Celtics Grind It Out, Win Game 5 As A Team

It wasn't pretty at times, but when has it ever been? In a series that makes headlines for the stars, the Celtics won this game because they played as team and got contributions from just about everyone.

Nobody could hit a shot in the first quarter but Brandon Bass kept them in the game with ...yup, you guessed it, grit and hard work. Rajon Rondo's shot was way off tonight, so he made up for it with great passing, in particular by feeding Kevin Garnett over and over. Then how about Mickael Pietrus doing his best James Posey impression with huge hustle plays and dagger three pointers?

The team defense knuckled down and got stops time and time again. James got his 30, Wade got his 27, but nobody else registered double figures. Gotta give some bigtime credit to Doc Rivers who, once again, was masterful with rotations, mixing up schemes, perfectly timed timeouts, plays out of the huddle, the whole nine yards.

Then in the 4th quarter when the Celtics needed buckets, they got a clutch three pointer from Paul Pierce and clutch free throws from Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.

Huge, huge game 5 win. One win away from the Finals. Get it done.