Kobe Comes Up Big In Game Five, But The Celtics Still Win

At the very end of my article after game four, I noted that Kobe Bryant had yet to have a great, dominant game.

I wrote:

To me, the big question is going to be about Kobe Bryant. When are we getting his best game? He's the best player in the series, yet I'm not so sure he's been the story of any game yet. I have a feeling he's going to become the story soon.

Well, he sure was the story of game five.

Bryant had a terrific scoring night and if degree of difficulty was involved, he'd have scored all 10s, even from the Russian judge. He scored 38 points while playing over 43 minutes and had that look in his eyes that you hadn't seen yet in the series.

But it was a one-man show. Only Pau Gasol scored in double figures alongside Bryant and no one other than Bryant had more than two assists. You could say that it was because he was the one taking all the shots, but he didn't really turn it up until the third quarter.

He was much more animated near the end of the game than he'd been in the other two loses and it looked like his disappointment had more to do with his team not being able to stop Boston defensively than anything else.

Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski started his column on Bryant with this paragraph:

On his way into the losing locker room, the most angry man in the Garden was heard to bellow a spontaneous stream of curses into the ears of his Los Angeles Lakers. As the door slammed behind them, a witness heard Kobe Bryant screaming that he needed some-bleeping-one to make a stand with him.

At the press conference, Kobe was much more calm and matter of fact. But based on his answer about what he'd tell his guys to be ready for game six, he still seethed.

“Just man up and play. What’s the big deal? If I have to say something to them, then we don’t deserve to be champions.”

It was an interesting bit of truth about how he felt about his team facing elimination. He could've given the normal cliched line, but he didn't. But it also wasn't a challenge. It was as if he wanted them to know that he was bringing his A game no matter what, and it was up to them to bring theirs. It wasn't up to him.

It was sort of anti-leader. Rather than say that he was going to carry his troops on his back if need be, he said that he wasn't going to say anything because if he had to, it meant they weren't champions anyway. At least that's how I interpreted it.

On the flipside, you had the Celtics with their fearsome foursome all scoring at least twelve points. After game two, it looked like Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen were the guys carrying the team, but now, after game five, it's back to Paul Piece and Kevin Garnett. Together, they had 45 points and played big in the end.

Can Kobe save the series for the Lakers? I wouldn't bet against him. But it very much seems he's not confident in his guys and after game five, he probably has a good reason not to be.

What game five showed is that Kobe can play at a tremendous level and still lose. If the Celtics get to play five on one in game six, you have to like their chances.

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.

Lakers vs. Celtics Game 6 - Live Play By Play

The Lakers and Celtics faced off for the NBA title 3 times in the decade of the 80s. In 1984, the Celtics beat the Lakers in 7 games, while in 1985 and 1987, the Lakers prevailed in 6.

More than 20 years later, they are back at it in a close series. And right now, the only thing that favors Boston is that they are playing at home. I think the teams are close to even right now, which seems dumb considering Boston has a one game lead in the series. But let’s remember that the Lakers blew a humongous lead in game 4.

Paul Pierce is playing better than anyone else on the court, and you can’t even say that anyone else is outplaying their expectations. He’s outplaying Kobe and I’m not sure it’s really that close. But everyone else is sleep walking. KG had a terrible game 5. Big Play Ray is on and off, though I think that if you’re Boston, you’re a little more comfortable watching him take a big shot than you are KG. And for the Lakers, other than Derek Fisher and Kobe, who else do you want to see shoot the ball? And wake me up when Sasha Vujacic and Vladimir Radmanovic figure out how to play team defense. They are scary bad.

However, I think we’re going to get a classic tonight. It’s do or die for the Lakers in Boston and they have to play their best game in order to win here. And for the Celtics, do you really want to face Kobe in a game 7, no matter how up and down his game is right now? Didn’t think so. The pressure is on both teams and I think we’ll get a great game tonight. On to the game ...

1st Quarter

- Remember what I said about Kobe? He hits a jumper the start the game with a man right in his face. 2-0 Lakers.

- Garnett treated the ball like a hot potato twice when he had an open jumper and the Celtics had to settle for a three from Rondo. I don’t think that’s the shot they wanted.

- Boston is shooting 2-10, but the game is tied at 10. Even though he’s being aggressive, Rondo is shooting 0-4 and he’s not really close with his shot.

- Kobe just hit his third 3, puffed out his cheeks, grabbed the crotch part of his shorts like he was Michael Jackson, and lifted his shorts to expose his compression shorts. A fist pump would do Kobe.

