Celtics rue what might have been

NBA rules mandate a 10-minute cooling off period after playoff games before the media can interview players.

After a maddening 121-118 loss in 2 overtimes and 3½ hours Sunday at the United Center, Boston needed more than those 10 minutes.

Fifteen minutes passed and Paul Pierce was still shaking his head. Twenty minutes and Rajon Rondo had his sore ankle soaking in ice water and his face buried in his hands.

Finally, Glen Davis walked to his stall and asked to see a stat sheet. He studied it for a few moments, must have paid special attention to his own line and then muttered, "4 of 16." Davis rolled his eyes and said, "That's really horrible."

That summed up the way Boston felt about this series being tied 2-2. The Celtics let the Bulls off the hook from a 6-point deficit in the fourth quarter and 5 in the first overtime, losing a chance to take a 3-1 lead and possibly end the series Tuesday night at home.

"Both ends of the floor we weren't where we needed to be," Ray Allen said. "That's what bothers me so much about this one is we had the opportunity right there. We should have won this game."

Allen scored 28 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer to force the first overtime. Pierce scored 23, and Rondo continued his emergence as one of the league's top point guards with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

And it still wasn't enough to shake the Bulls, who beat Boston for the first time in six playoff games in Chicago (two in 1981, '86, '87 and Thursday night).

"We had a chance to go up in the series and now we don't," Davis said. "Now we have a fight. The frustrating thing about it is we didn't play well. We had control of our fate and didn't come through."

Davis found himself in the middle of an altercation with Brad Miller with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter. After Miller stole Davis' pass, he took exception to a hard foul from Davis and swung back.

"I was going out of bounds and didn't know what to do with it, I knew I couldn't call timeout, so I just tried to find a way to get rid of the ball," Davis said. "He ends up with the ball, I go up and try to make sure he doesn't get a continuation, not to hurt him. He came down and fell a certain way and hit me in my face."

Officials initially ejected Miller, then switched it to a technical foul after looking at the replay.

"It doesn't matter what happens," Davis said of Miller not being ejected. "That play didn't determine the game. But he hit me in the face."

Boston lost despite Rondo's second triple double of the series. Celtics coach Doc Rivers only sat Rondo for a 2-minute, 52-second stretch to start the second quarter, and during that span the Bulls outscored Boston 10-2.

Rivers learned his lesson and left Rondo on the court the entire second half and both overtimes, playing Stephon Marbury just 5:17.

"Give them a lot of credit," Rondo said. "I thought we had them a couple times. They are obviously a very confident team. We are ourselves so it will come down to execution."