That was a roller coaster game. The Celtics led big. The Hawks led big. Each team made runs over the final 15 minutes that had you thinking "we got this!" When the dust settled, the Celtics had the ball with 10 seconds remaining and a chance to win it… but Rajon Rondo coughed up the ball.
The story of this game is… Paul Pierce's knee. His stat line was decent (16 points, 7-17 FG, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals), but the mobility was clearly not there. Check John's Twitter timeline for more non-stop commentary on Pierce's knee.
Al Horford was HUGE. 19 points, 11 rebounds in 41 minutes. The Celtics need to adjust their defense. Horford had a lot of open jumpers.
Rajon Rondo (13 points, 12 assists, 5 steals, 5 TOs) was hot and cold. Mostly cold. He did have a great stretch late in the 3rd and early in the 4th that brought the Celtics back from a double-digit deficit, but overrall he struggled.
Everyone is puzzled by Doc Rivers decision to play Ryan Hollins (19 minutes) over Greg Stiemsma (4 minutes). Hollins was active and contributed 5 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block. But I'm curious if the decision to sit Stiemsma is injury or execution related.
Avery Bradley had 2 points in 18 minutes. The shoulder is clearly an issue.
The start time for Game 6 is TBD. It's either 6 or 8pm depending on the outcome of tonight's Bulls/Sixers game.
"I just thought they played harder, they played better." – Doc Rivers
Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images
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