Ray Allen finishes with 25 points, Glen Davis adds 23, and the Celtics finish this one 12-for-20 as a team from long range. Just an incredibly solid win for the Celtics, who maintain their home-court advantage with a 2-0 series lead over the Heat.
For Miami, Dwyane Wade came to play. Everyone else might as well have stayed home. It's that simple.
Fourth quarter, 3:07, Celtics 99-66: The only good news for Miami in this one? It's ending soon.
Yeah, that's it. There is no other good news.
The Heat are probably pretty anxious to get home after a loss like this. They've had enough of Boston, no doubt.
Fourth quarter, 6:07, Celtics 99-66: Smart, unselfish team-oriented play is what wins basketball games. Telling Dwyane Wade just to play one-on-five on every single possession is not.
That's not rocket science, is it?
Not to brag or anything, but I could probably drop 29 points in a playoff game, as long as you call every single play for me and let me go nuts. That's basically what Miami's doing with Wade right now. It's not working.
You can tell it's garbage time because Doc is letting Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels play. Blunt, but true.
Fourth quarter, 9:11, Celtics 97-64: You know you're getting slaughtered when even Rajon Rondo is killing you from long range.
Rondo hits a 3 early in the fourth quarter, Paul Pierce adds another one and, just like that, the Boston lead is back over 30. No one but Dwyane Wade came to play for Miami tonight. No one.
What an embarrassing night for the Heat.
End of third quarter, Celtics 85-59: To his credit, Dwyane Wade is doing everything in his power to keep the Heat in this game. It just doesn't look like enough.
Miami closes the quarter on a 10-2 run, getting eight points from Wade including a pair of treys. But really, truly, honestly — who cares? Wade should save his heroics for a day when they can make a difference.
At this point, the Heat should consider themselves blessed even to be within 26. A few minutes ago, they were a lot worse off.
Third quarter, 2:16, Celtics 82-49: Good lord. Ray Allen is unstoppable.
Just watch the Celtics whip the ball all over the floor — from Tony Allen, to Rajon Rondo, to Rasheed Wallace. There's no doubt where the ball's ending up. Ray gets to his sweet spot on the wing, and the ball gets to Ray. It's just so simple, and it can't fail.
Seven 3s in one game. Incredible.
Third quarter, 4:29, Celtics 74-42: First a 21-0 run in the second quarter, then an 18-0 one in the third? Are you kidding?
The Heat finally snap out of it with a pair of free throws from Joel Anthony and a 3 from Dwyane Wade.
But for every trey Wade knocks down, Ray Allen's got two more. Ray is absolutely killing it out there – 8-for-10 from the field, 6-of-7 from deep, 22 points total.
Glen Davis has 23.
Kevin who? The Celtics are making mockeries of the Heat.
Third quarter, 7:07, Celtics 62-37: Hard to believe that Miami held Ray Allen to zero shot attempts in the first quarter. Since then, he's exploded.
Back-to-back 3-balls for Ray here in the third, and the floodgates are really open now. Ray's now got 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-5 from long range.
The Heat just have no idea how to get a stop anymore. The Celtics are making this look way too easy.
Third quarter, 9:11, Celtics 54-37: Jermaine O'Neal has blocked Glen Davis' shot five times tonight. But here, Rajon Rondo has his teammate's back and gets a little revenge.
O'Neal gets his layup stuffed by the athletic Rondo, the first block of the series for the young Boston point guard.
For Miami, O'Neal has been a total no-show in this series. In these first two games combined, the big man is shooting 4-for-23 for a total 10 points. Ouch.
The Heat look totally lost.
Halftime, Celtics 49-33: Miami's scoreless run finally comes to a close after a full eight minutes, as Michael Beasley knocks down a 3 with 2:06 left to end the misery. But the Heat are still in big trouble.
They're just getting manhandled by the Celtics defense, as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are getting out on the wings and contesting every shot. Nothing's coming easy for the Heat, who have shot 13-for-39 from the floor as a team.
Glen Davis has 14 points to lead everyone, while Paul Pierce has nine and Ray Allen has added eight in the second quarter. For Miami, it's Dwyane Wade with 10 and not a whole lot else. Erik Spoelstra and his guys are going to need a miracle.
