So here were the Celtics all tied with the Heat through an impossibly wretched offensive fourth quarter, playing with a one-armed point guard, no center and three Hall of Famers with their needles hovering on empty. There were 19 seconds left after Ray Allen reached in and stole Miami’s chance to take the lead.

Doc Rivers was in his element -- drawing up yet another game-winner with the game on the line -- and with it came the promise of an all-square series and no doubt three more epic games of wonderful insanity. And then, it all fell apart.

“We just messed the play up,” Rajon Rondo would say later.

There was supposed to be a screen set for Allen who would flare to the corner and then a pick and roll involving Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who had the ball expectantly at the top of the key. Only the initial screen never happened because Allen and Garnett ran into each other after Allen had to receive the inbounds pass. The pick and roll never came either.

Pierce was left stranded with no timeouts and the specter of LeBron James between him and the basket, which was roughly 40 feet away and the clock ticking. Pierce has been in this situation many times before and countless times he has saved the Celtics with his patented drive, step-back jumper from the elbow.

He waited for what seemed like an eternity and made a decision. He went with about five seconds left ensuring that whatever happened Miami wouldn’t have a chance to do something before the clock struck zero. In retrospect, it was the only thing that went well for the Celtics.

Pierce got a look. It wasn’t a great look, but it was a look nonetheless and the shot like so many others the Celtics took in the fourth quarter hit the rim and bounced out. The overtime, as it played out, was a mere formality. The Celtics took their shot and missed and now they are down three games to one after losing Game 4, 98-90. (Click here for a recap).

“We didn’t execute the play,” Rivers said. “I’ll just leave it at that. Ended up leaving Paul on an island. It’s a play we’ve run several times and we just didn’t execute it. It was supposed to be a pick and roll with a flare and none of it happened, which was unusual for us. But it happened.”

There were other problems: turnovers, rebounds, a one-armed point guard with an unbreakable will and a rubber elbow, but still playing with only one arm. “It was a hell of a dilemma all game, whether he was helping your team, hurting your team,” Rivers said. “You kept going back and forth with it.”

There were missed layups, shots that rimmed out and an inability to work the ball to Garnett in the post who had 10 attempts and missed nine of them. Shaquille O’Neal played four minutes and it might be the last four minutes we see of him -- who knows at this point? – and a one-time sixth man of the year candidate who talked in the third person about finding himself. (“I have to find Glen, and I don’t know where Glen is,” Glen Davis said. “I have no idea who is playing right now.”)

Despite all of that, there they were in a tie game playing to their greatest strength: their ability to execute in pressure-packed situations and it betrayed them.

“There was a lot of talking during the huddle and not enough listening,” Rondo said.

“As far as execution, being in the right spots, setting a screen, you can control those things,” Pierce said. “That’s what I mean when I say poor execution, guys not being in the right spots.”

They have done this well so many times that it’s easy to forget all the times that it went wrong. Like the game against Memphis in March that was a precursor to their fall down the Eastern Conference standings, which left them stuck in the position they are now: going to Miami, down 3-1.

“These are those moments when you write poems, books, quotes, whatever it is, these are those moments,” Allen said. “I look forward to it. It’s a challenge I think everyone on this team, we know what we have to do. It’s not going to get any easier, but that’s what makes it so special if you can pull it off.”

If you were looking for any kind of rally-round-the-leprechaun speeches from the Celtics, that was about as good as it got after this one. Back in the locker room there were no shouts of exhortations, no declarations. Just a pained realization that everything they have worked for could come undone in 19 seconds of chaos.

“We know we got to get one win right now,” Pierce said. “That’s it.” 

On the other side, there was restrained confidence. “So many of us have never had a win in this building,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s a tough place to win but what we’re going to face on Wednesday will be our greatest challenge.”

With all due respect to Spoelstra, he’s wrong. This was their greatest challenge. All along they knew that they were going to have to walk through the thorny patches of the Garden and come out on the other side scratched and cut but otherwise unscathed if they were going to get past the Celtics.

James made all the plays, scoring 35 points including the last five in regulation in almost 51 minutes. Chris Bosh was roadkill in the first half, but he was a difference-maker in the second and the unlikely recipient of good fortune when his tip-in finally buried the Celtics final comeback attempt in the closing minute of overtime.

This was the game the Heat have been waiting to play, and win. “I looked at it as probably one of the biggest games of my career,” James said.
The Celtics?

“I feel like tonight,” Pierce said, "we beat ourselves.”