Trailing by a point, the Celtics broke from a timeout with 27 seconds remaining and were set to inbound the ball in front of Washington’s bench. That’s when Ray Allen heard his former teammate chirping.
“He was trying to talk to me, you know how Sam [Cassell] is,” Allen said. “He looked at me and he was like, ‘You’re getting the ball, you’re getting the ball, I know you’re getting the ball.’ I tried to shrug it off.”
...
“It was exactly the play,” Allen said. “The bigs, Kevin and Perk, set a great screen and I came off. I think I even had more time, but that’s the one thing about shooting the ball - I don’t like to sit there and wait on the 3-point line."
Herald: Ray Allen makes it as planned
Doc Rives gets criticized for not being a very good X's and O's guy... but the Celtics keep coming out of time outs with great plays that lead to points or wide open looks.
Doc continued to take heat as the Celtics flat-out sucked for about 40 minutes. But this is on the players. And was there any better argument for the "these guys are bored and they're flipping a switch" than last night?
Boston called a time out with 6:11 left after an Andray Blatche jumper made it 79-66. They whipped off a 10-0 run that had Rajon Rondo's fingerprints all over it (4 pts, 3 assists, 1 rebound)... and closed with a 20-4 run overall.
6 minutes, 11 seconds of effort. Did Doc do anything special in that huddle? Are the guys hypnotized and Doc uttered the key phrase to suddenly get them to try?
No. The players decided to put in more effort. That's what this mess has been about from the beginning.
Coming up, Page 2... where there's a little more optimism out there
Even when Kevin Garnett, who had possibly the worst offensive night of his NBA career after failing to connect on any of the seven shots he took, missed the back end of two free throws to keep it a two-possession game, Boston kept fighting and Allen's 3-pointer with 1:32 to play gave Boston its first lead of the night.
Randy Foye answered with a 15-foot jumper to put the Wizards back on top. But Foye later missed a triple that would have salted away the game with 33 seconds to play, and Allen then connected on the game's biggest shot -- another trifecta -- with 17 ticks remaining for an 85-83 Celtics lead.
"I take it as a win," said Rivers. "We'll take it. You know, it was good to win a game like this, as far as I was concerned. We've lost so many of these, where we've played poorly and lost. It's nice every once in a while to play poorly and win. It's a good win for us.
ESPN Boston: Ray Allen saves Celtics from themselves
Chris Forsberg lays out 3 reasons to be optimistic... including the fact that the Celtics won a game last night that they've been losing all season long.
The bright side of things is the Celtics beat a team that was playing out of its mind (24 and 11 for Al Thornton? 23 and 9 for Blatche? 13 and 5 blocks for JaVale McGee??)... while the Celtics front line was largely a no-show (KG, Sheed, Baby: 2-20, 15 points).
The pessimistic side says the Wizards had no business being in this game at all... and what happens when a good team rolls in here.
It would be great if the home crowd could see more Gino. But every team goes through its struggles. The Lakers just lost their 3rd straight game and their 4th straight on the road. They just lost the a Charlotte team that the Celtics blew out. Does that mean the Celtics are going to blow out the Lakers when they meet? No.
It doesn't really mean much at all. All that matters is the Celtics won.
The rest of the links:
Herald: Celtics star in late drama | Mixed bag for Garnett | Finley follows in Doc's footsteps | Globe: Celtics tough out a win | Allen has been on the money | Finley and Daniels reunited on Celtics | ESPN Boston: Allen's Heroics, Saunders flips out | First impressions | CSNNE: Talking points: C's vs. Washington | C's rally, make Wiz shot at upset disappear | WEEI: Ray: We probably got away with one | Lex: Did Celtics fans really want to trade Ray Allen | CSL: Celtics Stuff Live with Mike Gorman