I woke up this morning and couldn't wait to get to the computer to start reading the Celtics tidbits for tonight's pivotal Game 2 Miami. I was feeling confident. Well, not as confident on Sunday morning, but there was still some swagger there. I wasn't yet sold on this Heat team. So I sat down, opened the laptop, and started scrolling through my twitter feed and noticed a Boston Globe headline: "Garnett vows to be more aggressive." Maybe I didn't take it the right way, but that bothered me. I was pissed. Was he saying that he didn't give everything he had in Game 1? I'm sick of hearing about how they are going to play harder, play smarter, etc... As a fan, I want them to play well NOW. I want this team to dominate the arrogant, front-running Heat. I'm sick of LeBron complaining after every foul, after every almost foul, and after every time he thinks someone was debating fouling him. He's an absolute punk and I can honestly say that if he were in Celtic green I'd be looking for a new team to root for. Thankfully I don't have to worry about that. He's in Miami for a while celebrating titles he hasn't won yet. He's just a clown. Moving on.
The game tonight was supposed to be Boston's chance to get back in it. Their chance to steal one on the road and put some pressure on the punk Heat. Well, that didn't even come close to happening. They were blown out again and this time they looked OLD in the process. They couldn't get to a single loose ball all night. All of the extra effort was coming from the Heat. To make it even more maddening, it wasn't the Heat bench that came up big, it was their version of the Big Three. LeBron absolutely took over the game in the second half and the Celtics had no answers. Even when they did have a stop or two in them, joey Crawfod made sure that the Heat got to the line. The Heat were flopping and getting calls all night. Wade looks like he's been shot every time he goes up for an awkward jump shot and he's continually bailed out. That's not why the Heat won this game tonight though. The Heat won because the Celtics refuse to rebound, refuse to give the extra effort, and refuse to close out quarters. It seems like the announcers start every quarter by talking about the run the Heat had to end the quarter. It's always a 6 or 8 point swing, They should make it a new segment for the broadcast. "So Doris, what was the Heat run to end that quarter?" This has been an issue all season and drives me absolutely crazy. If I had to guess how many times I've screamed at my TV for the Celtics to KEEP PLAYING, I would say at least 332 times. That's probably on the conservative side. This lack of concentration is why the Celtics are coming home down 2-0 and most likely won't get out of the second round. This team is in deep, deep trouble. This will be more pressure than they've felt in a while. These are two must-win games for a team that struggled at home in the second half of the season and has certainly lost it's swagger. I'll be rooting for them. I'll be screaming at my TV as always, but I'm starting to doubt that they can survive. I don't doubt that they have guile to pull it out, but they just look so lost on both ends of the court. The Heat again had a bunch of open shots and the Celtics haven't been able to close down the driving lanes. It's been ridiculous. How many 'and one's' can you give up in one series? The offense has been the exact opposite of what Doc preaches: patience and ball movement. Way too many poor shots and the ball has been sticking. They never seem to reverse the ball and make the defense work. All I know is Doc has a lot of work to do before Saturday. All week we're going to hear about how Shaq is coming back, the Green are coming home, and how the practice will get them back on the track. But the reality is, they just need to play with passion. That's all I want to see. If they do that, they survive. If they don't, they'll find themselves watching the Finals and screaming at their TV's just like me.
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