Celtics-Pistons Game 5: Boston Holds on, Takes 3-2 Series Lead

But more worrisome to me wasn’t the fatigue from the season and the playoff run, but just from the game.  The Celtic starters combined for 103 of the team’s 106 points, and played 209 of the game’s 240 minutes. 

Rajon Rondo (46) and Perkins (39) each played season-highs in minutes.  Pierce played 44 minutes, his fourth-highest total for the season.  KG played 41 and Ray Allen 39.

When you are tired, your shots are short, you make careless turnovers, lazy passes, and are a step slow on defense.  All of those plagued Boston in the fourth and contributed to helping the Pistons fight their way back into the game.

Going forward, will the Celtics have any lingering effects in game six from all the minutes tonight?   With the Celtics one game away from the finals, a first such trip for every member of the team except for two (Cassell and Posey), you would like to hope adrenaline and emotion would be able to negate any negative effects from fatigue.

We shall see.

But a great sign for Boston from Game Five was that players were raising their game.  A problem I saw with Boston in the first two rounds was that until Pierce’s 41-point outburst in game seven against the Cavs, no one on the team was exceeding expectations.

Some were giving you what you would expect, some were falling short.  Wednesday night, though, was a different story.

In Game Five, Pierce was very pedestrian on the offensive end.  The other four starters all contributed at a higher level than they did in the regular season.

Ray Allen finally had the playoff performance all Boston fans had been waiting for.  KG raised his game with 33 points.  Even Rondo, who struggled from the floor, was aggressive throughout and had 13 assists, six rebounds, and four steals.

And of course there was Perkins.

Stars receive most of the attention in the playoffs, however so often, teams win when it is someone else who goes above and beyond.  Pierce was great in Game Seven against Cleveland, but without P.J. Brown, the Celtics might not be playing right now. 

In Detroit’s two wins this series, it was Stuckey hitting some huge shots in Game Two and Antonio McDyess going for 21 and 16 in Game Four that were the catalysts for the Pistons’ victories.

Whichever team receives the unexpected contribution in Game Six will likely win the game. 

Hopefully, the unexpected contribution we are talking about after the game on Friday night is the play of either a Celtic or a Piston, and not a brutal call by an official—such as missing that a key shot hit the rim, or a missed foul call on a last-second shot, or an inexcusable clear path foul on the defensive player of the year making a play on the ball during a fast break.

I guess I am being ridiculous, because that won’t be the case.  Not that terrible officiating won’t happen—just that unfortunately, bad officiating in the NBA isn’t exactly unexpected. 

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