Hail To The Champ (News Roundup)

The last news roundup of the NBA Finals — reaction to the Lakers victory

ESPN

• Hollinger: Lakers are early favourite for 2009-10 Title
• Adande: Kobe and Phil
• Video
  • Can Lakers Repeat? — some analysis on the Lakers chances of winning next season
  • 2009 Finals In The Books — a brief look at each game
  • Bryant’s Road To Fourth Title

Game Five: Orlando vs Los Angeles

Game Five

The Lakers can finish the Magic off tonight, and win the 2008-09 NBA Title.

The Magic are fighting for their lives.

First Quarter

• Good job by Rashard Lewis, fronting or 3/4ering Gasol in the post, and deflecting the pass … turnover. Courtney Lee drills a jump shot on the other end.
• Three or four shot attempts at the rim there for LA, Bynum missing, Gasol finishing inside. Great effort from Bynum to keep that alive.
• Rashard Lewis bangs in a long jump shot

NBA Finals News Roundup — Part Four

Fisher’s Game Tying Three Pointer

NBA Finals Game Four: Orlando vs Los Angeles

Game Four

Lakers lead the series 2-1.

I’d absolutely love to see the Magic win this game and tie up the series. It would set up some much needed tension over the remainder of this series. So, I’m pulling hard for the Magic tonight.

First Quarter

Lakers lead 2-0 after 90 seconds

NBA Finals News Roundup — Part Three

ESPN

• Daily Dimes
  • June 8th — Game Recap for Game Two — click here
  • June 9th — Pre Game Three News — click here
  • June 10th — Game Three Post Game Coverage — Rafer redeems himself — click here
  • June 11th — Warm up for Game Four — click here

Some highlights from those articles

The Fatigue Factor For Kobe

NBA Finals Game Three: Orlando vs Los Angeles

Game Three

Am I the only one who thinks there is a lack of buzz about this game?

I like the Magic to rebound and win the game tonight. They’re due for a good shooting night.

First Quarter

• Dwight Howard wins the tip … He posts up on the left block, draws a double, kicks it out, Hedo gets a great look from downtown on the left wing, miss

NBA Finals Game Two: Los Angeles vs Orlando

Game Two

I think this game is a must win for the Orlando Magic. I cannot seeing them win four out of five games against the Lakers, which is something they’d have to do should they fall back 0-2 tonight.

First Quarter

• Excellent defensive rotations from the Los Angeles Lakers to take away Orlando’s three point shooting opportunities despite having numbers on the weak side of the court, forced Alston to put the ball on the floor and to take a tough runner over Gasol, miss.

NBA Finals News Roundup – Part Two

More updates as Day continues

Dwight Howard says Game One was a one-off

Magic center Dwight Howard isn’t overly concerned about his team’s disappointing performance in Game 1 against the Lakers.”Tonight was just an off night,” Howard told the Associated Press after the loss. “We’ve never had a shooting night this bad. Even when we’re not making shots, we got to give a better effort. It just wasn’t there. We just weren’t fighting.”

The Magic were just 23-for-77 from the field, including 8-for-23 from three-point range.

NBA Finals: SVG Thought Nelson Played Well

Stan Van Gundy thought Jameer Nelson played well in Game One

“[Nelson] played well in the second quarter,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said after the Lakers’ 100-75 victory. “I was happy. I thought he was getting in the paint on his pick and rolls. He had four assists. I thought he was making really good plays. And in the second half I didn’t think he was very good at all.”

Orlando starting point guard Rafer Alston had 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting and one assist in 25 minutes. Reserve point guard Anthony Johnson did not play.

NBA Finals Game One: Los Angeles vs Orlando

Game One

I’m giddy about these NBA Finals.  This should be a terrific matchup and a very exciting series.

First Quarter

Orlando lead 7-6 after the first two plus minutes.

• Gasol pulls down the defensive rebound after Rafer’s missed floater. Lakers come up court, quick post up for Kobe, he pressures Lee, turns middle, kickout, runs out the right wing, gets the ball back, drives hard down the baseline, draws a foul.

Jameer Nelson Update

Update Below — Nelson not playing tonight in Game One, unlikely to play in series.

Update: Nelson will dress tonight but is unlikely to play

Update — Nelson is playing in Game One! So much for the updates!

A couple of very good quotes in the Orlando Sentinel

Doctors told Nelson to expect a six-month recovery. So far it has been a little over three.

“I’m ahead of schedule, but that doesn’t mean that I want to play,” Nelson said Monday after a short film session with his teammates. “I’ll have to see how I feel tomorrow. I have to wake up every day and see how I feel.

“Every day I do my rehab and every day I feel a little better about myself and my strength and everything.

Finals Schedule

All times Eastern

• Game 1: Thursday, June 4; Orlando at Los Angeles; 9 p.m.; ABC
• Game 2: Sunday, June 7; Orlando at Los Angeles; 8 p.m.; ABC
• Game 3: Tuesday, June 9; Los Angeles at Orlando; 9 p.m.; ABC
• Game 4: Thursday, June 11; Los Angeles at Orlando; 9 p.m.; ABC
• Game 5 (if necessary): Sunday, June 14; Los Angeles at Orlando; 8 p.m.; ABC
• Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16; Orlando at Los Angeles; 9 p.m.; ABC
• Game 7 (if necessary): Thursday, June 18; Orlando at Los Angeles; 9 p.m.; ABC

NBA Finals Latest News + Articles Roundup

Sports Illustrated

• Ian Thomsen thinks that Dwight Howard could learn a thing or two from Kobe Bryant.
• The Jameer Nelson dilemma — disrupting chemistry?

Some interesting quotes from this next SI.com — “Lakers look to take advantage of homecourt”

On Dwight Howard

The Lakers’ immediate problem is how to contain Dwight Howard.

NBA Finals Preview: Los Angeles vs Orlando

Los Angeles Lakers vs Orland Magic

Regular Season Standings

• Los Angeles Lakers — 65 wins and 17 losses
• Orlando Magic — 59 wins and 23 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• Orlando won the season series 2-0

Jameer Nelson’s Status

Interesting report over at Yahoo Sports

Orlando is evaluating All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson for a possible return to the Magic lineup for the NBA finals that begin Thursday night in Los Angeles. Magic spokesman Joel Glass said on Sunday that Nelson’s rehabilitation from a shoulder injury is ahead of schedule but that his status remains uncertain.

Nelson has been out since early February with what had been called a season-ending shoulder tear.

Magic president Bob Vander Weide told The Orlando Sentinel after Saturday’s win against Cleveland that he wanted Nelson to take another MRI and consult with doctors for a possible comeback.

Andrew Bynum’s Playoffs

The Lakers have played three series so far — against Utah, Houston and Denver — How has Drew done against those teams?

	Utah	Houston	Denver
MPG	15.4	15.6	19.8
PPG	5.0	6.0	7.8
RPG	3.0	4.3	3.3
BPG	1.0	0.7	1.33
FG%	39.1%	58.1%	47.5%
Turnovers	1.8	0.43	0.67
Fouls	3.2	2.7	3.5

Bynum was a combined 22-34 from the FT line for 65% shooting from the stripe.

Not an impressive group of numbers from Bynum

Dwight Howard: Philadelphia vs Cleveland

Some interesting individual stats

• Against Phily, Dwight Howard scored 24ppg on 68.3% shooting
• Against Cleveland, through five games (ESPN hasn’t updated Dwight’s profile yet), Dwight scored 23ppg on 64.5% shooting.

Now for the interesting differences, Orlando’s overall officiency

Against Phily

• Game One — 110.1
• Game Two — 107.9
• Game Three — 104.4
• Game Four — 98.8
• Game Five — 107.1

So, Orlando’s offensive efficiency was a rough average of 105.7 per 100 possessions (not computed properly, just a rough average) in their series against Philadelphia.

Game Six: Orlando vs Cleveland

Game Six

Closeout game. The Magic lead the series 3-2 and are looking to finish the Cavs off tonight.

I’m pulling for Cleveland. I’d absolutely love to see this series go seven games, I think the seventh game would be a beautiful display of the mental strength both teams possess. Talk about a pressure cooker game, game seven, for the Magic. I’d love to see that.

First Quarter

Orlando lead 3-2 after two minutes after Ben Wallace misses a pair of FTS. Varejao has already picked up two fouls.

• Hedo on the drive and kick, off the high pick and roll, to Rafer in the left corner, Rafer drains it!
• James dribbling on the perimeter, pulls up, knocks it down
• Drive and kick to Lewis, top of the key, pump fake, drive, drive and kick to Lee in the left corner, extra pass, three second violation on Howard who was trying to get position for the rebound.

