By Jon Duke
Pacers 97 – Celtics 70
Pacers Win Series 4-3

With all of the nostalgia and talk of Celtic victories in Game 7’s of past, there seemed to be momentum building towards a big win tonight for the guys in green. Despite extreme criticism of Paul Pierce, there seemed to be an air of confidence for the Celtics squad as they entered the deciding game of this opening Eastern Conference playoff series against the Indiana Pacers. But, in the end it wasn’t leprechauns or ghosts that crowned this evening’s victor, it was solid fundamental basketball that won out. Unfortunately for the 18,000 FleetCenter faithful, it was the 12 gentlemen from the Hoosier state that reigned supreme.

For the first 24 minutes of Game 7, the Celtics and Pacers went back and forth taking turns with the lead and not allowing either team to get far away from the other. Entering halftime with the Pacers up 35-33, both teams had numerous areas of improvement to look at in the locker room. Both teams struggled from the field in the first half, with both teams shooting under 40% from the floor, though Paul Pierce and Stephen Jackson did see success with 12 and 13 points respectively in the first two quarters. Though when the teams returned for the second half, the Celtics seemed to leave their game in the locker room.

Unlike in the first half when both teams seemed unable to find the bottom of the basket, after the mid point of the third quarter Pacers had difficulty missing shots, particularly 3 point shots. Many of Stephen Jackson’s first half points came on open 3-pointers that came as a result of his man collapsing to help defend Jermaine O’Neal. Beginning in the third quarter, and exploding in the fourth quarter, the Indiana Pacers seemingly made every single open 3-pointer they took. These open threes completely demoralized the already weak Celtics defense, and mortally wounded the psyche of this squad. As soon as Indiana pushed the lead beyond 14 with 4 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, the Celtics had been defeated.

The difference in Game 7, and in the series overall, was the experience, chemistry, and poise that the Pacers had developed during a number deep runs into the playoffs over the last few of years. Rick Carlisle, who was Coach of the Year in Detroit before being fired prior to last year, implemented systems on the offensive and defensive ends that the Pacer players used with a Patriots-like efficiency and effectiveness. Most NBA observers saw the Celtics entering the series with the edge in talent, but like the 3 time Super Bowl champs, the Pacers were truly greater than the sum of their parts. One could only imagine what this series could have looked like with Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley available from Game 1 on.

While the Pacers played well, this “humble scribe” believes it was the Celtics who beat the Celtics. Despite playing 88 games together the Celtics were completely unable to run their half court offense despite often times having the 3 best offensive players on the court wearing the home whites. More than any other factor, it was in the hearts and minds of the Celtics players that this game and series was lost. Paul Pierce and company was completely unable to pass, move without the ball, or make good decisions. You know things are going bad for your team when the most enjoyable part of the 2nd half came when Doc inserted “The Kids” with just over 4 minutes to go and the Celtics down more than 20 points.

Neither Antoine Walker nor Paul Pierce nor Gary Payton nor Ricky Davis was able to pull the Celtics out of their disastrous tailspin. Each of these men was unable to trust their teammates or work hard on their own to get open. Because these key performers spent time on the offensive end in manner resembling sedated nursing home residents, the ball sat stagnant and the Pacers’ defense moved from very good to friggin’ legendary. This is an absolutely crucial area that Doc and Danny must address this summer. If these guys, or anyone else on the Celtics roster wishes to play in this offense in that manner, then Danny Ainge absolutely must send them on the next $99 Acela Express out of town.

However, we’ll hold off on the post mortem for a later time. Right now, the anger and disappointment for the Celtics fans worldwide is at a season high. Our team came out and gave away a potentially season ending game in their own building against a less talented team. That, in and of itself, is reason enough to empty the liquor cabinet this evening and watch “Three Games to Glory III” and “Faith Rewarded” until sunrise. So, check back over the off-season, as the Full Court Press crew will periodically put together columns looking back at the season that was and look ahead to the big questions that face the Celtics this summer.

Until then, I will be polishing off Tangeray and Tonics in my Barcalounger and alternating between the five discs of “Dynasty Series: The Boston Celtics” until I hear David Stern utter the magic words, “and with the first pick in the 2005 NBA Draft…”

By Greg
Celtics 92 - Pacers 89 OT
Series Tied 3 - 3

A defining moment. For many of the participants, Game 6 of the opening round of the 2005 NBA playoffs between the Celtics and the Indiana Pacers had the chance to be just that. And that can be either a good or bad thing, depending on the end result. For some players, it had the chance to be both.

