POST GAME MIAMI GAME #6

Really do not care what the final score was, nor do I care how many points King Jerk scored.......Miami showed me nothing tonight to rack up an 19 point win over the Celtics. They did not show smothering defense nor any great execution.

Simply put.........THE CELTICS WERE AS COLD AS A NORTH WIND ON A SNOWY NIGHT IN BOSTON IN MID WINTER!
COLD SHOOTING.........COLD RHYTHM !!!!! NOT DUE TO ANYTHING MIAMI FLASHED DEFENSIVELY!!!!!!

Let's look at the stats:

1) Too many TO's especially in the first half 13 all together on sloppy play.
2) 1-14 from beyond the arch....I repeat 1-14! All good looks! If we shoot 45% - we are neck'en neck and anyones ball game!!!!
3) We shoot 42.7% - if we are a few % higher we win the ball game.
4) Poor offensive game by Pierce - (4-18) from field - (0-6) from 3 pt. Majority of his looks were great or open looks!
5) THE MIAMI SCORING WAS ALL ONE SIDED - JAMES HAD 45 PTS.....GREAT WE WANT HIM TO HAVE THAT. THE REST OF THE TEAM DID NOTHING. DESPITE JAMES GOING ON A HOT STREAK....THE OVERALL TEAM SHOOTING WAS LESS THE 50% - 48.7% TO BE EXACT! WADE SHOT ONLY 35%.

I LIKE OUR CHANCES IN MIAMI SATURDAY........JUST GOT A GREAT FEELING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY..................How about I call it now ------- I bet that Jackie MacMullan will come up with some bull shxx article tomorrow saying that this the end of the road for the Celtics...they had their chance ..........yada...yada......yada!

ALL I CAN SAY................CELTICS NEVER SAY DIE...........THEY NEVER QUITE!!!!!!!! MIAMI HAS PROVED NOTHING AGAINST A TEAM ALL THE IDIOTS SAID WOULD BE OUT IN ROUND #1!!!!!!!!!!


NEXT GAME SATURDAY AT MIAMI - 8:30PM - ESPN

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POST GAME RECAP

WEEI 850

FAST BREAK: HEAT, JAMES LEBLOW OUT CELTICS IN GAME 6
By Ben Rohrbach


LeBron James submitted perhaps his greatest game as a professional — his most clutch, anyway — amassing 45 points (19-26 FG) to go along with 15 rebounds and five assists, breaking even a raucous Garden crowd’s spirit and sending the Eastern Conference finals back to Miami for a Game 7.

Six minutes before the 98-79 defeat in Game 6 was over, Celtics fans already headed for the exits. Doc Rivers rested Paul Pierce (9 points, 4-18 FG), Kevin Garnett (12 points, 6-14 FG) and Rajon Rondo (21 points, 10 assists, 7 turnovers) for the last half of the fourth quarter, letting them stew on what just happened.

The C’s fans who stayed, though, deserve respect, closing out the final two minutes with a prolonged “Let’s go Celtics” chant that lasted until the final answer, sending a message to the “good job, good effort” Heat fans and Boston’s Big Four for Game 7.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Worst first: Through the first 11:42 of Game 6, James played the Celtics dead even by himself. He scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting; the Celtics netted 14 on 7-of-16 from the field. While the C’s offense seemed stagnant for long stretches, James attacked from the opening tip. His effort effectively quieted a deafening Garden crowd and forced the Celtics to play from behind. If not for James, the Heat don’t take a 26-16 lead into the second quarter, as Dwyane Wade started 0-for-4 and finished the first frame scoreless.

Long play the king: Since James started a ridiculous 12-of-14 from the floor, it’s worth discussing further. His emotionless face said it all. If the Heat were going down this time, it wouldn’t be on his shoulders. Playing all 24 minutes of the first half, he scored 30 points, and it would have been more, if not for his 5-of-9 free throw shooting. As the Heat took a 55-42 into the break (on a ridiculous four-point swing of a no-call when Shane Battier mugged Rondo), James owned an 85.7 field goal percentage. The rest of the Heat? Thirty six percent.

