Celtics survive bumpy ride to secure Game 2 win

Monday, June 07, 2010

Mike Parente, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Every now and then, your Mapquest directions fail miserably or your TomTom can’t outsmart highway construction.

Then what do you do?

Celtics

Reaching your destination is far more important than how you actually get there, a premise the Boston Celtics would wholeheartedly agree with following their bumpy ride to victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night in Los Angeles.

In the span of two hours, 51 minutes, they raced out to a double-digit lead, watched it slip their fingers and then stormed back with one more run in the fourth quarter to swipe a much-needed victory, evening this best-of-seven series at one game apiece with three consecutive games in Boston looming on the horizon.

What a long, strange journey. Ray Allen set a Finals record with eight 3-pointers while Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce combined to miss nine of 16 shots, yet the hero in the end was Rajon Rondo, who scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to cap a 16-4 run over the final five and a half minutes.

Consider this the NBA equivalent of taking the scenic route, complete with potholes and speed traps along the way.

While the box score indicates this was a two-man show for Boston, the truth is the Celtics set the tone early with a tremendous effort on defense. After getting beat off the dribble in Game 1 and allowing far too many easy drives to the basket, the Celtics tightened up on the perimeter and forced the Lakers into more low-percentage shots, which led to more misses and more fast-break opportunities.

Rondo ran the floor masterfully in the first half as the Celtics buried the Lakers in transition and – with a big boost from Allen, who hit his first seven 3-pointers – opened up a 14-point lead with 6:53 remaining in the second quarter.

That’s where the chaos began.

Lost amidst the euphoria of the Celtics’ fast-break dominance was the fact they also turned the ball over way too many times and immersed themselves in early foul trouble. Their indiscretions finally caught up to them as the Lakers closed the half on a 9-2 run to trim their deficit to six.

The second half turned into a see-saw battle with both teams exchanging leads until the Celtics pulled away down the stretch. Not surprisingly, Boston’s game-winning rally started when Rondo answered a jumper by Kobe Bryant with a coast-to-coast layup that ignited an 11-0 run. Less than two minutes later, Rondo put the Celtics ahead for good when he scooped up the loose ball on a blocked shot by Pau Gasol and scored in the paint to make it 91-90 with 3:20 to go.

As usual, defense was the key. The Celtics were far too liberal in Game 1, allowing Los Angeles to shoot 49 percent from the field. Last night, the Lakers shot just 41 percent and at one point missed 10 consecutive shots in the first half as the Celtics opened up a comfortable lead.

With Rondo weaving his way through traffic, Los Angeles’ defense began collapsing near the basket, leaving the perimeter unguarded. Allen benefitted the most from all the confusion, hitting 11 of 20 shots in a performance reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s infamous shrug in Game 1 of the 1992 Finals against Portland. Backup point guard Nate Robinson deserves credit, too, for chipping in with seven points off the bench in just a shade over six minutes.

The Celtics still have issues to address as they prepare for Tuesday’s Game 3, most importantly their inability to defend in the paint (Gasol and Andrew Bynum combined for 46 points Sunday) or the inconsistency of the “Big 3,” but the bottom line is we’ve reached the sprint portion of the season, so it’s no longer imperative to worry about the big picture. Style points are obsolete.

With the grand prize in sight, it doesn’t matter how they get there, just as long as they beat Los Angeles to the finish line.