So here’s the trick. I need to somehow convey that the Celtics and Ray Allen didn’t fail tonight necessarily without sacrificing the respect the Lakers’ defense earned in defending Jesus Shuttlesworth. You see, to say the Lakers shut him down would simply not be accurate. The Celtics still repeatedly created opportunities for Allen, using those double screens to force baseline shots and creating spacing issues to open up the perimeter off the dribble. Allen got looks, ones that weren’t rightly contested by LA. They simply didn’t drop. They weren’t bad shots by Allen, they just didn’t fall. And even when you’re as good a shooter as Allen is, you’re going to have those nights, just as you’re going to have Game 2s where you can’t miss if you’re shooting underhanded. You need breaks as much as anything in this game, and sometimes you’re not going to get them.
Me, over at PBT. Go. Enjoy.
