NBA Playoffs 2012: 6 Major Causes for Celtics' Game 1 Loss

In a game eerily similar to Game 1 of the Heat-Celtics series last year, the Celtics fell to the Heat 93-79. This puts Boston in an 0-1 hole and makes the rest of the series an uphill climb for the Celtics.

The Celtics, for the most part, dug their own grave in this game, though. In a way, that's a bad thing, but in another sense, it's a good thing. With the mistakes and shortcomings now behind them, the Celtics can learn from them and come out better equipped to win in Game 2.

If they can fix these major causes of their loss in Game 1, then they will win Game 2 and even up the series. 

Paul Pierce Could Not Provide Enough Scoring

Let me preface this by saying that LeBron James is the best defender that Paul Pierce will ever be matched up with. However, Pierce is a savvy enough offensive player to find ways to score on LeBron. He should at least be able to muster up more than 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting.

The worst part of Pierce's night is that he scored only two points in the entire second half. That kind of performance is unacceptable for Pierce. He is the captain and the leader of this team. In order for the Celtics to even compete, he will need to find more ways to score on the offensive end. 

LeBron and Wade Were Too Much

I said coming into this series that the Celtics need to hold at least one of the Wade-James duo under 30 points and their combined total under 60. Well, the C's were able to do both, yet somehow, Wade and James still led the Heat to victory.

Where the Celtics went wrong is in letting both Wade and James get easy baskets (well, easy for them) and shoot a high percentage (combined 60 percent shooting). This all led to both of them being hot near the end of the game, and when both of them are hot, it's game over.

The Celtics allowed that to happen, and they paid the price in timely buckets from both of them down the stretch and an 0-1 hole. 

Rondo Wasn't as Dominant as He Needed to Be

Very few players have the same expectations and burden that Rondo does (he can empathize with LeBron over this one). It is clear that he needs to approach 20 points a game and a triple-double for the Celtics to win. Now, this is a heavy burden for a 26-year-old point guard, and what's worse is that it has also become the expectation.

He brought this on himself though because he has shown time and time again that he can do exactly what we expect of him. Unfortunately, though, he does not do it with the consistency that many would like. And tonight, he failed his lofty expectations again, finishing with 16 points (8-of-20 shooting), nine rebounds (three offensive), four turnovers and seven assists. Now, that is normally an excellent stat line, but tonight it wasn't enough.

In Game 2, Rondo needs to control the pace a little better, facilitate the offense a bit more, rack up more assists and shoot the ball a bit more efficiently while also scoring a little more. I know, it's a lot to ask of any player, but Rondo can do it and needs to do it for the Celtics to win.  

They Allowed the Role Players to Make an Impact

Just as important as holding LeBron and Wade under 60 points a game is holding the rest of the team under 35 points a game. LeBron and Wade will score their points and will make a huge impact; that is inevitable.

However, the Heat's role players in Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem can be shut down. Unfortunately, the Celtics were unable to effectively neutralize the role players.

In total, Miami received 39 points from players not named James or Wade, including 10 from Shane Battier and eight from Mike Miller. If they want to beat the Heat, then shutting down the role players will be just as important as shutting down James and Wade. 

Poor Free Throw Shooting

One of the most frustrating parts of a basketball game is missed free throws. They are called "free" for a reason, as they are supposed to be free point. For the Celtics tonight, though, free throws were all but free.

As a team, they shot 11-21 from the line which equates to a sub-pedestrian 52.4 percent. What's more shocking is that Ray Allen chipped in four of those missed, going 3-of-7 himself.

In any game, playoff or not, missing 10 free throws is unacceptable. If the Celtics had been able to cash in on their trips to the line, it could have been a much different game. 

The Refs

The only thing that can be more frustrating than missed free throws is refereeing. For the most part, every call a ref makes is somehow defensible, but that was hardly the case in this game. Now, I'm not saying that the refs cost the Celtics the game, because they didn't. What I am saying though is that this game was poorly officiated. 

The refs called four technicals; all of them were bad. The first came on Ray Allen. After a bad call by the ref, Ray jumped up in the air in a common knee-jerk reaction to a bad call. Technical. Then, Rondo, KG and Doc would all be victim to the same quick whistle. Doc got his technical for saying "come on" to a ref. I guess he never read the part in the rulebook that says you can't try to talk to a referee. 

The refs had clearly read the fine print in the rulebook, though, because they were effectively able to use it against Kevin Garnett and the Celtics after he tipped the ball after a Rondo layup. Apparently, that's a technical. 

At the end of the day, though, it was not the refs that cost the Celtics this game. But going forward, games need to be called more evenly, because in a close game the refs would have cost the Celtics a win.