Celtics vs. Heat: Even Game 3 Win Won't Save Sinking Celtics

The Boston Celtics face a must-win Game 3 against the Miami Heat in the 2012 Eastern Conference finals Friday evening, but even if the Celtics are able to continue their strong play at home this postseason and emerge with a victory, all they'll accomplish is postponing the inevitable.

The Celtics trail the Heat two games to none entering Friday night's contest at TD Garden in Boston, and given that the Celtics are a squad of grizzled veterans with loads of postseason experience, their pride and emotion alone may be enough to allow the team to win tonight's game, especially given their 6-1 record at home in the playoffs.

The problem is, winning one game isn't going to make this a series.

The Celtics may have taken their best shot at making this a series in Game 2, as point guard Rajon Rondo came out firing early and often on his way to racking up 44 points and coming two rebounds short of a triple-double.

However, even that wasn't enough for Boston, as despite a 15-point first-half lead and a combined 39 points from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics still fell to a woeful 2-6 on the road this postseason, losing the game 115-111.

Celtics supporters will no doubt bemoan the officiating as one of Boston's largest problems in this series, and there's no arguing that there's been a significant discrepancy in free-throw attempts, with Miami making 20 more trips to the line over the first two games of the series than the Celtics.

With that said, the Heat attempted only two more free throws in Game 1 than Boston did, and as ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg pointed out Friday, there's a much less nefarious reason for the gap in free throws than referees who are on the take or starstruck by the sight of LeBron James.

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When you have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade attacking the hoop on a consistent basis, you're going to shoot a lot of free throws. The Heat are aggressive going at the rim; Boston prefers to shoot jumpers. If the Celtics had won Game 2, would their fans be bellyaching as much as they are now?

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And therein lies the rub. This corps of Boston Celtics players have had a great run, including an NBA championship and two trips to the NBA Finals. However, the nucleus of the team has also just plain gotten old, and if a younger, deeper Heat team continues to attack the rim, then there isn't a whole lot that the Celtics can really do to stop them.

Sorry Boston, but your season is sunk.

Heat in five.

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