Game Six: Denver vs Los Angeles

Game Six

The Lakers lead the series 3-2 heading into tonight’s game. The Nuggets are just trying to stay alive.

I like the Lakers to finish off the Nuggets tonight. This series has already gone on too long.

First Quarter

• The Lakers win the tip. They got Kobe on the midpost on the right wing 16 feet from the rim, double teamed, he passes out, nothing on for LA. Their spacing there wasn’t up too much.
• Kobe Bryant tries to steal the outlet, Billups loose ball foul as he tried to keep the ball from Bryant.
• Gasol posts up on the left post, turnaround, hits it. Lakers lead 2-0 after a minute.

Game Five: Cleveland vs Orlando

Game Five

The Magic lead the matchup 3-1 and are looking to close out the series tonight. The game is in Cleveland.

I expect the Cavs to win this one. It’s hard to see LeBron not finding a way to pull this one out, and extend the series in the process of doing so.

First Quarter

I missed the first few minutes of this one. Cleveland lead 17-6 after four minutes, a fast offensive start from Cleveland.

• Ilgauksas knocks down a 21 footer off the pass.
• Turkoglu steps over the line on an inbounds pass, turnover. That’s gotta hurt.
• Mo Williams knocks down a triple over Rafer Alston — he’s 4-4 from the field, 3-3 from downtown, for 11 points already.

Cleveland lead 24-8 after a pair of Cavs FTs. We’re only five minutes into this game.

Game Five: Los Angeles vs Denver

Game Five

I didn’t watch this game, watched it on tape this morning. No game log for this one, just some thoughts on the game.

The Game

The first half was a close affair, with neither team truly able to pull away from one another.

Denver started out better, a timeout by Jackson seven minutes in calmed the Lakers down and suddenly they went on a 8-0 burst to take the lead back. Denver rallied and tied the game at 25-25 by the end one, with two huge Chris Andersen blocks denying Odom dunks and sparking fastbreaks going the other way.

The second quarter was even closer, with both teams trading baskets until the final minutes of the quarter and with neither able to create any separation. Finally, the Nuggets created a five point gap, but a strong Lakers finish punctuated by a Vujacic three pointer closed the gap and left the game tied at 56-56 entering halftime.

Pau Gasol Wants The Ball

Nice article from Ramona Shelburne.

Pau Gasol wants the damn ball already!

He has tried being polite. Tried to hint, to make his point with his play, to let the Lakers’ coaching staff correct what is so obviously wrong in games like Monday night’s 120-101 loss to the Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

But polite isn’t working. Actually, polite is hurting the team.

And so Pau Gasol finally dropped the nice act after Monday’s loss and said what has become clear as the crisp air in the Rocky Mountains.

Game Four: Orlando vs Cleveland

Game Four

Orlando leads the series 2-1.

This is a pivotal game for the Cavs tonight. They don’t want to be heading back to Cleveland down 3-1. If Orlando can pull out the win, it’s nigh on impossible to the see them losing this series.

I’m pulling for the Magic tonight. I’d love to see them make the Finals.

First Quarter

• Rafer Alston opens up the Magic’s account with a shot from downtown. great sign to see him hit an early jumper.
• Good screen and roll defense from Cleveland on the left wing, LeBron cut off the dribble penetration, sent him back to the perimeter, screen and roll, Z did a good job sending him back to the sideline, Rafer picked up his dribble, Z got back quickly, Varejao made it across to stop Dwight’s roll to the rim far away from the hoop.

Game Four: Denver vs Los Angeles

Game Four

Lakers lead the season series 2-1

Is tonight a must win for the Nuggets? I think so. I don’t see them coming back from a 3-1 deficit.

First Quarter

• Nuggets run upcourt off of Ariza’s two missed FTs, Melo jumps to the low post, inside to him on the right block, double comes, Kenyon trailing the play, nice pass to the cutter, two handed dunk. Great pass.
• Bynum scores inside after a nice lob pass to take advantage of the smaller Anthony who had switched onto Bynum
• Anthony dribble penetration, misses the runner, Nene takes the rebound and stuffs it home!

We’re not even four minutes into this game and the Nuggets are already a +5 on the backboards (7-2). If Denver can win the battle of the backboards, that’ll go a long way towards winning the game because they’ve been better than LA elsewhere for most of this series.

Game Three: Orlando vs Cleveland

Game Three

Orlando stole homecourt advantage by splitting the first two games in Cleveland. The series is tied 1-1.

First Quarter

• Dwight Howard gets the friendly bounce, three or four friendly bounces, on his first free throw attempt of the night. He misses the second. Orlando lead 1-0 after the first minute.
• Dwight Howard gets great position inside, middle of the paint, four feet from the rim, muscles up the short shot and hits it.

Cleveland have started in jittery fashion. They look nervous. LeBron might have to take over the scoring for a few minutes to let his teammates find their comfort zone.

Game Three: Los Angeles vs Denver

Game Three

The series switches to Denver with the matchup tied at one apiece.

Interesting article saying Bynum and Jackson aren’t speaking to one another right now — Bynum is unhappy at his lack of playing time, and Phil is unhappy at Bynum’s lack of rebounding + defense. Both have a point, but Phil is  a heck of a lot more correct than Bynum is.

First Quarter

Denver lead 7-4 after two and a half minutes.

• Kobe Bryant posts up on the left post, he backs down Jones easily, Jones tries to wrap him up before the shot attempt but to no avail. Kobe makes two at the line.
• Melo fouled on a jump shot, nice spin move to get away from Ariza, stupid contest from Ariza as he jumped wildly into Melo’s body. Second straight possession LA has fouled a jump shooter.

Game Two: Cleveland vs Orlando

Game Two

The Orlando Magic stole home court by winning game one. It’s important for Cleveland to find their footing tonight, and to get a win, otherwise I worry that things could steamroll badly for them.

First Quarter

• Cleveland win the tip but don’t get a bucket
• Lovely dribble penetration from Courtney Lee, who sliced inside into the paint from the left wing and then dumped it off to Dwight Howard for the easy dunk after Big Z came over to eliminate Lee’s layup attempt … But nobody told Delonte West, who scuppered down form the perimeter and swiped the ball away from Howard from behind as Howard went up to stuff it home.
• Great job by Lee to run 14 feet to contest a high lob pass from Ilgauskas, off an offensive rebound, out to Mo Williams 30 feet from the rim. Lee got a piece of it but the Magic couldn’t get control of the loose ball.

Game Two: Los Angeles vs Denver

Game Two

The Lakers won the first game of the series, hopefully they can win again tonight.

First Quarter

• No scores in the first minute after Fisher hoists a desperation three off the dribble over Kenyon Martin as the Lakers possession comes to a miserable end.
• Chauncey Billups dribbles upcourt and hits a 22 footer on the right wing
• Nice drive by Bryant along the baseline, threads the pass beautifully for Bynum for the dunk
• Ariza tries to create off the bounce, loses his dribble twice, the Lakers possession bottoms out again — Kobe goes one on one and forces a long jump shot to beat the shot clock, hits it.

Game One: Cleveland vs Orlando

Game One

Cleveland’s rust is a major factor to watch tonight. Hopefully they can give a good performance.

First Quarter

• Cleveland win the tip, Dwight roaming off of Varejao, Varejao cuts to the rim from the opposite side of the court, layup. Nice pass over the top by James.
• Lewis misses a quick three pointer from the left wing
• Beautiful pass once again to Varejao, he’s fouled on the reverse layup. Nice threaded pass along the baseline. Cleveland lead 4-0 after a minute.
• LeBron James is on Rafer Alston, and he’ll roam defensively, try to wreck some havoc defensively.

Playoff Previews: Cleveland vs Orlando

Regular Season Standings

• Cleveland Cavaliers — 66 wins and 16 losses
• Orlando Magic — 59 wins and 23 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• Orlando won the season series 2-1
  • The Magic won the first game comfortably. LeBron had a shocker (23 points on 27 shot attempts, and the Cavs were also without West and Ilgauskas.
  • Cleveland won the second game in impressive fashion, led by a superb LeBron James performance. The Magic got a very poor performance from Rashard Lewis, and a poor offensive performance from Dwight Howard on the night. Still, several of Orlando’s supporting cast stepped up and had big games, and in the end they only lost by four points.
  • The Magic routed the Cavs in early April, winning

Game One: Los Angeles vs Denver

Game One

I can’t even feign my interest in this series. Hopefully LA will win, and win quick.

