Indiana Pacers 106, Boston Celtics 100
I guess the team that runs last runs best. The Celtics opened up a first quarter lead, then had a second quarter deficit, then a third quarter lead, then a fourth quarter loss. Troy Murphy, when asked about the loss, responded, "What? No they won man, they goin' to the Final Four, baby!...Oh, you mean the Celtics? Not the Notre Dame Womens basketball team? Oh..Yeah they..I mean we...lost."
Boston yet again lets a late game lead slip away to a hungry basketball team, with some atrocious play down the stretch, which will be defined (for the next 8 or so hours) by Kevin Garnett's completely unnecessary half court pass which ultimately ended in a turnover.
The game was much less dramatic than that one horrible play, however. Roy Hibbert took advantage of Nenad Krstic and Glen Davis to score 28 points off of baby hooks and lay-ins around the basket, and Darren Collison got hot in the late second half after getting torched by Rondo earlier in the game.
Speaking of which, Rondo looked really good tonight. Fairly reckless (but in a good way) going to the hoop and really aggressive late in the game with two big offensive rebounds off of Boston misses while the game was still in reach. He did score 18 of his 22 points in the first half, but still a good game. Chalk it up to the back-to-backs, or our sometimes porous defense, or poor execution in the 4th, but not to Rondo tonight. Guy played great
And that's about all I have to say about this game. 9 more to go,