Wow! What a game. Let me summarize the flow of the game and then to my reflections of the game.
Boston started the game really well, it ended after first quarter 24-18. In the second quarter, things pretty much went Boston's way and ended at 53-46. Do not let the closeness of the score fool you, Boston shot the ball really well and led as much as 15 in the first half. In the second half, in the third quarter, the Heats went on a rampage scoring 35 points. Batman (Dwayne Wade) fueled that rampage with a great rejection of Ray Allen's layup and his individual display in the third quarter. The third quarter closes out 75-81 in Miami's favor. In the fourth quarter, Boston came out strongly and went on a 13-4 run to edge the Heats by 3 points (88-85). And then things went to back and forth, back and forth, with Miami missing way too many crucial free throws to close out the game. Ray Allen hit a big three with 34 secs to go to tie the game at 99-99. And Lebron James failed to close the deal in the next two possessions and the game went into overtime. Boston led much of overtime but they didn't have much in the tank left. Especially with Pierce fouling out, the entire offense fell on Rondo shoulders who had a superb game. And the Heats closed it out 111-115, taking the victory and Game 2.
The Boston Celtics couldn't last the game, but they can lift their heads high going back to the Garden for Game 3 feeling confident they can beat the Heats.
Personal Reflections time.
Rajon Rondo
Did Rondo called Tony Parker for mid range jumper tips last night or what! The man was on fire the whole night! Raining down mid range jumpers after jumpers there was no end to it! Had a superb time at the foul line going 10 for 12. He scored his career best with 44 points! Can you believe that! He was 16-24 from the field and going 2-2 in three pointers and to top all of that up he had 10 assists and 8 rebounds. A fantastic night by him honestly both on the defensive end and on the offensive end. He had a superb first half scoring 22 points in 7-11 shooting and going to the foul line 10 times. In the second half he kind of faded a little but was still putting up productive numbers but he finished the game really strongly and hitting his only 2 three pointers at the end of the game. Overall fantastic game by Rondo, and one that he must carry into Game 3.
Ray Allen
He played way better this game than in Game 1. Though his stat sheet wasn't that impressive, but at least tonight you could see he was getting in some kind of rhythm and getting it going. Finished off with 5-11 shooting, 2-5 from the three point line. Well actually he finished off with 5-10 shooting and 2-4 from the three point line, but he shot a meaningless three pointer at the end of the game that is the reason why it was registered with one more. He hit a big time three to even the game at 99 a piece with 34 seconds remaining in the fourth. Overall he can be happy with his efforts tonight, but now he has got to get this rhythm that he had found going in Game 3.
Lebron James
If you want me to rate his night tonight, I can tell you honestly it wasn't good. He didn't shoot the ball well tonight going 7-20 in shooting and 18-24 at the foul line. Besides this, another reason why I can say with assurance he didn't play well is because he turned into what the media calls him "The Frozen One", and to be frank its quite unfortunate for Boston whom did not have have anything left to punish the Heats for it. First, he missed 2 free throws when he was awarded a clear path foul. And in the following given possession Miami failed to convert. That there guys if everything was done as how it should be, Miami would have won the game somewhere in the fourth but unfortunately it didn't. Lebron let nerves get to him and he missed those 2 crucial free throws. And before the end of regulation time (clutch time), he missed the layup but wasn't his fault, a tough layup to convert anyway, BUT they got the rebound and the ball went to Lebron hands again. Went one on one against a smaller Rondo, overpowered Rondo but failed to convert the clutch jump shot and the game went into overtime. But that's not the end, at the start of overtime, he got two free throws again which would give Miami the lead but he failed to convert both free throws. Now my friends, this is a problem. It's fortunate for them (Miami), Boston didn't punish them for it but I am sure Boston would not be so kind the next time around if these kind of things happen again.
Dwayne Wade
Dwaybe Wade started the game really slow, and I mean REAL slow. He scored his first 2 points of the game only in the second quarter and was 1-6 in shooting at the end of the second quarter. But he picked it up in the third and to get things started, he served up a monster rejection of Ray Allen's layup and finished the game with 8-15 shooting. I want to be fair here, Wade himself also missed some crucial free throws that could have put Miami out of Boston's reach but he failed to convert. He shot quite poorly from the foul line going 7-11 in that category. Overall he started real slow and was practically non-existent but finished the game strong.
Conclusion
It's really unfortunate that Boston did not win this game as I felt that they should have take Game 2. But they will be happy to know now, they match up quite well against the Heats and would have a great chance of taking this series. Minor things for Boston to tweak here and there, especially in how to prevent the offense from going flat and turning into a isolation game for Rondo to bulldoze past the Heats defense. That they have to solve but other than that, they just have to keep this up and should be able to take Game 3 at home. Miami on the other hand have alittle more problems on their hands to solve. One of the problems is that their offense is pretty stagnant for some reason and they have to find a solution to that but credit the Boston's defense for that. If not for their (Miami) good performance at the three point line tonight, Boston would have taken this game comfortably.
Alright that's all from me, see ya~
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