First Quarter

I missed the first five minutes of the game, I got distracted by the lottery, by the way, Congratulations to the Clippers!

The Nuggets lead 16-6 after a Martin bucket

• Melo and Bryant trade jump shots. Anthony is 4-4 from the field for 9 points already.

Playoff Previews: Los Angeles vs Denver

Regular Season Standings

• Los Angeles Lakers — 65 wins and 17 wins
• Denver Nuggets — 54 wins and 28 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Lakers swept the season series 4-0 — none of the games were competitive. They were routs.
• The Lakers swept the Nuggets in the first round last season, but that was a hugely different Denver team so not much to draw from there.

Nuggets Outlook

Hollinger Made The Best Case

ESPN’s John Hollinger wrote the most convincing case for a strong Nuggets performance that I’ve seen so far

Game Seven: Boston vs Orlando

Game Seven

The series is obviously tied three apiece. The Celtics have homecourt tonight.

I think the Boston Celtics should be considered the favourites because of homecourt, their game seven experience, and superior mental qualities (toughness/poise/focus). The Orlando Magic are more than capable of winning this game though … so we should have a great game on our hands

I think the Magic could give the Cavs a better run for their money in the next round. I think we’d see a better Conference Finals if they won.

First Round

Orlando win the tip. Boston’s defense is aggressive on the first possession, they do a very good job making the entry pass into the post difficult, Howard finally gets it, misses a jump hook. On the other end, Orlando’s defense is softer

Game Seven: Los Angeles vs Houston

Game Seven

Obviously, the series is tied three apiece. The Lakers are at home tonight, and I expect them to win in a 20+ point blowout. I have to say though, I’m pulling for the Rockets to win, I’d love to see the Lakers complacency punished. The only way I see Houston winning is if they have one of those nights where they can’t miss a shot.

I had the start time wrong, so I missed the opening part of this game.

First Quarter

I missed the whole first quarter — Lakers lead 22-12

SVG Showed Dwight His Limitations On Tape

Bob Ryan reports

For those of you just returning from that vacation in the Seychelles, the young man caused quite a national flap following the losing Magic effort in Game 5, when he criticized coach Van Gundy for a.) not getting him more shots as the team was blowing a lead, and b.) making what Howard regarded as momentum-changing substitutions. The latter charge was far more incendiary than the former, but people became fixated on the touch thing when it was revealed he only had his hands on the rock three times in the final quarter.

Once Howard understood his limitations, he began focusing on his strengths and one of his great strengths is his strength, if you know what I mean.

So everyone wanted to see what would transpire last night.

Van Gundy had a big heart-to-heart with his franchise player

Game Six: Houston vs Los Angeles

Game Six

The Lakers lead the series 3-2 and I expect them to end the series tonight.

First Quarter

Houston jump out to an 8-1 lead after two shots, by Scola and Brooks, hit over the out-stretched hand of Bynum. Steal by Ron Artest, breakaway layup. The Rockets lead 10-1 after three and a half minutes.

• Battier blocks Bryant’s pull up J from 18 feet on the top of the key, turnover, but Brooks turns it over on the fastbreak.
• Bynum offensive rebound, misses the short 5 foot shot, rebound Gasol, miss. LA is 0-6 from the field.
• Aaron Brooks nails a step back 3

Game Five: Denver vs Dallas

Game Five

Denver lead the series 3-1 and I expect them to end the series here.

I watched this sporadically because it wasn’t up to much as a contest, and because the series was already decided. Ergo, only a few box score thoughts to follow.

The Game

The game wasn’t much of a contest. The Nuggets jumped out early and built a 32-21 lead late in the first quarter. They then held that double digit lead for most of the action until the four minute mark in the third period. From there, Denver made a nice 8-0 run to seemingly end the contest with a massive 93-76 lead.

The Mavericks, however, would mount a mini-comeback, led by Brandon Bass as Bass scored eight quick points between the end of the third and the first two minutes of the fourth.

Game Six: Orlando vs Boston

Game Six

The Celtics lead the series 3-2 and can finish the series tonight. I, however, like the Magic to prolong the matchup.

I expect the Magic to come out with passion and ferocity tonight. I’m looking for them to make a big run early in the first quarter, or perhaps in the second quarter, and build a nice advantage for themselves.

First Quarter

I missed the first 3 minutes, tied 6-6.

• JJ Redick remains in Orlando’s starting lineup — that’s disappointing. I would have liked to have seen Courtney Lee starting.
• Inbounds by Boston, 1 second on the shot clock, to Perkins, 16 foot jumper, he hits it!

Howard Criticizes Coach

ESPN reports

And as it turns out, the unsightly and uncomfortable fourth-quarter faltering paled in comparison to Magic star center Dwight Howard’s meltdown after the game.

Howard, Orlando’s franchise player, openly questioned head coach Stan Van Gundy’s refusal to get him more shots and wondered about some curious substitution patterns in Orlando’s crippling 92-88 loss to the Celtics Tuesday night.

“Offensively I have to get the ball,” Howard said candidly. “I don’t think you are going to win a lot of games when your post player only gets 10 shots. It’s tough to get yourself going and get a lot of touches without a lot of shots. We have to do a better job with that.”

Dwight Howard continues his moaning

“I’m not going to get up here and bash or say anything about what should happen, but I will say it’s tough to win when all season long you play inside-out and you trust one of the people who got you off to a good season,” Howard said. “I think I’m capable of scoring in the post, but I don’t think 10 shots is enough.

“You’ve got a dominant player, let him be dominant.”

Game Five: Los Angeles vs Houston

Game Five

This series is tied 2-2.

Lamar Odom was a doubt before the game. He will play but shall come off the bench. Bynum will start in his place, hopefully this will help him get off quickly, and allow Pau Gasol to start against Scola which may help him.

I like the Lakers to win tonight, and then win the next game to end this in six.

First Quarter

Hayes defends Pau Gasol on the first possession, so no change there. Scola is on Bynum, and Artest is now defending Ariza.

• Nice lob pass to Bynum, alley oop dunk!
• Nice baseline drive by Artest, evades Bynum with a nice shoulder fake, misses the layup, rebound and putback for Hayes

Game Five: Boston vs Orlando

Game Five

The series is tied 2-2.

I have to say, I’m hoping the Celtics win this game. I think their success and valour without Kevin Garnett is a great story, and I hope it gets a chance to continue. That said, I think the Orlando Magic are a favourite by a solid margin.

First Quarter

Redick continues in the starting lineup despite some reports that Courtney Lee may re-take his starting spot.

Brian Scalabrine missed shoot-around with flu like symptoms, but he’ll play tonight.

• Glen Davis knocks down a baseline 17 footer off the baseline inbounds pass — knocked loose after a Pierce drive, good to see Paul drive the ball on the first possession of the game.
• Dwight Howard tries to attack Perkins with his quickness, Perk pushes him wide, and Dwight misses the runner.

Monday’s Games

Game Four

I didn’t bother watching either game, because frankly, both series are already over.

• Atlanta Hawks vs Cleveland Cavaliers
• Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets

Prior to the games, I thought the Hawks chances of winning were somewhere south of two percent, and that the Mavs-Nuggets game was a 50-50 proposition … but was hoping for Denver to end the series because it’s gotten dull.

Some box score thoughts are ahead

Game Four: Houston vs Los Angeles

Game Four

I missed the first half of this one, but tuned in for the first 18 minutes of the second half as LA failed to make a run and in doing so failed to make this one a contest.

The Rockets went up double digits after five minutes and never looked back. They were up 18 points by halftime, and grew that lead to 27 points halfway through the third quarter behind a barrage of three pointers from Brooks and Battier. The rest of the game was garbage time.

What follows is mostly just thoughts on the box score:

Houston

• Aaron Brooks is a far more effective player when he’s allowed to dominate the ball. He likes to play, likes his coach to allow him to play, like a Chris Paul — a point guard who’s allowed pound the ball into the floor and make every decision for his team. We’ve known this about Brooks for a long time, and it’s part of what makes him a so-so fit as role player on a team contending for a title …. but it’s also what makes him terrifying as a team’s first option when those stars go down.

Yao Injured: Out For Season

ESPN reports

HOUSTON — Yao Ming will miss the rest of the playoffs because of a broken left foot.

The Houston center limped off the court late in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 108-94 victory over the Rockets on Friday night. Yao missed Saturday’s practice to get treatment and the team said the 7-foot-6 All-Star would be re-evaluated on Sunday.

But the Rockets announced later Saturday night that further examination of Yao’s injury revealed a hairline fracture. The Rockets say Yao will need 8-12 weeks to recover, though no surgery is required.