One such player was Pacers guard Reggie Miller. He struggled through an off game in which he went 3-10 from the field, raising the very real possibility he had played the last game of his Hall of Fame career before his home fans in forgettable fashion. But in the end, remarkably, he had the shot as time expired in regulation to erase all that and win it with a trademark three. It came up well short. No defining moment.

For young Kendrick Perkins, his chance at a defining moment came, to his apparent dismay, in a flurry of weirdness that ended regulation and which had the second year player at the free throw line for the win at the choosing of Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. Perkins, who had not played in this game, was chosen to take Paul Pierce’s free throws with little time on the clock and the game tied 84-84 when Pierce was ejected from the game prior to shooting free throws of his own. Perkins missed both shots and looked to become a most unfortunate and undeserved recipient of a negative defining moment had things gone slightly differently in overtime.

For Celtic Antoine Walker, the chameleon of a power forward who can be both loved and despised by Celtics fans, appreciated and derided, his chance at a defining moment came in a memorable, spirited second half and overtime performance for the ages in which he literally helped carry the Celtics across the finish line and off into the night victorious and headed for Game 7. Walker’s second half was filled with rebounds and tips and twists and turns and baskets which kept the Celtics from faltering under the weight of the onrushing home team. For Walker, it was a second half which offered redemption, he having been widely written off this series by the fans and media types as a more of a burden to the Celtics cause than help. The fact the Celtics had won Game 4 so convincingly while Walker sat out suspended, only to play lethargically upon his return in Game 5, had seemed to only cement that opinion. But Walker’s magnificent second half and overtime performance last night erased all that and proved sometimes conventional wisdom isn’t wisdom at all. Redemption was his, yes, but no single defining moment.

And finally for Paul Pierce, the sometimes spectacular, sometimes sullen star of the Celtics, his virtuoso performance had a chance to be a defining moment too, only to see it all come crashing down as the fourth quarter concluded into perhaps the most disastrous episode of his career. Throughout the game Pierce had been the Celtics ultimate answer to everything the Pacers threw at them. Rebounding, shooting, passing, and hustling his way through this game at a level so far above those Pacers trying to defend him, Pierce was the main reason the Celtics took an early second quarter lead they almost never gave up. He was clearly the best player on the court and helped the Celtics charge all the way back from an early 11-0 deficit to a six point halftime lead that grew to eight after three. It was a lead which they only relinquished in the last moments of the fourth quarter.

Was Pierce having one of those post-season defining moment of heightened performance just as the Celtics had their backs up against the wall and faced elimination? The kind that has made his Boston counterparts David Ortiz and Tom Brady so legendary? Perhaps, one thought, watching Pierce literally will and carry the Celtics methodically towards victory. But as the seconds ticked down on the game with the Celtics up one, a hard foul on Pierce by Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley brought just the sort of sports moment from Pierce that has forever condemned the likes of Bill Buckner, Fred Merkel, Steve Bartman and other unfortunate souls to the nether regions of eternal sport infamy. Pierce reacted to the Tinsley hard foul by throwing an elbow at Tinsely, knocking the perhaps ready to flop Pacer guard to the floor. The refs, who had not been in a very forgiving mood to the Celtics this night or for much of the series for that matter, had seen all they needed to whack Pierce with a technical foul and eject him from the game, it being his second technical foul of the night. A skulking Pierce, who had only moments before been a valiant warrior leading the Celtics to victory, left the floor, shirt waving, perhaps unaware how close he really was teetering to everlasting sports damnation in Boston as a bum.

In the end, Pierce would escape that fate, as the Celtics would win this contest in exhausting fashion in the extra frame. Barely. And perhaps that was most fair to Pierce, for it would have been too easy, as is often the case of those sports performers forever cast into the history books as the goat, to forget that without his wondrous performance up to that point, the Celtics clearly would not have even been in position to pull this victory out. And that is most likely the way Pierce momentary brain lapse will be remembered, as a wash with his otherwise terrific performance. Dumb, but not a defining moment.

And so these two teams will meet again Saturday night for Game 7 fresh off a memorable, classic Game 6 that, in the end, did not contain a defining moment. They’ll do so in a building next to one that was the setting for many such moments in days of Celtics yore. In a building next to where Havlicek stole the ball, next to where Russell won 11 of 13, next to where Bird and M.L. waved their towels in victory and next to where Kareem wilted in the heat. And maybe Saturday night Celtics fans will get something they almost saw tonight, but not quite, a defining moment for a new generation of Celtics players.”

By Jon Duke
Pacers 90 - Celtics 85

Coming off the largest playoff defeat in Indiana Pacers history, the Boston Celtics returned home with momentum on their side and home court in what had become a Best of 3 playoff series. After 48 minutes of predominantly ugly basketball, the Pacers handed the Celtics a huge setback with their 90-85 defeat at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Pacers win was keyed by the return of Jamaal Tinsley, who after missing the last 42 games due to injury, looked like he hadn’t missed a minute and truly controlled this game when it mattered.

