Celtics v. Lakers

At some point in the halftime report of Sunday's Celtics/Lakers game, Mike Wilbon said something along the lines of the following:

"I hate the term 'statement game' - it's very cliche - but in the case
of this game, Celtics/Lakers, I think it's very appropriate."

But as the game went on, I had less and less to take away from it. In the first half, both teams played well at different times, the Celtics would take a sizeable lead then give up some ground to the Lakers as the 1st and 2nd quarters wound down. The game was shaping up to be a hotly contested battle with a lot of players playing truly incredible basketball, especially Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.

Something happened late in the 3rd quarter and into the 4th with the Lakers that I can't really explain. It looked like Pau Gasol simply stopped trying. Andrew Bynum forgot that he was bigger than everyone else on the floor and decided to start giving up rebounds to Big Baby. Steve Blake simply forgot that he was guarding a guy named Ray Allen. Staples Center Security is still looking for Ron Artest.

There was a truly telling moment with around 7:20 left in the 4th quarter - Pau Gasol missed his second lazy 11-foot jumper in 30 seconds and apparently Kobe/Phil Jackson had had enough. The Lakers proceeded to run ELEVEN straight plays for Bryant, mostly just isolation drives and fade-aways that Allen guarded very well.

During this stretch, the score went from 89-80 Celtics to 105-91 Celtics; the clock went from 7:20 to about 1:29. Celtics players that scored in this span: Garnett, Ray Allen, Rondo and Big Baby - only one of these was unassisted. In other words, while Kobe was stutter-step, spin move, juke/shake and fade-away jumpshotting to keep his team in it, the Lakers defense was just downright lazy on the other end. Note that Paul Pierce didn't score during this stretch - he was guarded by Kobe Bryant.

For the record: Paul Pierce: 11-18, 32pts; Ray Allen: 8-12, 21pts; Kevin Garnett: 9-12, 18pts, 13reb; Rajon Rondo: 5-9, 10pts, 16ast. In other words, the "big four" shot 65% from the floor - sweet defense, LA.

Back to Wilbon's comment at half-time: what do we take away from this "statement" game? That Kobe Bryant is really good? That team basketball beats individual basketball 99.99999% of the time? That the Lakers look just like the Celtics did this time last year when they coasted the rest of the regular season? I don't really know.

I do know that the Lakers will not get far in the playoffs if Kobe is putting up 41pt losing efforts.

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?

Lakers/Celtics NBA Finals Preview

First of all, as I tweeted earlier, I haven't read Bill Simmons' NBA finals column yet so as to not cloud my judgment. Where to begin? The most storied rivalry in the NBA history is adding another chapter beginning tonight. The Celtics and Lakers are the two most recent NBA Champions, but the Celtics defeated the Lakers in 2008 in rare form. The Lakers clearly have a chip on their shoulder. Even Ron Artest is upset about 2008 and he wasn't even on the team at the time. Whoa.

The regular season matchups between these two teams could not have been closer either. In the first game on January 31st, the Lakers took the win in Boston 90-89 on a Kobe Bryant jump-shot with 8 seconds left, completely blanketed by Ray Allen. The second matchup was won by Boston in Los Angeles: the final score? 87-86. Ray Allen had a game high 24pts and led the C's to victory on the road. So if they played 8 straight quarters, the score would be 176-176? This is going to be a great series.

Let's look at some of the matchups.

PG: Derek Fisher looked like a dead fish for most of the regular season, but has come on strong in the playoffs, helping the Lakers win a crucial Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals with 22pts. His counterpart on the Celtics would be the runaway favorite for a "Most Improved Player Since the Last Time We Were in the Finals" Award, Rajon Rondo. Rondo put the Celtics on his (young) back in the Cavs series after a soul-crushing defeat at home in Game 3 with an incredible performance (29pts, 18 reb, 13 ast). Can Fisher guard Rondo? Short answer: no. The Lakers will probably put Kobe on Rondo, which leads us to...

SG: Kobe Bryant is clearly the best player on the court, if not in all of the NBA right now. If you watched Game 6 of the W. Conference Finals, you know what I'm talking about. A 37pt performance that demonstrated some of the best "I Don't Care How Well You Defend Me, I'm Kobe Bryant and I'm Going to Make This Shot" faces I've seen in a while. However, as noted above, the Lakers may try stopping Rondo with Kobe, so that leaves... Derek Fisher on Ray Allen? Allen never stops moving: behind the basket, coming off screens, zig-zagging across the paint, etc. Derek Fisher can't keep up, and look-out if Ray-Ray gets a one step lead off the screen; Derek Fisher isn't tall enough to guard that lightning-fast release.

