Should Celtics Fans Be Concerned?
"The Magic are too soft and too stupid and have no chance at coming back in this series. " - Michael Felger
The Boston Celtics came close, but couldn't quite close out the Orlando Magic last night at TD Garden. The Magic staved off elimination with a 96-92 overtime win that forces a game five Wednesday night in Orlando. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 32 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Michael and Tony look forward to game five and declare there's no reason for Celtics fans to panic.
Felger: "This series has a chance to get interesting, but no chance to get lost. The Magic are still too soft and too stupid. It has the chance to be a butt hole tightening moment if Orlando brings it back here for game six and the game is tied or ahead at halftime which is what I think is going to happen. Then who knows, but the Celtics have no chance at losing this series. The Celtics were at their worst last night and the Magic still needed a bank three-point shot in overtime to win. They needed the Celtics to pee down their leg in order to just win a game in this series. So even though the Celtics did not play their best game last night, they are not the Bruins. In no way do I feel any of the same emotions as I did with the Bruins and that bunch of losers. In fact it's entirely possible for the Celtics to go down to Orlando and just blow them out on their home floor Wednesday night. The Magic are too soft and too stupid and have no chance at coming back in this series. "
Mazz: "The Celtics are going to lose game five in Orlando so let me prepare you all for that. They are going to come back here for game six in Boston and everyone's anatomy is going to tighten up as you like to put it Mike. The Celtics played terrible last night and with that said they still had a chance to come back and win that game in the fourth quarter. They had a ton of chances to end that series last night and made some bonehead plays down the stretch that were uncharacteristic of Pierce and Garnett. If the Celtics come back here and lose game six at the Garden then I will be worried because I don't like their chances at winning a game seven in Orlando. So until that happens I'm not really worried about the Celtics collapsing."
The Collin-tary: Celtics fans have one man to blame for an ugly 96-92 overtime loss to the Magic in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals and he wears a suit. For the first time in this series Doc Rivers was put in a pressure situation and he took a leak down his leg. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy has done an appalling job of preparing his team to make intelligent plays late in games, but Doc outdid him last night. The difference n the game was not that the Magic were better instructed in the final 24 seconds of game four, it's that the Celtics weren't instructed at all. Never did I think Rivers would throw up on himself more than Van Gundy at the end of a playoff game, but Monday night it happened.
Tied 86-86 with 24 seconds left in regulation Van Gundy correctly called timeout to discuss a play with his team. During the timeout Rivers should have instructed his team that they had three timeouts remaining (1 Full and 2 20-second). He should also have explained that if the Magic are to score his team should call timeout to advance the ball to half-court thus saving valuable time. Rivers also should have explained that if the Celtics get a stop and there is no transition opportunity to call timeout to advance the ball.
Coming out of the break, Orlando point guard Jameer Nelson missed a 21-foot jumper with 17 seconds left. The rebound was collected by Kevin Garnett who handed the ball off to Rajon Rondo to bring up the floor. This was mistake one. By making a basketball play and handing the ball to Rondo to dribble the Celtics could no longer advance the ball with a timeout. If Garnett were to have immediately signaled for a timeout upon rebounding the ball with 16 seconds left the Celtics would have advanced the ball to mid-court.
Rondo proceeded to slowly cross half court while listening to Rivers yell out a play. Rajon crosses half court with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. Now, the Celtics are up 3-0 in the series and have a chance to advance to the NBA Finals. Do you think the TD Garden was a little loud? As Rondo crossed half court with 10 seconds left mistake two occurred. The Celtics still had three timeouts to use and should have called one to make sure everyone was on the same page for the final play.
Once the play was heard by only two or three Celtics players on the floor Rondo began to execute his job. Rivers said in the post game that the play called for a high screen and roll with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Once Rondo gave the ball to Pierce he was to evacuate the area. Garnett and Glen Davis were to spread the floor and fan out to flatten the defense. However, they didn't hear the play or misunderstood instructions from the bench amidst the chaos. Instead there were four Celtics too close in proximity to Pierce therefore bringing added defenders into the area. Thus mistake three occurs as Pierce was double and triple teamed and the ball is stripped from him.
Doc Rivers had two if not three chances to make sure the correct play was called during the Celtics final possession. Diagramming final shots has been a strength of Rivers in his tenure as coach of the most storied franchise in NBA history. Yet, in one of the biggest moments of his coaching career he failed to execute a simple hand motion or vocal cue to indicate "timeout" to any official. Rivers acknowledged his team's poor spacing and lack of execution in the closing seconds of the game during his post game press conference. Did he not know he had three timeouts left and that he couldn't save them for the next game? It's mind boggling how a coach can have the chance to close out an opponent at home and earn a trip to the NBA Finals and turn his back on what got him there in the first place.
The Celtics blew a golden chance to administer the knock out punch in the game's final possession. Now, the Magic have life as they head home to host game five on Wednesday night. It looks like Doc and the Celtics didn't learn from the Boston Bruins historic collapse that its dangerous to give a dead team life. Boston fans be ready for a very uncomfortable game six at the Garden later this week.
