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Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here…
highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as
satisfying as a good morning dump.
was the game-changing eruption. Celtics' fans were treated to Vintage
Allen, except that vintage in this case is the here and now for the
still sweet-shooting 34-year-old. He took eight shots and made six of
them. Six of the eight shots were 3-pointers and five of those found the
mark. He had 17 in the quarter, 12 of them (four 3-pointers) coming in a
span of 2 minutes, 49 seconds.
It's games like this that drive home the value of Allen, whose contract
is up at the end of the season. It's games like this that made Danny
Ainge think long and hard about moving Allen at the trading
deadline, eventually concluding that it was better to keep him. It's
games like this that remind the Heat and everyone else out there that
there is always a potential eruption on the horizon from No. 20.
ESPN Boston – Vintage Ray makes Heat pay
“Since Kevin wasn’t in there, they didn’t want to double on the post,”
Allen said. “D-Wade was chasing more than he had to chase in Game 1.
There was one time where I had gone a couple of times back and forth. He
chased me, but when he got back down on his offensive side he kind of
caught his breath. He was sitting down there catching his breath. So
whatever we do, just keep him moving so he doesn’t have as much energy
on the offensive end. That’s what we’ve got to continue to do.
Wade had enough energy to stand outside and launch some late treys that
made the stat line smell good, but he wasn’t the same perennial MVP
candidate who kills you even when he’s not shooting, who breaks down the
defense, finds open friends.
Herald – Ray puts the Heat on Wade
While Glen Davis deserves all the credit in the world for playing with the energy of a toddler who overdosed on sugar, Ray Allen was the professional mercenary. Each three-pointer was a grenade exploding all over the Heat's confidence (more on that later).
He ran Dwayne Wade ragged. If Wade has to expend this much energy on defense, the Heat are in real trouble.
Thinking long-term for a minute, how can Danny Ainge not re-sign this guy? Yes, the Celtics have to get younger, but it shouldn't come at the expense of Ray Allen. Outbursts like this one, especially in the playoffs, should remind us all about Ray's value.
On Page 2, Michael Beasley and the Heat are mentally weak.
“They just had us talking to each other, blaming each other,” said Heat
forward Michael
Beasley. “We missed a couple shots, missed a couple rotations, and
failed as far as mentally.”
“Mental breakdown,” is how Beasley characterized the loss. “We let our
missed shots and our missed rotations just take us out of the game
mentally. We were almost fighting each other sometimes, and any time you
get a team talking to each other like that and just out of it mentally,
these type of games will happen.”
WEEI – Cs win mental battle vs Heat
When I look at Beasley, Jermaine O'Neal and Quentin Bitchardson, I don't get that warm and fuzzy UBUNTU feeling. While it will be near impossible to carry over any momentum from this win into Miami for Game 3, let's hope the Celtics start strong and continue to chip away at Miami's confidence.
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston – Baby's outburst meant quiet night for KG's daughter | A defense to make KG proud | Globe – Davis had opposition rattled | Cs producing answers | Heat flat and flattened | Herald – Doc Rivers talk is funny stuff | Watch and learn, KG | CSNNE – Sheed's woes continue | The mystery of Glen Davis | WEEI – Pierce, Davis press conference |
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