SF: Possibly the most intruiging matchup of the Finals, Paul Pierce vs. Ron Artest. Before the Lakers/C's game even started back at the end of January, Artest and Pierce were jostling and shoving each other. My sincere hope is that the refs don't call this one tightly, because these two should be allowed to play. In the two regular season games, Artest and Pierce had a total of 26pts each; Pierce, 9reb, Artest 8reb; Pierce, 40% from the field, Artest, 38%. However, against each other, Pierce shot 36% from 3pt land, while Artest only managed 22%. For the C's to win, Pierce has to be able to get open looks and score points as well as play Artest tight and force contested shots.

PF/C: The Kevin Garnett/Pau Gasol matchup is almost as interesting as the one above, apart from my lingering nervousness about two things: Gasol got better, KG's knees got worse. The one silver lining is that Garnett still gets into people's heads, see exhibit A: Rashard Lewis, PF, Orlando Magic. Gasol seems to get flustered easily, and it negatively impacts his play, more so than any other player on either of these rosters (Perkins doesn't count because for all we know he may not be playing one of the games this series). The Andrew Bynum issue is of course a big one. He is limited by injury, and there is no real way of knowing what he will and won't be able to do.

Also of note, Doc Rivers may go with Garnett on Odom and put Perkins, one of the best post-defenders in the league, on Gasol. Odom is an interesting player because he a staple Lakers big man, but he can spread the floor with his shooting. Perkins is walking on thin ice with the technical fouls and he's going to have to play it safe. The Celtics win and lose on the strength of their defense, and he is an integral part of that.

Bench: Rasheed Wallace, Nate Robinson, Glen Davis, and Tony Allen have all at some point this postseason stepped up and given the Celtics the spark they needed to win a game/series. The Lakers bench claim to fame is Sasha Vujicic coming into games in the Suns series with the express purpose of heckling and distracting fellow countryman Goran Dragic; it's sad, but it worked. But it's the NBA Finals, there's no real telling what's going to happen. As a Celtics fan, I have to put an incredible amount of faith in our bench - they've helped us get to where we are and must continue to play at a high level for the Celtics to win the title.

If you had told me a month and a half ago that the Boston Celtics were going to be in the NBA Finals, I would have laughed in your face. But here they are, playing team basketball and the best defense they've played since the beginning of the year. That's the bread and butter of this team. The Lakers are riding the Kobe Bryant train, of course, but this time, Gasol, Artest, and Fisher are playing at a high level as well. This is going to be a great series, and I don't intend to miss a minute of it.

Game 1 starts tonight at 9PM. Get your popcorn ready.

Rivalry Renewed

Watching Game 5 of the Celtics/Magic series at home with my roommate was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. I haven't seen such miserable and one-sided officiating in quite a while. A loyal reader and friend called me "Boston's Spike Lee sans court-side seats." Ugh, what I would do with court-side seats. Just so I can get it out there: the fact that both of the technical fouls on Kendrick Perkins were not rescinded is patently absurd. The video footage is beyond clear. Does anything happen to the refs when they screw up that badly?

I struggled on StubHub for over an hour before buying tickets to Game 6. I walked towards the Garden last Friday evening half-full of hope. After being up 3-0 on the verge of a sweep they had suffered an overtime loss and a "Game That Shall Not Be Named." The Celtics had responded well to one devastating loss already (Game 3, Cavs series) but could they do it again?

From the opening tip, the Celtics played their brand of basketball - team basketball. Paul Pierce stepped into the driver seat early and ended the night with 4-5 3pt shooting and a team best 31 pts/13 reb. Ray Allen did his fair share with 20 pts. Both teams shot 27 free throws, but Boston hit 81.5% of them, Orlando: only 59.3%. The Celtics held the lead all the way to the final buzzer, 96-84, and punched their ticket to the NBA Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years.

And after a decisive Game 6 win in Phoenix ("Black Mamba" Kobe made an incredible appearance - Kobe was hitting deep jumpers while being guarded tighter than Fort Knox; do yourself a favor and watch the replays), the Lakers are returning for another installment in an epic and storied rivalry.

Both teams have changed, though there's a chip on the Lakers shoulder to be sure. Over the last two years, Rajon Rondo has stepped into a leadership role on the team, truly maturing and becoming the future of the Boston Celtics. Over those same two years, Kobe Bryant proved that he didn't need Shaq after all and won his 4th NBA title, looking more and more like the less-selfish leader we all wanted him to be.

The matchups coming up this Thursday will certainly be intriguing. Does Ray or Pierce guard Kobe? How do the Celtics handle the new and improved Pau Gasol? Can Derek Fisher keep up with Rajon Rondo? Which teams' bench will step up to the occasion? Who will be the MVP? There will only be one way to find out the answers and that will be to watch every minute of this year's version of the NBA Finals. I cannot wait.

PS - Go Celtics.