Postgame Thread: Celtics Clobber Heat in Game 2

[Sam]

You want a post-game thead? I'll give you a post-game thread.

In years gone by, the Celtics were famous for playoff games in which the heat rose to disabling heights.

Last night, the Heat plummeted to astounding depths. The Celtics just beat the living hell out of them. ("Living hell" is a technical basketball term meaning the Celtics absolutely obliterated Miami. Hola Miami. Hasta la vista Miami. Even with the next two games being at home, it will be most interesting to see if the Heat can grow a pair big enough to offset the body language they were already displaying by the third quarter.

Kudos to my MVP, Glen Davis, for being the pivotal figure in a pivotal game. Kudos to my MVP, Ray Allen who was flipping in threes while only half facing the basket. Kudos to my other MVP, Perk, for using his brain as much as his pluck in helping dismantle the plucking Heat AND for getting three offensive boards. Kudos to my other MVP, Rondo, for being the catalyst for pushing the ball and moving it constantly...a thing of beauty. Kudos to my other MVP, Paul Pierce for doing a great job on Richardson and for adding a defensive rebounder to the mix, which minimized second chances for the Heat. Kudos to my other MVP, Doc Rivers, for his very astute strategy of starting Glen Davis primarily for his footwork and reaping bonus after bonus from the athlete formerly known as Big Baby.

Can anyone guess what I love? (This is going to shock you, so get ready.) Runs! And the Celtics had two major runs that quite obviously astounded a Heat team that expected the Celts to play as they did for much of the second half of the season. Wrong! THIS IS APRIL! Forget about the past; all that hand-wringing was premature release of tensions.

Okay, everyone, post early and often. And, yes, we realize it's one game at a time. But right now is the moment to savor a great, great victory.

GO CELTICS!

Sam

[bobc33]

Sam,

Give us a post game thread will you!

Lots of MVPs and I agree with everyone. We'll soon see if the Heat have ganas.

[bobheckler]

Sam,

I'm not sure I can top the article in the Miami Herald, offered by Steve, on another thread.

1. Upbeat tempo by Rondo. Ran the ball downcourt as often as he could. The final tally was 27 points on fastbreaks for the Celtics versus only 2 for the Heat. The Celts are hard to beat when they have the defense is on their heels. You could say that about every team IF every team also played defense like the Celts but they don't and we did for most of the 48 minutes. If we play every game like we played last night's game, we can beat anybody. ANYBODY. We might not demolish them as badly as we trounced the Heat, but we'll beat them.

2. Spirit. Esprit de Corps. Ganas. We had them last night by the bucketful. Davis' spirit was indomitable. Blocked 4 times and he still kept coming. Tony Allen waving a towel from the bench and then going out and smothering DWade and Mario Chalmers. Perk making Jermaine O'Neal do everything he didn't want to do and nothing that he wanted to do. Rondo playing GREAT man-to-man fullcourt defense all game as well as finally (finally!!) fighting through high screens to prevent pick-and-rolls, effectively disabling the Heat offense by making them start late and then waste an option or two. He gave his opponent, whether it was Carlos Arroyo or Mario Chalmers, no daylight at all.

3. I don't remember ever seeing a box score as misleading as DWade's is today. 11-18 from the floor, 5-8 from 3, 5 assists, 29 points. And none of it relevant. When DWade finally showed up (thanks to sticky defense by the Allen boys) the game was already hell-and-gone for the infernal Heat. If you didn't watch the game, and only looked at the box score, you'd think that DWade was Horatius at the bridge, single-handedly taking on an entire legion of green Etruscans. At least it provided some Heat highlights for ESPN so they wouldn't look biased towards the Celtics by ONLY showing players in green. If it hadn't been for Wade's too-little-too-late 3s (matched by Ray Allen's) we would have won by 39 instead of 29.

