PHILADELPHIAKevin Garnett's selflessness on the floor is both a blessing and a burden at times for the Boston Celtics.
Unfortunately for the C's, it proved to be the latter on Friday as the Celtics suffer a 95-94 overtime loss to Philadelphia.
With just a couple ticks left in overtime, Garnett has the ball and rather than pull up for a shot, he elects to pass the ball to Rajon Rondo who he thinks is cutting to the basket for a potential game-winning lay-up.
Rondo slips before he gets going to the basket, and is then forced to toss up what turns into an air ball that has no chance of going in as time expired.
"I should have taken the lay-up," Rondo said. "But I tried to make a plant and just slipped."
Said Garnett: "I thought he had the lay-up. It was just unfortunate. I was indecisive. I should have been more aggressive in that situation."
After the game, C's coach Doc Rivers said that Garnett was the player the Celtics wanted to take that final shot.
"But he saw Rondo cutting," Rivers said. "I didn't see it yet, so I don't really know what happened because it looked like Kevin had the shot. We had him deep, right where we wanted him."
Boston had a chance to win the game in regulation and just like in overtime, the ball was in Rondo's hands for the final shot.
And that shot, just like the one Rondo took in overtime, wasn't exactly what Rivers and the Celtics were looking for.
On both plays, the plan was for Rondo to drive the ball and either kick it to Garnett or try to finish off a lay-up.
But to end the fourth, Rondo elected to shoot a step-back jumper that was off the mark.
"I could live with that," Rivers said. "I thought that was one where we probably could've gotten to the basket."
And while Rivers readily admits he would have preferred Garnett to take the final shot in overtime, he has no problem with the decision Garnett made.
"He should probably always shoot it," Rivers said of Garnett. "But if he thought a guy had a lay-up, then he made the right decision. Tough loss, though. I thought we played hard all game. Didn't necessarily play well, but we played hard, and I'll take that."