Saturday’s Games

I didn’t watch either game today:

• Dallas vs Denver — Game Three
• Atlanta vs Cleveland — Game Three

Prior to the games, I expected both Denver and Cleveland to run out to easy wins and take a 3-0 series lead in their matchups.

Box score punditry to follow

Hawks-Cavs

The Cavs won this game 97-82 behind a strong second half effort, with the game never really being in doubt.

Tayshaun Prince Last Three Elimination Series

This is an update to a previous post

So where do we stand now?

• 2008/09 — First Round against Cleveland — Tayshaun Prince averaged 3.3 points per game in 32.7 minutes a night against the Cavs, in a series were the Pistons were swept aside easily. Those 3.3 points came on almost 8 shots a game as Tayshaun shot a mere 25.9% from the field. Prince did not attempt a free throw in the series, and only averaged 3.5 rebounds a game, and had as many turnovers as assists.

Johnson + Howard Injuries

Josh Howard

The Star Telegram reports

Josh Howard’s left ankle, which will need surgery in the off-season, now qualifies as his good ankle.

The Mavericks’ small forward sat out of Thursday’s practice. He rode the stationary bike and received treatment on his right ankle, which he sprained in Game 1 against Denver.

“We’re hoping that he’ll be able to go Saturday,” coach Rick Carlisle said, “but I can’t give you a definite at this point.”

Game Two: Cleveland vs Atlanta

Game Two

Cleveland leads the series 1-0 and is looking to take care of homecourt tonight.

First Quarter

I missed the first six minutes of the game. The game is tied 12-12 midway through the quarter.

• Varejao on the offensive glass, and gets the putback. He has three baskets and a couple of offensive rebounds.
• LeBron James hits two FTs after drawing a foul on a driving layup in transition
• Great job by Varejao tracking on the pick and roll, Joe Johnson pulls out to 30 feet, still doesn’t have much of a pass on, and after the pass Zaza is forced to create and he makes a mess of it

Fisher + Rafer Suspended

The NBA has handed down their final verdicts on Kobe Bryant, Rafer Alston and Derek Fisher

Rafer Alston of the Orlando Magic and Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers have each been suspended one game without pay for their roles in separate incidents last night, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations Stu Jackson announced on Thursday.

Alston has been suspended for swinging and making contact with the head of Eddie House of the Boston Celtics with 48.6 seconds remaining in the third period of the Magic’s 112-94 loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals last night at TD Banknorth Garden.

Fisher has been suspended for striking Houston’s Luis Scola with his shoulder and head with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third period of the Lakers’ 111-98 win last night over the visiting Houston Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals at STAPLES Center. Fisher received a Flagrant Foul Penalty Two and was ejected from the game at the time of the play.

Game Two: Los Angeles vs Houston

Game Two

The Rockets won game one and lead the series 1-0.

First Quarter

The Rockets are 5-0 when leading after the first quarter, and 0-2 when trailing after the first quarter.

• The Lakers win the tip, good player movement to start of the game, hand off from Gasol to Fisher on perimeter, he drives right, pull up J from 18 feet at the top of the key, hits it
• Gasol drops a fadeaway over Yao off the left block, good D by Yao on the possession. Lakers lead 6-2 after 90 seconds.

Game Two: Boston vs Orlando

Game Two

Orlando won the first game of the series and lead 1-0.

First Quarter

Rondo flies to the rim and hits his second layup of the quarter (other was a layup off a backdoor cut). Pierce also knocked down a three, Rondo with the assist, to give Boston a 7-4 lead. Boston post up Perkins on the left block, he backs down Howard, right hand jump hook, hits it.

Pierce sits down with two fouls, only three and a half minutes into the game, and Stephon comes in to replace him. It’ll be very interesting to see how Boston defend Hedo, and how they manage their offense.

Bynum Admits He’s Not 100%

The Los Angeles Daily News reports

So Tuesday, after he made it onto the court for just more than 15 minutes in the Game 1 loss to Houston, Bynum acknowledged what has been obvious to anyone able to compare the before and after: his knee isn’t 100 percent yet.

“It’s just not ready,” he said. “I’m probably about 85-90 percent.”

Bynum said his knee doesn’t hurt or swell up, but he doesn’t feel the same explosion and strength as he did before the injury.And the way to address that?

“I just think it’s a timing thing; I just need more time to get it stronger,” he said.

Clifford Ray On Perk + Dwight

Good article in the Boston Globe with a few quotes from the teacher on his students, who are battling head-to-head in the Second Round of the Playoffs

The article starts off with some background on Howard and Perkins, how Dwight was #1 overall pick and how Perkins was on the bubble for the first round, yet how they share many similarities as brute force centers who arrived to the league directly out of high school.

Howard, of course, developed into the Defensive Player of the Year and a player the Magic could practically pencil in for a double-double. Perkins became an NBA champion and progressed into one of the league’s best interior defenders.

When asked about the potential he saw in the two, Ray said, “I saw what I’m seeing right now.”

None of this surprised Ray.

Courtney Lee Back For Game 3

There’s a good chance that Courtney Lee will be able to return in time for Game Three, according to Magic GM Otis Smith

Magic guard Courtney Lee, who had surgery last week to repair a fractured sinus, likely will be available for Friday’s Game 3 when the conference semifinals against the Celtics return to Orlando, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

Magic general manager Otis Smith made the assertion Monday as he discussed Lee’s development in his first year in the league. Lee will have to wear a protective mask when he returns.

Game Two: Denver vs Dallas

Game Two

Denver won the first game by 14 points.

First Quarter

• Nene misses a spectacular dunk to start of the game, it bounces high, about 25 feet in the air and out of bounds on the sideline. Nice pick and roll, and lovely bounce pass from Billups to Nene to set it up.
• Antoine Wright opens up the scoring with a three pointer
• Dirk Nowitzki posts up Kenyon Martin low on the right block, fakes middle, Kenyon moves that, spins baseline, lay in.

Game One: Cleveland vs Atlanta

Game One

First Quarter

What a start! James at the top of the key, passes it to Delonte on the left high post, Delonte hand off to James, who circles down the left wing and drives hard to the rim for the two handed dunk

• Good job by Josh Smith running the floor, he was about 15-20 feet ahead of Varejao by the time he hit the low post, good help D from Big Z makes him hesitate while Varejao gets back in position. Josh Smith goes up with it, rejected by Varejao, Smith gets it back, spins to the paint, up again and finishes this time.

Marvin Is Ready To Go

Yahoo Sports reports

Marvin Williams won’t start for the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Cleveland, but the fourth-year forward may get plenty of minutes.

Williams, who started two of the three games he played in Atlanta’s first-round series win over Miami, is likely to serve in a reserve role against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Woodson plans to keep Maurice Evans in the lineup, but said he prefers giving as many minutes as possible to Williams if the No. 2 overall draft pick of 2005 proves he won’t tire too easily.

“We struggled to score some (against Miami), and there was 14 points sitting on the sidelines,” Woodson said Monday. “He told me today after practice that he’s ready to go. We need him.”

Good news for the Atlanta Hawks — they need Marvin Williams to have a big series defensively against LeBron, to stand any hope of making a successful stand against the Cavs.

Playoff Previews: Cleveland vs Atlanta

Regular Season Standings

• Cleveland Cavaliers — 66 wins and 16 losses
• Atlanta Hawks — 47 wins and 35 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• Cleveland won the season series 3-1
• The Cavs won the first game in a blowout. Then lost a close game in the second contest, while playing without Ilgauskas. The third game went down to the wire with LeBron making some plays to pull out a one point win. The fourth game was a close contest that the Cavs won in the fourth quarter.

Hawks Outlook

Injuries

Marvin Williams — The Hawks desperately need a healthy Marvin Williams in this series. He needs to be able to give Atlanta 35 good minutes a night and take the task of defending LeBron James. He’s their best defender against James, and his loss would be a massive one.

Game One: Los Angeles vs Houston

Game One

First Quarter

• Kobe Bryant drops a 20 footer on the left wing over Battier to open the scoring for LA.
• Yao Ming with a nice jump hook to put Houston up 4-4. Andrew Bynum returns the favour on the other end, left post, spins middle, right hand jump hook and hits it.
• Yao Ming crosses the paint, posts up on the right block, face up jumper, misses. Andrew Bynum shows to the FT line, catch and shoot, misses.
• Artest drives baseline on Ariza, Pau Gasol helps down, Artest throws a nice pass back to Scola who’s just inside the FT line, he hits the short shot. Nice pass from Artest.
• Luis Scola posts up on the right block, turns baseline, jump hook off the glass, misses.

