NBA Finals Wrap-Up

Basketball season is over, and as I told my significant other, "Thanks to Ron Artest, Sasha Vujicic, and Danny Crawford, you can have your boyfriend back now."

I've been neglecting this web space and I apologize. It was part denial, two parts depression; a cocktail of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol; a frozen blend of Kendrick Perkins' knee, Kevin Garnett's lost step, and 5 out of 7 Ray Allen's that kept me away. But now I'm back, and here are my best and worst memories from this year's version of the NBA Finals.

Game 1: The Celtics had no idea what to do about the Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant. The pair combined for 53 of the Lakers 102 points and 21 of the teams 42 rebounds. The Celtics didn't have their edge and tenacity on defense. I was worried after this game because the Lakers looked like they simply wanted it more.

Game 2: The Ray Allen/Rajon Rondo game. Ray Ray came out of the gate absolutely scorching hot, beating a few NBA records for 3's in a Finals half and game. Rondo helped the Celtics push past the Lakers with an aggressive 2nd half, picking up the slack from the rest of the team. The officials tried really hard to give this one to the Lakers, as they took 41 free throws to Boston's 26. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum alone took 25, one less than the entire Celtics team. But alas, the series goes on.

Game 3: After the short break from Sunday to Tuesday and traveling from LA to Boston, the Lakers took this one to win home court advantage back. This was a tough loss because the Celtics lost this game more than the Lakers won it. Kobe had 29 pts, but shot an abysmal 34% from the field, going 1-7 from 3. But the Lakers won all of the 50/50 plays and the hustle points. Kevin Garnett finally showed up in the NBA Finals but didn't have enough support from his teammates. Oh yeah, and after being a one-man highlight, Ray Allen went 0-13. The Celtics lost by 7.

Game 4: The first of two "must wins" for Boston, and it came from the Celtics bench.While the starters contributed to a team-effort that led to victory, the spark came from Glen Davis and Nate Robinson, the duo now affectionately known as "Shrek and the Donkey." I was still worried after this one, because Gasol and Bryant scored a combined 54 points (of the Lakers 89). In other words, the rest of the Lakers didn't show up, and that might have more to do with the Boston victory that the Celtics would have liked to admit.

Game 5: This was Kobe's statement game... except he ran out of gas. At one point he made 23 straight Laker points. There were full stretches where no Laker touched the ball except for Kobe. He took over the 3rd quarter in such a way that at one point I tweeted, "Kobe Bryant is absolutely terrifying right now." But it wasn't enough. The Celtics shot well top to bottom, and it was the starters' turn to take over. Dominant performances from the Garnett, Pierce, and Rondo helped the C's take this one. PS - Ray Allen hasn't hit a three since Game 2 of this series.

Game 6: Celtics fans had to brace for a loss, but hope for a win going back to LA. What they got was absolutely shoddy, embarrassing play from what was supposed to be one of the top two teams in the NBA. The C's only scored 69 points in this game. That's only 15 more than what Kobe/Gasol scored by themselves in Game 4. There's not much else to say about this one than, if there was one way I didn't want to lose this game, it was like this. I was going into Game 7 without any idea what to expect from this series.

Game 7: This could have been one of the most titanic and epic Game 7's ever. The stage was set for an incredible ending to a Finals that had some interesting stories but no truly magical moments except for Kobe's eruption in Game 5 and Ray Allen's shooting in Game 2. What happened was quite the let down, and not only because the Celtics lost. Both teams played sloppy, inconsistent basketball for a majority of the game. The defense was pretty good on both sides, but the Lakers shot 32.5% from the floor (Kobe: 6-24, 25%). The Celtics were out-rebounded 53-40 (offensive rebounds 23-8!!!). That was the Celtics' game to lose and they did a handy job at it in the end. Of course, we won't mention that the Lakers took 37 free throws to Boston's 17, but we will mention that LA shot 67.6% from the charity stripe and that's another reason this game was close. Boston's bench failed to show up at the Staples Center last Thursday, contributing only 6 points, all from Big Baby.

The suprise of the series, of course was who actually made the difference for the Lakers in the end: Ron Artest (20pts, 5 reb, 5 stl, 1 "there's no way Ron Ron hits this of all 3's" shot). Without Artest in this game, the Celtics were bringing Banner 18 back to Beantown. Pau Gasol had a great game as well, with 19pts and 18reb (5 of which happened on one play in the 1st quarter).

So now I will be treated to watching "Hey Lakers' fans, your team just won..." commercials for another year. The Lakers will be on the SportsCenter intro montage for one more year. But at least we're one step closer to deciding that Kobe is better than Lebron... right?