Foul mood: With 5:39 remaining in the second quarter, Pierce picked up his third foul, continuing his foul prone ways over the past seven games. Rivers had no choice but to sit his captain until halftime. Pierce had as many turnovers (2) as he had first-half points, and considering James’ performance, it wasn’t his finest effort on either end. Sitting for a long stretch certainly didn’t help his flow. Pierce missed his first three shots out of the break, too. Not to mention a wide-open 3 that would have cut the lead to eight and could have changed the game’s complexion late in the third quarter.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Pushup bro: If the C’s fist-half offense slowed, literally, to a standstill, it wasn’t Rondo’s fault. He was aggressive early, late and most everywhere in between. Perhaps too aggressive (or careless), at times, considering his five turnovers in the opening 24 minutes. But an attacking Rondo is generally a good Rondo. His cleverness helped, too, when he drew a foul at midcourt from Mario Chalmers, performed two knuckle pushups and briefly ignited a crowd into “MVP” chants. As good as James was in the first half, Rondo helped mitigate some of the impact, totaling 19 points and five assists by the break.

Feeding the bigs: Six of Garnett’s first 10 shots came in the paint, and he made four of them, including the first two of the second half on relatively uncontested layups (one of which was followed by a technical foul call on Garnett for simply passing the ball to Battier). The Celtics have lived on their ability to get Garnett the ball in the post all playoffs long, and it’s no coincidence an 8-1 third-quarter surge coincided with their concerted effort to do so. Likewise, four of Brandon Bass‘ first five came within four feet of the basket.

Wade under water: While James showed up to the party and then some, Wade made little to no impact for the majority of Game 6. He started 2-of-10 from the floor. In fact, outside of James and Mario Chalmers (3-4 3P), the C’s had more than their share of chances to cut into what turned out to be a 74-63 Heat deficit entering the fourth quarter — most notably the missed 3 by Pierce and a pair of failed Garnett bunnies to close the third quarter.
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ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid Reaction: Heat 98, C's 79 (Game 6)

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

The Celtics had no answer for LeBron James in Game 6 at TD Garden.
BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 98-79 in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday night at TD Garden. (The series is tied at 3.)

HOW THE GAME WAS WON
LeBron James erupted for 45 points on 19-of-26 shooting with 15 rebounds and 5 assists over 45 minutes. The only reason he left the floor was the Heat had built an insurmountable lead and forced a Game 7 back in Miami on Saturday. Dwyane Wade added 17 points, eight of which came in the final quarter while putting this game away. Rajon Rondo scored a team-high 21 points -- only two of which came after the intermission -- to go along with 10 assists, four rebounds, and three steals over 40 minutes. No other Celtics starter had more than 12 points (both Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass reached that mark), while Paul Pierce had a mere nine points on a cringeworthy 4-of-18 shooting.

TURNING POINT
You can make the case that the Heat put this one away in the first quarter when James made 6-of-7 shots for 14 points and Miami built a double-digit lead that never sunk lower than seven the rest of the way. The Celtics were still in striking distance entering the fourth quarter, but Wade hit a couple of quick baskets, then paired up with James on a little 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 89-64 with 7:15 to play. That was enough for Boston to wave the white flag and roll in the likes of Ryan Hollins, Sean Williams, and Sasha Pavlovic in place of the Big Three.

BOLD PLAY OF THE GAME
The Celtics were desperately trying to mount a third-quarter run, but couldn't seem to get a 17-point deficit to single digits. Boston finally seemed to be making its charge after a nice hustle play by Rondo led to a second-chance layup (James got a technical for spiking the ball in frustration) and, after drawing a charge, Mickael Pietrus put back a Pierce miss to make it a 10-point game with under three minutes to play in the third quarter. But this was James' party. He calmly took down the shot clock at the other end of the floor and, working out of isolation, drained a cold-blooded 3-pointer from the top of the arc to put Miami out front 72-59. Boston never got to single digits in the frame and the game quickly got away from them.