- Luke Walton is in the game and Bill seemed so proud of him on Sunday. “Every day is Father’s Day.” Nice guy that Bill is.

- KG is starting to catch fire. He’s looking to shoot now. He just hit a turnaround jumper completely in rhythm and has 8 points. Celtics up 20-18 with a few minutes left in the first.

- KG just told a story about how before the game, he eats many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then Van Gundy said that instead of the Big Ticket, they’re going to call him the Big Loaf. Wouldn’t the Big Peanut have been better, especially if you’ve seen his head?

 

The Big Peanut

- KG and Kobe are playing well offensively, but Pierce only has two points. Gasol and Odom aren’t even really all that noticeable on the court right now. At the end of one, Boston is up 24-20

2nd Quarter

- There’s been a Big Baby sighting. I was wondering what happened to the guy.

- Posey and Kobe are starting to go at it a bit. That’s the match-up to watch. Vujavic hit a jumper by the way. Better shooting than play defense, he always says.

- Referee Joey Crawford just tee’d up Doc for complaining about the way Kobe got through a screen by Eddie House. House ran right into him without stopping. He looked like he was run blocking for Emmitt Smith.

- Ray Allen was poked in the eye in the mid first quarter and had to go back to the locker room. He hasn’t come back out yet. Jesus Shuttlesworth would’ve played without an eye ball if he had to. Especially if it was a game of one on one with his dad.

- Pau Gasol hit a running baby hook to get the Lakers to within three. You don’t know how badly I want to type Paul Gasol every time.

- Big Game James Posey hits a three that you saw developing the entire time. KG and Pierce played catch while the double team came. Pierce swung to Eddie House, who drew a double team, and he dumped it to Posey in the corner. Beautiful basketball. House just hit a three as well. Boston is up 38-29.

 

- Kobe hasn’t done anything since the first quarter and he’s getting frustrated. He tried to go to the hole and went behind his back and Posey poked it away for the steal. Then Posey hit the three on the other end.

- I think Gasol just figured it out. “You mean to tell me that when I’m the tallest guy on the court, I should use my size and length when I post up? Are you sure about that?”

- KG chose the right game to start turning it up offensively. He already has 16 points before the half and Boston is now up by 21 points.

- Pierce has 9 assists by the way. MVP anyone?

3rd Quarter

- Kobe still can’t get untracked. He’s not forcing the action or even a bit upset. I’m a bit worried for him.

- Big Play Ray just hit a three to put the lead at 27 points. Yikes.

- Rondo just got his fifth steal and kicked it out to Allen for 3. These guys are on fire.

- Gasol got the ball deep in the post right under the rim. Did he

A) go right up with it since he was 3 feet away?

B) pump fake and get the foul?

C) dribble and let Kevin Garnett strong man him and tie him up for the jump ball?

If you answered C, you’ve been following this series.

- Boston is now up by 30 and the announcers are talking about Boston being able to celebrate on their own floor. There’s still three minutes left in the third quarter.

- Van Gundy just said that John Havlicek was the definition of regal and then complimented how good he looked. He ended it with a “my goodness!”

- At the end of the third quarter, Boston is up by 29. My goodness!

 

My Goodness!

4th Quarter

- There’s been a Trevor Ariza sighting.

- Ray just hit another three and has 19 three pointers in this series, setting a new record. Go Jesus. Go Jesus.

- He just abused Vujacic again. He went through a screen, Vujacic went down, he was open, and Odom didn’t come out in time to stop him. Another three for Jesus.

- Right as I was going to write something else, Ray hit another three. I give up.

- Up by 36 with over 6 minutes left, I wonder when the Lakers start to get mad and stop leaving guys open for three and start trying to rebound the basketball.

- Odom tries to take KG to the hole, KG holds him and swats the shot away. Odom goes down hard and is upset. KG sticks his tongue out and grins widely. Celtics up by a ton. KG laughing. Odom walks away. Sheesh.

- Exit KG, Pierce, and Jesus. Enter Leon “Jason Richardson/Morris Chestnut” Powe, Eddie House, and Tony Allen.

- Did Sam I Am even get on the court tonight?

- Big Baby took the ball from half court, dribbled down court, split two defenders, and dunked it. The Celtics are up by 43 by the way.

 

-  Don’t worry about Kobe. We can look back at this time and say, remember how MJ lost in the finals and was able to come back. Wait, we can’t say that. Let’s officially stop the MJ/Kobe comparisons. Please.