4. Hey Richardson! Who's the actress pretending to be a basketball player now?

5. Shelden rebounds well, on both ends. Shelden tries to play phyical defense. But Shelden's offense is not as good as Perk's and Perk's is better this year, but still pretty limited. That's probably why Shelden isn't getting the minutes some of us have expected and would have liked. Still, 6 rebounds (2 of them offensive) in 18 minutes is pretty good, especially on a team whose rebounding this season has sucked.

6. Ray Allen is such a pro. I can't remember how many times I've written this over this season, but it is such a privilege for us to watch him in green for more than just a rental. His tit-for-tat 3s with Wade sucked whatever little heart out of the Heat they might have had left. He was on his way to the HOF based on his career prior to coming to the Celtics anyway but I hope that, when his name is finally called, he'll go into the Hall in green. It would be our honor. On and off the court, he fits the bill to a tee.

7. The Heat shot 38% for the game. Imagine what it would be if Wade hadn't finally went nuts. Yes, I know that expecting a player like Wade to NEVER have a run in 37 minutes of play is unreasonable, but suppose Spoelstra had pulled Wade earlier (rather than making him play 37 minutes in a game they had no chance of winning)? It would probably have been an NBA record for fewest playoff points and lowest fg%.

8. Fox News' article on the game last night refers to Davis as "formerly "Big Baby" but now the "Ticket Stub". He could do worse than being described as a mini-KG. Not accurate, but awful nice.

9. In a 16 1/2 minute stretch, from 10:10 left in the second quarter until only 5:24 left in the 3rd quarter, the Celtics went on a 44-8 run. Can we even use the word "run" to describe this? Seems inadequate since it doesn't fully show just how big and how sustained this was. NOBODY recovers from a dismantling like that. It ended this game very, very early. Rondo played the most minutes of any Celtic and he only played 35 and the next game isn't until Friday. Last year, our legs were a concern. Barring injury, they shouldn't be this year. Good time management by Doc, both during the season and now.

10. The Celtics, during the regular season, were 50-32. They were 24-17 at home (59%) and 26-15 (63%) on the road. The next two games will be on the road in Miami.

The Miami Heat are in deep shit, even if they recover from this trauma.

bob

.

[dboss]

Sam

This was a great game in all areas.

I was very glad to see Davis in there as a starter since he did a great job last year and I felt he would be productive.

A 2-0 lead on the heat sets the stage for the Celts to make it past round # 1 and do it without having to play 6 or 7 games. This is huge going into round 2. I do not want to get ahead of myself but last night you could see that the heat know that they cannot beat Boston if Boston plays well.

The Celtics may be the 4th seed but they also are a dangerous team to go up against.

This year Rondo, Perk and baby are more experience and we have TA.

Ray Allen shot lights out last night.

unreal.

dboss

[sinus007]

Sam,
Thank you very much, sir.
Also, have question: what happened to Sheed? I watched only the last 17-18 minutes (minus crap TNT coverage) of the game. He came on the floor in 4th for garbage time, plus got a T.
Thanks again.

AK

[mrkleen09]

Now they get 3 days rest and get KG back?

Miami looks like a deer in the headlights - and Ray Allen LIT UP Dwayne Wade.

[Sam]

Sinus,

I can only hazard a guess. But, if Sheed didn't get a lot of non-garbage minutes with KG out, it appears to me that Doc is putting him on a fairly tight leash when it counts. Produce and he might be out there a little longer. Don't produce, and it's the hook, the hook, the hook. I actually thought Sheed contributed to the stifling defense while he was in there during the second quarter. And he did a great job of not getting injured and not getting in the way of anyone during garbage time.

Sam

[dboss]

Sheed is officially big man # 4 on this team. However if we go up against a big team where their bigs are also slow (Cavs for example) Sheed's role could get expanded.

dboss

[dbrown4]

Sheed was a -12 when just about everyone else was 30+. He's riding the pine until the next round with that performance. That will be what Danny and the Big 3 got him for, CLE. No need for him this round.

[sinus007]

Hi,
It's sad. I'm talking about Sheed. So far, it looks like wasted roster spot and money.
As for Cle, I'd rate the probability of round 2=Celtics vs Cavs above 90%. Therefore he can show if he's for real.

AK

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