The process wasn’t always..er..wasn’t ever pretty, but after seven grueling games of sub-40-percent shooting and abysmal Andre Iguodala free throwing the Miami Heat finally have an Eastern Finals opponent: the Boston Celtics, whom they disposed of in five brief games just over a year ago.
I, like many, gave the Sixers something similar to an ice cube’s chance in hell to win last night’s game seven. I’ve seen too many high seed/low seed game sevens, such as Phoenix/LA in ’06, Boston/Atlanta in ’08, Boston/Chicago in ’09, LA/Houston in ’09, and LA/Denver just a few weeks ago to ignore the trend; the home team (normally the better team and always the higher seed) wins… pretty much all the time… and usually by a lot of points. So, when asked about my expectations of the latest eight seed/four seed duel, I told folks that I’d be surprised if Philadelphia lost by anything less than 10 points. I mean, let’s face it, Philly—you’ve been essentially unable to compete in games during which Boston has actually put together a start-to-finish effort of any consequence. This was game seven, and it was in Boston. Kevin Garnett would’ve had Rajon Rondo’s entire family receiving curse-laden hate mail for the rest of eternity had he plodded through game seven as he did game six. It just wasn’t happening.
It was clear from the jump that Boston had come to play some defense. The aggressiveness in their rotations was a sharp contrast from Thursday evening, and all of that dribble penetration Philadelphia had previously been able to achieve was nipped in the bud (Holiday, Williams, and Turner finished a combined 10-34 from the field). Although they bounced back nicely from a 1-10 start, the Sixers led for mere seconds, and never held any advantage beyond the first quarter. Although they were as close as one in the latter stages of the third, missed free throws, uncharacteristic turnovers, and the allowance of some key Boston scores kept them from ever clearing that final hurdle. When the Cs appeared most vulnerable—up just three at the 4:16 mark of the fourth, when Paul Pierce fouled out on an offensive charge—Rajon Rondo, who had been a bit quiet in the early going, stepped up and scored nine points on four straight possessions, making it a 10-point game with just a minute to play. Rondo sparked the run with a clever driving layup, then stuck two long jumpers (one of which was a three) before knocking down a couple of free throws.
Impressively, Rondo also took care of the glass work during his individual spurt. He snatched a pair of boards between scores to give himself his ninth career playoff triple-double. Although it wasn’t his best game from start to finish, he came up big when he was needed the most. I suppose that’s all that matters, and you wouldn’t know he’d gotten off to a slow start based on his 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists (although the 7 turnovers do hint at some struggles).
The final score, 85-75, did hold true to my 10-plus prediction. Things may have been a tad bit tighter than expected, but it’s still off to South Beach for the Celtics, who won’t have much time to sun bath before game one, which tips off in approximately 21 hours. Will KG, Ray Ray, Rajon, and the Captain fare any better than they did a year ago, when Miami had the help of Chris Bosh? Well, maybe… as in they might win two games instead of one. I don’t see them defeating the Heat and making one last trip to the Finals, though.
Why not, you say? Well, the simplest of explanations happens to be my argument of choice: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Assuming the two of them continue to play anything like they have over the past three games (maybe that’s not a safe assumption, but I’m going to roll with it anyway), I don’t see how they can be beaten by a team which was unable to post an average of 90 points per game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Remember, the Heat have always hung their hat on their defense. With a hobbled Ray Allen, a depleted bench unit, and an inconsistent Rondo… I just don’t feel that this Celtics squad can produce enough points to win the series if D-Wade and LBJ are gonna be out there collaborating on 70-point efforts every single night.
Thinking the stingy defense of the Celtics is going to prevent those 70-point nights from happening? Well, maybe, but consider this: although the Celtics do boast a far more reputed defense than the Pacers, they don’t have a 7’2″ behemoth blocking better than three shots per game.
Sorry, Celtics fans, but I just don’t see the incredible ride rolling on any further. I’ll say it ends in Boston in game number six.