Paul Pierce showed a little frustration during postgame interviews following the collapse against Cleveland, and another Celtics future Hall of Famer gave his two cents on what happened during the stretch of bad basketball.
Ray Allen had some interesting things to say — not juicy or controversial by any means — in Frank Dell'Apa's piece in the Boston Globe today.
"They picked up momentum,’’ Ray Allen said of the Cavaliers. "But it was tricky. There was a point where, when I came back in and it was maybe a 3-point lead [74-71] and we stretched it, got to 11.
"So there was an idea in my mind, at some point, we keep stretching this, Kevin and Paul can rest on the bench. You see that, so Doc, he’s going to hold them. At some point, if we can take it up to 17, hopefully, put in some guys who haven’t played a lot. That’s happened, in a lot of situations. So, it’s a fine line. You’re looking at the clock and by that time they gained momentum and you got to put Paul back in and it’s a little too late.
"I believe that [Rivers] is still trying to understand rotations on this team, who’s going to come in where.’’
No controversy behind the statement like Pierce's frustrations, but its educational when you listen to a guy of Allen's caliber breaking down the game of basketball. The Celtics are still a work-in-progress, even after that great four-game stretch that made a lot of people feel different about this basketball team.
It will be interesting to see what team shows up tonight in Cleveland.