[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="462" caption="Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)"]
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I've been thinking of the best way to describe this game... and the best thing I could come up with is...
Nothing.
This game had a whole lotta nothing going on. There was no flow to it. No stand-out performance. No real exciting moment. The last 2 minutes almost became a duel between Gerald Wallace and Paul Pierce... but that never had enough time to materialize. Overall, this game was really kinda boring. But I'll take a boring 89-84 win over a boring loss.
Here's what went wrong:
Ray Allen got cold. 15 points on 5-11 shooting isn't bad... but 1-7 from 3 is. I'm not going to kill the guy for it, though. There was no possible way he'd keep up his scorching pace. He just got cold.
So did KG. 4-12 from the field... and a lack of aggressiveness. When it came to making a choice to go to the hole or pull up... he pulled up.
Rajon Rondo didn't control the game. His 9 assists are actually surprising. It felt like a 4 or 5 assist game from him. He didn't consistently control the tempo of the game. He just pushed it in stretches.
I guess you can blame the back-to-back for those things. Here's what went right:
Perk was Perk. 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Beast. He also had a few big blocks.
Pierce did just enough. 19 points on 6-14 shooting is a decent night. He came out early looking like he was going to go nuts. Then he didn't do anything for a while. Then he showed up at the end to take over, hit a couple of shots and free throws... and he found KG for the capper.
Tony Allen provided a lift. To me, Tony Allen was the key to this win. The Celtics were flat all night long, except when TA was in the game. He clearly had more energy than anyone else. 11pts on 4-7 shooting, along with 3 assists and 3 steals (and 3 very Tony Allen turnovers) doesn't look huge... but I think Tony was the player of the game.
The Celtics really had plenty of opportunities to run away with this game... and they never did. For a 5 point win, this sure felt like it could have been a blowout. In the end... the Celtics played sloppy and unenthused while letting the other team shoot 48%... and they still managed to come away with their 8th straight win.