FIRST QUARTER: NOT THE START BOSTON WANTED
The Celtics came out sloppy, missed easy looks (7 of 17, 41.2 percent), turned the ball over five times (leading to eight points), and let James get going early (6 of 7, 14 points). James nearly matched Boston's output (16-14) as the Heat (11 of 19, 57.9 percent) opened a double-digit cushion little more than nine minutes in and led 26-16 after one frame.

SECOND QUARTER: LBJ OVERSHADOWS RONDO
James was unconscious in the first half, connecting on 12-of-14 shots (his shot chart was ridiculous) for 30 points. About the only thing he missed was four free throws. James' complete domination overshadowed a solid first half by Rondo who scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting with five assists and three steals (he added two Garnett-inspired knuckle push-ups after taking a spill late in the half). Neither Rondo nor James left the floor in the half, but it was the Heat that owned a 55-42 advantage at the intermission.

WHAT IT MEANS
A Celtics fan had a sign that read, "We're taking our talents to OKC." If that trek happens, it'll need a layover in South Beach. That's where Boston is headed Saturday for a decisive Game 7. Keeping with the theme of the Big Three era, the Celtics elected to use their mulligan, failing yet again to close out on first attempt. More disappointing was the rather putrid effort put forth with a chance to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. The Celtics will have to do it the tough way again. And now Miami has the momentum and home-court advantage with a chance to win the Eastern Conference for the second straight season.

Anybody get the number of that truck that hit us?

I think it was 6.

For James; No more choke label. (But... no crown yet either.)

For us; Another game 7. We seem to like those; no way we come out flat.

One thing that's gotta change: Paul Pierce's woeful shooting. Now .336 for the series (38 for 113) after his 4 for 18 tonight.

Without an on-target Piece we have no shot in Miami.

Let's beat the Miami Smoke Machine on Saturday and take our talents to OKC.

I have no expectations or illusions about Saturday night's seventh game in South Beach. This Celtic team went far beyond what I hoped for with all the injuries. The tank now is as empty as an oil embargo by Saudi Arabia. Breen, Van Gundy and the rest of the media on ESPN will be singing the Heat's praises ad nausium after a likely replica beat down in Game 7. The King still won't get a ring. The NBA has a new Sheriff called Durant and the OKC Thunder! This time when Doc went to the well it was dry as a bone. With a healthy Green, Wilcox, & Bradley last night NEVER happens!


MD!

Too many games too fast with all the injuries really took their toll, hard to beat a talented player 5 times in a row, series really shoulda been over Tuesday. Refs also were out to get us, NBA wants a game 7, Pierce goes up on Wade gets him in air then with contact, don't give him the FT's, WTF? exact same play later with less contact Lebron goes to line?....its a fixed league, just the way it is.

It is anybodys game to win Saturday.

James had an exceptional game ...hard to beat that when our guys missed so many close in shots.

Never bet against the Celtics in game 7. James will not duplicate his performance.

Dboss

Hi,
Simply put - LJ did come to play, Celtics didn't come.
I hope they will on Sat.

AK

Two words

Ouch!

Next!

Head up, moving on to Saturday.

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them's the tire tracks that ran all over us!

Just thought we'd hang around and find a run. Never happened.

Bron played about a good a game as he could/can and we had no answer for him. Just hope we show up a bit more competitive on Saturday win or loose.

beat

Injuries are finally showing what guts the Celtics have had all this playoff series. Paul Pierce can hardly get his feet off the floor to take a jump shot, how he hit that three the other night in Miami I'll never know. I expect no miracles from him Saturday. Ray? what can I say, except he has played with more heart and soul than anyone could ever expect. With Bradley gone, there just is no one to pick the team up defensively except Garnett and he looked beat last night. Slow getting back on defense.

I will NEVER give up on this team. I still think they can dig deep enough to possibly pull it off, but if they don't, I will not be ashamed to call myself a
diehard Celtic fan. They have showed more heart and soul than we could have ever imagined.

