Celtics locker room
Celtics coach Doc Rivers was pleased with Boston’s final look at the basket, a three-pointer by Wally Szczerbiak that hit the back rim and bounced out.
“It was perfect,” said Rivers. “Wally set the pick, Al (Jefferson) set the pick on Wally, and Wally flared. I almost thought he took too much time to shoot it. Right now you can clearly see Wally can’t get his balance. But he’s our best three point shooter and we got a shot.”
“I’m not making excuses,” said Szczerbiak. “It’s just up to the individuals to knock down the shots when they get them. They’re not going down right now. It’s just something we have to work through. The guys look at me to knock down those shots and that’s what I’ve got to do.”
“I think it’s the best first half of the year on both ends,” he said. “In the third quarter I thought he came out and struggled a little bit, lost his man on defense. But that last basket, that’s a guy that’s 21-years-old and he’s driving to the bucket in crunch time. He can do that.”
“He’s a heck of a player,” said Allen. “I just have to credit my teammates for giving me help.”
Allen was visibly distraught by his miss at the foul line with 8.3 seconds remaining. Two free throws would have tied the game.
“I felt good, but it came up short,” said Allen. “I’ll be in the gym tomorrow shooting 1,000. It gets to us. All my teammates are winners. They want to win. A loss hurts.”
“He has a beautiful in-between jump shot, and in the second half he kind of forgot about it,” said Rivers. “He had five times where he had a clear elbow shot, which in our opinion is his best shot. And he over-dribbled to get in the paint. He has to keep looking for it.”
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