of 57.4 percent of their total points scored.  According to ESPN’s not-always-reliable shot chart information (HoopData hasn’t posted their much-preferred shot location data yet), 11 of Garnett’s 16 shot attempts came from within five feet of the hoop.  He made seven of those shots; two more than he had made from that distance in the previous two games combined.

Garnett also provided the game’s emotional touchstone which, if you’re reading this, you’ve undoubtedly seen several times by now.  With 8:58 left in the second quarter, Rondo lobbed a pass in to KG, who battled fiercely with Udonis Haslem for position beneath the hoop.  The pass bounced from Garnett’s fingertips to the backboard before falling into his hands.  The ball secured, he collected himself and then elevated for a shot.  As he went up, Haslem clamped his hands on to the ball and pulled down, slamming Garnett to the floor.

Garnett landed hard on his right elbow, howling at the rafters in pain on impact.  His teammates rushed to his aid, gathering in a circle around him.  Marquis Daniels leaned forward, offering to help him to his feet.  Keyon Dooling cut off the gesture, grasping Daniels at the wrist while laying his free hand out above Garnett, fingers splayed, palm down, as if to say, “give him a minute.”

Garnett lay still for a moment, breathing heavily.  Then he rolled on to his stomach, balled his hands into fists, and pumped out eight knuckle-ups as the crowd rained cheers upon him.

Before writing this, we hit the deck for some knuckle-ups to see how many we could do.  We got bored and stopped after 20.

The Marquis Daniels Chronicles

Rounding out the balanced attack was a surprisingly productive night from a Celtics bench that has been woefully unproductive since Avery Bradley was shut down, forcing Ray Allen back into the starting lineup.  From Game Three of the Conference Quarterfinals (Ray’s first playoff appearance) through Game Four of the Conference Semis (Avery’s last), the Celtics’ bench had averaged 20.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.  In the four games that followed, those numbers dropped off to 10.6 and 7.0.

On Friday, the bench put up their strongest performance since turning in 20 points and 9 rebounds in the Celtics’ 101-85 blowout win in Game Five of the Conference Semis.  Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels spearheaded the effort, playing active defense while combining for 16 of the B-squad’s 19 points and 9 of their 14 rebounds in 39 minutes of action.

Daniels’ performance was particularly surprising.  He had barely been used since a 22-minute run in Game Four of the Conference Quarters, a wall-to-wall blowout that allowed the C’s to limit their starters to an average of 26 minutes each.  He had gone on to play in eight of the next 11 games, scoring a total of four points in an average of 1.3 minutes per.

His number was called for the first time with 1:36 left in the first quarter.  As the two teams emerged from their timeout huddles, Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca nudged Chris Rock and said, “you know who that is sitting behind us?  It’s Avery Bradley, star of The Avery Bradley Chronicles.”  In a moment of unassailable cool, Avery just gazed off into the distance, pretending like he didn’t know they were talking about him.

Daniels set up on the baseline just off the block as Mickael Pietrus inbounded the ball to Keyon Dooling.  From the corner opposite, Paul Pierce curled around a sort of half-screen from Kevin Garnett, pulling Shane Battier along behind him.  Dooling delivered the ball to Pierce just above the free throw line.

Off the pick, Joel Anthony had stepped away from Garnett to close off the driving lane.  This left Garnett wide open in one of his several sweet spots; 15 feet out above the baseline.  Mike Miller shaded toward Garnett to contest if need be, leaving Daniels wide open beneath the basket.  It was too easy; Pierce delivered a bullet to Marquis, who put it up off the glass for two.

Marquis would connect on two more layups that were very similar to this.  The next one came with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter and the Celtics leading 64-46.  Mario Chalmers had gamboled into the lane for an underhanded runner which bounced along the rim and out into Daniels’ hands.  Marquis quickly outletted to Rajon Rondo and then jogged up the sideline behind him.

Rondo advanced to a spot just inside the perimeter at the extended elbow, then pivoted away from his defender.  Daniels continued past Rondo into a curl along the baseline, where he found a veritable runway to the hoop.  Rondo sent him a bounce pass, which he took to the block to meet a frantic contest from Shane Battier.  Marquis up-faked Battier off his feet then hopped into the contact, banking the shot into the hole as he did so.  As the ball fell through, the four other Celtics on the floor pumped their fists in unison.

He even made the free throw.

The next layup came just over a minute later, as Rajon Rondo delivered arguably his most dazzling pass of the game.  Rondo walked up the sideline then broke hard to his right, catching Mario Chalmers against a Paul Pierce screen.  Curling around Shane Battier, he sprang forward into the paint.

Udonis Haslem stepped forward to bar his path.  Rondo elevated at the base of the free throw circle, back spun over his right shoulder, then slung a bounce pass across his body to a cutting Marquis, who caught it in stride and kissed it off the glass for another two.

The most rousing play of the evening began with 7:10 left in the second quarter.  With only five ticks remaining on the shot clock, Ray Allen stood with the ball in his hands, pinned to the sideline by Dwyane Wade.  Brandon Bass sprinted toward him and set a pick on Wade’s left arm, intending to spring Ray toward the corner.  The avenue was shut down by LeBron James, who had followed Bass to the ball.