After a helter skelter first four minutes of action, where neither team could gain an advantage, the Pacers defense stepped up and took control. Tinsley and Reggie Miller led an Indiana effort that forced an astounding 10 1st quarter turnovers, which kept the Celtics from gaining any consistency on offense early. An offensive consistency that the Celtics never really ever got at anytime in the remaining 36 minutes of the game. To compound the C’s offensive difficulties, the Pacer big men pounded the glass and kept the Celtics offense to “one and done” or extra possessions off offensive rebounds. The Celtics were able to rebound in the 2nd quarter and had a better hold on the basketball, but then again, it would be difficult to be any more careless with the basketball than the C’s were in the opening stanza. Of course many of the Celtics turnovers directly led to points on the other end as Indiana turned the 21 Celtics turnovers into 27 points. Tough to win playoff games giving away 27 points.

Going into tonight, the main story focused on the Celtics small lineup and the re-integration of Antoine Walker into the lineup. Walker added a couple of key baskets in the 4th quarter to keep the game close, but Toine had a fairly disappointed 31 minutes of action. At one point during the 3rd quarter, Doc removed Walker from the floor, looking for a spark from the smaller lineup, and the team was able to pull the lead down from 15 to 5 by the end of the quarter. During this extended stretch, the Fox Sports New England cameras caught an obviously contemplative Antoine Walker wondering where it had all gone wrong for him. When Antoine returned following the trade deadline, the Celtics were clicking on all cylinders and the fans were lauding the former captain. Fast forward to tonight, when the Celtics needed a boost from Employee #8, he was unable to help. You’ve got to wonder if as Antoine sat on the bench in the 3rd and 4th quarters if he could his future in Boston slipping away, and with it, an even smaller contract than many had prognosticated.

Going back to the Hoosier state, in hopes of prolonging the series to a Game 7 in Boston, the Celtics coaching staff will need to find some way to either tighten the screws of the defense to match the Pacer痴 intensity or attempt to cull through the video tape to find ways of opening things up for the offense. A critical portion of the game plan for Game 6 should be extended use of Marcus Banks early in the game. Jamaal Tinsley is a very good point guard and he was quite effective in his limited time on the court. However, when Tinsley was matched up against Banks, the Indiana offense was thrown out of sync. Regardless of what type of lineup Doc Rivers’s staff uses to start Game 6, an imperative must be placed on pressuring Tinsley and Marcus Banks did that better than anyone else. I’ve always preferred the “cut off the head and body will fall” school of thought and after seeing the way Tinsley dominated Game 5, it wouldn’t be a bad place to start. Not to mention that aside from Game 1, every other game this series has been won and lost in the 1st quarter. Defensive pressure to start the game is absolutely crucial.

The Celtics will have to hope that the consistently inconsistent nature of this series holds, and they are able to extend their season at least one more game. Otherwise the next Full Court Press will be discussing the NBA Draft… let’s hope not.

By Jon Duke
Celtics 110 - Pacers 79
Series Tied 2 - 2

If you are a die hard Celtics fan, certainly you have seen “Sweet Sixteen” the story of the 1986 Celtics. As a young whippersnapper I watched that video to point of wearing out the tape, but before the game I was reminded of the scene prior to Game 6 in the 1986 Finals. The Celtics had just come off a brutal game in Houston, where Ralph Sampson cold cocked Dennis Johnson and sent the series back to Boston. Like this squad, the physical altercation seemed to take ‘86 Celtics out of their game and made many question the desire of the team prior to Game 6. In “Sweet Sixteen” there is some video footage from the Celtics locker room showing a very young Danny Ainge holding a stehoscope to the chest of his teammates claiming he didn’t hear a heart beat. After what we saw in Game 3, I wouldn’t be surprised if Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge did the same thing he did 19 years earlier and got a similar result.

After Game 3, many in the media were beginning to craft the 2005 Boston Celtics obituary, and after hearing comments from Paul Pierce in today’s paper reflecting the need to give him the ball more, Celtics fans were nervous. With the Celtics offense, stagnation with the ball often equals one more in the “Loss” column. Thankfully, Paul Pierce stepped up and played as well in a playoff game as one could imagine. Pierce’s line for the night (30 points on 10-15 shooting, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks) was one befitting a captain. Pierce was the catalyst for nearly every good thing that happened for the C’s tonight, and Paul even ran on the break much of time, which was a change from the last two games.

