Usually those in game coach interviews don’t really provide any input, but in between the 3rd and 4th quarter of game 4 Doc Rivers provided some insight into why the Celtics offense once again became stagnant in the 3rd quarter. “We have too many guys trying to do things off the bounce,” Doc said, and he was right. So how did Doc address this? Well, he put 5 guys on the floor who don’t really have the skills to do anything one on one effectively. You had 4 bench guys (Tony Allen, Big Baby, Nate Robinson, and Rasheed Wallace) and Ray Allen (someone who is more comfortable moving without the basketball than running ISO stuff), and almost instantly you saw the Celtics offense open up and become more effective:
Boston’s offense was amazingly patient, and the play above is a perfect example. The Celtics run through the entire set as Nate Robinson enters the ball to Ray Allen then cuts through and comes all the way around to receive the handoff. Wallace then sets a downscreen for Ray Allen who gets a screen from Big Baby. After the screen Big Baby cuts through the lane as the ball gets swung back to Nate Robinson. Robinson hits Big Baby as he is rolling through the lane. What all this ball and player movement does is open up the lane and gives Big Baby an opportunity to work one on one. Against two bigs, Glen Davis isn’t all that effective (he out-muscles one, but the other big man gets the block). Against one, he can use his body to get the ball up on the rim, which is what happens here.
If the Celtics go on to win the NBA Finals after tying up the series at two last night, Rajon Rondo’s steal is going to be one of those plays remembered for a long time. When Paul Pierce missed a jumper with about 45 seconds left and when Kobe grabbed that rebound with the Lakers down 6, you just had a feeling that Kobe and the Lakers would somehow find a way to comeback and win the game. The Celtics defense prevented that from happening:
As Kobe grabs the rebound and starts downcourt, Ray Allen (Kobe’s defender) quickly finds Bryant and gets in front of him while backpedaling.
I like to criticize the referees as much as the next person, but for some reason I can’t help but think that everyone is blowing this officiating situation during these finals out of proportion. Maybe it is because you have two fan bases who are known to complain about pretty much everything or maybe it is because of the announce team (I like Jeff Van Gundy and can live with Mark Jackson, but do they really have to go on and on about how bad every single call – even when they aren’t that bad – is during the replays?), but I just get a vibe that everyone is looking for a reason to hate on the officials.
A very good example of this came midway through the 3rd quarter. After a Derek Fisher jumper, the Celtics came down and the refs made a very quick three second call. Everyone was outraged. The fans, people on Twitter, and the ESPN announce team. All of them pointed towards the shot clock and how only 4 seconds ran off of it. Taking a closer look though, you see this was the correct call:
Kendrick Perkins gathers the ball after Derek Fisher hits a jumper. On a made basket, the game clock continues to run as the shot-clock holds still until a player gathers possession.
