Celtics Vs. Sixers: Boston Sneaks Past Philadelphia, 85-75, in Game 7
It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Boston Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 85-75 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Like they have done all season, the Celtics walked the tight-rope between success and failure and, somehow, kept their balance long enough to survive the scare.Kevin Garnett anchored Boston with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while once again providing stellar interior and pick-and-roll defense. Paul Pierce added 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with just over four minutes to go and Ray Allen broke out of his shooting slump at the perfect time, nailing two monster three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The story, of course, was Rajon Rondo, who once again yawned his way to a triple-double (18 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), then took over down the stretch with nine consecutive points after Pierce picked up his sixth foul. The Sixers dared Rondo to beat them in the final minutes, and beat them he did.
More details to come soon, so stay tuned. Also, follow @celticstown for news from the Celtics and Sixers’ locker rooms and press conferences.
Related posts:
- Celtics 107, Sixers 91: Game 3 becomes a Boston blowout victory
- Sixers 82, Celtics 81: The series heads to Philadelphia knotted at 1-1
- Celtics lose first preseason game,103-92 to Philadelphia 76ers
- Leftovers from Celtics-Sixers Game 1, starring Avery Bradley’s game-changing defense
- Sixers 82, Celtics 75: Game 7 on the way, sadly
Boston Celtics, Celtics Blog | Tommy King | May 26, 2012
Ahhhh, it’s a beautiful day in Celticstown. Oh yeah, what a game!!! The hero? None other than the past, present and future of the Celtics, RAJON RONDO. What late game heroics did he display this Game 7. Biggest shot in this series? The dagger 3 around the 3.30 min mark. THAT WAS HUGE!!! Can you feel it Boston? EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS ARE HERE AND WE JUST PUNCHED A TICKET…
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PP played stupid from the 3rd qtr on and leave it to RR to step up and hit the jumpers we all have seen him hit this season. KG was his usual stellar self and is playing huge. I too will expand my views when Jay posts again about what we need to do vs the Heat, but PP has to defend better (he left AI alone on all his 3s). His rebounding (9 = 17-6 wins now when he has 7 or more) and drives were excellent though, until the stupid fouls (not the last lame call). MP needs to drive more and BB was huge again, but he needs to get more than 2 rebs in 41 mins. His defense and the team’s defense was pretty damn awesome, but the dbl-teaming is way too much. Hollins had one reb and one block, but 2 TOs and 2 PFs. Why not use Williams for the next series and MD/EM and SP need to be used. Huge mistake by Doc not using them in this series. Go Cs…rest and focus! Beat the Heat!!!
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Oh, and Stephen A. says the Cs are going to be “steamrolled” by the Heat. Not likely if we play the type of defense and aggressive offense we did tonight. Our rebounding was exactly as it should have been all season, too! Have to make all those missed layups though!. Go Cs…
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YO,who gives a f–k what that s–thead Stephen A says, him and his lil b—h Skip D–kless. In case they ain’t known, we got our own STEAMROLLER in Greg Stiemsma. Plus we BEAT THE HEAT 3 times already this season and we are winnin without Bradley so we have every reas why we can DUMP THE HEAT. One minute those f–kers are bashin the Heat left right and center when they lose then when they are flyin high they jump on them fools d–ks. No p–k b—h would get away with callin me a Spice Girl to my face but when he interviewed Bosh, Skip did just that. Nothin against you James, I think you’s a level headed cat but when you mentioned Stephen A that set me off. If there’s anyone who gets under my skin it’s SA and SB. GREAT WIN CELTICS…BURN THE HEAT DOWN 2012.
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The ESPN radio guy said that we only won the season series with Miami because the last several games were when no one was playing, at the end of the season!
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James you said the last foul on Pierce was bogus but I’d argue that the first two were complete bogus as well. Stephen a smith is just sticking up for his boyfriends down in Miami. That’s all. Moving on..oh and James thanks for acknowledging the fact that Williams should have been in there this past series as a back up to BB. He’s aggressive and can crash the boards and that’s the only reason we won this series. EM…I guess he should play in this series as Rondo cannot play 43 minutes a game. But more important to me at least, isn’t it imparitive that we get some more scoring? MP is the best offensive player on the bench right now and if he was aggressive like he was with that driving dunk early in the game, we could realistically get 10-12 points from him!
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And yeah um, does anyone really expect LBJ and Wade to get 65 combined points for 4 games against us? The Pacers might have been bigger than us, and certainly more physical (most of the time unnecessarily) but their actual defensive schemes are no match for ours. You won’t see PP getting in LBJ’s face the way Granger did. The Pacers were stupid for not getting inside and pounding the paint the way they should. With Granger getting hurt it was like a headless chicken the way they played after that. Also not having the best PG in the league had something to do with it. What we need to beat the Heat is 10-12 more points on the board, aggressive rebounding like we saw in game 7, Rondo needs to control the game offensively and STOP GAMBLING ON DEFENSE, and selectively double whichever superstar is on the floor, causing the Heat role players to score.
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EM should be getting Dooling’s minutes and playing the SG when RA is out and RR is at PG. He’s a good shot and pretty decent defender. If Doc insists on using KD as RR’s backup then have EM with him as the SG. And to answer your next question DW & LBJ will not score as they have because Boston has a much better defense. Go Cs…
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Just an idea but Philly’s trappings proved worthy against us. Maybe we should give the Heat Big 2 some of that treatment. One thing I think is absolutely VITAL to win against the Heat is DON’T TURN THE BALL OVER. Whoever is in the backcourt needs to take extra care otherwise it’s gonna be showtime points for MIA. I believe we got what it takes to win. Really happy with the C’s grit this year. We had our problems I know, but to be in the ECF, can’t complain about that.
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You guys have said a lot of my own thoughts, but I don’t care if James and Wade combine for 70 points so long as the rest of the team doesn’t score. Two guys won’t beat us. Double teaming them only opens up guys like Turiaf for easy buckets. Double teaming also allows a lot of offensive rebounds for the other team, since someone is left open to roam the rim.
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The C’s need to mix it up on Defense, using double teams at times, but not always. And aren’t we all begging to see Moore, MD, even some minutes for Pavolic? Pietrus needs to take it to the hoop more rather than slinging 3s. We can beat the Heat without Bradley’s D on Wade, but it’s going to take everyone playing every minute of every game. Hard, smart, basketball. And we can’t turn the ball over.
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I agree to an extent but the only problem with easing up of LBJ and DW is that…they WILL score on you. Repeatedly. Haha
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