After two more quarters and an overtime period, the C’s had evened the series, but it was not easy, as Boston held on to beat the Miami Heat 93-91 at TD Garden.
It looked early on like the Celtics would have been able to put their feet up and enjoy themselves after a dominant start to the game. The C’s opened the game on a 21-5 run behind more incredible play from Rajon Rondo, as well as stifling defense.
The Celtics massaged that lead until halftime, taking a 61-47 lead into the locker room at halftime. All seemed right with the world for the Celtics.
It was only a matter of time before Gino crashed this Garden party.
However, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers wasn’t exactly thrilled with that 14-point lead, at least not with how his team was able to get it.
"My coaches got on me at halftime because I was like, I said we’re scoring like crazy and we’re executing but I don’t like our shots," Rivers explained. "They looked at me like I was a moron, because the way we were shooting the ball, but there were a lot of jump shots."
Rivers, of course, is not a moron, as the Celtics were relying heavily on the jump shot and shooting 7-for-16 from 3-point. Sure, they were doing a good job of getting those looks and moving the basketball, but you can only rely on that for so long.
Miami clawed its way back into the contest in the third quarter. They trailed entering the fourth quarter, but with 8:54 to play in the fourth, LeBron James scored on a fast break lay-up to tie the game. Thirty seconds later, the Heat had their first lead of the night.
As it often seems to happen, the Heat comeback stemmed from increased intensity and a commitment on the defensive end. After being embarrassed in the first half by being beat by a less athletic team to every loose ball, as well as giving up open shots all over the floor, Miami found a sense of urgency.
"They were getting everything," Heat center Udonis Haslem said. "They were getting jumper, they were getting to the paint, they were getting fouled, getting to the free throw line. They had us throwing triggers all over the place. We just weren’t playing hard enough. We made a commitment to one another in the second half that were going to play as hard as possible and let the chips fall where they may."
It wasn’t difficult to see the difference, either. The Heat were relentless on defense, especially in the third quarter where they held the Celtics to 12 points on 5 of 16 shooting. The Celtics turned the ball over six times, and Rondo was suddenly slowed down.
The Heat were back in it.
However, it wasn’t just improved play from the Heat that helped the Boston lead evaporate, as the Celtics themselves played a role as well.
"We were really unorganized," Rivers said. "I thought were unorganized the whole second half. I thought it was us at the beginning of the third quarter. I thought we came out and tried to throw knockout punches with quick 3’s, transition, never-ran stuff.
"Our execution in the first half was flawless. It was good as maybe we’ve had, and we got completely away from it. We really did."
It’s not the first time in this series –- or in these playfoffs –- that the Celtics have seen their leads slip away. Boston jumped out to a 15-point lead early in Game 2 as well, only to see that fall apart before eventually losing in overtime.
That pattern developed once again on Sunday night, but the Celtics were able to find just enough to still come away with a hard-fought win.
"Obviously they were going to make a run," Celtics big man Kevin Garnett said. "They got a lot of free throws in that run, a lot of lay-ups in that run and they were able to get some transition. Once we got that under control, I felt like we got back to being aggressive.
"Then, when we had to, we got stops."
Get stops they did, as the Celtics were able to put the clamps on when they needed to, limiting the Heat to just two points in overtime, a task that was made considerably easier after James fouled out.
Yet, the Celtics know that as good as they have played at times in this series, the Game 2 meltdown, paired with the close call in Game 4, can serve as reminders of the fact that they’ve yet to put in their best effort.
"You know, we’ve won two in a row, but we feel like we let Game 2 slip away," Celtics captain Paul Pierce said. "So we feel like we’re playing with good momentum. But, you know, we gotta start playing for 48 minutes. We haven’t put together a 48-minute game yet."
If the Celtics can find that 48-minute effort on Tuesday night in Miami, they have a good chance of returning home with a chance to close out the series and advance to the NBA Finals.
