Stephon Marbury sparks Celtics to unlikely victory
patriotledger.com
He’s done it so many times before that they start to blend together, all the great games, all the terrific performances.
But ask Stephon Marbury when was the last time he put together an outing like this, and he draws a blank.
“I know I haven’t had any in awhile,” the Boston Celtics backup point guard said.
He’s not kidding.
In his half a season with the Celtics, Marbury has had maybe 10 good minutes on the court. He could never get in the flow, never find his rhythm with a new group of teammates who welcomed him with open arms. He wanted to be the All-Star he used to be. They wanted him to be one of them. It just never happened.
He picked a fine time, though, for it to come together. His team playing perhaps the worst basketball of the playoffs, looking defeated, tired, lost, leaderless and totally lacking the team principles that got them to this point, Marbury became Starbury once more. Trailing by 14 points early in the fourth quarter to a Magic club that was already tasting a Game 5 win before heading back to Orlando, the newest Celtic scored 12 points in a little over five minutes, setting the stage for one of the great playoff wins in team history.
By the time Marbury had done his thing, by the time he and Brian Scalabrine and Eddie House gave way to the previously underperforming Celts starters, the home team did itself proud, scoring 13 straight points, erasing a late 10-point deficit, taking a lead on a Ray Allen 3-pointer and going on to a 92-88 victory before a roaring Garden crowd.
“That unit won the game for us,” Celts coach Doc Rivers said. “They hung in there and they made shots for us.”
It was a stunning win, one that brought out the worst, and then the best in the Celtics, who started by shooting 27 percent in the first quarter, 60 percent in the fourth, when they forced the Magic into seven straight misses and a turnover during the decisive run.
The visitors didn’t make a field goal over the final 5:38, blowing a 10-point lead.
“I’m happy for him,” said Rivers of Marbury. “He’s been great for us. He just hangs in there, keeps working every day. He’s been very patient. This is tough for him.”
“It’s been very difficult for me,” Marbury said, “but my mindset has been to focus and see the big picture. Doc said when you look at it and it’s fuzzy, what’s the most important thing? To win a championship.”
So Marbury saw the big picture, played his role and waited for his turn.
“It felt good,” Marbury said, “because we needed it and the timing was right. It was right for me to go in and do what I did for us to win the basketball game. My mindset was to try to create something where we can change the flow of the game.”
Yes, the flow changed. The toughest thing for Rivers in this one was to bring back his starters – Pierce, Rondo and Allen – and summon Marbury, Scalabrine and House back to the bench.
It may sound corny, but this was the epitome of Celtics pride. No sooner did one group leave than the new group picked it up. Thoroughly motivated, Glen Davis, who led the Celts with 22 points, canned two straight jumpers, Pierce (19 points) and Kendrick Perkins (11 rebounds) hit layups and then the big blow – the Allen 3-pointer from the right side downtown.
Understand that Allen was horrible again, having missed eight of 10 shots to that point when he took a Rajon Rondo pass, turned and fired. “Y’know what?” Davis said. “I’m not surprised at Ray Allen. Ray Allen is a competitor, he’s a player, a clutch guy.”
Rivers was talking of his end-of-the-third-quarter TV interview, when the interviewer asked him, “Who are you going to go to? Ray … you can’t go to any of those guys.” The coach laughed at that one. “I said, “What are you talking about? We absolutely are going to Ray. He’s a shot-maker. He can be 0-for-20 and he’s a shot-maker.”
So on a night when the Celts neither could hit the broad side of a barn nor stop a feather from floating down the lane, Allen made the big shot, the Celtics made the big stops and they came up with a tremendous victory, summoning everything they’d learned over the past two seasons.
Scalabrine talked about having learned from two Game 7s in the playoffs last season, from the long grind toward the championship, but on this night the Celtics remembered it all and made one terrific charge.
“Our team, they believe in each other,” Rivers said. “They’re very close. All the experiences from last year has helped this year. We’re not the team that we were last year … and we’re not just going to show up and beat teams. I think they understand that. But they’re willing to go through to still win games, and that’s good.”
So good that even a guy who wasn’t here last year, Marbury, came through big-time.
“Everybody knows what kind of player Steph is when he’s on,” said Pierce, “and he showed it tonight.”
Reach Mike Fine at mikefine@ledger.com. Read more of his Celtics coverage in his On the Hardwood blog at PatriotLedger.com/sports Read more playoff stories |
