Only problem is, Varejao couldn't finish at the rim last night, I think he was 2-7. That includes a key miss that would have cut the celtic's lead to 2 in the 4th quarter. Jamison had a hard time fitting in with Shaq, the pieces to this team just didn't mesh well.
I'll say it again, its very difficult to win consistently in the playoffs when you're team is supposed to have a defensive identity and 3 of your starting 5 are average defenders. Throw in bad performances the whole series by Jamison, Mo, Delonte, and Varejao and you have this result.
This is also one of the few times I disagree with Windhorst. In his post game blog he said this team isn't close to being where it needs to be. The NBA is a coach's league, so that is the first thing that needs to be fixed. Mike Brown is gone. That will come soon enough. Hopefully Z will retire because he doesn't help much anymore. Unfortunatly we're stuck with Jamison's contract but he still has a little bit left in the tank despite this terrible performance. If we can get a defensive minded center and Hickson continues to develop, we still have a pretty good team. Powe can come back stronger from his knee injury next year to be a solid role player to be another big in the rotation to replace one of our ancient centers.
The talent we have coming back isn't terrible, and a coach that the players actually listened to and respected would do wonders. When the coach tells his players to foul and extend the game and they just give up, that says something about the respect he has with his team.
