C.J. Miles guarded the inbounds pass from Avery Bradley, and Gee was on Pierce away from the ball. Jason Terry slipped Wayne Ellington and got in Luke Walton’s way, while Jeff Green got the ball above the 3-point line, took one dribble with his left hand and sliced between Ellington and Shaun Livingston for a right-handed layup at the buzzer that lifted the Celtics to a 93-92 win.
“Tough way to lose a game,” Scott said as the Cavs dropped their sixth straight to fall to 22-48.
“The thing I’m more upset about than anything was that the ball was knocked out of bounds by Zo, and they reviewed it.”
“So basically you give them another timeout. It was very clear.”
The Celtics, who were playing their second game in two days, were out of timeouts at that point, but during the review, Boston coach Doc Rivers called over his players to diagram the last play, and it worked to perfection.
“I’m a player,” said Green, who finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one blocked shot for the Celtics, who snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 37-34, solidifying their hold on the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs and taking a 21/2-game lead over eighth-place Milwaukee.
Brandon Bass added 22 points, and Pierce had 19 points and 10 rebounds — all on the defensive end.
“Me, Paul [Pierce], Avery [Bradley], Jet [Jason Terry] all have the confidence to take big shots,” said Green, who had lifesaving open-heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in January 2012. “When you’ve got a Hall of Famer like Paul who accepts that the play is called for you, it makes you even more confident.”
Once again, the Cavs failed to (choose one):
a) Play with a lead
b) Close out a game
c) Communicate on defense
d) All of the above
The Cavs held their biggest lead, 86-72, with 8:08 left in the fourth quarter on a short jumper by Marreese Speights, and they were still up, 88-78, after a 17-footer by Speights with 5:49 left. From that point on, the Cavs went 1-of-9 with three turnovers, while the Celtics closed out the game on a 21-6 run.
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