- KG just screamed “Anything’s possible!” I agree. Especially when Kevin McHale can trade Danny Ainge his best player as a friendly gesture.

- I guess Bill Russell doesn’t need to give KG one of his rings anymore.

- Paul Pierce is the MVP. Boston defeats LA 131-92.

- Before the playoffs started, I said Celtics over the Lakers in 7. Then the finals started and I said Lakers over Celtics in 7. I wish I had my DeLorean and could stick with my first pick. Like Ron Simmons says:

 

Lakers vs. Celtics Preview

I e-mailed some of my fellow basketball bloggers to get their predictions for the NBA Finals, which starts tonight.

If you remember, we did our predictions at the beginning of the playoffs and all did a great job predicting a very predictable finals. Only ShavedAsian didn’t pick a Lakers/Celtics finals. He thought that Richard Hamilton’s Face Mask and the Pistons would get to the finals instead of the Celtics.

There were three of us who picked the Lakers to win it all and two of us who chose the Celtics originally. Young Randall and I thought that at the beginning of the playoffs, the Celtics had the best chance to win it all. I think I’m going to change my vote. I tried getting Young Randall’s prediction earlier today but he’s in a cave somewhere and won’t return e-mails or text messages.

Here are the revised predictions:

 

Sit Your A** Down!

Though I didn’t get to see the game last night, I did get to see this video that is going around the web. In it, Paul Pierce wraps up Lebron James who is going for a lay up and Lebron’s mom gets very animated.

Look at what he says to moms.

Basketball Blog - Celtics vs. Hawks Game 7 - Anything Can Happen

I haven’t been able to pay close attention to this series, but I have paid enough attention to see that the underdog Atlanta Hawks, this year’s version of last year’s Golden State Warriors, are playing out of their minds, and the Boston Celtics are letting them. You’d think that the Celtics, the team with the best record in the league, a team that I picked to win it all, wouldn’t allow the upstart Hawks to set the tone and pace of the game and outwork them.

Kevin Garnett has a reputation of not being a big game player. He’s not the guy who takes the last shot to win the game. And after game six, he did nothing to shake that reputation. The defining moment of the game was on the last shot. Rajan Rondo was desperately trying to find someone to hit the open three to tie the game. It could’ve been KG’s Tim Duncan moment. But Rondo ended up taking a flailing three pointer that didn’t even graze the rim.

He is a great team player, but late in the game, team players can become invisible. At 7 feet tall, he’s not exactly the guy who can do what Lebron and Kobe can do at the end of the game. He’s not going to play isolation with the ball at the top of the key. But late in a game, Hakeem Olajuwon wasn’t going to continually pass the ball out. He was going to the bucket. Someone was going to get dream shook. This has to be KG’s moment. If he’s going to be able to stake his claim as one of the best players in the league, the Celtics have to win this game and he has to have a big one.

(I will update this post after every quarter.)

First Quarter

So far so good for the Celtics. They are contesting shots and the Hawks are shooting a terrible percentage in the first quarter. Paul Pierce is taking control offensively. KG only has 4 points, but he pulled 5 boards.

Second Quarter

Total domination for the Celtics in the second quarter. I believe Atlanta only scored 10 points in the quarter and have only 26 for the half. Joe Johnson has 12 of them. KG and Paul Pierce have 10 each and KG on 5-7 shooting. Celtics up 44-26 at the half.

Third Quarter

Scary moment early in the quarter. Rondo was going up for an uncontested lay-up and Marvin Williams basically clotheslined him. Flagrant foul. He’s out of the game.

I really had no clue that PJ Brown was still in the league. And give it up for Leon Powe. I’m glad to see that he’s been able to fit in with Boston. He had a superb career at Cal.

Maybe the most interesting part of the third quarter was a back and forth between the announcers. Mike Breen playfully called Marc Jackson, “Action Jackson”. Marc deadpans back, “Hey man, I’m a grown man, call me Marc.” Then Jeff Van Gundy says something about him asking Marc what his middle name was last week, and Marc said it was “Action”.

Celtics are killing them 79-43. Will Atlanta even get to 60?

Fourth Quarter

The Hawks did get over 60 points and Boston didn’t get to 100. But it was still much of the same. Boston wins 99-65 and now have to face Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. If Phoenix vs. San Antonio was a must see first round match-up, this is the must see second round match-up.

PS

I was probably watching the Giants game when this happened. Kind of a cheap shot there KG.