I was ready to lose my mind during much of the first half of Game 5 between the Celtics and Pistons. Horrible, horrible calls. The inconsistency was maddening. I still can’t believe they called a flagrant foul on P.J. Brown, but one was not called on Billups for taking a shot at Perkins’ head on his break away. And so was the Celtics inability to hang on to the ball. It was not looking good for my boys in Green to be sure.
But they regained their composure. Perkins was a beast: pulling down rebounds, blocking shot and pouring in shots (18 pts. 16 boards 2 blocks, 2 steals). Ray Allen finally came to life, draining 3-pointers (5-6, 29 pts). And all this was not a second too soon as ‘Sheed started hitting from behind the arc too.
In the 3rd period the Celtics defense was cranked up a notch as they created turnovers to open up a double-digit lead. I find Rick Hamilton to be quite annoying. He consistently over-reacts in the attempt to draw a foul. Antics like this is part of why Brent Barry didn’t draw a foul at the end of Game 5 of the Lakers-Spurs series. He didn’t over-react (flop). They need to start penalizing the floppers.
In the 4th quarter, the Celtics began to settle for the 3-pointer and the Pistons slowly began to close the gap. It was a 1 point game with 1:05 to go. Ray Allen hit a 2 to get a 3 point lead. Billups missed a lay up, and KG missed a too-long jumper at the buzzer. But Stuckey hit 2 FTs to pull within a point with 8.2 seconds left. This is just too close for my liking. So the Pistons put Ray Allen to the line to hit 2. Stuckey returned to the line (good strategy, boring basketball), and he missed his first FT forcing the Celtics to guard that glass. But he hit the FT instead. Garnett was the next Celtic to head to the line, and hit bothto ice the game.
KG rebounded from a sub-par Game 4 for 33 pts and 7 rebounds. It was barely enough for Gino to dance to the Bee Gees (seriously, a new tradition is needed).
