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Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald:
"‘I think I had to step up,’ said Pierce as he walked down the hallway to the dressing room late last night, a 106-104 overtime victory in hand.
‘I mean, at this point in the series, I don’t really feel like I’ve really had an imprint. I just think I had to do something.’
What he did was score nine points in the last period and six more in overtime.
‘He got to his spot,’ said coach Doc Rivers. That would be the right side of the foul line, a site from which Pierce launched the missiles that sunk Chicago.
Down two in regulation, he stuck a 15-footer over Derrick Rose to create overtime. Then, with the Celts down a point with a little more than a minute to go in OT, he decided to get involved again.
He went to ‘his spot’ and scored on the next three possessions—a 16-foot step-back and two 19-footers."
Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald
"This Bulls-Celtics first-round playoff series has been a closely contested brawl, and Tuesday's Game Five fit right in.
Trailing by two points with 3.4 seconds remaining in the third overtime game in this series, the Bulls ran a trick play and created an open lane for center Brad Miller to drive to the rim. Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo reached out with one of his extra-long arms and smashed Miller in the mouth with an open hand trying to prevent the tying basket.
Miller ended up on his knees, spitting not tobacco juice but blood. He eventually would need stitches to close a gash in his upper lip.
Flagrant foul? Not in Boston, it wasn't. And when a dazed Miller left his first free-throw short and missed the rim trying to clang the second one on purpose, the Celtics took a 3-2 series lead by hanging on for a 106-104 victory.
This is the first time in NBA history any playoff series has had three overtime games, and there is at least one more contest left to play Thursday at the United Center."
"Rondo’s slashing hand came nowhere near the ball. It slammed into Miller’s neck and face. It was clearly a flagrant foul, but that was not the call. Miller ended up bloody, and surely dazed.
He had to try and get it together quickly to attempt two free throws to tie the game. He missed the first, and there was Kevin Garnett clearly seen yelling at Miller that he was a choker.
Garnett is either dim-witted, particularly mean-spirited, or both. First, it’s hardly choking if you miss a free-throw after being the recipient of a flagrant foul like Miller was.
Second — and someone might want to remind KG about this — you are the World Champions playing a team that was .500 on the year. They have already beaten you on your own floor. The series was tied at two.
And yet you have the gall to get on your high-horse and yell choke? You’re excited about that? You and your team should be humbled by your performance, not puffing out your chest and yelling things at the Bulls.
You’d think a vet like KG would consider that the Bulls should be nowhere near sniffing a series win. But you get your hoot and holler on, KG."
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel
"After more than a month of scouring the landscape and searching every nook and cranny, maybe just maybe we finally located the Magic Tuesday. The real Orlando Magic. Not the pretenders and imposters who ended the regular season with a flop and arrived in the playoffs with a fizzle.
The team formerly known as the Magic actually showed up at Amway Arena amid a raucous, roaring sellout crowd and finally muscled, manhandled and buried Philly 91-78.
Who said the Magic are soft? Dwight Howard and his teammates were so physically dominant that Philly Coach Tony DiLeo was relegated to complaining about the officiating. He claimed the refs ignored the three-second rule and allowed Howard to pitch a tent and start a campfire in the lane.
Howard scored 24 points and yanked down 24 rebounds, including a phenomenal 10 offensive boards."
Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News:
"Howard was credited with two blocks, but it sure seemed like more. Maybe because, as Iguodala said, he always seemed to be there.
In so many ways, Dwight Howard is exactly what the NBA has needed. Charismatic with a thunderous game, he, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and a slew of others have reconstituted this into a league of likable and admirable heroes, guys who let you in on their fun.
Late in the first half last night, when Howard was tagged with his third foul, he smiled toward some familiar faces in press row and said, ‘Do you believe that?’ It's left the impression that he might be too nice, too deferential on the court, too often. Just when it seems he is going to take over a game, the way Wilt did, the way Russell could, the way Shaq once could, he seems to step aside and let the others play.
Not last night. Last night, he played hard, tough, maybe a little mean. That nice young man Stern spoke so fondly of was nowhere to be found, and the team on the brink finished the night asking Stern to basically eat his own words and suspend that ‘nice young man.’"
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