Allen left to watch crunch time from sideline after fouling out

A chirping whistle followed Allen most of the night until the 5:27 mark of the fourth quarter when he and Chicago's Brad Miller got tangled up on a screen and each were handed fouls. For Miller, it was his second of the night, but for Allen, it was a ticket to the bench.

Allen left steamed, with 10 points and six fouls in a little more than 26 minutes of play. The Celtics trailed, 83-80, at that point, but eventually came back to secure a 106-104 victory in overtime to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Allen said all he can do now is try to figure out where he erred and move on. During the regular season, he fouled out three times. Before that, he hadn't picked up six fouls since 2005-06 when he was with Seattle.

"I guess now I know what it feels like to sit on the sidelines and not be able to do anything and not have control," said Allen, who has fouled out 18 times in a career that dates to the 1996-97 season. "I figured, as mad as I was sitting on the sidelines, it wasn't going to do much to sit back and worry about what happened when I was in the game. [Tony Allen] was out there and I was just trying to talk him through it and we came through."

Tony Allen, Eddie House, and Stephon Marbury rotated in for the final minutes as Allen watched. Allen credited Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo for carrying the Celtics into overtime and praised Tony Allen & Co. for providing stability when he could do nothing more but root and give tips to Tony Allen.

After an uneventful first quarter, Allen picked up two fouls in the second and two more in the third. Just three minutes into the fourth, Allen picked up his fifth, and soon he had a sixth.

"I was disappointed," Allen said. "I thought all game the whistle was bad on me, but I didn't want to be that isolated guy that was over on the sidelines just pouting and worried about himself.

"Of course I was angry, but you know what? We had to win the game. Those were the cards we were dealt."

When asked what happened on the final foul, Allen gave his best explanation.

"It's very subtle, but when we go by the screen, they slide right into you, they lock into you," Allen said. "That's kind of what he did and he locked into me and kind of nudged me low and I tried to keep going because I was on my path.

"It's so interesting how [Kendrick Perkins], the whole series, he gets hit with offensive fouls off of screens all day long, so I'd like to look at it and see what it looks like from the camera's point of view.

"But I don't know what I did to warrant a foul."

With the Celtics already playing with a limited bench, losing Allen late in the game could have been decisive. Pierce, who scored 26 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime, said once Allen fouled out "it was time for me to really step up."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers added, "Great win for us, when you got Ray fouled out of the game and you're searching for bodies. It didn't look good, but we dug down and won the game."

Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com.