Game One: Boston vs Orlando

Game One

Courtney Lee is still out

First Quarter

• Dwight Howard wins the tip, nice screen and roll action near the top of the key with Hedo and Dwight, Shard joins the action, gets wide open, Hedo gives it to him and Lewis drains a triple
• Nice defensive rotation by Glen Davis to draw the charge on Howard
• Kendrick Perkins backs down Howard, turns middle, goes back to the baseline for a fadeaway, rejected by Howard. Perkins gets it back, continues to force it in the post, tries to back down Howard, loses his dribble and turns it over.
• Nice fake spin move by Perkins in the lane, turns back the other way and gets a good look on a jump hook, misses. Nice move though
• Howard tries to take a jump hook over Perk out of the right post, rejected by Perkins

Playoff Previews: Los Angeles vs Houston

Regular Season Standings

• Los Angeles Lakers — 65 wins and 17 losses
• Houston Rockets — 53 wins and 29 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Lakers won the season series four zip.
• The Lakers had one blowout, one comfortable win, and won two close games against the Rockets.

Rockets Outlook

In a word, bleak.

Playoff Previews: Boston vs Orlando

Regular Season Standings

• Boston Celtics — 62 wins and 20 losses
• Orlando Magic — 59 wins and 23 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• They split the season series 2-2
• The season series is fairly irrelevant because of the injury to KG. He played in the first two and Boston won them. He missed the final two, and Orlando won two very close contests — but Boston were also without other players in those games too, like Glen Davis, Scalabrine and I think Rondo missed one of those two games.
• Orlando won the season series 2-1 last year — although, they are irrelevant because of KG’s presence. They had a very impressive home win, where they built a large lead then faltered but recovered and won comfortably, and a win in Boston Garden on a Hedo Turkoglu buzzer beater. Their lone loss came in Boston, in a game where the C’s utterly demolished Orlando.

Game One: Denver vs Dallas

Game One

First half report only

First Quarter

Dirk Nowitzki scores the first two field goals of the game to put Dallas up 4-0 after two minutes. Dirk bags another bucket a minute later, as he drives off the right wing, into the middle of the paint and hit a fallaway from there.

Dampier falls over after collecting a defensive rebound — he’s not moving well at all, holding his hip too. Jogging gingerly. The Mavs gotta get him off the floor.

• Nene scores two layups — one on the break and one in the halfcourt

Timeout Dallas — they’re looking at Dampier now. Ryan Hollins checks in, big loss for the Mavs.

Game Seven: Atlanta vs Miami

Game Seven

Al Horford will play tonight, so Atlanta have a chance of winning this game, if he couldn’t go this series would be over before this game ever began.

Jermaine O’Neal will not play tonight. He isn’t much of a loss, although he has played two excellent games in this series and one solid game. Edit: Jermaine will play, he just didn’t start.

First Quarter

Atlanta lead 14-10 halfway through the first quarter

Udonis Haslem has 5 rebounds already, as he pulls down Horford’s missed turnaround J out of the low post. Haslem runs down a long offensive rebound on the other end of the floor, that’s 6.

Playoff Previews: Denver vs Dallas

Regular Season Standings

• Denver Nuggets -–  54 wins and 28 losses
• Dallas Mavericks — 50 wins and 32 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Nuggets swept the season series 4-0
  • First Game — Denver win 108-105. They get hammered on the glass in the first half. Both teams struggled with their shooting.
  • Second Game — Denver wins 98-88. They open up a huge lead in the first quarter and maintain it until halftime. After the half Dallas roars back but doesn’t have enough in the tank to see through their comeback attempt, and Denver slowly regain control and win comfortably enough.

Some Sixers News

Skipping Team Meetings

Sports Illustrated reports

Andre Miller and Theo Ratliff have skipped the final Philadelphia 76ers’ team meeting a day after they were eliminated from the playoffs.

Miller and Ratliff were both absent from Friday’s meeting. Neither player offered team president Ed Stefanski an excuse. Stefanski says he has not been in touch with either player. Miller and Ratliff are both unrestricted free agents.

Game Seven: Boston vs Chicago

Game Seven

Winner takes all tonight — series tied 3-3 — anything can happen in Game Seven!

Before the game, I listed a couple of numbers which show just how close this series has been. You can check that out here.

Boston should be considered the favourite. They have more high end talent.

First Quarter

Tuning in after four minutes — Chicago lead 13-11 after two Ray-Ray FTs

• Ben Gordon has gotten off to a hot start — 7 points — a long two just inside the three point line, a three and two FTs … make that 10 points as he hits more FTs
• Derrick Rose has the other 6 points — a runner, a 18 footer, and a short shot

How Tight The Bulls-Celtics Series Is

Excluding the blowout loss in Game Three, here are some stats from the series

• Lead Changes: 106
• Tied Scores: 65
• Total Points: Bulls 573, Celtics 572
• Total Rebounds: Bulls 234, Celtics 235
• Total Assists: Bulls 108, Celtics 114
• Total Steals: Bulls 32, Celtics 38
• Total Blocks: Bulls 40, Celtics 38
• Total Turnovers: Bulls 72, Celtics 66

That’s incredible!

Those five games have been decided by a total of 11 points — none by more than 3 points, two by 3 points, two by 2 points, and one by 1 points.

Game Six: Miami vs Atlanta

Game Six

Horford will not play tonight. [edit: Second Quarter, Horford is actually on the bench and has dressed for the game, but is not expected to play.]

Marvin Williams is dressed for the game, but I read that he’s not playing again tonight. Maybe he’ll play if Atlanta become desperate? Odd that he dressed despite reports saying he wouldn’t play. Mo Evans continues to start at small forward.

Miami should be considered the favourite because of Atlanta’s two large losses.

• Hang on, Jermaine O’Neal is not playing either, he has a problem with his left elbow and Joel Anthony will start in his place.
• Miami should still be considered the favourite, O’Neal isn’t as large of a loss as Al Horford is.

First Quarter

A fast scoring start — Atlanta ahead 8-7 after three minutes.

Rondo Not Suspended

ESPN reports

NEW YORK — The NBA has decided not to take any additional action against Rajon Rondo for his skirmish with Kirk Hinrich in Game 6.

The league said Friday the first-quarter play would stand as a flagrant foul against Rondo. It could have upgraded the foul or even suspended the Celtics’ point guard for Game 7 of the series Saturday.

Chicago was leading 34-25 Thursday when Derrick Rose rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Boston’s Stephon Marbury with 30 seconds left. That’s when Rondo shoved Hinrich into the scorer’s table. Hinrich pushed him back and Rondo then threw an elbow that missed.

Wow …. I am absolutely shocked that the league didn’t suspend Rondo.

Game Six: Philadelphia vs Orlando

Game Six

Orlando will be without the suspended Dwight Howard, and the injured Courtney Lee, tonight. In their place, Marcin Gortat and JJ Redick will start. I would have preferred to have seen Mickael Pietrus start.

The Magic lead the series 3-2 and close out the series tonight. I like Phily to hold firm and send this series back to Orlando — mainly due to Hedo Turkoglu’s struggles, if Hedo can have a good game in Howard’s absence then the Magic stand a good chance of winning.

I didn’t watch this game so the following is just a box score summary

Box Score Thoughts

Orlando won the game in a blowout, winning 114-89, a 25 point win.

Game Six: Houston vs Portland

Game Six

Houston lead the series 3-2 and are looking to end the series tonight — which they should do

Von Wafer reportedly was not going to play, but it looks like he’ll be suiting up.

Tuning into the Rockets-Blazers game late because of the triple overtime Bulls-Celtics game. We are four minutes into the third quarter, with Houston leading 58-43.

Third Quarter

Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge have 32 of Portland’s 44 points. Make that 34 of their 46 points as Roy makes two FTs at the line.

Ron Artest has 21 points for Houston. A balanced scoring effort by his lead.
Artest drives baseline, gets a step on his man easily, to the rim, layup.

Game Six: Chicago vs Boston

Game Six

Boston leads the series 3-2 and I like their chances to end the series tonight.

First Quarter

A John Salmons three pointer from the left wing puts Chicago ahead 3-2. Lovely block by Ty Thomas on Pierce’s layup attempt off some good dribble penetration from Paul, the Bulls miss a short shot by Noah on the other end.

Ah no, Perkins picks up a stupid foul off the ball 80 feet from the rim, while walking back down court. The Celtics can’t win this game without Perkins on the floor for big minutes, and playing well. Perk can’t afford to pick up stupid fouls like that.

