Similar to the previous night in Cleveland, the Celtics allowed their opponent to get an early jump on them. Last night, the Blazers emulated the Cavs by getting out to a quick lead against a sluggish Celtic team. The Celtics turned the ball over frequently and never seemed to get any rhythm going on offense.
And just like the previous night in Cleveland, the Celtics had a huge third quarter and eventually compiled a 16 point lead late in the game. All seemed well enough to summon Gino out of his dressing room and get the party started. Except the Celtics couldn't score a basket until about 10 seconds left to play. Portland slashed the once 16-point lead to 1, then Ray Allen drilled a clutch three in front of the Blazer bench to seal the win. Check the GreenLights below for all the good that occurred last night:
Q1: The game gets started with Paul Pierce entering the Garden and Brandon Roy doing some sort of knee warm-up activity, followed by Mike Gorman congratulating Doc Rivers on earning NBA coach of the month honors. Other highlights include:
- Rajon Rondo gets the offense going by blowing by the Blazer defense for the lay-up
- Rondo with the lefty bounce pass to Kevin Garnett who bounces it to Shaquille O'Neal for the lay-up and a foul, which he makes (why Andre Miller even bothers to foul him here is beyond me)
- KG gets blocked down low, but Shaq is there to pick up the ball and drop in two
- KG kicking it out to Rondo who knocks down the three
- KG overplaying LaMarcus Aldridge in the post, knocking the ball away and just enough to force him out of his rhythm
- Then Rondo feeds KG on the next possession and he spins in the lane for two
- Solid defense forcing a deep (and missed) Blazer shot
- Paul Pierce with the turnaround jumper for two
- More good defense, forcing Aldridge into a deep, missed jumper from the left wing
- Marquis Daniels finding a cutting Big Baby for the lay-up
- Another good defensive set, KG saves the ball to Rondo
- Pierce with the block on Nicolas Batum's jumper
- Big Baby backing Batum down in the post, then hitting the turnaround jumper
- Quis with the steal, then Pierce finishes off the break
- Another solid defensive set, causing the turnover
Q2: The second quarter begins with the second unit playing exceptional defense, crashing the boards, and gaining possession of the ball. Other highlights include:
- Nate Robinson finding Big Baby for the right-wing jumper
- Big Baby grabbing the rebound off a Rudy Fernandez missed three
- Nate driving into the lane and feeding Semih Erden with the slick bound pass for the two-handed slam
- Ray off a curl for two
- Shaq overpowering Marcus Camby for two, followed by Tommy Heinsohn declaring he wants to eat Shaq for a meal
- Pierce upfaking the three, then taking it to the hole for two
- Good defense forcing Andre Miller into a rushed shot that he misses
- Rondo with the bounce pass in the lane to KG who gets fouled (KG makes both free throws)
- Shaq crashing into a fan sitting court side
- Ray with good defense down low
- Rondo blowing by the Blazer defense, finding Shaq who gets fouled
- Good defense forcing Sean Marks to miss the lay-up, eventually leading to Pierce drilling a three on the break
- Rondo finding Pierce for another three from the right-wing
- KG forcing Roy into a bad baseline shot
- Shaq slamming home the broken play Shaq-Fu style
- Pierce drawing the foul on Marks and hitting two free throws
Q3: The third quarter begins with Pierce doing work in the post on Roy and Matthews with a nice spin move for two, to get the offense going. Other highlights include:
- KG with the turnaround jumper over Roy for two
- Good defense forcing an Andre Miller travel in which KG gets the chin laceration that required stitches
- KG to to Rondo who touch-alley-oops to Shaq for the lay-up and a foul (Shaq makes the free throw)
- Pierce with the nice box out on Camby which looks like gets called for an over-the-back by Camby, except it's an inexplicable foul on Pierce
- Shaq with the nice feed to a cutting Big Baby for two
- Big Baby hustling for the Tommy Point
- Pierce finding Big Baby for the deep left wing jumper
- Kevin McHale, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith offering congratulations to Mike & Tommy for 30 years
- Big Baby with another deep left wing jumper
- Big Baby putting on a shooting clinic, this time from straight-away
- Big Baby with solid one-on-one post defense on Aldridge, eventually leading to Rondo kicking it out to Pierce for the three
- Pierce with exceptional one-on-one defense on Matthews forcing him into a bad shot as the 24 second shot-clock expires
- Rondo taking it to the hole for two
- Rondo to Pierce for another three
- KG knocking the post-entry pass away from Aldridge, creating the turnover
- KG drilling the deep baseline jumper to end the quarter
Q4: The final quarter begins with a nice night shot of the Garden, followed by Rondo blowing by the Blazer defense yet again, forcing Aldridge into the goaltend. Other highlights include:
- Rondo to Quis on the baseline for the reverse lay-up
- Fantastic one-on-one defense by Quis on Roy, forcing him into a bad fall-away jumper
- Rondo to KG for the alley-oop
- Ray with the mid-range jumper
- Big Baby finding the cutting KG who gets two off the glass
- KG swatting Aldridge's attempted lay-up
- Pierce with the mid-range pull-up jumper
- Pierce again with the defense on Matthews
- KG with the turnaround jumper in the lane for two
- KG keeping the final possession alive
- Ray sealing the win with the three right in front of the Portland bench
