Boston's Game Two Win Tells A Different Story

If you were a very casual basketball fan and didn't follow basketball all that closely, you'd have a few thoughts about Saturday's Boston Celtics victory over the LA Lakers in game two of the 2010 NBA Finals, and you'd be clear that it was how this series has, was, and will play out.

Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo are the big two for the Celtics

When the Celtics beat the Lakers in 2008, they had a big three. And there was an order to the big three. Kevin Garnett was the final piece of the puzzle, Paul Pierce was the longtime Celtic, and Ray Allen was the perimeter player who stretched the defense.

Back then, Rondo was still the young point guard who might've held them back. Today, Rondo runs their team like few point guards do. He's their best all around player and save for a lack of a real confident go-to jump shot, the weaknesses in his game are hard to find. He needs to have a hand in nearly every situation in order for Boston's offense to succeed, whether it's making the right pass, going to the hole, or pulling an offensive rebound. The day he has a bad game is the day Boston gets run off the court.

Ray Allen needs to be on the court or else the game slows down and the Lakers' length becomes too much for Boston. He stretches the defense because he's so hard to close out on when he's open. He has a quick release and is really good at recognizing when the defense is closing tight. Will he hit eight treys again in a game? No, but he remains the second most important offensive player for Boston in this series and his success is key to their success.

Pau Gasol is better than Kevin Garnett

While history will more than likely say otherwise, today, Gasol is head and shoulders above Garnett. He's simply the better player. He's always had the great offensive skills and now, he has a little bit of snarl in him. He won't play as overtly loud and angry as Garnett needs to because that's not him. But he's not backing down at all.

In the first two games, Gasol has averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds a game while Garnett averaged just 11 points and 4 rebounds a game. Celtics fans may argue that the referees haven't allowed Garnett to play his physical style and they might be right. But Garnett needs to adapt his style so that he's on the court more than 24 minutes like he was on game two. Gasol is having his way with him, but Garnett's the only defender in the front court who can match Gasol's length and who is savvy enough to make things harder for him.

Doc Rivers is Phil Jackson's coaching equal

This is never going to be true.

But game two was a good game for Doc. The Lakers were dominating the middle, but Doc allowed Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby to guard Andrew Bynum without much help. Bynum had a terrific game. But partly because of it, the Lakers' guard play wasn't as good as Boston's and that was the difference in the game. Kobe didn't have many open kick-outs and Fisher only shot 2 of 8. Kobe also looked frustrated at the way the refs were calling the game.

There might be a time in the series where Jordan Farmar has to play more in crunch time because he's one of the few guys on the Lakers who can get to the basket who is not Kobe Bryant. Fisher had a bad game, yet Jackson went to him in crunch time like he probably should've, but Farmar might need to play more down the stretch in close games, at least offensively.

And if Ron Artest is terrible offensively, Phil has to take him out on offense in crunch time right?

Jackson has used the postseason to call out players and officials, which is his own way of having fun with the earned perception that he's such a cerebral coach. But now that Boston has tied the series and can win it out on their home court, Phil is going to have to find the solution to his team's ills, rather than Steve Nash's and Kevin Durant's.

While game two didn't really tell the whole story of both teams, it did show that one game can tell a different story. Will the series play out like it did in game two? Probably not. But that different story might be closer to the real story than we thought could possibly be true after game one.

Game three should be the best game yet.