Kevin Garnett gets it.
Boston did not lose to the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night because of an illegal screen call with 10 seconds left, it was the 47:50 before that where the Celtics put themselves in a position to lose. The call just meant Paul Pierce didn’t get a shot at a bail out three.
Plus, Garnett had been warned and he is not complaining abut the call, he told A. Sherrod Blakely at CSNNE.com.“Mike (Smith) was in a position, and he called it,” Garnett said afterwards. “I’m not going to make a big stink about it…
“I think Danny (Crawford, one of the other officials) had already gave me a warning about how I was setting the picks,” Garnett said…
“But that wasn’t, to me, the game,” Garnett said. “We did things going up to that point that determined the game.”
Part of that is KG not wanting to be fined. But part of it is what your high school coach used to tell you (a former coach of mine certainly did): If you don’t the referees to decide the game at the end then you play better earlier so it’s not on them. In Boston’s case, score more than 24 points in the second and third quarters combined and you won’t have to rely on referees.
Boston needs to find some offense between now and tip-off for Game 3 or they are going to need more than just a couple favorable calls.