All of Celtics Nation felt their hearts jump deep into their throats tonight when Paul Pierce went down with a knee injury.
Shock.
Confusion.
Worry.
It's just a sample of went through everyone's head when it happened, and that is keeping it clean. But in the end, Pierce was ok, storming out of the locker room to a standing ovation and took control of the game in the third quarter to push the C's to a Game 1 win.
Ray Allen (19 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) returned to his regular season form, doing just what we needed. Kevin Garnett was...well, Kevin Garnett (24 points on a 9-22 night, 14 rebounds, 3 assists). He dominated down low when he knew his jumper wasn't falling (missed 9 straight jump shots at the end of the game). Pierce was focused when he came back, scoring 15 of his 22 points in the 3rd quarter.
Kobe was a bit off throughout the game, but more than anything his team did little to bail him out. You could tell the Celtics wanted this one more. The Lakers have some good players, but they just didn't seem hungry enough. Could it have been the layoff? Sure. Combine that with the C's who are playing like a team destined for their 17th championship banner and you have the Lakers on the short end of a close game through 3 quarters, as they watched Boston pull away.
Pierce should be ready to go on sunday but that remains to be seen.
One game at a time.
Just one.
Ubuntu.
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