The Ray Allen-less, but surprisingly confident Boston Celtics and Paul Pierce were poised and brought the noise against the always tough San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics dug a deep hole in the first quarter, going down by 17-6 without Doc Rivers ever calling a time out to stop the Spurs run. His first time out was at 2:49 with the score at 21-8. They scored a season low 11 points first quarter points. But his ‘no panic’ approach must have worked.
After having their score tripled at 11-33 early in the second quarter by the defending champion Spurs on their own court, the Boston Celtics said, ‘We’ve got them right where we want them.’ and went on to prove it.
Showing the poise that championships are made of, from that point on they outscored the Spurs by 51-26 to get the score to 62-59. Their defensive pressure increased and they got great play from both point guards.
With San Antonio leading by nine at 81-72 with about 5 minutes left in the game, it looked like the Spurs were going to salvage a win after losing every bit of the 22 point lead first half lead and falling behind by as much as three in the 3rd quarter.
That’s when Paul Pierce went to work and scored 7 of the next 9 Celtic points on a number of drives to the hoop. Manu Ginobili then hit a very difficult running bank shot to make it 85-81. The Celtics came down and worked the ball around the horn to find an open Eddie House on the baseline arc for a 3 pointer and his only basket of the night.
Tim Duncan, who was bottled up all night, responds with an arcing lay-up over Kevin Garnett for only his 10th points of the evening. Pierce is fouled and continues his improved clutch 4th quarter foul shooting this season by hitting them both for 9 of Boston’s 15 points in this unlikely comeback.
Pierce then steals the ball from Ginobili and Sam Cassell shows why Boston waited to sign him as he drains a 3 pointer for his 17th points of the night with 46 seconds left, to give Boston the lead for only the second time in the game.
At this point, Doc Rivers appears to be a master of the substitution as he brings in Rondo for House, and he quickly gets a huge rebound of a Garnett miss. But before the 62% foul shooter can get rid of the ball, he is fouled. Rondo then makes them both with 16 seconds left for an almost insurmountable lead of 4 points at 91-87.
After Ginobili is fouled and makes two for his 32 points of the evening, Doc sends in 90% foul shooter House for Rondo, who gets fouled and makes them both for a 93-89 lead with 9 seconds left.
Tony Parker answers with a quick lay-up with 4 seconds left. With Boston now leading by only 93-91, Garnett’s in bounds pass is intercepted by defensive specialist Bruce Bowen, who gets it to Big Shot Bob Horry standing at the arc with enough time to face up and shoot a three pointer that would have counted at the buzzer had it gone in. It didn’t, and an indefatigable comeback wasn’t wasted.
St Patrick’s Day luck prevails once again for the Boston Celtics. They beat the Spurs last year as a terrible team, in San Antonio for the first time in the Tim Duncan era. They did it again this year as a great team that almost made its own bad luck.
In a strange first half, Boston had only one assist for the entire team, for a season low. After falling behind by 22 they came back to be within 10 by half time. Except for Parker, the rest of the Spurs starting five scored a meager 22 points.
While Pierce was outstanding, Rajon Rondo added 20 points on 18 shots. Sam Cassell must be influencing Rondo already.
The Celtics rebounded by committee, as Pierce and Garnett each had 8 while Rondo and Perkins added 6 each and Sam grabbed 5 more, as they out rebounded the Spurs by 40-34.
Pierce led the team with 22 points and Garnett added 21. Kendrick Perkins went scoreless as he concentrated on keeping Duncan busy. Posey’s contributions were unsung as well, and on the defensive end, as he scored but 2 points in 29 minutes.
This was an extremely poised Celtic team that played tonight.
The Celtics play the white hot Houston Rockets next and will look to break their 22 game winning streak in Houston.
