MIAMI — Throughout their four-year run, the Celtics have always had the answers, always had the counter to whatever was thrown their way. They knew deep down that their team framework was strong enough to handle any star and any situation. If that didn’t work, they always had that defense to back them up.

That kind of mental toughness isn’t given and it’s not handed out in the summer when moves are made and players are brought together. It’s forged over long seasons and brutal playoff series. It doesn’t disappear overnight just because they are now facing the first 2-0 deficit in this often glorious run. But it does make you wonder.

It makes you wonder if maybe that isn’t enough this time. Maybe LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are just too good, too dominant. Maybe the Heat are just better.

After it was over and the Heat used a 12-0 fourth-quarter run to pull away in a 102-91 win in Game 2 (click here for a recap), no one would say that this is over. Miami did what it had to do, winning two games on its homecourt. The old saying about a series not starting until someone loses at home does have some merit, after all.

However, and there has to be a however, after James was the best player on the planet (one game after Wade had his turn) and the Heat once again clamped down defensively and forced the Celtics into being the kind of team they can’t be, it does make you wonder.

“It is what it is and we have to deal with it,” Kevin Garnett said. “We need to go protect our home court. Period. There isn’t much to talk about. It’s do or die.”

Unfortunately from the Celtics perspective, Garnett is right. There isn’t a lot to talk about. This isn’t about making adjustments. It’s not about subtle tweaks or design flaws. This is about a team that has been taken out of its game offensively and has to deal with two stars in the prime of their careers playing almost flawless basketball with a cast of role players understanding and executing their role.     

“No different approach, honestly,” Doc Rivers said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve got a third game and we’ve got to take care of that. Whatever the past is, it is. They won two games at home, but they played well and we can’t allow them to play like this or it’s going to be tough at our place.”

If anything is in the Celtics' favor it’s this funky three-day break before Game 3. Paul Pierce strained his Achilles tendon in the first quarter. Ray Allen took an elbow in the chest from James and was hurting. Rajon Rondo’s back apparently became an issue this morning and was problematic enough that he had to ask out of the game at one point.

“Eddie [Lacerte] and Dr. [Brian] McKeon did a hell of a job today,” Rivers said. “We had a circus going on at one point. Ray needed to be taken to the locker room. Paul was coming out of the locker room. Rondo was asking to come out almost simultaneously. It was sketchy.”

Later, Rivers allowed, “For me, today was tough because I didn’t know who the hell was healthy.” 

The Celtics began the game going to Garnett in the post and the Heat were ready for it. This wasn’t Antawn Jamison down there. It was Chris Bosh and Joel Anthony and as maligned as Bosh has been, even his harshest critic would say that he has held up both mentally and physically against Garnett.  

Allen torched the Heat in Game 1, but in this one there were no openings for his quick-trigger 3’s and he mustered only seven shots. Even with his balky back, Rondo was Rondo scoring 20 points and handing out 12 assists, but even the very good version of Rondo wasn’t enough.

The most damning piece of evidence came late when the Celtics had absorbed all of LeBron and Wade’s best blows and still found themselves in a tie game with just under seven minutes left. The game was there to be stolen and this is where the Celtics have always found a way. Only this time it was Mario Chalmers who threw the first punch with a backbreaking 3-pointer.

The response from the Celtics was ill-timed Glen Davis post-ups and a bevy of missed jump shots. Forced jump shots. Contested jump shots.

“At that point we have to play with better discipline, more force,” Pierce said. “I thought once we tied the game we left Chalmers open for a 3 and on the other end offensively I thought we good shots, but we can get better shots.”

Rivers blamed himself, but there’s only so much a coach can do from the sidelines. At some point his team has to execute the way they know how, the way they have always known. It wasn’t panic so much as desperation and that’s a bad look on this team.
 
“We’re not winning that way,” Rivers said. “We’re not a one-on-one basketball team. I think Paul is really the only guy that can beat guys one-on-one and they’re going to send help. It’s just not who we are. I thought Baby was aggressive but it is what it is.”

And then came the deluge. James knocked down jumpers, the kind of shots they want him to take but sometimes great players are simply great. Jermaine O’Neal missed a dunk. Garnett had his shot cold-blocked at the rim by James. 

“They scored and we couldn’t score,” was Rivers’ succinct analysis. The coach told his team to get away from basketball and each other for a day. There isn’t much more that can be said at this point. They have their principles that have worked so well time after time and they have their defense. If that’s not enough then it was never going to be against the Heat.