THAT WAS A DAMN BAR FIGHT! After an atrocious reversal by the referees that led to Ty Lawson sending the game to overtime, this game went into a full-fledged bar fight. It was sloppy, it was gritty, it was big shot after big shot, but eventually the Celtics outlasted the Nuggets, 118-114. So much to talk about, let’s get right into it.
The Green: First, Jason Terry was looking everything like the player we all thought he would be. In regulation he dropped 21 points on 8 of 19 shooting being the instant offense man. In overtime he was cold as ice, missing seven straight 3’s but then out of nowhere he hit a mammoth shot with 1:15 left in the 3rd OT. He also had the defensive play of the game, poking the ball away from Andre Miller and getting the steal with 30 seconds left to help close this game out.
Second is Jeff Green. He hit a big jumper in the fourth and then a huge game tying 3 in overtime when everybody else was ice cold. That’s right Jeff Green hit big shots & Jason Terry made a huge defensive stop. He finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in 42 minutes.
I haven’t even gotten to Paul Pierce or KG yet. Truth played 54 minutes and had a 27/14/14 while making a whole bunch of 3’s including a remarkable in double OT with Andre Miller all over him. Kevin Garnett went for 46 minutes yet started the 3rd overtime hitting three of his first four shots and went 20/18/6.
The Gross: The referee reversal was bad but the Celtics managed to get a massive makeup in the second OT when the refs gave the Celtics possession despite Jeff Green appearing to be the last person touching it. Even Stevens is what Tommy Heinson called it.
But what was gross was the Celtics’ habit of not closing out halves reared its ugly head tonight. After only committing one turnover in the first, the Celtics turned it over nine times with led to nine of Denver’s 27 points. They were being a little too fancy, unlike the quick, efficient passes that helped them get a 10-point lead after one. The sloppiness continued in the beginning of the fourth as the Nuggets were able to go on a 8-0 run in the first two minutes to tie the game. After Doc called a time out, the Celtics got the lead back up to seven with five minutes left to play until the Celtics couldn’t get anything else to go down after that which led to Denver coming back into this and giving the Celtics their biggest challenge of the post-Rondo era.
The Greenlights: You would think that in an incredibly entertaining game there would be more videos but at least we have this gem of KG and the Manimal exchanging pleasantries. (H/T to Oakley & Allen)
And then there’s the Truth with this ridiculous three-pointer in the second overtime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmG9aNxyC8I
The Grid:
- The two teams combined to take 221 shots (Denver 113, Boston 108)
- Denver dominated in the paint with a 62-30 advantage
- The Celtics had 34 assists on 43 shots.
- Celtics bench outscored Denver’s 51-40
- Jason Collins is the only person who entered the game who didn’t score. (He was in for less than a minute)
I don’t care if the Bobcats would stomp the Celtics by 20. That game was totally worth it. Have to give Denver credit for continuing to push the ball and not giving up. This was the Celtics biggest challenge of the post-Rondo era and they managed to get the W.
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