C’s hold Nets at bay, sweep into the Conference Semis

Given the nature of coaches – and maybe also factoring in that I’m currently re-reading David Halberstam’s The Education of a Coach, his superb 2005 biography of Bill Belichick – I’m compelled to look for hidden meaning in Celtics’ coach Ime Udoka’s decision to utilize the Hack-a-Shaq strategy on Brooklyn post-man Nic Claxton (who would miss his first 10 FTA’s before making his last), but only one time … subbing Payton Pritchard in and right back out to do so mid Q3.

While that intentional foul did produce Claxton’s only successful foul shot on the day, he’d play just four more minutes. Is it conceivable that the C’s brain-trust preferred to compete against Steve Nash’s “small” line-up?…