Struggles come in threes

With all due respect to Kendrick Perkins, you know it's not going to be a good night for the Boston Celtics when he is their biggest offensive threat.
The Celtics' success has been heavily credited to their NBA All-Star trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. But the big three was minimized during Boston's 94-75 loss to the Detroit Pistons during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills as they were surprisingly limited to 41 points and 5 assists.
"They didn't play great," Celtics coach Doc Rivers simply said.
Garnett, Pierce and Allen also entered Game 4 averaging a combined 53 points during 17 playoff contests. The Celtics' big three, however, were limited to a combined 11-of-38 shooting from the field.
"It's always disappointing," said Allen, about the Celtics' three stars. "I think we pride ourselves on making our teammates better and allowing them to make us better. There's a point where you just have to make the simple play. … Just too frequently throughout the game we put ourselves in situations where I think we had some good shots, but I think we could have got better shots."
The biggest surprise of the night was Garnett's struggling offensive performance. The 11-time NBA All-Star previously torched the league's best defense during the regular season by averaging a team-best 24 points in this series entering Game 4. The all-NBA first-team selection also averaged 24 points in three regular-season games against Detroit, too. But in Game 4, Garnett missed 10-of-16 shots and nailed all four free throw attempts to score 16 points in 38 minutes.
"Kevin had shots that he normally makes and didn't make them," Rivers said. "I just thought he didn't have shots when we wanted to get him the ball."
The Celtics were down to five points on five occasions in the fourth quarter, but couldn't find away to get over that hump.
Boston needed one of its All-Stars to make big plays to get the victory in a winnable game, but no one stepped up. If only Perkins (10 points on 4-of-6 shooting) didn't foul out with 3:23 left in a crucial playoff game that Garnett, Pierce and Allen surely won't forget if they come shy of making the NBA Finals.