Full Court Press: 4/30/05 Celtics vs. Pacers Game 4

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.