The first Celtics Heat playoff game couldn’t have been more disappointing. The Heat completely imploded at the end of the 3rd quarter and then it got worse in the 4th quarter.
The Heat played well all game, great defense, decent offense, but doing enough to get the job done. The Heat caused a ton of turnovers in the first half and lead most of the game.
The 3rd quarter saw the Heat get Rondo’d with some nice plays. Then every player on the Heat team simply started to falter. The refs had their way with their favorite person to call fouls on, Udonis Haslem. Some calls were absolutely atrocious.
The Heat could have taken one game on their home court. This series just got more difficult. I thought there was some poor coaching decisions not keeping Joel Anthony in the game, as he was causing some serious problems for the Celtics. Forget seniority, get the win. After Haslem completely blew two point blank shots, caused a 3 point play right afterwards, there was an opportunity to have Anthony in the game to give a chance of blocking shots and causing some problems. We don’t need him for scoring. The Bulls didn’t use Rodman for scoring, and the Pistons didn’t use Wallace for it either.
How many times do we have to hear that Joel Anthony is the 19th best shot blocker in the game, yet only plays for 3 minutes per game.
Moreover, we need people who can get to the hoop. Once we again we are an outside shooting team. I hope next year we get some players who can drive to the hoop. Beasley has all the potential, but we need more. There was no pressure once we got the lead. No sustained offense. If we don’t hit the outside shots, the other teams just get to the basket. We trade hard shots for easy shots.
