Thursday, May 29, 2008

Celtics Win Pivotal Game 5

While the story of the night in Boston may be Kevin Garnett's 33 points and 7 rebounds or Kendrick Perkins stepping up again, this time to the tune of 18 points and 16 rebounds. Maybe it's Ray Allen finally finding his touch and going for 29 points on 9-15 shooting, including 5-6 on three pointers.

While each of those story lines make for a great reason why the Celtics won Game 5, it was Doc Rivers having his team prepared for the Pistons that really did it. The Pistons through a lot of punches and came back from a 17-point deficit late in the game but Rivers' Celtics held it together, including playing things the right way in the final two minutes. The Celtics used the clock well, got the ball in the hands of their best free throw shooter, Ray Allen. Not only that, but Boston and fouled Detroit to avoid a "Mr. Big Shot" moment in those closing seconds.

While fouling with the lead in the closing seconds is an incredibly basic strategy, practiced from AAU to the NBA, it is incredibly underutilized. I have to commend Rivers for having his team prepared and making all the right decisions during crunch time. I'm not ready to give the man the coach of the year award Byron Scott deservedly won; afterall, the Celtics almost lost to the Hawks and Cavs, but Boston really looked solid Wednesday night against Detroit.

Game 5 is the pivitol game of any 2-2 series and Boston is definitely in command, needing only one win to advance to face the Lakers, err, play in the NBA Finals.

John Calipari is the only person that can't understand the intelligence of fouling with the lead in an important game.

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