The time has come to appreciate the lovable spunk of this Celtics team.
There is no Kevin Garnett, nor is there a Leon Powe. James Posey and P.J. Brown are home watching on the high-def. The entire experience is different this year.
"I told them, 'We're not the prettiest team, guys, clearly,' " said Doc Rivers. " 'We're grinders. There were a lot of times we could have quit and given up, but we didn't.' "
You mean, like, when they were down 14 with 8:48 to go? Or when they were down 10 with 5:39 left?
They fell behind, 10-8, and spent the next 39:40 trying to take the lead, finally doing so on a classic deep curling three by Ray Allen with 1:20 to go. Then they made all the right decisions (specifically, when and how to foul) and all the right defensive plays in an interminable final 80 seconds, turning what would have been a discouraging loss into one of the great playoff wins in their glorious history, a 92-88 triumph that gives them a 3-2 series lead over the Orlando Magic and thus ensures more spring basketball, more happy North End eateries and drinking establishments, and more general civic merriment.
On an evening punctuated by the glad tidings from Raleigh (would Red have appreciated Bruins highlights up on the big screen?), the Celtics took a long time to figure things out. For 3 1/2 periods, they simply could not string together enough stops to provide legitimate competition for an Orlando team that seemed to have too many people capable of scoring at will. Trading hoops at 9-11 points down won't cut it, and that was about the best the Celtics could do until Doc Rivers made a fateful decision with 4:55 remaining. That's when he replaced Stephon Marbury, Eddie House, and Brian Scalabrine with Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Kendrick Perkins.
That may sound like the logical thing to do, but the fact is those guys, Marbury in particular, were not playing all that badly. This was the Marbury night Rivers had been predicting for two months. "He'll win us a playoff game," Doc kept insisting, and if Marbury did not necessarily win it, he made sure it would not be lost by packaging 12 points into the first 6:05 of the fourth quarter.
The other life-saving player was Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who started slowly but steadily played his way into the game with 16 of his 22 coming in the second half. He and Marbury combined to score the first 20 points of the final period.
"That unit kept us in the game and gave us hope," said Rivers. "I mean, that game could have gone from 9 to 15. Instead, they just hung in there and made shots for us."
