Allen Goes The Distance in Game 4 Victory

By Scott Tribble
Celtics.com Correspondent
June 12, 2008

On Thursday night at the Staples Center, the Celtics made history with their 97-91 comeback victory over the Lakers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. No one had a better vantage point than Ray Allen, who played all 48 minutes and registered some of the night's biggest plays.

"There was a point out there in the game where I knew I wasn't coming out," Allen said. "I just said, 'I have to suck it up.' I have plenty of time to rest the next couple of months, so suck it up."

After chipping away at a 20-point third-quarter deficit, the Celtics took their first lead of the game with 4:07 remaining. On the Lakers' subsequent possession, Allen seized an errant pass from Pau Gasol and pushed the ball back up court. Paul Pierce missed a three-point attempt, but Allen grabbed the offensive rebound and drove the baseline for a nifty reverse layup that put Boston up 86-83.

In the final minutes, the Lakers threatened their own comeback, but it was Allen who ultimately sealed their fate. After a Gasol dunk cut the lead to three with forty seconds remaining, Allen dribbled precious time off the game clock. As the shot clock wound down, Allen blew by Sasha Vujacic and converted a left-handed layup. With sixteen seconds left, the Celtics led 96-91. An Eddie House free throw put the final exclamation point on one of the greatest comebacks in Finals history.

In his post-game press conference, Celtics' Coach Doc Rivers praised Allen's layup, literally a last-minute improvisation.

"It was really supposed to be a middle pick and roll with Kevin and Ray, and Ray waved Kevin off because he liked the match up that he had already, so he didn't want to bring another defender in to help. It was a great call by Ray. And then him getting to the basket was huge. The layup was just tremendous."

Allen shared his own thought process after the game.

"If they were going to foul anybody, I wanted it to be me and go to the free throw line. They hesitated, they stayed off the foul, so they got over half court and saw the shot clock was running down, and Kevin [Garnett] ran up to set a screen, and as he was setting the screen, I told him, 'Back off, let me take him one on one, five, six seconds left, at least I'm going to get a good shot up.'"

All told, Allen scored 19 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field. The veteran guard also pulled down nine rebounds and notched three steals. Arguably, though, Allen's greatest contribution of the night came at halftime when Pierce asked to take over defensive coverage of Kobe Bryant. Many veteran stars would have balked at the request, but Allen understood The Truth's position.

"I knew what he was trying to do," Allen said. "I would have suggested it a long time ago, but it took for Paul to say, 'Let me guard him.' When he said that, I knew he wanted him and he was ready for the challenge, and I was like, 'Let's do it, take him."

Pierce added, "I felt like I could be a little bit more physical on [Bryant]. I didn't think he would be able to post me as easy as he wanted to. You know, I'm a little bit taller than Ray, so I can get a hand up, challenge him a little bit more."

The different defensive look clearly affected Bryant, who shot a middling 6 for 15 in the second half and reached the line on only one occasion. The defensive switch likewise sparked the Celtics' offense, creating new opportunities as well as confusing the Lakers' defenders.

"It just created more of an opportunity for us in transition," Allen said. "We got some easy baskets in transition. They were trying to find me, they were trying to find Paul because they were cross matched."

With Thursday night's victory, the Celtics stand only one win away from an NBA championship. But, rather than as a potential series-clincher, Allen is doing his best to regard Sunday's matchup as just another game.

"At this point it's the same thing," Allen said. "We have a task at hand. We have a game that we have to play and we have to win. So we're not going to get too worried about what's on the other side of the fence yet."