After blowing an 18 point lead in the first half, the Boston Celtics managed to hold off a late Heat rally and a potential game-winning buzzer beater from Dwayne Wade in overtime to win game 4 in Boston 93-91.
This best-of-7 series is now tied at 2 games a piece with game 5 taking place Tuesday night in Miami.
BOSTON BAILS IT OUT
The Celtics dodged a bullet in this one. Blowing leads of that magnitude isn’t Boston basketball.
A win is a win nonetheless.
In the second half (including overtime), the Celtics only had 32 points in 47 possessions compared to 61 points in 48 possessions in the first. They went completely cold after halftime after dominating the Heat 61-47 and hitting 15 of their first 26 shots in the opening 2 quarters.
Despite that horrid performance late in the game, the Celtics still prevailed and have tied this series at 2-2.
Rajon Rondo was up to his usual double-double trickery as he finished with 15 points and 15 assists (just 3 turnovers) in 47 minutes of action. Perhaps his most memorable moment of the game was when he took a “subtle” shot at the Miami Heat during his halftime interview with ESPN correspondent Doris Burke.
Rajan usually comes off as a humble player and rarely bashes other players or teams in public forums such as this. I will give him a pass on those comments as he doesn’t have a history of these instances.
His shot at the Heat players did have some truth behind it, didn’t it?
The “Big Three” of Ray Allen (16 points, 2 rebounds, 4 three-pointers), Paul Pierce (23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) and Kevin Garnett (17 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks) all had effective outings for the Celtics as they combined for 56 of the Celtics 93 points.
Boston fans can now rejoice and breath a sigh of relief. Last night’s game 4 was not the last time Celtics faithful will get a chance to witness their “Big Three” in action. This series will now go 6 games (at least) with game 6 taking place in Boston.
We have ourselves an Eastern Conference Finals ladies and gentlemen.
HEAT HAVE THEIR CHANCES
Miami had 2 BIG chances to win this game. One at the end of regulation and one to win the game in overtime.
Obviously with it being Lebron James (29 points, 6 rebounds, 7 turnovers), many Heat bashers are going to be out in full force ridiculing James for passing up that final shot at the end of the fourth quarter to Udonis Haslem. I for one will not join in the harassment of the self-proclaimed King in this situation.
He did indeed pass up the final shot for what seems like the 100th time in his career, but what else was he supposed to do in that situation? He had 4 Celtics defenders on him as he drove to the basket. Udonis Haslem has proven in these playoffs that he can hit wide-open jumpers if need be. The pass was poorly executed but the intention was completely correct and valid. James did the right thing. I’d rather take my chances with Haslem hitting an open shot than forcing up an altered leaner with half of the Celtics players guarding me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGvXaDGI5wE
With 13 seconds left on the clock in overtime, the Heat drew up a play for Dwayne Wade (20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) to take a game-winning 3-pointer at the top of the key to try to win the game. Dwayne got Celtics defender Marquis Daniels to leave his feet leaving him wide open for the shot. Unfortunately he couldn’t get the bounce and the Heat ended up losing the game. It was still a great look and was probably the best case scenario for Miami. It just didn’t go in.
QUOTES OF THE GAME
‘What I said was true. I don’t take back what I said. That’s what it is.” – Celtics guard Rajan Rondo on his halftime comments (yahoo sports)
”Not stressed the series is tied 2-2. It’s great basketball, great competition. We wanted to get one up here and we didn’t.” – Miami Heat forward Lebron James
TWEET OF THE GAME
LeBron James could hit Rajon Rondo in the back with a steel chair WWE style and still not pick up his sixth foul.
— Fanly Gridiron 🏈 (@FanlyGridiron) June 4, 2012
FINAL THOUGHTS
– Was the 6th foul called on Lebron James really a foul? I can’t say for sure, but I suppose something had to be called. Lebron James basically toppled over Mickael Pietrus. I would have blown the whistle as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQtcC2Y07U
At least we got a funny Chris Bosh reaction out of it….
– As an interesting side-note to that foul, that was the first time since 2008 in which Lebron James has fouled out of a game and the first time as a member of the Heat. I guess the referees have decided to finally turn on the King.
NEXT GAME
Tuesday June 5th @Miami – 8:30 pm on ESPN
Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports