Pau Gasol’s brilliance will be given much of the credit, but a it was a poorly executed Boston possession at the end of regulation that actually paved the way for Gasol’s game-saving block.

With 9.8 seconds left on the clock and the ball being taken out of bounds near the hash, Doc Rivers drew up a late game gem. The play called for Rajon Rondo to act as the triggerman entering the ball into a Paul Pierce cutting off a Kevin Garnett screen toward the top of the key.

After Rondo clears through opposite, Ray Allen comes off a Mickael Pietrus screen sprinting toward Pierce.

Upon reaching Pierce, Allen sets a brush screen (or perhaps simply slips) while Garnett moves from the short corner to flare screen for Allen toward the wing.

However, two things happen that send this promising design spiraling out of control. First, Metta World Peace (my goodness is it ridiculous to type that) because too pre-occupied with Pierce leaving Allen open on the wing and Garnett with no-one to screen. Pierce makes an even bigger mistake by taking his vision away from both Peace (still ridiculous) and the weakside action in general. In a perfect world, Pierce should already be delivering a hook pass that leads Allen to an open spot on the wing.

Even though Pierce fails to read the play right, it is still savable at this point. Garnett could have chose to screen down on Gasol (or slipped to the rim, dragging Gasol with him), opening up a passing lane to Allen who still is freed from Artest (much better). Garnett also could have popped to the middle of the floor hunting a mid-range shot for himself.

He fails to do either and this is how the play ended up:

A moment that could have seen Paul Pierce or Ray Allen plunging a late-game dagger into a hated rival instead saw Mickael Pietrus wildly flinging toward the rim with a desperate heave. The end result was the overtime period that ended with Gasol’s emphatic rejection. If not for some shoddy execution by normally steady veterans late, Boston’s winning streak would still be alive and well.