Doc: C's 'played in spurts, that's why we lost'

A dejected Doc Rivers analyzed what happened in the furious final moments of Boston's 87-86 loss to Atlanta in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Tuesday night at Philips Arena. Rivers watched as Rajon Rondo nearly single-handedly won the game with a steal of an inbounds pass and a lenght-of-the-court dribble only to be denied even getting a shot off as the Hawks held on. 

Rondo scored six of the final eight points of the third quarter as the Celtics furiously rallied from a 12-point deficit and a nine-point hole late in the fourth only to have time run out. 

"I thought Rondo willed us back into the game in the third," Rivers said. "That stretch was huge for him. We played in spurts, and that's why we lost."

The Celtics now must deal with the confident tandem of Al Horford and Josh Smith in Game 6 in Boston Thursday night. Both registered double-doubles, with Horford hitting the final two baskets for Atlanta and denying Rondo any chance of getting off the final shot. 

"Al Horford was terrific tonight," Rivers said. "I thought him and Williams made the difference in the game. I thought they all played well and hard, which we anticipated in an elmination game. I didn't like our execution down the stretch of the game, did a couple of things we shouldn't have done. But overall, I just thought they played harder, they played better." 

Before the Rondo steal, the Celtics tried for a steal with 15 seconds remaining, only to burn valuable seconds off the clock as the Celtics had a foul to give. 

"We signaled to foul but our guys decided to go for the steal first. What they didn't understand was we had a foul to give. I told them after the game and we talk about it every day in practice," Rivers said. "End-of-the-game execution is going to win and lose playoff games for you.

"I thought when you look at the last couple of games, we had great motion and movement, offensively. I didn't think we had any of that tonight. I thought we were an stagnant basketball team. I thought in the first quarter, it was terrific. The movement was great. We missed a lot of open shots. We had the lead, but I told our coaches they had a lot of open shots they missed and then they started making them and got their confidence up. Listen, this is the team they thought they were going to start the season with, now they have it and we're going to have to deal with it."

For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics [1] and the Green Street [2] blog.