Brandon released toward the top of the arc, pulling Wade with him.  At that moment, James had hopped into the air, arms raised, perhaps intending to preemptively take away a shot attempt.  The convergence of events created an opportunity for Ray; with Wade gone and LeBron in the air, he had a momentary line on the basket.

Allen drove hard to his right, sprinting along the baseline toward the basket.  As he did so, both James and Udonis Haslem dropped to the hoop and leapt in sync to challenge the shot.  Feeling the swat team upon him, Ray dropped his arm as he sailed underneath the basket, then pulled it up and flung the ball off the glass as he emerged on the other side.

The shot missed the rim entirely before falling to the frothing scrum below.  Both James Jones and Brandon Bass sprung for the rebound, punching it high into the air.  With one second left on the shot clock, it fell into the hands of Marquis Daniels, who quickly squared, hopped, and fired.  The ball left his hands just as the buzzer sounded, and splashed through the net as the whistle blew.  Marquis had been clipped in the head on the way up.  The shot had counted, and-one.  Unfortunately, he would go on to miss the free throw.

Did you ever see that dance that Marquis and Keyon do on the sidelines when the Celtics make a big play?  The one where they cock their arms at the elbows and pump them up and down like they’re signaling a flanking pair of 18-wheelers to honk their horns?  In the second-most adorable moment of the night, Keyon Dooling, who was on the court for the play, celebrated by busting the move out for his partner in crime.

In the first-most adorable moment of the night, this little curly-haired kid in the stands hugged his dad, whose unshakable machismo appeared to bar him from smiling in response to an embrace from another male, out of sheer joy.

On our way out, we leave you with one final note.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen it, what with the intensity of the playoffs and the banged-up knee and all, but midway through the third quarter we were reminded that Paul Pierce does indeed have the best smile in the business.

Game Four tips off on Sunday at 8:30 PM Eastern.  With a gem from Marquis in the books, we’ve got a feeling that Sasha Pavlovic’s turn is just around the corner.

“Paul’s not flashy. I don’t even know how Paul scores sometimes. He doesn’t look like he’s that quick, but he is.  He just has a gift — he’s a professional scorer.” –Doc Rivers

On Tuesday, the Boston Celtics reset their Conference Quarterfinal matchup with the Atlanta Hawks to zero on the strength of a vintage “toolbox” game from Man of A Thousand Faces Paul Pierce.  The Captain poured in 36 points, finding the majority at the end of long chains of jab steps, step-backs, cross-overs, front- and back-shoulder spins and hesitation moves, on the way to an 87-80 Celtics victory.

There are a myriad of basketball player types: there are artists (Ricky Rubio) and wizards (Rajon Rondo).  There are surgeons (Steve Nash) and assassins (Kobe Bryant).  There are sparkplugs (J.J. Barea), garbage men (Brian Cardinal) and enforcers (Kendrick Perkins).  Paul Pierce is a craftsman.  Never known for eye-popping speed, hops or strength, he has spent his NBA career honing his ability to build complex mega-moves out of varying combinations of precisely-executed micro-moves of the type described above.  Along the way, as whatever explosiveness he’s ever had has abated, he’s continuously worked to refine his shooting touch.  Just last year, he set career-highs in field goal percentage (49.7%) and free throw percentage (86.0%).  The year prior, he set a career-high in three-point percentage (41.4%).

Pierce infuses the fine, Inglewood craftsmanship he builds his game around with a healthy dose of guile.  He perfected the dubious art of up-faking and shooting into contact from the mid-range and beyond during the rocky mid-aughts, when he was not just the Celtics’ best scoring option, but often their only.  It was during these years that Paul Pierce would develop into what Doc Rivers termed “a professional scorer” – a player equipped with both the physical tools to put the ball in the basket, and a master-level understanding of how to play the games within the game to get it done.

Case in point: Friday night’s 90-84 overtime victory.  On Tuesday, Pierce looked sharp from the get-go, connecting on his first four shots before going on to 12-26 from the field and 11-13 from the line.  He threw in a little bit of everything: lay-ups and dunks, long twos, mid-range jumpers, and one dagger three.  On Friday, he looked off-rhythm and out of sync, failing to connect on a field goal until the 1:54 mark in the second quarter.  He finished the night 3-12 from the field, hitting one long two, one corner three and one jumper from the free throw line.

And yet, once again, the Captain led his team in scoring with 21 points.  Though his shot wasn’t falling, he managed to put forth an effort that, along with Kevin Garnett’s 20 points and 13 rebounds and Rajon Rondo’s seventh career postseason triple-double, drove the Celtics to a 2-1 series lead.  Pierce did it by supplementing his three made field goals with seven trips to the free throw line, where he went 14-14.

On Thursday, we looked at the “toolbox” game and tried to describe the component micro-moves that made up Pierce’s bucket-getting mega-moves.  Today, let’s take a look at those seven trips to the free throw line.