Lets all be here Saturday night to cheer them on as we have all been all
summer.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FROM JANUARY TO MARCH.
IN A INDUCED COMA TWICE, BUT, WHEN I WOKE UP, TALKED TO MY FAMILY, THE FIRST QUESTION I ASKED WAS "WHEN ARE THE CELTICS ON?". I WATCHED EVERY GAME DURING THAT TIME FROM A HOSPITAL BED, THEY SAW ME THROUGH THE TOUGHEST TIME OF MY LIFE. NOW IT IS MY TURN.

I WILL BE HERE SATURDAY WITH MY GREEN ON!!

Go Celtics! Focus, focus, focus.

Sam

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Injuries are finally showing what guts the Celtics have had all this playoff series. Paul Pierce can hardly get his feet off the floor to take a jump shot, how he hit that three the other night in Miami I'll never know. I expect no miracles from him Saturday. Ray? what can I say, except he has played with more heart and soul than anyone could ever expect. With Bradley gone, there just is no one to pick the team up defensively except Garnett and he looked beat last night. Slow getting back on defense.

I will NEVER give up on this team. I still think they can dig deep enough to possibly pull it off, but if they don't, I will not be ashamed to call myself a
diehard Celtic fan. They have showed more heart and soul than we could have ever imagined.

Lets all be here Saturday night to cheer them on as we have all been all
summer.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE, I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FROM JANUARY TO MARCH.
IN A INDUCED COMA TWICE, BUT, WHEN I WOKE UP, TALKED TO MY FAMILY, THE FIRST QUESTION I ASKED WAS "WHEN ARE THE CELTICS ON?". I WATCHED EVERY GAME DURING THAT TIME FROM A HOSPITAL BED, THEY SAW ME THROUGH THE TOUGHEST TIME OF MY LIFE. NOW IT IS MY TURN.

I WILL BE HERE SATURDAY WITH MY GREEN ON!!

Thanks Rosalie, think we all need a little retrospect on this. Win or loose it has been a great ride I just don't want it to end, not yet.

beat

It ain't over till its over!!!

Go Celtics!!!

Hard to win if you don't put the ball in the peach basket and the other guy (as in, singular, not plural) does.

1. Obviously a monster game by Lebron. Some of it was halfhearted or braindead defense by us, but a lot of it was him just hitting every shot from every place he took it. 19-26 (73%), is ridiculous. The scheme of putting Rondo on LBJ isn't working anymore. As soon as they see that LBJ posts Rondo up or goes to the front of the rim. He has gotten numerous offensive rebounds just because Rondo can't keep him off the boards. It'll work when LBJ has the ball out at the 3pt line, because Rondo can interfere with his dribble, but Rondo can't handle him low. According to Hoopdata, http://www.hoopdata.com/boxscore.aspx?id=320607002, 18 of LBJ's 26 fga were from 15' and in. Not surprisingly, he made 12 of them for 67%. That's too many shots that close. Throw in his 3s, LBJ's eFG (Effective Field Goal) percentage was 77% (also, courtesy of hoopdata). We have got to make him take more jumpers from the elbow and out. And for God's Sake, when you foul him, WRAP HIM UP! A normal foul won't stop that truck from finishing, you have to grab him firmly. I'm not talking about dumping him on his royal ass, I'm just talking about not giving up a basket and a ft. His Achilles Heel this series has been his ft shooting, only 5-9 last night despite his amazing fg shooting. If you foul him, make sure he can't score and make him earn it at the line.

2. Rondo played more minutes than any other Celtic. He also had the worst +/- of any Celtic. 7 turnovers, quite a few of them just sloppy play. At one point there was a timeout and Doc, who was miked, said "we need multiple stops and more motion on offense". They came out of the timeout and Rondo took a quick 17-footer (which he missed). After LBJ scored at the other end Rondo came down and took another quick 17-footer (which he missed). Doc took another timeout. In case you haven't noticed, Rondo doesn't always listen well or obey authority figures. To be fair, if he only had 2 turnovers that doesn't mean we would have won. We still had to put the ball in the hole and we were having tons of problems doing that. Of course, if we had done what Doc wanted and got more motion in our offense and not just single-mindedly going for hero-ball, we might have put it in the hole more.

