| 07 June 2010
Well... that was disappointing. On the back of Ray Allen's hot-hand, and a triple double from dervish Rajon Rondo, the personification of evil - the Boston Celtics - ran out 9 point winners, 103-94.
Before we get into any visceral reactions to the game, the refereeing. Damn zebras, swallow the whistles a bit. That's no claim of bias any which way, but it makes for a game without flow (unless you're Jesus Shuttlesworth!), and in this case put the stars of the game on the pine for a very long time.D
Ok, that's off my chest - to the game. Ray Allen. Sheesh... a guy hitting 8-11 from deep? That's around 73%. Allen actually shot better from outside the 3pt line than he did inside it (he was 3-9 inside). As Laker fans, we've become used to having Kobe Bryant being the player who can't miss. It was a cold bucket of water for it to be a Celtic.
I think LA could have weathered Allen's 3-fest, especially as he cooled down later, but Rondo's trip/dub (19 pts/10 assists/12 boards) put the mean green over the top. Rondo was excellent. There's no two ways about it. LA will have to do a better job on him if they want this series to continue beyond Boston.
If you'd told me before the game started that the tandem of Andrew Bynum/Pau Gasol would shoot better than 60%, both get more than 20pts, and go for 13 blocks in the game - I would have been certain of a Laker victory.
Phil Jackson noted,
"Our big guys played great, we didn't get the ball often enough to them, or in a good enough position many times."
And as usual, Phil was on the money. Bynum/Gasol went a combined 13-20. How a team can't ride that a bit is more than surprising. But LA went to the 3 again, something that they showed discipline in not doing in game 1... and a 5-22 debacle from the outer limits occurred. KG? "Gar" was a non-event yet again. Just not there, at all.
Let's be clear on that: Laker bigs > Boston bigs. It's not even a near thing.
I'm hoping that in game 3, someone uses that nugget of information.
Kobe had a bit of an off night by his recent lofty standards - and he'll be gutted on the 5 TOs on his ledger. Foul trouble limited his impact, and made it difficult for LA to really get on a roll. Ron Artest was particularly horrendous in shooting, 1-10 for a sum total of 6 points isn't going to keep that crowd yelling "SHOOT IT!", well... not in LA anyway. The bench crew, LO included, offered nothing. A almost-45-minutes from Farmar/Brown/Odom saw the returns of 12 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, and just as many TOs (3). Eww.
Team-wide, 15 turnovers doesn't really help much, huh... and when you marry that with a pitiful night on D, it's going to hurt.
And hurt it does.
Yes, Boston got the split that they desired.
Yes, it's a damn bitch to have lost the home court advantage.
And yes, it was a gut-punch to suffer that loss... but as a friend just texted me:
"if the Celtics need to break NBA records to win games, the Lakers are fine. Celtics at home aren't a guarantee!"
For what it's worth, he's an Orlando fan (and perhaps a lil' bitter)... but anyway: he's right. I like LA's chances of getting at least one, maybe two in the next three games.
Bring it on.
