Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers blames stagnant offense for game-6 defeat – NBA Playoffs Update
The Boston Celtics missed a chance to close their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Miami Heat on Thursday night. The Celtics were playing in front of a buoyant home crowd at the TD Garden and could have advanced to the NBA Finals with a win.
Instead, the Heat took over in the game with LeBron James leading from the front for a pretty impressive win. Not many in the Celtics team played well on the night, with only Rajon Rondo reaching the 20 point mark.
Now Celtics coach Doc Rivers has said that the reason for Boston’s loss was a stagnant offense as the team just wasn’t able to get into ay rhythm. The players that had been performing well for Boston throughout the series, the likes of Kevin Garnett and
Paul Pierce, were just not up to it on the day.
Indeed, point guard Rondo managed to put up big numbers but he was also woefully quiet in the second half. Rivers though knew that it wasn’t about individual performances. As a team, the Celtics struggled to get going.
"We never really established what we wanted to do offensively," said Rivers. "I thought they played with more force for most of the game. We missed a lot of open shots. But I really did think that was fools' gold. I really didn't think that was the shots
we wanted."
He said that a lack of ball movement was a big reason for the uninspiring play. Rivers made it clear that there wasn’t a lack of spirit or desire from Boston, saying that it was clear everyone wanted to win. However their urgency to do it alone cost the
team dearly.
"We didn't play like us. Each guy wanted to win the game for us, which is a good trait, but the bad trait is there was no ball movement. The ball just stuck for most of the game."
The 98 – 79 loss leaves the Eastern Conference Finals tied at 3 – 3, with the final game to be held at the American Airlines Arena, in Miami. The Celtics would now be hoping to somehow pull out a win in the hostile arena.
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