***Where’d Rajon Rondo disappear to in the second half? Yes, I’m aware that he hit that big shot with three minutes to go in regulation, but he’d attempted just one between then and halftime. Rondo could help the Celtics avoid their signature scoring droughts by continuously looking for his own offense, both in transition and in the half court.
***Mickael Pietrus collected five fouls in 24 minutes. I understand that he spends the majority of his time guarding LeBron James, but how many of those fouls were completely unnecessary? I’m gonna say at least three, if not four, or maybe all five of ‘em. I recall more than one stupid loose ball foul, and one where he needlessly whacked LeBron’s arm before James had even made himself a threat to score. The Celtics are fortunate that Pietrus didn’t pick up a sixth when he got away with a slight hook on what ended up being the end of LeBron’s night (for the record, I didn’t think that one was a foul on anybody. It looked like they both tripped over each other).
***The Heat took eight shots in overtime. They missed seven—probably because six of them were jump shots. The Celtics got similarly-poor looks (mostly because they kept waiting too long to get into their offense), but I felt that Miami’s shot selection was worse. While a combination of strong Heat defense and poor Celtic offense forced outside shots on one end, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade needlessly settled on consecutive trips. Udonis Haslem (of all people… not sure I’d ever seen him dribble before) was the one to buck the trend as he drove to the rack for the first points of OT. So… if Wade or James had been more aggressive Haslem’s basket may have given Miami a multiple-possession lead. Remember, Boston only scored four points.
***Before you go Skip Brainless on LeBron James for passing the ball on the final possession of regulation (embedded above), please consider why he did so (…because he was triple teamed). Now, consider why he was triple teamed (…because Mario Chalmers ran right behind him as he prepared to leave the floor, allowing Keyon Dooling to guard two players at once, and ultimately break the whole sh!t up with a deflection).
I’m assuming Erik Spoelstra didn’t draw up a play where Mario Chalmers’ job was to run towards LeBron with four seconds on the clock. That makes the whole break down mostly his fault, if you ask me. He should’ve moved in the other direction as LeBron dribbled his way, allowing the desired shooter a little more room to work with.
That being said… I suppose the spacing was awfully poor from the jump. I can’t for the life of me understand why four different Heat players were on the same side of the floor with five seconds to go. That couldn’t have been the plan, could it? I don’t consider myself an Xs and Os guy, but even I couldn’t help but notice the lack of floor balance.
Anyway, before you criticize LeBron for passing out of a triple team, or making his move too late, or settling for a jump shot, you ought to call Mario Chalmers a knucklehead, and wonder whether or not Erik Spoelstra really scribbled such a terrible mess on his miniature whiteboard. Sorry kids, LeBron is no better than third in line here.
***Give Keyon “Slingshot” Dooling the Marquis Daniels Award for game four. Dooling, a not-so-good three-point shooter, came off the bench to score 10 points, including 75 percent accuracy on four long-range heaves. Dooling hadn’t connected on three threes in a game since December 27th, when he made four… against the Heat. Best caption wins the right to celebrate by doing air pull-ups.
***Did anyone want to see 58 fouls last night? I didn’t think so. It’s a shame both Pierce and LeBron fouled out. Especially LeBron, ’cause he really only committed three (the following were called incorrectly: number six, the shoulda-been-a-block that cost him a basket, and that stupid double foul).
