The Lakers Make Ugly Beautiful In Game 1

Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals wasn't a beautiful game by any means. If watching Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley go at it in the 1993 NBA Finals was Halle Berry, the first game of the 2010 version of Lakers vs. Celtics was Clint Howard.

The referees determined from the start (maybe they had a summit like LeBron and Dwyane?) that they were going to call the game closely, and probably a bit too closely at that. From the first backslide takedown by Ron Artest on Paul Pierce that was whistled for a double technical foul, it felt like the referees wanted to make sure both teams knew that they weren't going to allow much of the rough stuff, or at least allow the teams to get away with it. And that was to Boston's detriment.

Going into this series, I thought the Celtics had to have a few things fall correctly for them if they were going to win. Firstly, Rajon Rondo had to play out of his mind. Rondo vs. Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar is the only place on the basketball court that the Celtics have a real, surefire advantage. In my opinion, Rondo can't just have solid games. They have to be dominating. Secondly, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett can't be as inconsistent as they have been so far in the playoffs. And the Celtics had to play a physical style to test Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom and try to take Ron Artest out of his game.

None of those things happened.

Rondo looked good early on, but he wasn't dominant in any way. He didn't shoot well, but more importantly, he didn't look like he wanted to take the game over like they needed him to. He made some quality passes, especially in transition, but Boston needed him to finish rather than hand off to a Kevin Garnett who had a hard time finishing or kick out to shooters who couldn't get their shot off freely because of the Lakers' defensive length.

While Pierce's numbers look decent (24 points and 9 rebounds), he wasn't effective. He missed all four of his three-point-shots and half of his points came at the free throw line, which is mostly because the referees called the game so closely. Ron Artest played him physically, frustrated him, and made him work hard on the other end as well. Pierce looked like a completely different player than the 2008 version who was the soul to Kevin Garnett's heart.

Garnett is an absolute shadow of himself. He showed energy early, but it wasn't enough. Pau Gasol blocked his patented turnaround jumper twice, and it seemed to deflate him. On one play in the fourth quarter that summed up his night, Rondo fed him what should've been an easy dunk, yet he didn't jump high enough and decided to lay it in and didn't even get it above the rim. And on the other side of the ball, Gasol had his way with him.

The Lakers were the more physical team in the end. Ray Allen was in foul trouble all night, and his replacement Tony Allen couldn't blink without getting whistled himself. But the Celtics can't solely blame the tempo of the game on the referees because it was called like that both ways. Boston was called for twenty eight fouls, while the Lakers had twenty six.

Within all that ugly, I thought the two Lakers' stars, Kobe and Paul, played beautifully. I found myself just watching Kobe, even when he didn't have the ball in his hands. Other than a couple games against Oklahoma City where he just seemed frustrated, this has been a terrific playoffs for him. He was able to get to the rim at will, slicing through the Celtics' defense. And no one even tried knocking him down.

After game one, I think anything having to do with Pau Gasol and the word soft should be disassociated. This was an opportunity for him to prove that the Gasol who was shoved around in 2008 is a different player and he did just that. Because of early foul trouble to both Andrew Bynam and Lamar Odom, Gasol ended up playing 47 out of the 48 minutes, scoring 23 points, gathering 14 rebounds, blocking 3 shots, and helped hold Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins to a combined 7 rebounds. He was the best big man on the court by far.

The Celtics are going to need to turn up the defensive intensity in game two and ask Rondo to come up huge. Or else, they're going to be in a big hole going back to Boston.

NBA All-Star Game ‘08: Where’s B-Diddy?

In the year after the Golden State Warriors shocked the basketball world and beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs, one would think that they would finally get their due, especially after winning 32 games in the first half of this year. But no. Not only do they have the third best record in all of basketball since getting Stephen Jackson back in the lineup, but they also have possibly the most exciting team in the league. They definitely have the most exciting back court duo. So when it’s Baron Davis’ turn to be on the All-Star team, he’s passed by. Maybe Baron will use the frustration to help him when the Warriors beat someone in the first round of the playoffs again. You know it’s happening.

Also, no Young Randall, no Eddy Zucko, no HJ, and no Luchadors. They were with me last year, but this year, it’s just little old me.

Predictions:

I think the West will win, Carmelo Anthony will win MVP, and Antawn Jamison will win the Tyrone Hill award for least minutes played in the game. Kobe could possibly win it, but I think he’ll play at least 10 minutes.

I’m not sure that the Western team’s b-boy pose after the introductions can be topped. The smile on Yao’s face was priceless. The NBA, where “what do I do with my arms?” happens.

And before we actually get to the game, we might as well show the best part of last night’s All-Star Saturday Night. Superman was in the house.

• Every All-Star game I’ve blogged, the West has won. So you can pretty much bet the house tonight on the West.
  
• I wonder if Jason Kidd will accidentally pass it to Dirk Nowitski, thinking that he’s supposed to be on the Mavs?
  
• The East scores the first six points and all on dunks. Let’s just say defense isn’t on the mind of the Western squad.
  
• Kobe only played the first three minutes and I’m not sure if he touched the ball.
  
• So far, the story of this game is that the West likes to settle for jumpers and the East likes to dunk. Guess who’s winning?
  
• Thanks to Melo and AI, the West is back in this thing.
  
• Rip Hamilton is so old school, he caught an alley-oop and instead of dunking it, he laid it in.
  
• TO is in the house, but I don’t see any tears. I guess no one made fun of Tony Romo.
  
• David West is in this game? Oh yah, he took B-Diddy’s spot.
  
• The youngsters Brandon Roy and Chris Paul are working it together. By the way, Roy and West are the two guys in this game I couldn’t pick out in a police lineup.
  
• There’s been a Chest Hair Boozer sighting. He just grabbed a rebound.
  
• The East just threw three alley-oops on one play. I think it was Joe Johnson to Jason Kidd to Lebron James to Dwight Howard.
  
• David Aldridge mentioned earlier that it looks like the Jason Kidd trade is on. All they have to do is convince Keith Van Horn to play again after not playing for over a year as he’s a part of the deal. While they’re at it, why don’t they get Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn to come out of retirement and trade them as well?

 

Bring This Guy Back So You Can Trade Him

• Rasheed just nailed a three pointer from the top of the key. No biggie right? But he shot it left handed.
  
• At the half, Lebron has the Magic Johnson All-Star game stat line with triple double definitely in sight.
  
• Looks like Kobe and his pinkie finger are done for the rest of the game.
  
• AI is trying his hardest to keep the West in this, but Lebron and company have other ideas.
  
• If Chest Hair Boozer would make his layups, this game might be closer.
  
• Has Byron Scott always had the porn stashe going? Dude needs to buy some little scissors to trim that dirty thing.

 

The Dirty Stashe

• Paul is bringing these guys back. Amare Stoudamire looks like the East Dwight Howard and Dirk is finally playing well. The West just took their first lead.
  
• Big Play Ray Allen is killing it and wearing the new Jordan’s at the same time.
  
• Brandon Roy is getting some definite crunch time play over AI, Melo, and Stevie Nash.
  
• Thanks to a Lebron dunk in traffic and a D-Wade layup where he hit the floor and got the foul (what’s new?), the East is back up by four with 30 seconds to go.
  
• Big Play Ray and LBJ put the game away, though the West made it fun in the end. Lebron is the MVP and he just missed a triple double. And my predictions were terrible.