Los Angeles - Ray Allen shot himself out of a shooting slump by hitting the Bulls right between the eyes when it mattered the most. Allen fired in the tie-breaking three-pointer with two seconds left, giving the Boston Celtics a dramatic 118-115 victory over the pesky Chicago Bulls on Monday night, and squaring their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at one-game apiece.
Chicago's Ben Gordon poured in a playoff career-high 42 points, including a jumper with 12.3 seconds remaining to knot the game at 115-apiece until Allen's heroics stopped the Bulls in their tracks.
"We left everything out on the court," Gordon said. "We would have loved to win this game and go back to Chicago up 2-0. But Ray hit a big shot and that's how it went."
Following a timeout, Rajon Rondo took the inbound pass, and dribbled the left side while waiting for Allen to get free.
Rondo hit Allen at the right of the three-point arc, and the NBA's second best all-time three-point shooter buried the rhythm jumper - his sixth three of the game - over the outstretched arms of Joakim Noah, sending the sellout crowd at TD BankNorth Garden into a frenzy.
"We all talk about it in the playground, and there's nobody there," said Allen, who exploded for 28 of his 30 points in the second half. "You get the ball and you count down, five, four, three, two one. The ball goes in the hole, you make the crowd noise, and put your hands in the air. For that moment, that's what it was like for me."
Without any timeouts left, Chicago's Tyrus Thomas threw up a desperation 50-footer, that fell well short at the buzzer.
Allen ended a nightmarish shooting slump in which the All-Star guard scored just four points on 1-of-12 shooting in Saturday's 105-103 overtime loss. His shooting woes continued in the first half with four more points on one-of-four shooting before finding the bulls-eye in the final 24 minutes.
Without All-Star forward Kevin Garnett (right knee sprain) for the playoffs, Celtics coach Doc Rivers was looking down his depleted bench after losing backup centre Leon Powe with an injured knee and Rondo for the last five minutes of the half with right ankle sprain.
"I needed one volunteer to step up and score for us and it was Ray Allen," Rivers said. "I'm really happy for him, because he struggled in the first game and he struggled in the first half tonight. But shooters just keep shooting. What a great shot by Ray. That was terrific."
Glen "Big Baby" Davis scored 26, while Rondo had a triple-double with 19 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds despite the ankle injury for second-seeded Boston, which is confident after the split.
"We haven't even played good basketball yet," said Celtics captain Paul Pierce, who finished with 18 points. "We won tonight, and felt we should have won the first game. This is pretty much our "C" game. We don't give up 100 points in two straight games. I think our best is yet to come in this series."
Besides Gordon, John Salmons scored 17, Brad Miller added 16 for seventh-seeded Chicago, which was an Allen miss away from going up 2-0 against the reigning NBA Champions as the series shifts to the "Windy City" for the next two games beginning Thursday night.
"A tremendous game," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. '"I love the grit, love the toughness of our team.
"We all know Ray Allen is a great shooter but we wanted to make it difficult, make him shoot over Joakim, who is long. He made a great shot and it's 1-1."
Elsewhere:
San Antonio Spurs 105, Dallas Mavericks 84 "French Flash" Tony Parker drove through the Mavericks' porous defence for 38 pointsand the host Spurs spanked their Texas rivals in Game Two to even their Western Conference first-round series.
"It was a must game for us and I wanted to be aggressive," said Parker, who hit 16-of-22 field goals. "We came out with a lot of energy, and our defence was great tonight. Hopefully, we can carry that and do the same thing in Game Three."
Sixth-seeded Dallas will host the next two games against third-seeded San Antonio, beginning with Game Three on Thursday night.
Tim Duncan had 13 points with 11 rebounds, while Drew Gooden also scored 13 for San Antonio, which bounced back from Saturday's 105-97 loss.
Jason Terry netted 16 points while Jason Kidd and German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki had 14 apiece for Dallas, which failed to become the first team since the 2002 LA Lakers to win back-to-back playoff games in San Antonio.
"We didn't have much going offensively, and defensively we never got a hold of Parker," said Nowitzki, who shot just 3-of-14 from the field.
"He's one of the best in the business getting to the basket and finishing against the big guys. It was a layup drill for him. He was fantastic tonight."
