Come on... really? What a nightmare. There's not too much to say, other than the officials hosed Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics yet again. Paul Pierce fouled out on the ticky-tackiest of calls (on a foul that hadn't been called all series), and the Hawks had more than forty attempts at the free throw line, while the Celtics had only 25 attempts from the stripe Regardless, the Celtics still had a chance to win it at the buzzer, and they failed to execute anything resembling an offensive set or a game plan. And they had two chances.
Down by two with 20 seconds left and with possession, Ray Allen jacked up a semi open 3 pointer that clanked off the rim and forced the Celtics to foul. While the look was halfway decent, the Celtics could have used more clock and come up with a better shot to tie or take the lead. Compounding the problem was the fact that the Celtics got beat on the glass and had to foul with ten seconds left on the clock.
On the last Celtics possession, Rondo brought the ball up and instead of passing or setting up an offensive set (they had plenty of time), Rondo had to attempt a long three to tie it that fell woefully short. I'm still confident that the Celtics will beat the Hawks in game seven, but if Boston is going to have success against the tougher teams, then they must play better defense and execute well on the road. It's that simple. They didn't against the Hawks and they paid dearly. Seriously, the officiating sucked, it made me sick.
Keywords: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen
