BOSTONThe Boston Celtics have a long list of plays they could turn to as being that one play that meant the difference in their 82-81 loss to Philadelphia in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series.
But the play that certainly resonates with Celtics Nation more than most, was the offensive foul call by official Michael Smith against Kevin Garnett late in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 78-75 late in the game, the Celtics had the ball and were looking to tie the score.
Kevin Garnett tried to set a pick to free up Paul Pierce for a potential game-tying shot.
But we'll never know if that shot would have gone down, with official Michael Smith whistling Garnett for an offensive foul with 10 seconds to play.
"Mike (Smith) was in a position, and he called it," Garnett said afterwards. "I'm not going to make a big stink about it."
Garnett, who was called for five personal fouls - two of which were offensive fouls - wasn't totally caught off guard by Smith's call.
Boston Celtics
"I think Danny (Crawford, one of the other officials) had already gave me a warning about how I was setting the picks," Garnett said.
Garnett understands that the call will certainly get its share of attention and be talked about between now and Game 3 on Wednesday.
"But that wasn't, to me, the game," Garnett said. "We did things going up to that point that determined the game."
Still, the call being made in that situation was a bit unusual when you consider the score at the time and the fact that this is a playoff game.
"I just thought in that situation," Garnett said. "You let the players decide the game. But hey, he felt like it was an illegal pick and that's what it is."
Said Paul Pierce, "You know that's the name of the game sometimes. You know they make a call, you gotta live with it."
Not surprisingly, C's coach Doc Rivers was upset at the call which was one of several illegal pick calls made by the officials.
"I wasn't fond of it," Rivers said.
As much as the call hurt the team, Rivers was more disturbed by the team's play for the first three quarters.
And while many may focus in on that one play near the end of the game, Rivers recognizes the C's demise in Game 2 began well before the final 10 seconds of the game.
"Listen, we put ourselves in that position," Rivers said. "At the end of the day, I say it all the time, if you put yourself in a position to let someone else do something, then you can lose games. And that's what happened."