Celts Win, 2010 Flakers-Style



In a game where they had to be good, and lucky, the Celtics pulled off a miraculous finish to regulation, sending the game to overtime and prevailing over the Heat.  Like the title says, this was a "2010 Flakers Style Win"- that can be categorized as one of two things: an overtime win over an inferior team that they should've won anyway or getting extremely fortunate with some calls.  Before I break out tonight's game lets look at the Flakers this year and why they're record is inflated:

  • Tues Nov 3rd, beat Thunder in overtime after Kevin Durant's buzzer beater misses, 101-98.
  • Wed Nov 4th, beat Rockets in overtime 103-102.
  • Fri Dec 4th, beat Heat 108-107 on ridiculously lucky Bean Bryant 3 pointer at buzzer.
  • Wed Dec 16th, beat Bucks at buzzer 107-106 in overtime in poorest officiated game I've seen of the season.
  • Sat Dec 26th beat Kings in overtime
  • Fri Jan 1st beat Kings 109-108 at buzzer.
Now for the Celtics?
  • Sunday Nov 22nd, beat Knicks in overtime at buzzer 107-105.
  • Friday Dec 18th, lose to 76ers 98-97 after Pierce and Allen failing to hit a shot at the buzzer.
  • Sunday Dec 27th, lose to Clippers 92-90 as Baron Davis wins game at the buzzer.
  • Tonight C's beat Heat in overtime.
That's 6-0 for the Flakers and 2-2 for the Celtics in that regard.  If you want to bring up the 76ers game back on Wed Nov 25th that they won 113-110 you can but you can negate that with the loss to the Warriors a couple of weeks ago.

The point of all this is the C's deserved a break tonight, and got it.
  • Perk was a beast offensively tonight in the first half with 17 points.  He finished with 20.  Thank God the food poisoning couldn't keep him down. 
  • Anyone who made the argument that the Celtics should have pursued Arroyo may have been deterred by his performance tonight.  He was putrid and the time the Heat made their comeback tonight was with Chalmers in there, and Arroyo on the bench.
  • Paul looked sluggish to me tonight.  Yeah he finished with 17 points but seemed to have the same lateral quickness (and lift for that matter) as Quentin Richardson.  He probably was out of it from missing several games.
  • Rondo on the other hand was outstanding, 25 points and 8 dimes and a whopping 50 minutes.
  • And let's not forget Ray or Sheed, who both also played very well, especially Ray coming to life in the 4th and overtime.
  • During the Celtics Life Game Chat I boldly predicted at halftime that Dywane Wade would hit a shot at the buzzer and the Celtics would lose by 2.  I've been so incredibly let down in this "lucky" department this season with the C's losing these close games and the Flakers winning, I think convincing myself this would happen would soften the blow when it occurred. 
  • If you missed this one, the Celts were tied with 5 seconds to go after Wade calmly made 2 free throws.  After inbounding to Ray Allen, Wade stole the ball from him and raced towards the basket for the go ahead bucket.  My ill-fated prediction was happening.
    • But then on the play of the year, Glen Davis picked off Rondo's man and Jermaine O'Neal recovered to Davis (probably remembering the corner jumper Big Baby knocked down consistently last season) allowing a perfectly lobbed Pierce pass to get to Rondo for the game-tying layup.  In hindsight I bet O'Neal wishes he let Davis alone and protected the basket (since there were only 0.6 seconds left).  A shot blocker inside and Rajon might not get that one off.
      • This my friends was a fortunate play!
  • The Celtics were lucky for 2 other reasons: 24 turnovers tonight and they gave up 17 offensive rebounds.  Playing like that on the road normally leads to a loss.  It's terrific they shot 53% for the game.
    • By the way in the "interesting stat of the night" Miami took 31 more shots than the Celtics did tonight.  I've clearly been watching too many Heat telecasts with Eric Reid and Tony "The Coach" Fiorentino to give a stat like that.
  • Celts prevailed in overtime, getting the defensive stops they needed and scores at the right time.

 My prediction  for Wade almost came to fruition.  Thank God it didn't.