The fear coming into tonight’s matchup was that with Antoine Walker’s suspension, Pierce’s comments in the morning papers, and Doc’s support for giving Pierce more shots; this game would devolve into a Pierce led, iso-driven offense that would cause me to hit the liquor cabinet hard before the first TV timeout. Luckily for my liver, while Pierce often had the ball in his hands, Paul made a number of excellent passes and actually was a crucial player in spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved early.

Pierce’s success on the court was no doubt aided by the return of Ricky Davis to the team. Not that Davis literally missed any games, but John Walsh was planning to put Ricky’s Game on America’s Most Wanted in hopes of finding it before the opening tip. Fortunately for the Celtics, Ricky was able to clear the cobwebs out of his head and had a strong first quarter (6-7 from the field). Ricky’s return alone was gigantic for the Celtics as they finally had someone else to draw the attention of the Pacers’ defense. Between the strong starts from Pierce and Davis, the Celtics were able to open a 31-20 1st quarter lead.

The Pacers were able to cut into the Celtics lead in the second quarter as both teams fell into foul trouble and the Celtics defense struggled with Delonte West and Marcus Banks picking up their 3rd fouls with several minutes until halftime. Despite small runs by the Pacers just before and after halftime, the Celtics were able to battle back knocked the Pacers out of the ball game with a strong closing kick to the 3rd quarter. What was only a 3 point lead early in the 3rd quarter, grew to 13 points by quarter’s end and the hits just kept on a comin’.

The key to this strong 3rd quarter was tremendous defense by Raef LaFrentz. No doubt many of you will read in Sunday’s papers how Doc’s small lineup was key to the Celtics victory, and for many reasons those columnists and reports will be correct. However, it wouldn’t matter if the C’s had Jordan, Bird, Magic, and Isiah on the floor if Raef LaFrentz wasn’t able to shut down Jermaine O’Neal almost singlehandedly. The Celtics center, now to be known as the Ferocious Frenchman, held O’Neal to 9 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes. That, my good friends, is ball game. If the increasingly healthy O’Neal gets 32 points and 16 rebounds, then I’m putting together an obituary for this season. Pierce may have been the heart of the Celtics’ win tonight, but LaFrentz (11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks in 26 minutes) was the soul.

In other news, Doc heard the pleas from everyone, from Pope Benedict XVI to that crazy runaway bride, to “PLAY THE KIDS.” The aforementioned “kids” combined for 60 minutes of action, and none resembled Andy Rooney and Morley Safer running the pick and roll. Delonte West joined Ricky Davis in the starting line up and finished with 14 points on 5-5 shooting, 3-3 from 3 point land, in only 12 minutes. Delonte and Marcus Banks had difficulty staying on the court with their tenacious defense, but their effort kept Indiana from getting into their offense easily. Banks and Tony Allen both played excellent defense on the ball handler, and had effective nights on the offensive end. Banks had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in 25 minutes; while Allen racked up 9 points, 4 rebounds, two blocks, and a pair of thunderous put back dunks in 20 minutes of action.

With only Kendrick Perkins held scoreless, the Celtics had the type of balanced scoring that Danny Ainge’s Vision calls for. Pierce’s comments in the paper only hightened Celtics’ fans fears that that more touches for Pierce meant less scoring for the others on the squad. Without a doubt, whenever the Celtics play their best this season, the boxscore is full from top to bottom. With 7 Celtics scoring 8 or more points, and some intense on the ball defense, Danny Ainge’s Vision was being fulfilled. Even the team’s elder statesman, Gary Payton, was making significant contributions on the defensive end. Unlike Tony Allen, Payton was getting much of the benefit of the doubt from the officials in guarding Reggie Miller, and Miller has nearly as much tread on his tires as Payton. Meaning that while young buck point guards may be able to abuse GP at times, 57 year old shooting guards who are finesse shooters aren’t in a position to take advantage of the Point Guard Formerly Known as “The Glove”. Payton also kept Miller busy on the defensive end scoring 14 points on 6-12 shooting, and perhaps used up much of Miller’s energy at that end. Something Tony Allen and Ricky Davis were unable to do in games 2 and 3.

Now we sit with a Best of 3 series for all the marbles, and the Celtics again holding the home court advantage. The attention now turns to Indiana and Coach Rick Carlisle to make the necessary adjustments to win the all important Game 5 at the New Garden. Doc Rivers will have to make a critical decision how to integrate Antoine Walker into a system that worked well for him in Indiana, or possibly use Antoine in a more reserve role coming off the bench. I, for one, am unconvinced that Antoine could possibly play the level of defense that Raef was able to produce against Jermaine O’Neal, but Walker will certainly play a role. The only question is where and how.