05/15/2009 - 15:58
Ready for Game 7
by
Amy Azzi
Despite a strong effort from the Truth, the Celtics were unable to close out the Orlando Magic Thursday night, falling 83-75 to knot the Eastern Conference semifinals at 3-3.
Game 7 is on Sunday in Boston.
The Truth scores two of his 17 points (Getty Images). |
Paul finished with 17 points, racking up 9 rebounds and 5 assists, shooting 43 percent from the field in over 41 minutes on the court, but as he explained afterward to the Boston Globe, it wasn't a typical Boston offensive effort:
“The offense definitely struggled," said Pierce." We still played good enough defense to win the game. I thought we turned the ball over way too much. We weren’t aggressive, we needed to take the ball to the basket more. But, I thought defensively we played the way that we love to play.”
The Captain and the Celts came out strong in the first half. Paul’s layup capped up 13-2 run that bumped Boston’s lead up to 31-22 in the second quarter. No. 34 put up three consecutive jumpers to propel the Celts to a 73-72 lead with only four minutes remaining; still, Orlando managed to pull out the victory.
DEJA VU
Paul and the Celts are no strangers to Game 7. The Chicago Bulls pushed Boston to a winner-take-all finale in the first round of the playoffs, and the Celts proved how well they play under pressure, winning the series.
The Captain is calm and ready. As he told HoopsWorld.com:
“We’re comfortable with Game 7s. We’re not a team that gets the jitters. There are a lot of players in this league that have never played in a Game 7 knowing that, hey, if you lose, you go home. We’re a confident group. We’re not a cocky group because you have to go out there and play the game. Just because you’ve won two, three (Game 7s) in a row, doesn’t automatically give you the win. You have to go out there and put that effort in.”
NEXT UP
Paul and the Celts will travel back home to Boston with home court advantage for game 7. The Celtics face the Magic Sunday at 8 p.m. on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Magic tops Celtics 83-75, force game 7 in Boston (NBA.com, May 15, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090514/BOSORL/recap.html
Celtics at Magic Boxscore (NBA.com, May 15, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090514/BOSORL/boxscore.html
Celtics pushed to limit by Magic (Boston.com, May 15, 2009)
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2009/05/15/celt...
Magic look to make Boston history (HoopsWorld.com, May 15, 2009)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=12653
