The Other Guys Helped Too

I can't say enough about Rajon (and we'll be talking more about him soon), but given that this is a team game, we can't totally ignore the contributions of the rest of the Celtics.  I'll let Ian Thompson of SI give the quick rundown.

In his own way Ray Allen was as marvelous as Rondo. Though Allen was 1-for-8 from three, he played excellent defense on James for long stretches and at age 34 he remained fresh enough to play 38 minutes while scoring 18 points (7-for-13 inside the arc).

Tony Allen also helped to guard James while going 6-of-7 off the bench as the Celtics' second unit outscored Cleveland's bench 23-11. Though Wallace was 0-for-3 from the field, Rivers credited him with a big defensive role over his 20 minutes. "Rasheed was amazing,'' said Rivers. "Energy and rebounding and he did so many of the little things.''

The Celtics have now evened the series even though Pierce gave them only nine points Sunday and is averaging 11.8 points on 32.0 percent shooting over the four games. If he breaks out offensively, he could make the difference in what is now a best-of-three series. "We knew it would be a tough series for him defensively,'' said Rivers of Pierce. "That guy [James] is a monster over there. He takes a lot of energy away from you. Part of the reason Paul is struggling is because he's been in foul trouble in every game.

"But you take one for the team, and sometimes that may be guarding LeBron. I think Paul's doing a terrific job of that."

I still believe that Pierce is going to break out of his slump and it could mean the difference in this series.  His teammates have carried him offensively as he's taken on the thankless job of guarding LeBron each time down the court.  Just wait till his jumper starts falling and the Truth will be told once again.  I've seen him do it too many times to doubt him now.