The Boston Celtics didn't look particularly impressive in Game 1 against the Miami Heat on Monday night. The Heat ran wild late in the game en route to a double-digit win to open the Eastern Conference final series. While the Heat seemed to be having a blast in the second half, the Celtics looked increasingly frustrated. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade repeatedly drove the lane in the game and may be in store for some payback.
Rondo On Slowing LeBron, Wade: ‘They’ve Got To Hit The Deck, Too’
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Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports this early Boston frustration may manifest itself in more physical games later in the series. Rajon Rondo was asked how the Celtics would respond.
“Shrink the floor,” Rondo spat out in the visiting locker room, and when asked if making James and Wade pay for driving the lane was the appropriate counter, he offered the quote that will define Game 2.
“Nothing dirty,” Rondo said. “But, you know, they’ve got to hit the deck, too.”
James was told about Rondo’s comments and responded thusly:
“That doesn’t change anything for us,” James said. “We expect to hit the deck every single game, me and D-Wade. It’s how we feel like teams approach us. They feel like they need to put us on the floor, hard-foul us. It doesn’t change our approach. We still have to be in attack mode no matter what happens, because that’s when we’re at our best as a team.”
The Celtics may be hoping to take the Heat to church in Game 2 and beyond, but they didn’t really look capable of muscling around the Miami team at any point in Game 1.
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