Giving Pietrus some of the credit he deserves

Mickael Pietrus is a funny guy.  

I don't just mean that in a "he makes everyone laugh" kind of way, although, he certainly does that.  I mean it in a polite, flummoxed way. 

He has the ability to put the ball to the floor and drive, but he doesn't because he says he's been scared off by his injury.  Yet he'll do it every once in a while.  He get torched on D five straight times and then he comes up huge with a defensive stop. 

Three of the biggest plays last night, you could argue, were made by Mickael Pietrus. 

The first came with 1:51 left overtime when a Michael Pietrus held his ground against a retreating LeBron James and drew a sixth foul on the three-time MVP. The next came on the ensuing possession when Pietrus grabbed an offensive rebound and kept the possession alive with 1:31 left. The third play came on the same possession when Pietrus grabbed another offensive rebound with 1:04 on the clock and extended kept the ball in Boston’s hands for more than a minute as the team nursed a one-possession lead.

You can argue whether LeBron's 6th foul was actually a foul or not, but Pietrus put himself into a good position.  As an aside, you could probably argue that LeBron committed a 6th foul (or more) somewhere else in the game that didn't get called… but I digress.  The point is, Pietrus got into a good spot, he took the contact, he probably sold it a little, and LeBron was gone. 

And even though the Celtics didn't score on the extra possession they got, anything that forces the opposing defense to play harder for longer hurts them.  Hell, just look at the Celtics and how they get killed by offensive rebounds all the time. 

It's always the little things that add up to make the difference in close wins.  Marquis Daniels avoiding the foul that would have given Wade free throws at the end of the game was as big as anything else in the game.  Pietrus getting LeBron out and extending possessions at a critical time was huge too, and plays like that should be acknowledged as part of winning playoff basketball.