BOSTON -- The Celtics don't want to be friends with you. They don't want to pick you up off the floor when you go down or pat you on the back if you get tangled up. They will slap hands with you before the opening tip but don't go leaning in for a Vince Carter-like embrace. It ain't coming.
This is what separates Boston from many of the league's elite. They are competitive to the core. It's why being six men down against Miami isn't an excuse to lose, but rather the motivation to win. It's why a subpar shooting night from Ray Allen and a historically poor performance from Paul Pierce simply means someone else needs to step up.
"Doc [Rivers] said we can't be making excuses," Kendrick Perkins said. "We got guys in the room we can win with."
They won Sunday because they were tough. Tougher than Miami, at least. For all of the Heat's star power, they have yet to find a way to match Boston's intensity for 48 minutes. They couldn't early in the season, when the Celtics blitzed them twice in three weeks. And they couldn't on this weekend, just days after overtaking the Celtics for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
They couldn't stop Perkins (15 points, six rebounds), who bulled his way through Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Erick Dampier (who combined for nine points and two rebounds) like they were spaghetti-legged high-schoolers with no business protecting the paint. While Chris Bosh turned in a game-high 24 points and 10 boards, the Heat simply couldn't stop the smallest guy on the floor: Rajon Rondo.
The Celtics' point guard (11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), sparked an early second-half run for Boston and, once again, exploited the Heat's glaring weakness at the point guard spot. On a night when Allen was unusually erratic (5-for-14 from the field) and a hobbled Pierce went without a field goal for the first time in nearly 12 years, Boston turned to Glen Davis (16 points) and Von Wafer (10) to pick them up.
In the third quarter, as Boston dominated on both ends of the floor with a 20-3 run, Dwyane Wade picked up a flagrant foul after leveling Kevin Garnett for what he perceived to be an illegal screen on Mike Miller. A grand gesture? Yes. An example of physical play? Not even close. Physical is the way Boston's big men chip Wade and LeBron James when they go through the lane, how they dent Chris Bosh's back with forearms every time he turns his back to the basket. It's how Rondo sacrifices his body in an unexpected matchup with James and angrily glares at teammates who dare offer him help. They play until the whistle in Boston. And then they play a few beats longer.
"[Defending James] was Rondo's idea," Rivers said. "I told him to pressure the ball and he took that to mean whoever brought it up. I didn't mean that. Sometimes you go off the book and today was clearly that day."
Boston says beating Miami is not about sending a message -- "I don't know what that would be," Rivers said -- but they don't have to. Miami reads it, loud and clear. The Celtics had no business winning this game, not with four critical rotation players (Shaquille O'Neal, Marquis Daniels, Delonte West and Semih Erden) on the shelf and a fifth (Nate Robinson) limited to five minutes of play. But they did, and the Heat now have to go home and figure out why.
After the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra expressed disappointment but not concern. He pointed out Miami was in a position to tie the game with just seconds to go before James' first free throw clanked off the iron and again when Miller's open three bounced off the iron. He recalled memories of Miami's 2006 title team, which lost by double-digits to Dallas in the first two games of the Finals only to rally and win the series.
"Nobody in that locker room is afraid," Spoelstra said.
Maybe his words were meant for his team, to help them believe they can beat Boston. Maybe, when the two Eastern Conference heavyweights meet again in April, they will. Today, however, they did not.
Dwyane Wade Chris Bosh Pat Riley Kevin Durant Amare Stoudemire
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