Offense Sputters as Garnett and Pierce Struggle in Game 3

Couper Moorhead
Celtics.com Correspondent
June 10, 2008

Game 3 was not a night for Celtic heroes. It was not a night for dramatic returns or game-sealing dunks. Nor was it one for the Celtics' offense, which spent far too much time dwelling in the realm of the jumpshot. Above all, it most certainly was not a night for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

The two focal points of Boston's offense combined for just 19 points on 8-of-35 shooting in the Celtics' 87-81 loss in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Optimists may look at those numbers next to the scoring margin and say the Celtics' did well to be so close on the road, but what is far more disturbing than the field goal numbers was the percentage of them that came from outside.

"There are no moral victories. We just settled. I don't think it's just, they just push you out and you shoot the ball," Pierce said. "At the same time we settled for some open looks that were there, some that weren't."

The final line on Pierce says six points, which doesn't tell the complete story. He had one field goal on nine attempts through the first three quarters, seven of them jump shots. Granted, Pierce was in foul trouble for much of the night, getting his third with 3:04 to go in the second, and his fourth with 5:12 left in the third. But there was a direct correlation between his fouls and his shooting struggles in general. The link was Kobe Bryant (36 points).

Playing his chess game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson created a set of defensive cross-matches for the Boston wing players. Kobe was placed on Rajon Rondo, sagging off nearly a car length – in turn clogging the lane. He also switched onto Pierce, hampering his ability to put the ball on the floor. The entire time, Kobe was Ray Allen's assignment on defense, and in transition Rondo and Pierce often got stuck guarding the MVP (11 points in the first).

Fortunately, Allen kept pace with Kobe when he was switched off of, hitting on his first five three pointers. But once Allen went cold with two consecutive misses in the fourth, Pierce became the offense's designated driver.

"That's just where the offense went," Allen said. "I think from a coaching perspective, that's where the plays were directed. That's what we ran. I have faith in my teammates."

Pierce did what he could to make good on Allen's confidence. He started the fourth again shooting from the outside, but then Pierce went back to what gave him so much success, and 28 points with seven free throw attempts, in Game 2. With the refs letting both teams play in the late stages, Pierce's first drive was blocked by Sasha Vujacic. Coaching move or not, he remained determined.

"I thought we went to that 'I'm going to win the game for us' mode instead of just trusting the offense and continuing to move the ball," Doc Rivers said.

Pierce went right back at it the very next possession, this time earning the and-one on a driving floater. He fought through a trap on the wing to get two more free throws, but his next layup, though heavily contested, fell short.

As did his, and the Big Ticket's, takeover of the Staples Center.

On Garnett's end, there was no apparent lack of aggressiveness (21 attempts) as he finished strong on an alley-oop and tried more than one manly dunks. His gas was high, as he says, in the early going, leading to a few rushed shots. But they were mostly jumpers, and though he was at his defensive norm, pulling down 12 rebounds with three blocked shots, the complete offensive game never materialized.

"Shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game," Garnett said. "But as far as energy and grabbing rebounds and trying to block some shots, I thought I was active at times. But for the most part, hey, it's not a perfect game.

"I've got Pau on me," he added. "He's very long. It's not like he's easy when it comes to being a defender. [I] tried to give him different looks and tried to mix some things up is what I'm basically trying to do. I probably do need to take the ball to the basket a little more."

Though Pierce and Garnett's poor shooting ultimately meant the Celtics did not take the 3-0 series lead that has never been overcome in the NBA Playoffs, Rivers chose to look at the silver lining.

"When Paul has a night like tonight and Kevin has a night like he had, and it was a two- and four-point game all game, I looked at it as...we had a chance to steal a game here when our guys were off."

But Pierce's words were closer to the truth. With two games to go in LA, there's no glass to be looked at half full or half empty – this one just goes down as a L.

"They didn't get great games out of their two players, but neither did we," Bryant said, referring to Gasol (4 points) and Lamar Odom (9). "So you've just got to just chalk it up."