2. Another poor shooting, foul-prone game by Pierce. I think Steve nailed it, with Pierce's shooting. When KoME shoots LAL out of a game, I get on him. Well...I'm going to take some heat for this statement, and maybe it is a little over the top, but we're heading to game 7 despite Paul Pierce and not because of him, and I'm not just talking about game 6. If he had been playing like Paul Pierce throughout this series we'd have already won.

3. Solid game by Bass. Not flashy, not big, but solid. As usual, we got his blue-collar effort. That foul on Wade with .6 left in the half was incredibly dumb. Just like everything else in this game, it wasn't a big enough deal to cost us the game, there was no one thing that did that, but it was dumb and gave Miami an easy 2pts to head into halftime with a 13 point lead instead of 11.

4. After playing a so-so game 5 but having a HUGE final few minutes, Mickael Pietrus reverted to form and fell flat. LBJ's swoop in jam off the offensive board (if you watched any highlights on ESPN you saw it at least 10 times) happened because Pietrus was standing out near the 3 point line, not even next to LBJ and didn't move when LBJ did. LBJ's Bradley-like baseline layup from Wade? Pietrus got caught doing the same thing Bradley's defenders do, he didn't open up his stance enough so he could watch the action and his man and as soon as he took his eyes off LBJ he went to the hoop. Like everything else in this game none of these mistakes cost us the game, but they add up collectively.

5. We were 1-14 from 3. Pierce alone was a no-conscience 0-6. If you're going to take the easy shot (easy meaning not taking it to the defense where they might block or strip you, or setting solid picks and running your halfcourt sets) you better make the easy shot.

6. KG was half there. He was trying but shots that are normally duck soup for him weren't dropping. 5 rebounds only.

7. They out-assisted us. Man, when things go bad they go really bad.

8. We did a pretty good job of defending everybody not wearing #6. Without LBJ, the Heat shot 36%, with only 18fgm for the entire rest of the team. Without Paul Pierce we shot 49%. So, who were the impact players of this game?

This is why we play 7. It would have been nice to have wrapped this up, but we didn't. Nothing this team does comes easy. The good news is that I don't see how it'd be possible for LBJ to have another game like this one, but we can still defend the rest of the Heat as well as we did last night. We just have to hit our shots.

An extra day off, which we desperately need, and it's all about Sunday. At least that's what I think, but I'm not Doc Rivers, and that's a good thing.

Here is what Doc told his troops before they left last night, and Dooling's take on it:

"They're not just going to pack for [Game 7]," Rivers said of his team. "They're going to bring suits for Tuesday and they're going to bring suits for Thursday. And that's the way we're going to plan to do it."

Rivers, of course, was referencing the trip to Oklahoma City that would await the Celtics if they win Saturday night. Game 1 of the NBA Finals is a quick turnaround, Tuesday night on the Thunder's home floor. Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday.

Leading the 2006 NBA Finals 3-2, Riley famously packed “one suit, one shirt, one tie” for his trip to Dallas for Game 6, believing his Heat would need just one game to close out the Mavericks. The Heat won Game 6, 95-92, securing a title and proving their coach prescient.

A message on the Celtics' dry erase board reminded players of an afternoon flight with the note, "Pack for a week," scrawled below it.




"We're packing for a week -- it's self-explanatory," said Keyon Dooling. "That's how we feel about it. It's not like we lost confidence or we're scared to go in Miami. We're going to be in Miami, we're going to be ready to play."


Ok, I'm on board with this, it's not all about Sunday. It's still all about #18, as it always has been, which requires a trip to OKC. I lost sight of that, for a moment, but I'm back. The ride might be bumpy, but we're going.

bob


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Bob,

Game 7 is tomorrow, not Sunday.

The cumulative effects of playing every other night has been especially hard on the walking wounded.

I expect someone to step on for Celtics.

On d I would bring double team to james whenever he tries to post up celts did a poor job of that...very indecisive..

If pp is off again maybe he should take less shots. His shooting has been atrocious throughout the playoffs and even worse in this series.

This is a tough game coming up. The Celts have played like warriors.

Dboss