Game Five: Denver vs New Orleans

Game Five

The Nuggets lead the series 3-1 and are trying to close out the series tonight. I think the Nuggets will win this one.

Tyson Chandler will not play tonight. Hilton Armstrong starts in his place.

First Quarter

Tuning in after the first seven minutes of the quarter. Denver is leading 12-11, make that 14-11 after Nene drops two FTs out of the timeout.

Rasual Butler is bringing the ball upcourt against Billups, it takes him 14 seconds to get rid of the ball and that was a sideways pass to Paul 25 feet from the rim. Good pressure defense from Billups there. Butler runs down to the baseline, curls off screen, catch and shoot, good plus a foul on Chauncey. The possession worked out well for the Hornets but that looks like a problem waiting to happen.

Game Five: Atlanta vs Miami

Game Five

The series is tied 2-2. I like Atlanta’s chances at taking the lead in the series tonight.

Marvin Williams will not play.

First Quarter

Miami are leading 8-6 after a few minutes. We’ve seen a powerful dunk from Josh Smith and some nice play from Jermaine O’Neal.

Odd stat — Wade has 32 three pointers versus 23 free throw attempts in the series.

Good defense by James Jones, great contest on JJ’s fadeaway J from 22 feet in the right corner. Jones’ length is going to bother that shot, JJ has to put the ball on the floor and take Jones off the bounce.

Dwight Howard Suspended For Game Six

ESPN reports

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has been suspended for one game without pay for Tuesday’s first-quarter elbow to the head of Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert.

The NBA announced the suspension Wednesday afternoon.

The league announcement stated that Howard will serve his suspension Thursday night in Game 6 at Philadelphia. The Magic lead the series three games to two after their 91-78 win.

Video replays clearly showed Howard swiping at Dalembert’s head.

Marvin Williams Uncertain For Game Five

The Atlanta Constitution reports

If the Hawks are going to dig their way out of their first-round playoff series against Miami by Wednesday’s Game 5, they might have to do it without any help from Marvin Williams.

The starting small forward missed his second straight game with a sprained right wrist Monday night when he sat out Game 4 at American Airlines Arena.

Bynum May Rejoin Starting Lineup

The LA Times reports

Lakers coach Phil Jackson still isn’t happy with the play of Andrew Bynum, but hinted that the young center could return to the starting lineup in the second round.

Jackson took Bynum out of the starting lineup in favor of Lamar Odom midway through the team’s first-round series against the Jazz.

“I just didn’t think he got comfortable playing tonight,” Jackson said, reflecting on Bynum’s play Monday night. “He can certainly give us minutes against [Houston or Portland]. I would put him right back in the start of the game.”

Moon To Have Surgery

RealGM has the press release

The Miami Heat announced Tuesday that forward Jamario Moon will undergo surgery to repair a sports hernia on Thursday, April 30.

The procedure will be performed by Dr. David Edelman at Baptist Doctors Hospital in Miami. Moon will rest for a period of two weeks and then be re-evaluated.

That’s terrible news for Miami.

Tuesday’s Games

There were four games:

• Boston vs Chicago – click here
• Orlando vs Philadelphia
• San Antonio vs Dallas
• Portland vs Houston – click here

I wrote a game time post for two of those games, albeit only the fourth quarter for the Blazers game, and have posted a link to those posts above. The other two games will get some box score punditry here.

Game Five: Portland vs Houston

Game Five

Houston leads the series 3-1 and can end the battle tonight. Portland are playing for their playoff lives.

I only tuned in for the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter

64-62 Portland lead

Nice steal from Houston, well done Lowry. Portland foul on the break. Inbounds, ball swung to Von Wafer, he drives to the rim and finishes with the layup. Tie game. Two possessions later, Yao draws the fourth foul on Oden. After the inbounds, Yao delivers a face up jumper over Oden from 15 feet right wing. Chuck Hayes checks in for Yao, to give him a break.

Aldridge has been the best scorer for Portland. He is 11-18 from the field for 25 points. He has only 2 rebounds, and 2 assists, though.

Game Five: Boston vs Chicago

Game Five

The series is tied at 2-2 and the team that wins tonight will gain a firm grasp on the series. I expect the Celtics to be that team.

Despite some speculation to the contrary, Ben Gordon will play tonight.

First Quarter

Paul Pierce knocks down his second shot of the night, a nice little step back shot off the drive from the FT line over Salmons. Pierce looks in good form tonight, which is great news for Boston.

Ben Gordon drills a three pointer from the top of the key over Glen Davis, a switch off the pick and roll, to beat the shot clock. On the next possession, Rose does a lovely job to find Noah inside for the lay in. The score is 9-8 Boston after five minutes.

Ben Gordon Uncertain Tonight

The Boston Globe reports

Although Bulls guard Ben Gordon is listed as day-to-day after an MRI confirmed he has a strained left hamstring, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said at this morning’s shootaround that he is preparing as if the former Connecticut star is playing tonight in Game 5.

Gordon, however, did not sound so certain. The Bulls’ sharpshooter took a pain-killing shot on Sunday, had swelling on Monday and said today that he is not moving well. He didn’t participate in the Bulls’ shootaround at Emerson College this morning.

McDyess To Leave Detroit?

The Detroit free press reports

If it was his last game as a Piston, Antonio McDyess went out with guns blazing.

With his team falling further and further behind, he kept hitting shots and grabbing rebounds.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished their first-round sweep of the Pistons, 99-78, Sunday at the Palace, but McDyess left it all on the court as he tied a career playoff high with 26 points.

He added 10 rebounds, another part of the highlight tape teams around the league will watch when they decide whether to make a pitch for the unrestricted free agent.

Game Five: Los Angeles vs Utah

Game Five

The Lakers can close out the series tonight. It would be an impressive achievement to beat this Utah team in just five games.

First Quarter

It’s tied 4-4 after two minutes.

Okur with a nice drive and dish to Boozer for the lay in. Tied at six.

Both teams going through the motions right now, neither side is trying to grab hold of this game. It’s 8-6 LA after five minutes in a low energy, low urgency start.

Game Four: New Orleans vs Denver

Game Four

The Nuggets will look to take control of the series tonight, and they’re a good bet to do so.

I watched the Hawks-Heat game instead, so this will just be a box score report … and it’ll be even shorter than that, because of how this game turned out.

Thoughts On Game

The Nuggets repeated (Game Three) their superb opening performance to the game by opening up a 36-15 lead after the first quarter. Their lead was never threatened, and the game was effectively over at this point.

The Nuggets and Hornets played each other even in the second quarter, but the Nuggets destroyed the Hornets once again in the third quarter.  They won that quarter 27-11 and built their lead to 38 points entering the final quarter.

From there, the Hornets completely folded.

Game Four: Miami vs Atlanta

Game Four

Jamario Moon is questionable tonight and Marvin Williams will continue to sit out injured.

Update — Jamario Moon is out — big loss for Miami, only wing in the rotation outside of Wade who rebounds the ball well.

First Quarter

Monstrous dunk from Al Horford over Jermaine O’Neal — Atlanta ahead 6-1 to start of the game.

Al Horford is really going after that Jermaine O’Neal turnaround. I’m not sure it’s worth the risk of picking up a foul there. Jermaine shoots what? 30-40% on that shot? That’s a shot you’re happy that Miami takes as long as it’s contested. I don’t think Horford has to go all out for the block and give up a ticky tack foul like he just did.

The whole Hawks bench gets up and cheers after Josh Smith puts it on the floor and drives to the rim. That sentence says so many things about Josh Smith ….

Sunday’s Games

I didn’t get to watch much basketball yesterday, and caught glimpses of a couple of games, so I pretty much missed the following games

• Boston Celtics vs Chicago Bulls — Game Four
• Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons — Game Four
• Orlando Magic vs Philadelphia 76ers — Game Four
• Houston Rockets vs Portland Trailblazers — Game Four

Okay, so I’ll supply some short box score notes on each of the games

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons

This game was over before it began, after the way Cleveland demolished Detroit in the first two games and embarrassed Detroit in game three, you just knew the Pistons stood no chance in hell of winning this one.

Drew Bynum To The Bench

LA Times reports

The Lakers could move Andrew Bynum to the bench because of recent struggles, a change that would shift Pau Gasol to center and put Lamar Odom in the starting lineup.

“We’d like him to play [better],” Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said of Bynum. “We’ll see what will happen.”

Game Three: New Orleans vs Denver

Game Three

Unfortunately, I had the start time of this one wrong and missed the first half.