First Quarter, 10:45.  Pierce scores the first points of the game off a missed bunny from Jeff Teague.  Kevin Garnett collects the rebound and outlets to Pierce, who pushes transition in his typical loping gait.  Across the half-court line, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams and Kirk Hinrich stand in a line above the arc.

As Pierce nears the NBA Playoffs logo above the arc (see below), he slows to a near stop as his teammates catch up behind him.  Joe Johnson keys in on Pierce, bending at the knees and angling forward to defend.  With the ball in his left hand, Pierce feints to the right, then drives past Johnson, getting all the way in to the semi-circle for a shot at a lay-in.  Off the blow-by, Williams drops down to defend the rim and fouls him body-to-body as he goes up for the shot.

Pierce lets out a small yelp as the foul is committed, a tapas-sized version of the full-throated “AAAAAAYYYYYYYY!” we’ve all come to know and love over the years.

Pierce collects the ball from the referee then dribbles it three times, staring intently into the floor as he does so.  Off the third bounce, he gathers it into his hands and spins it before bending at the knees and leaning forward slightly.  He holds the ball below his waist and tilts his head upward, mouth slightly ajar as he gazes at the rim.  His right shoulder and hip are angled toward the baseline.  His right knee is bent inward, toward the sideline.  He bobs in place for a moment, then raises his arms and snaps his wrist sharply, pushing the ball toward the rim on an arc.

He will repeat this action with near-zero variation 13 more times today, and countless more in the days going forward.

Second Quarter, 6:16.  With Rajon Rondo holding the ball just off the top of the key, Pierce loses Marvin Williams around a Kevin Garnett screen on his way from the wing to the elbow.  Rondo finds him with a sharp pass as he carries forward into the paint to be met by Erick Dampier, who is listed at 265 pounds – about four-fifths of his apparent actual weight.

Pierce takes two steps forward, then angles to his left, making sure to clip off of Dampier’s meaty hip as he goes up for the runner.  He lets out another small yelp as he makes contact.

Second Quarter, 4:18.  With the score tied at 30, Pierce blocks Joe Johnson’s elbow jumper into the hands of Rajon Rondo.  In transition, Rondo finds Pierce at the sideline.  Everyone is in the half-court now, but no one is in the lane, and the Hawks are not set to defend.  Off the catch, Pierce drives shoulder-first at Joe Johnson, who steps into the contact and is called for a blocking foul.

This puts the Hawks into the penalty, getting Pierce two shots.

Second Quarter, 0:30.  With 42 seconds to play in the half, Tracy McGrady goes up for a three-pointer and comes down on Rajon Rondo’s foot.  He collapses in a heap and grabs at his ankle, rolling on the floor in great pain.

Avery Bradley collects the rebound and pushes it forward.  At the other end of the floor, the Celtics have a five-on-four advantage.  Bradley finds Paul Pierce at the top of the key.  Kirk Hinrich picks him up immediately and fouls him to stop play.  Once Hinrich places his hands on him, Pierce flings the ball at the hoop from beyond the arc, hoping to net three free throw attempts.  Alas, the officials give him just the two.

Third Quarter, 5:45.  For the first time this evening, we’re treated to the Paul Pierce Special.  Set up on the wing in a one-on-one with Tracy McGrady, Pierce slowly dribbles forward.  He throws a sharp jab-step toward the paint, steps back and up-fakes.  McGrady bites, leaping high into the air as Pierce pulls the ball back and waits for his man to alight.  McGrady gets the whistle as he lands squarely on Pierce’s shoulder, just before the Captain puts up the shot.

Third Quarter, 3:04.  At the elbow, Pierce engages with Joe Johnson, bumping him with his shoulder, back and rear end as he drifts to a spot just inside the extended elbow.  Brandon Bass gets him the ball and clears out, setting up an iso.  Pierce squares up to Johnson and crouches down, his feet planted wide beyond his shoulders.  He twitches his shoulders then bursts forward, driving baseline and letting out a brusque “AY!” as he passes Johnson.  Once past, he is greeted at the rim by Dampier, who fouls him on the contest.

At this point, Pierce is 12-12 from the line.  The Atlanta Hawks are 5-6.

Third Quarter, 0:53.  With the score knotted at 56, Jeff Teague drives at the hoop and attempts a pass to a diving Ivan Johnson.  Brandon Bass deflects the pass, which kicks off a brief scrum in which Johnson attempts to corral the ball whilst surrounded by Pierce, Rondo and Bass.  Johnson appears to finally gain control, when Rondo punches the ball away and into the hands of Paul Pierce.

Pierce shoves the ball back to Rondo, kicking off a transition run.  The Hawks have two players filling the lane with Teague rapidly approaching to join them as the ball advances.  Rondo reaches the arc and whips a cross-court bounce pass to Pierce, who collects it in stride at the wing.  Pierce finds an extra gear on his way to the basket, where he is fouled hard by Teague as he goes up for the lay-in.

Everyone in the crowd is fired up by the play, except for this one guy, who sure is bummed out about something.

On his own, Pierce made two more free throws than the Hawks did as a team.  His 14 were the most he’s made without missing since a 14-14 night against the Orlando Magic on May 8, 2009 — nearly three years ago to the day.