Post by FLCeltsFan on Mar 12, 2009 6:35:47 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1158015&format=text
Hurt Celtics come up short
Heat’s on, but Doc Rivers won’t rush guys back
By Mark Murphy | Thursday, March 12, 2009 | www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics
Photo by AP
MIAMI - Doc Rivers is holding strong.
There probably was an overwhelming public urge back home to do something - anything - to push Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo [stats] back into action and staunch the wound last night.
But despite whatever pressure comes pouring out after the Celtics [team stats]’ 107-99 loss to the Heat, Rivers plans to channel Mother Theresa.
“If we get homecourt and Kevin’s not right, and Rondo’s not right, then we’re not winning, anyway,” he said. “(The need for patience) is on me. I’m going to be patient, and I’m not going to rush anyone back.”
Just don’t pay too much attention to the conference standings today. The loss dropped the Celtics three games behind Cleveland in the loss column. Third-place Orlando, a winner against Chicago, now is 1 games behind the Celts.
Unlike the Cavaliers, who escaped from a 19-point hole against the Clippers Tuesday night, the Celtics dug their second straight inescapable hole last night.
Just as they fell just short Sunday against the Magic, they scared the Heat with a 16-2 fourth-quarter run that didn’t close the deal. They trailed by 15 points with 9:06 left, closed to within a point (96-95) on an Eddie House 3-pointer with 3:58 left, and then reached for the oxygen tanks.
Dwyane Wade, with the Heat crowd chanting “MVP” after every basket, sealed matters with two huge shots in the last 4:12 - a full-court drive for a three-point play and a 96-92 lead and, after House’s trey, an absurd 15-foot banker from a near-prone position after up-faking Ray Allen.
Wade finished with 32 points that included 13-of-16 free throw shooting, and the Celtics shouldn’t feel too defeated. They actually held Wade under his average for March - an MVP-like 37.2 ppg in six games.
With early foul trouble complicating their manpower problem, the Celtics simply were too expended to function.
Leon Powe - at one stage the center in a first-half lineup that also included Allen, House, Paul Pierce [stats] and Bill Walker - logged a career-high 43 minutes on the way to 23 points and 13 boards.
Walker gladly stepped in as an undersized power forward and earned the respect of his teammates after getting on the nerves of Jermaine O’Neal. The Heat center, bothered by Walker’s physical style, earned a technical foul after knocking the rookie into the basket support during the Celtics’ 16-2 run.
“It’s a challenging time,” said Allen, whose 27-point performance included 5-of-8 shooting from downtown. “But it’s fun to be a part of it with all of the growth you see every day out of this group we’re playing right now. I embrace it.
“It seems that one or two plays aren’t going our way right now, but we’re learning. When we become a full unit again, Mikki (Moore) and Stephon (Marbury) will understand their part in it, and that will make things move that much better.”
For now, though, there is disappointment. Moore blamed himself last night for part of the problem, saying, “It’s frustrating. I feel like it was a couple of my mistakes defensively that cost us the game. And then I missed my jump shot. But I have to pull through it.”
Marbury, also a work in progress, shot 0-for-6 last night and is 3-for-21 in the five games since his eight-point Celtics debut.
Powe understands that this stripped-down lineup - of which he is a major part - might actually be coming together.
“Yeah, but we don’t want to keep digging ourselves a hole like this,” he said. “We’re just too short on manpower to keep doing that.”
