No Blame When You Win

When the Celtics were struggling their way through the early playoff games, a lot of people were looking to point fingers.

Some people -- including The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons -- pointed out Kevin Garnett's lack of production in crunch time. As Bill wrote, the big guy just didn't take over the game the way a top-five power forward should.

I've read a lot of stories about the first two games of the series, but I see very little criticism of Garnett right now. A little winning cleans off the slate.

And yet, late in Game 1, he missed 9 straight shots as the Lakers kept hanging around despite missing a lot of jumpers.

In Game 2, the team was falling apart offensively and defensively down the stretch, and Garnett was invisible. I saw Vujacic nail two 3's and Radmanovic and Fisher hit one each. I saw Pierce trying to carry the team himself. But where was Garnett?

His numbers look okay. 17 pts. and 14 boards. But those numbers didn't come when it counted most, so I reserve the right to say Garnett could cost this team a game or two before it's all over.

*****

Look, I know the NBA doesn't call traveling on layups very often, but Radmanovic took not two, not three, but four steps on the way to his dunk in the fourth quarter.

C'mon, I know it was electrifying to see the lead disappear, but let's try to call the game accurately, okay???