This has been a slaughter so far, with Denver leading 2-0.

Can Chauncey Billups keep up his sterling play? Can New Orleans get enough out West + Chandler to come back in the series?

First Half

Some box score notes — the Hornets lead 50-47

Game Three: Houston vs Portland

Game Three

The series is tied at one apiece — I didn’t watch the first half, but tuned in for the second half.

First Quarter

Some stats with 1:30 to go in the first quarter:

• Houston leads 15-8 on the scoreboard
• The Rockets are ahead 12-7 on the backboards
• The Blazers are 4-16 from the field. Nobody has more than one field goal.

Game Three: Philadelphia vs Orlando

Game Three

The series is tied one apiece.

I watched the first quarter, but didn’t write down any notes, and turned off until late in the third quarter — so the game time report will start there.

First Half

The Philadelphia 76ers gradually build an 11 point lead, winning the first quarter by 6 points and the second quarter by 5 points.

Third Quarter

Game Three: Detroit vs Cleveland

Game Three

Cleveland should build an unassailable lead tonight by going ahead 3-0 in the series.

First Quarter

The Detroit Pistons start off in better fashion, opening up with an 8-0 run keyed by two long Tayshaun Prince jump shots on the left wing. He has 5 of the 8 points.

• Big Z at the top of the key, a little off to the left, behind the three point line, Bron is on the right wing and cuts hard to the rim, nice bounce pass from Z to Bron, slam dunk. That ends the Pistons run.
• Next possession, Cleveland run a 1-3 screen and roll and force the switch, Stuckey is on James, LeBron takes him down into the low post, left block, and makes the catch, backs him down, turns and muscles up a short shot over the youngster.
• Oh beautiful move from Stuckey … Stuckey dribbling up the floor high out on the right wing, he drives hard to his left, his the free throw line, lovely spin move to the lose the defender and he hits the pretty layup. Brilliant spin move.

Game Time: Wednesday’s Games

I didn’t have the time to watch any of these three games, but I’ll offer some box score punditry on them:

• Game Two — Atlanta vs Miami
• Game Two — Orlando vs Philadelphia
• Game Two — Denver vs New Orleans

Atlanta vs Miami

The first strory for Miami happened on the backboards

• They won the overall battle 40-33
• Who was mainly responsibly?
  • Jamario Moon had an excellent performance on the boards, pulling down 8 rebounds in just 28 minutes
  • Michael Beasley yanked down 7 boards in 21 minutes
  • Udonis Haslem had 7 boards in 26 minutes

Game Three: Dallas vs San Antonio

Game Three

I watched the Bulls-Celtics and Jazz-Lakers game, so I only caught a small part of this game (during halftime of Chicago’s game). I’ll offer my thoughts on that, and some box score punditry on the rest.

Second Quarter

Dallas are leading the game 34-25 five minutes into the second quarter.

A couple of superb defensive plays sparks a 10-0 Dallas run

• Tony Parker was out on the right wing, drove hard at Jason Kidd, Kidd anticipated the angle, beat Parker to the spot, and forced Parker into losing his footing, and earned a traveling violation against the Spurs guard.
• Brandon Bass with a picture perfect steal out on the right wing, a lazy pass from Kurt Thomas, breakaway dunk for Bass!
• Kurt Thomas squirms around in the paint and his shot rejected back out, fastbreak again.

Game Three: Chicago vs Boston

Game Three

First Quarter

The Celtics have jumped out of the gates and built up a 17-10 lead after just five minutes of action. Their early dominance has quieted the Bulls’ home crowd. That draws a timeout of Chicago.

Out of the timeout, Paul Pierce decides it’s time to exert his dominance. He hits back to back jumpers, including one lovely 17 footer on the left wing where he used a beautiful headfake to lose John Salmons, to put Boston ahead 21-12. Pierce is 5-5 from the floor. On the next possession, Pierce gets the ball out on the wing, dribble drive to the FT line, draws the defense, he takes the 16 foot fallaway J, hits it.

Boston is now ahead 23-14 and 16 of their 23 points have come in the paint.

Game Two: Los Angeles vs Utah

Game Two

I was watching the Blazers-Rockets game so I missed the first three and a bit quarters of this one.

Fourth Quarter

Lakers lead 99-86

• Kirilenko taps home Boozer’s miss. Only the fourth offensive rebound for Utah tonight. The Lakers focus must be good tonight. They had 20 offensive rebounds in game one.
• Bynum gets great position deep in the paint on a fastbreak, but Millsap rips the ball away from him. Fastbreak Utah, Deron Williams nestles in a long J on the other end.

Bynum misses two FTs on the next possession. He hasn’t scored since the first quarter, he has 10 points.

Game Two: Portland vs Houston

Game Two

First Round

• Artest goes down onto the block, right post, posts up the rookie Batum, turns and shoots, rejected by Batum. Nice defense.
• Yao posts up on the left block, kickout, Artest hits the long two
• Steve Blake calls for a screen up near the top of the key, he drives hard to the right, into the paint, layup
• LaMarcus Aldridge misses a 20 footer from the top of the key
• Brooks comes off a screen and roll on the right wing, dribbles towards the middle, 18 footer, bagged over Blake’s contest
• Drive and kick to set up Batum’s triple which he makes

Great double team from Aldridge on Artest in the post — Artest was posting up down on the left post, Aldridge came across, made himself big, Artest couldn’t pass, shot clock winding down, forced Artest to go baseline, four dribbles, kickout, shot clock expire

Game Two: Cleveland vs Detroit

Game Two — Cavs Lead Series 1-0

First Quarter

Ugly turnover from Rip Hamilton early in the game. He posts up West down on the left block, double comes, he scampers back out, throws a pass out to the right wing about 7 foot away from Stuckey at the top of the key and another Piston in the right corner. Out of bounds. Ugly turnover.

• Mo Williams runs a screen and roll with Big Z on the left wing, Williams dribbles towards the middle, bounce pass back to Z who popped out, jumper on the way, good.
• Another turnover for Detroit, fastbreak Cleveland, LeBron sprints right to the rim and stops two feet from the rim,  gets the pass, muscles it up over Prince easily.

Game One: Denver vs New Orleans

Game One

First Quarter

Interesting start matchups wise. Neither Billups or Paul, are defending one another. Billups is defending Rasual Butler, while Paul is defending Dahntay Jones.

• Kenyon Martin kicks the game off with a thunderous dunk
• Carmelo Anthony drives to the rim, gets caught in the air, kicks it out, picked off by Chris Paul, Paul runs the break slowly, allows his wings to catch up with him, sees Peja Stojakovic and decides to use the opportunity to get him a bucket, layup.
• Chris Paul probes off the dribble, he dribbles all around the world, down the left wing, down the baseline, out on the right side, and he bangs in the 16 footer.
• Dahntay Jones posts up Paul on the left midpost, David West traps the ball and deflects the pass, turnover. Great D by West.

Leon Powe Injury

Second update below, terrible news

The Boston Globe offers us an update on the situation

Leon Powe sprained his left knee during the first half of Monday night’s win over the Chicago Bulls and did not return. Powe received an MRI on his knee during the game and is questionable for the rest of the series.

Terrible news for Boston

This series may have just evened up talent wise. No seriously, Leon Powe is that important to Boston. They’re already without Kevin Garnett, and now they lose Powe, and they’re still without Brian Scalabrine.

• That leaves only two useful big men in Perkins and Davis, and Davis is a poor rebounder. These guys will have to give 40 minutes and when they do that, the results have been inconsistent, they’re still not used to logging that type of time.

Game Two: San Antonio vs Dallas

Game Two — Dallas Leads Series 1-0

First Quarter

The Spurs have jumped out to an 8-1 lead as Tim Duncan completes the three point play. Parker and Duncan have combined for all of San Antonio’s points.

• Dirk Nowitzki nesltes in the baseline jumper. Next defensive possession, nice steal from Dirk out of the corner, he dribbles the ball up court, across to Howard, Howard decides to go one-on-one, he’s on the right hand side of the lane, he takes the pull up J as the defensive collapses, he changes his mind at the final moment and finds a cutting Dampire for the easy dunk. Great pass.
• Duncan posts up inside, loses it, Josh Howard on the steal, he flies up court, great transition defense from San Antonio, they close off the paint, Howard settles for the pull up J in transition, miss.

Game Two: Boston vs Chicago

Game Two — Chicago Lead Series 1-0 Over Boston

First Quarter

Tuning in late here. The first seven minutes have passed by and Boston are leading 24-17.