Second quarter, 6:15, Celtics 44-29: Wow. The Boston run was 10-0 a second ago; it's now 19-0. Insane.
And the Celtics aren't getting cocky, either — they simply continue to move the ball well and play confident, poised, unselfish basketball. That's what true Celtics do.
Ray Allen has eight of the Celtics' 19 over this stretch, while Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis have both emerged as capable low-post scorers here in the second quarter. The Heat are just letting the C's have every layup they want.
It's playoff time, guys! Where's the defense?
Second quarter, 6:15, Celtics 35-29: The Garden crowd comes to life as Ray finally connects on a 3 to put the Celtics back in front. From there, the C's start a rally.
It's a 10-0 Boston run midway through the second quarter, and the C's have surged back in front. They've got their starting five back on the floor now, and they're determined to hold the lead.
Erik Spoelstra needs a timeout. His guys look lost out there.
Second quarter, 8:56, Heat 29-28: You'd think that with Doc Rivers emptying his bench and using Ray Allen as his only starter out there with the second unit, that would get Ray some scoring opportunities. Not so much.
Ray still hasn't gotten off a shot. It's been Rasheed Wallace and Michael Finley carrying the scoring load for the second unit. The C's are staying in it, but you have to wonder if Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen, the team's two point guards tonight, could be doing a better job sharing the ball.
Plenty of game to go. But the Celtics have some work to do, tactically speaking.
End of first quarter, 23-23: Another day, another technical for Rasheed Wallace. It's hard to be too surprised these days.
Another observation on this first quarter, aside from Sheed's obvious problems with the officiating: Ray Allen has done nothing so far tonight. He's been on the floor for nine-plus minutes, but he's hardly touched the ball.
Zero points right now on zero shot attempts. You'd think that with KG out of the lineup, Ray would get more involved, not less. This is puzzling, to say the least.
First quarter, 2:35, Celtics 19-16: Doc Rivers showed some guts by going with the younger, more inexperienced Glen Davis tonight. And right now, he's looking like a genius.
Davis has six points and four rebounds already in the first quarter — but just as important is his defense. He's using his energy and his footwork to hold Michael Beasley at bay, forcing him into tough shots whenever he touches the ball.
Beasley's 1-for-4 from the field right now. Aside from Wade, no one on the Heat seems to have it going.
First quarter, 5:16, Celtics 13-10: There is only one reason the Heat are keeping this game respectable, and his name is Dwyane Wade.
D-Wade has scored on each of the Heat's last three possessions. And he's not settling for jumpers, either — he's getting aggressive. He's driving. He's making things very difficult for Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, both of whom will need to step up and slow the guy down.
Easier said than done.
First quarter, 9:47, Celtics 3-2: Honestly, would anyone be surprised if this game just turned into a duel between Paul Pierce and Quentin Richardson? Because that's how it looks so far.
Pierce stepped up and hit a big 3 to get the Celtics on the board early, and Q came back with a nice jumper to cut it to 3-2. That's how tonight's going to be — these two guys are the emotional leaders at the heart of this rivalry, and they're going to step up tonight.
8:02 p.m.: Last spring, Glen Davis was a mainstay in the Celtics' starting five in the absence of Kevin Garnett. Tonight, he'll get another chance.
It will be Davis, and not Rasheed Wallace, getting the start in Game 2 tonight in the place of the suspended Kevin Garnett.
Tip-off in just a minute. Stay tuned.
8:49 a.m.: Last year, the Celtics had no trouble winning a few postseason games without Kevin Garnett. Can they still do it now?
Well, they've got to. With KG's suspension for elbowing Quentin Richardson in Game 1, the Celtics will have to make do without their emotional leader and defensive backbone. This is a team that's struggled without Garnett all year, but in the playoffs, they just might get the extra effort they need out of Rasheed Wallace and the rest of their bench bigs.
The Celtics have a 1-0 edge in this series already. If they can bring the max effort without KG, they've got a good shot at pushing it to 2-0. If they can't, though, their home-court advantage is blown and they're headed to Miami with a split.
A lot's on the line, and KG's on the bench. Tough spot for Doc Rivers and the Celtics.
