Celtics Come To Life, Win Game 3
Sunday, May 08, 2011
It was “gut check” time at the Garden Saturday night for the Boston Celtics. Trailing the Miami Heat 2 games to none in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal series, the Celts found themselves in a must-win situation. I’m happy to report that the Celtics still have plenty of guts. They beat the Heat 97-81.
Boston’s aging “Big 3” came to life in game 3 after getting thoroughly outplayed by Miami’s “Big 3” in the first two games of the series. In all honesty, Miami’s “Big 2” of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade out played the trio of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in games one and two outscoring Boston’s triumvirate 123-86 in those games. Last night was a different story.
Kevin Garnett was a monster scoring 28 points while pulling down 18 rebounds. Paul Pierce took the ball strong to the basket all night on his way to a 27-point effort. And Ray Allen finished with a modest 15 points. Allen’s point total would have been greater had he not spent the last 6:48 of the first half on the bench with 3 personal fouls.
Still, that trio managed to outscore Miami’s young whipper-snappers James, Wade and Bosh 70-44. That is why the Celtics were able to win their first game of the series.
The Celtics did receive some bad news in the third quarter when Rajon Rondo collided with Dwayne Wade. Rondo fell awkwardly on his left arm and had to go to the Celtics’ locker room. He was diagnosed with a dislocated left elbow and returned in the 4th quarter basically finishing the game with one arm.
The Celtics also welcomed Shaquille O’Neal back to their line-up for the first time in a few months. The Big Shamrock (2 pts, 0 reb) wasn’t really a big factor in the game but his presence gave the team and the TD Garden crowd a boost when it needed it most.
Boston also got back to playing the solid defense they have been known for since the core of this team was put together back in 2007. The Celtics held Miami’s “Big 3” to just 15-41shooting. As a team the Heat shot just 43% at 31-73.
Game 4 of this series will be played Monday night at the TD Garden with Boston essentially facing a must-win situation again trailing 2-1 with game 5 slated for Miami’s American Airlines Arena Wednesday night.
The question is, does Boston’s “Big 3” have a lot more gas left in that tank of theirs or did they simply discover the Fountain of Youth for one night on Saturday? We should have our answer by about 9:30pm tomorrow night.
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