ShareThisMIAMI - With the Boston Celtics hanging around just enough to remain within striking distance in the fourth quarter here Tuesday night, it was time for the team's key players to make their move. Instead, they went looking for answers in all the wrong corners.
With Game Two of the conference semifinals vs. Miami tied at 80-80 and 7:09 left, the Celtics missed their next six shots. Glen Davis spun wildly inside for two misses. Ray Allen couldn't knock down an open 3-pointer, Jermaine O'Neal missed a lay-in and Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo missed jumpers.
Allen and Garnett are given carte blanche offensively, but not getting the ball into Rondo's hands more often or getting Paul Pierce shots clearly was galling to coach Doc Rivers.
"They're playing great defensively and they're making shots offensively," Rivers said of the Heat. "But for us, we have to keep it simple. We have to get the ball to the right guys.
"It was 80-80 and we went away from things that we had success with. Whether they do it on the floor or I call it, we have to get the ball in the hands of the right guy. That doesn't mean the right guy will shoot the ball, but it usually leads to good things. I didn't think we did a good job with that tonight."
Davis' two misses were the most costly. His first came on a wild, spinning move in the lane. The second was a better move that was denied by Miami's Joel Anthony.
The flip side, of course, is that the Heat know just where to get the ball in crunch time. Either Dwyane Wade or LeBron James has the ball in his hands for several seconds of virtually every possession. They attempted 45 of their team's 75 shots and scored 63 points in the 102-91 win.
"They were terrific and used every bit of their talent tonight to help us win," said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, "particularly on the offensive end when we needed a bucket and (Boston's) defense started to turn it up. Every time we had some kind of emotional basket from one of the two of them."
Both teams are welcoming the three-day break before the series resumes Saturday night in Boston. Neither team will practice Wednesday and the Heat won't come to Boston until Friday afternoon.
The Celtics especially will benefit from the rest. Pierce left the game in the first quarter due to a foot strain. He returned in the second quarter but was far from his explosive self. Rondo has a creaky back and asked to come out of the game early in the fourth quarter. O'Neal was also knocked around hard in the game.
"In this case the rest is good, very good for us because we are a little banged up," said Rivers. "I told them to go golf or do whatever they want to do, but stay away from each other, stay away from film and stay away from basketball and just relax."
(Contact Kevin McNamara at kmcnamar(at)projo.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Providence Journal
