Pierce, Garnett struggle
LOS ANGELES — Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce picked a bad time to become invisible.
Two-thirds of the Celtics’ Big Three, Garnett and Pierce combined to shoot 8 of 35 in a loss to the Lakers tonight in Game 3. Garnett actually finished with a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds), but his misses were louder than his makes.
“I think at times I was rushing shots, hyped about the game” a seemingly shaken Garnett said afterward. “I don’t make any kind of excuses for bad games. You know, I think for the most part shooting-wise, I had a pretty awful game.”
He wasn’t the only one. Pierce struggled mightily, going just 2 of 14 from the field. Before the game, Pierce heard a smattering of cheers in his return to his hometown, but he didn’t give his supporters much to cheer about after introductions.
For one of the first times in the playoffs, the Celtics captain did not appear on the podium for postgame interviews. Instead, he answered a few questions in the locker room.
“By no means does it break my confidence,” said Pierce. “Because when I look back, I look at some of the shots I took that are good shots for me. They just didn’t fall.”
One of the main problems for Pierce may have been his defender. Instead of Vladimir Radmonovic, Pierce was guarded by the venerable Kobe Bryant.
“Putting Kobe on Pierce was the difference in tonight’s game,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “It was more difficult for him to work to get free. He still had, I thought, some instrumental plays down the stretch. But it made a difference for us tonight.”
Jackson has an opinion on everything, and it was no surprise he had one on Garnett as well. He even used KG’s favorite “gas” analogy.
“I just think that Kevin kind of ran out of gas,” said Jackson. “It looked like he was gassed sometime in the fourth quarter.”
Sorry, Phil, but it happened way before that. And if the Celtics want to win a game in LA, they better get their Big Two back on track.
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