Sloppy Celtics cost themselves clean sweep in Game 4

By Peter F. Stringer
Celtics.com
May 25, 2010

Forget the broom. There wasn't any sweeping at the Garden Monday night.

The Celtics still have some cleaning up to do.

Paul Pierce dropped 32 points and kept the Celtics alive but his miscue at the end of regulation cost the C's a chance to win Game 4 and complete the sweep of the Magic.
Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty

With a chance to eliminate the Magic hanging in the balance, the C's mustered desperation and some sensational plays down the stretch to stage a furious fourth quarter comeback in a classic NBA Playoff game Monday night. And they almost put the Orlando Magic away in Game 4, forcing overtime but falling short in the extra session, 96-92.

That overtime led to exhaustion, and a spent Celtics team just didn't have enough in the final minutes. Paul Pierce, who played almost 47 of the 53 minutes, dropped 32 points but lost his legs in the late stages. Pierce helped lead the Boston comeback, but also wound up losing the handle in a crowd in the waning seconds of regulation when he had a chance to finish the game -- and the series.

"I just pretty much screwed it up, pretty much turned the ball over and that's all it is. Couldn't get the final shot," Pierce said of his miscue that cost the Celtics a final shot at the end of the fourth quarter. "Sometimes it happens that way but that's no excuse we still had opportunities in overtime and we didn't take advantage of it."

Doc Rivers said the play was supposed to be a pick-and-roll between Pierce and Allen, but the floor wasn't poorly spaced, the play never materialized and the C's lost a golden opportunity to complete the sweep.

"We didn't execute it at all, I can tell you that," Rivers said. "[It was] supposed to be Paul at the top with a pick-and-roll with Ray, and then the floor was supposed to be flat and spaced. When you look at it, half our team was standing next to Paul. The execution was so bad; I thought we executed poorly throughout the game. We didn't make the next rotations, we didn't make the next pass."

And they haven't made the Finals...yet. Rather than enjoying a week off while waiting for the winner of the Western Conference, the C's now find themselves headed back to Orlando to tie up a loose end in Game 5, where they'll take their second chance at punching their ticket for the Finals.

From the opening tip, the Celtics seemed out of sorts. Whereas their defensive rotations were spot on to open Game 3, the C's seemed a step slow and a touch confused to start Game 4. Jameer Nelson played his best game of the series, driving hard to the basket and finding Dwight Howard (32 points, 16 rebounds) for multiple alley-oop slams and deep post-ups, or outside shooters waiting in the corner to rain 3s. Nelson fouled out after amassing 23 points, nine assists and five rebounds, not to mention back-to-back 3s in overtime that helped put the Magic out in front for good.

After the game, Rivers said he was amazed that despite his team's poor execution, his team still had several chances to win. Both the coach and Ray Allen, who canned two gigantic triples in the overtime and finished with 22 points, conceded that the Celtics just weren't in sync on defense early or offensively in down the stretch.

"There were a couple of plays down the stretch that we botched, plain and simple," Allen said. "We were rushing. Seemed like we weren't in great sync in the fourth offensively."

Pressure, however, wasn't the issue.

"It had nothing to do with pressure at all," Allen said. "It had nothing to do with it. I don't think anybody on this team was looking past today. We weren't definitely in the game. You have so many things on your mind, you weren't thinking about what was happening tomorrow. It was all about that moment."

"We have such great talent on this team, such great individual talent on both ends of the floor that each man feels like they can get the defensive stop. Each guy feels like they can make the shot to win the game for us. Sometimes that's been at our team's detriment."

The C's can live with guys trying to step up and win a game, but they'd rather spare themselves the heroics with better team play from start to finish. Rivers pointed to his team's missing energy and poor ball movement in the first half, but more than anything, he said he just wanted guys to trust each other with the pass; the ball stuck on offense way too often throughout the night.

So a series that was looking like a clean sweep is now slightly messier than once thought. That said, a close-out win on Wednesday in Game 5 makes Monday's loss a mere bump in the road.

"They have two home games and we only have one. We've just made it more difficult for ourselves," Rivers said. "But listen, no one said this was going to be easy. We've made it tough now. So that's fine. We just have to get on the plane, go watch film and get ready for the next one."