Fueled by a 35-point outburst in the 2nd quarter, the Celtics had us all believing at halftime that a Game 1 victory was possible. But faith quickly dissolved into disgust as the Celtics offense collapsed returned to form in the 2nd half. The end result: a 93-79 Heat victory.
Rajon Rondo (16 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists) had a rough start. All 4 of his TOs came in the 1st quarter. He took several circus shots rather than draw contact. He did improve as the game went on. It’s hard to say Rondo needs to be more aggressive when he takes 20 shots.
Paul Pierce (12 points, 5-18 FG) was awful. Too slow passing out of traps. Weak drives to the rim looking for whistles that never came (0-0 FT). He needs to be A LOT better.
KG (23 points, 9-16 FG, 10 rebounds in 31 minutes) was great. The Celtics needed more from him in the paint, but the Heat defenders were flying at him from all angles.
Ray Allen (6 points, 1-7 FG, 3-7 FT) is still laboring. Is the ankle pain so severe that Ray can’t make free throws?
Brandon Bass (8 points, 2 rebounds) was mediocre. Mickael Pietrus had 1 point. The Celtics can’t win this series w/o more production from these guys. Their counterparts on Miami (Battier, Miller) combined for 18 points and 13 rebounds.
The Celtics missed 10 free throws.
The Celtics were hit with FOUR unfair, unjust and absurd techical fouls. The worst of the bunch was Doc Rivers tech for saying “C’mon Eddie” after a foul went unnoticed by Ed Malloy.
Gary Tanguay had a great stat during the post game; 23 technical fouls have been called on Heat opponents during playoffs, while only 3 have been called on Heat.
Just sayin…
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
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