It's Miracle Time

86-86.  19.5 seconds.  Celtics ball.

19.5 looong seconds.

The situation you want to be in with Doc Rivers as your coach.  The Celtics were one play away from putting the Heat back on their heels and evening the series at 2-2.  I can’t emphasize enough how confident I was when the timeout was called.  I think I’m speaking for most Celtics fans here.  It was the classic mismatch; the championship proven Celtics with the ball versus the jittery Heat.  Hell, the Heat had just squandered their chance to take the lead only seconds earlier when the King turned the ball over while driving in the lane. 

One perfectly executed play was needed.  So who does Doc call on to make it happen?  Surprise, surprise:  KG-Paul-Ray.

The result: THE END OF AN ERA.

It was as if that last play of regulation was in slow motion.  After two quick passes the ball is in Paul’s hands at the top of the key (still plenty of time).  Across the court you have KG and Ray looking like a couple awkward teenagers at a YMCA dance.  Neither knowing what exactly they should be doing.  First, they both step towards Paul. Then they both step back (come on, do something!).  The goal is a slip screen to get Ray open, but neither can seem to decide who’s going to go where to set it up.  It was an absolute disaster.  Paul is left completely out to dry as the clock ticks down and he finally has to make his move, which ends up being a heave from about 18 feet with LeBron right in his face (what the expletive was that!!).  The ball clangs of the backboard, the buzzer sounds, and the Celtics head for an early playoff exit.  You may be wondering about overtime, but if you were watching the game you knew that overtime was just a formality.  The Celtics had their shot and the three guys that have made the last four years so exciting for the fans of Boston DID NOT COME THROUGH.  They were gassed and had left it all out there for 48 minutes.

It would be easy to blame it all on Rondo’s injury, but that was just part of it.  He gave everything he had last night and it wasn’t any less than he’s given all series.  It would be equally easy to blame the “Big 3” for not being able to run a play they’ve run hundreds of times over the years, but that’s not quite it either.  Granted, it was awful, but they were out of gas.  Game 3 took a lot out of them physically and emotionally.  You can’t complain about the effort.  The problem in the end was the bench’s inability to play quality minutes.  Big Baby and Jeff Green murdered this team.  I will forever hold them responsible.  (Don’t worry, there will an article on Danny at some point in the future.  There is no way that he gets a pass.)  The two of them were embarrassingly bad.  It was like watching my golf swing on video every time they came on the floor.  Pure torture.  How Big Baby can completely disappear is beyond me.  Right now he brings zero to the table.  His jumper is gone.  He’s not defending and drawing charges.  He’s completely invisible when it comes to rebounding.  Oh yeah, and he’s crying on the bench again.  Talk about a complete meltdown.  It’s safe to assume that he didn’t improve his free agency price with this postseason. 

This leads me to Jeff Green.  I hate to criticize the guy, but he’s a big boy, he can take it.  He’s been here since February 24^th.  At what point does he feel “comfortable”?  Based on what we’ve seen so far, my answer would be never.  How can he look lost at all times on the offensive end?  This is a guy that was averaging 15 points a game while with OKC and for whatever reason he can’t do anything for the Celtics.  I could count on my left hand the number of times he didn’t look out of position in the last couple months.  Think about that…months.  It appears that he hasn’t learned a single offensive set.  The only time he looks remotely comfortable is in the open court.  I would go into his defensive issues, but I’d like to be able to keep my lunch down.  All I’ll say is that he’s useless on the defensive end.  Utterly (expletive) useless.  If Danny really thought JEFF GREEN could back up Paul and defend Carmelo, LeBron, and Luol Deng, he’s sadly mistaken.  That’s all I have to say about that.

My guess is that the season will end tomorrow night in Miami, but it certainly won’t end like it did for the Lakers.  This team won’t quit on their coach.  They’ll go down swinging (the right way).  One can only hope that KG-Paul-Ray can get another chance to run that final play.  I’m pretty sure we’ll see a different outcome.