This couldn’t end this way. It couldn’t end with Paul Pierce fouling out on a dubious offensive foul. It couldn’t end with Ray Allen unable to make a jump shot. It couldn’t end with Rajon Rondo stuck in neutral. Most of all, it couldn’t end because Kevin Garnett wouldn’t allow it.

“Oh no, no, no, no. Tomorrow was not an option,” Garnett said. “Going home wasn’t an option today.”

Garnett has had better games statistically than his 18 points and 13 rebounds that he provided in a grueling, 85-75, win over the 76ers in Game 7. But in a series that was defined by defense, the best defensive player of his generation was a monster. The offense came in spurts and mostly from long range, but Garnett was determined not to let his big men suffer the same kind of lapses in coverage that he believed doomed them in Game 6.

“We had been slipping on some assignments lately,” he said. “I was more programmed, locked in more defensively than anything.”

It was the defense more than anything – even more than Rondo’s 11-point explosion after Pierce fouled out – that enabled them to finally get past the Sixers and meet their destiny with a winner take-all showdown against the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. It had seemed pre-determined, but getting past Philly was no easy task.

“The Sixers are a pain in the ass,” Doc Rivers said. “They really are. They are a tough basketball team. I don’t think people gave them their respect all year.”

The Celtics are a pain in the neck too. They’re old, beat up and lack any kind of meaningful depth. In some kind of weird, perverse way, that’s just how they like it. As long as they have their defense, and as long as they have Garnett, they will always have a chance. This is what they believe. This is what sustains them.

“Oh, he was huge,” Rivers said. “I mean, Kevin, defensively, controlling the paint, made big shots when we had it. I thought they did a really good job of confusing him a little bit on the post. He had a bunch of them where he actually had post-ups but he was looking for traps and they were not coming. You could see him at halftime just giving himself one of those self-talks. And you know, the talk obviously went well.”

There were a lot of those internal monologues going around for the Celtics. When Pierce fouled out, Rondo took it upon himself to make things right.

“I felt I was part of the reason he fouled out,” Rondo said. “I had two bad turnovers [that led to Pierce getting fouls.] I felt somewhat responsible for it. My night wasn’t going well all night, I just figured stay with it, stay positive and something will happen.”

Rondo’s night wasn’t going well at all. He had just two points and one assist in the third quarter when the Celtics’ offense again couldn’t get out of its own way. This is when things tend to get away from him and he allows all the pressure that he keeps bottled up inside to get the better of him. This is when he appears disengaged and distracted.

There’s a phrase they use from former Pistons’ coach Chuck Daly: “You’ve got to get past mad.” That’s what his teammates were telling him on the bench after he committed a couple of turnovers. Get past it.

“I think people a lot of times people think he’s pouting about something else,” Rivers said. “ It’s [that] he’s so hard on himself. And I thought he really fought himself tonight, and won. And I thought that was huge. It was a big step for him.”

Pierce fouled out with just over four minutes left and after Andre Iguodala hit a 3-pointer, their lead was down to three. That’s when Rondo took over in a way that he rarely has before, if ever. First he drove for two points, nothing unusual there. Then he hit a long jumper. That was odd. Then hit a 25-foot 3-pointer in rhythm. “Go in. Please,” Rivers said. “I’m not above praying or begging.”

Finally, Rondo hit all four of his free throws down the stretch to ice it and another oh-by-the-way triple double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, his third of the postseason.

Then there was Allen who painfully and slowly kept missing open jump shots. This wasn’t like earlier in the series when the Sixers devoted so much time and attention to stopping him. This time he was shaken. Yes, even Ray Allen gets shook and it was obvious when he passed up an open look in the corner.

Rivers took him out and told him that wouldn’t do. Allen countered by saying that his foot was killing him and he just needed a break. Rivers looked at him and said, “Ray, listen, you don’t ever pass up shots.” Rondo told him the same thing. So did Garnett. Allen got two more looks and finally, they went in.

“I know my Ray Allen,” Rivers said before the game. “He knows exactly what they did [defensively] and if he physically has it in his body, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do something about it.” 

This series was hard. It was grueling and it was costly. They will go to Miami without Avery Bradley who would have been their first line of defense against a rejuvenated Dwyane Wade. They have a bench that is down to Mickael Pietrus and a prayer.

But they still have each other for one more series at least. It’s not over yet for Garnett, Pierce, Rondo and Allen. As long as there’s another day, they’ll keep believing that somehow, some way they can continue to pull off another postseason miracle.

“I expected it,” Pierce said. “Truthfully, that’s he way I look at things. I expected us to be here. Probably a lot of you didn’t, but that’s why you’re wrong."