• Boston go to their favoured 3-1 screen and roll, they force Hinrich to switch onto Pierce, Paul knocks the jumper down.
• Ben Gordon runs off a screen, catch and shoot from 17 feet top of the key, good.
• Leon Powe posts up on the left block against Brad Miller, strong move to his right towards the middle of the paint, blows by Miller, finishes strongly. Good move.
• The Bulls knock down their fifth straight shot behind a Hinrich jumper. They’re heating up after a dodgy start (according to announcers).

Game One: Atlanta vs Miami

Game One

I missed the first quarter, so we’re tuning in at the start of the second quarter here.

Atlanta is leading the game 24-21

• The Hawks have gotten balanced scoring with three players getting between 6-7 points, and two others giving 3-4 points.
• The Heat have been led by Wade who has 11 of the team’s 21 points. Two other Heat players have 9 of the other 10 (Jones/Chalmers).
• Beasley has ripped down five boards already. Well done.
• A couple of nice dunks from Wade on that highlights tape

Second Quarter

• Zaza Pachulia has the ball at the top of the key, passes to his left, to Mo Evans, sets a screen for Mo, Mo dribbles in and takes the 18 footer. Nice bucket.

Chandler 70-75% Healthy

The Denver Post reports

New Orleans center Tyson Chandler is going to play in this series, but he says he’ll be only “70-75″ percent of himself throughout the series due to a persistent ankle injury.

“It’s getting a little better day-by-day,” Chandler said after Saturday’s practice at the Pepsi Center.

Game One: Orlando vs Philadelphia

Game One

First Quarter

Rafer Alston opens the scoring with a three pointer out of the right corner. The Orlando Magic are starting strong, out to a 7-2 lead after two minutes, after Dwight Howard’s bucket.

• Howard went down into the left post against Dalembert, muscled him out of the way, went middle and hit a nice little jump hook.

Philadelphia come roaring back into the game. They’re starting to get their running game going after those quick 6 points from Thaddeus Young (two and ones). The second one came after a hard push from Andre Iguodala, who entered the middle of the paint, then found Young to his left for the layup and the foul. Phily also hit a pair of jumpers during their run. The Sixers are now ahead 14-11.

• Halfway mark in the quarter — Phily lead 16-11

Tayshaun Prince = Vanishing Act?

Tayshaun Prince is coming off a fairly awful performance last night against the Cavs:

• Prince finished with only four points. He shot 2-7 from the field.
• Tayshaun provided no help on the backboards, only one rebound. He also had low assist numbers with just two.
• Then add in his difficulty to slow down LeBron, who obliterated Prince whenever the two where matched up.

What was my first reaction? Well it seemed all too familiar, and highly concerning.

Game One: Los Angeles vs Utah

Game One

First Quarter

I missed the first five minutes of the game here. There is no Okur tonight folks, so Utah are in major trouble here.

The Lakers have jumped out to a 17-10 lead. Derek Fisher picked up two early fouls and was replaced by Shannon Brown, who did a wonderful job.

• Kobe Bryant posts up down on the right block, the help defense comes down, Kobe turns for the fadeaway but changes his mind in mid-air and flings it out to Shannon Brown who is spotting up for a three pointer on the left wing. Brown knocks it down.
• Shannon Brown orchestrating the fastbreak, lovely pass to Pau Gasol for a dunk. That brings a timeout from Utah’s Jerry Sloan and puts the Lakers up 17-10.

Playoff Previews: Denver vs New Orleans

Post is still a work in progress, but I wanted the conclusion section up before the first game of the series was played.

Regular Season Standings

• Denver Nuggets — 54 wins and 28 losses
• New Orleans Hornets — 49 wins and 33 losses.

Regular Season Matchups

• They split the season series 2-2
• The two teams played two close games with one side winning by four points, and the other by five points.
• The two other games where decided by 13 points apiece.

Playoff Previews: Atlanta vs Miami

Regular Season Standings

• Atlanta Hawks — 47 wins and 35 losses
• Miami Heat — 43 wins and 39 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Hawks won the season series 2-1. The two teams swapped blowout wins, and the Hawks won the third game by eight points.
• The two teams played a fourth game but Miami sat out it’s main players, and the Hawks limited the minutes of their main players, so it’s not worth spending too much time on.

Playoff Previews: Los Angeles vs Utah

Regular Season Standings

• Los Angeles Lakers — 65 wins and 17 losses
• Utah Jazz — 48 wins and 34 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Lakers won the season series 2-1. The Lakers lost the first game by 13, won the second game by four, and won the final game by 13.
• The Lakers won the season series 3-1 against the Jazz a year ago.
• The Jazz and Lakers faced off in the Conference Semi-Finals a year ago, with the Lakers winning comfortably 4-2. The Jazz put up a good fight, but LA always had an extra gear.

Introduction

I like this series to be reminiscent of the series from a year ago. With Utah’s offensive brilliance fighting against their own defensive frailities, and continually losing that battle to a side who are overall a superior outfit.

Game One: Portland vs Houston

Game One

First Quarter

Tuning after the first three and a half minutes. The Houston Rockets are off to a bright start and have an 11-2 lead. Portland’s Nate McMillan just called a timeout.

It’s time for Brandon Roy to get a hold of the game for his team.

• Brandon Roy uses a high screen and roll with Yao, he drives hard, down the left hand side of the lane, layup. Houston turn it over, Brandon Roy gets the ball, uses another pick and roll with Yao, and gets another bucket.
• Artest misses a three pointer off the lift wing, long rebound, Aldridge shows little hustle, Scola on the other hand goes out and taps it away, runs it down but Steve Blake is there to meet him and it goes out of bounds of Luis Scola.

Game One: San Antonio vs Dallas

Game One

First Quarter

First blood — Dirk Nowitzki gets a down screen from Wright, he pops out for a 14 footer, shoots it, fouled by Roger Mason Jr. Three point play. Nice start for Dallas and nice screen to get Dirk open.

Antoine Wright will defend Tony Parker. Dallas are hoping his quickness, size, and length will be more impactful versus Parker than their slow or small point guards.

• Tony Parker gets a screen from Tim Duncan, slices into the paint, layup attempt, fouled, not called.
• Duncan stripped in the post by Dirk. Nice play by Nowitzki.
• Parker gets a great look but misses the floater from 5 feet. San Antonio control the offensive rebound, out to Michael Finley, Finley blows by Josh Howard and gets the layup. Great play from Finley and worrying lack of defensive effort from Howard.

Game One: Cleveland vs Detroit

Game One

I missed most of this game so I don’t have a huge amount to say about — short post only.

I tuned in after the Bulls win over Boston, it was about halfway through the second quarter at the time. The Pistons where down 43-39, and subsequently bottomed out and finished the half down 12 points after a miraculous heave by LeBron James — he ran down the left sideline, threw up a Hail Mary from midcourt and nailed it.

I missed the start of the third quarter, but the rest of the game basically followed the same tired protocol — Detroit stay down double digits, never seriously threaten the Cavs, despite being within shooting distance until midway in the fourth, and the Cavs get a very comfortable win.

Some Stats

The biggest problem for the Pistons tonight? Firepower!

• Rodney Stuckey was their best scorer on the night. He dropped 20 points but it took him 21 shots and 6 free throws.

Game One: Boston vs Chicago

Game One

I’m making some changes to my “Game Time” posts. I usually do a game log and give a brief description of what is happening throughout the game, but I have decided to abandon that method.

For the time being I’m going to be writing a brief recap of the game, but I’m not sure if that’s the long term successor or not. It’s a work in progress.

First Quarter

Quick injury report — John Salmons is still suffering from a groin injury. He can and will play through the injury.

• First Basket Of The Series — The game started with a bang from the Bulls. On the first possession of the game Boston turned over the ball, outlet to Derrick Rose, he flies up the court and finds a streaking Joakim Noah for a flush.
• Kendrick Perkins got an early post up opportunity down in the left block. He easily got low position against the much smaller Joakim Noah, then easily backed him down, and easily hit a jump hook over Noah. Perk can get that shot whenever he wants all series long.

Playoff Previews: Portland vs Houston

Regular Season Standings

• Portland Trailblazers — 54 wins and 28 losses
• Houston Rockets –  53 wins and 29 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Rockets won the season series 2-1.
• The Blazers lone victory came off a Hail Mary heave from way behind the three point line by Brandon Roy at the buzzer.
• The Rockets won the season series 4-0 last season.
• Two of the games where closely contested and came down to the final moments. The other game was a blowout in Houston’s favour, and a reminder of the Rockets dominance in the paint last season.

Playoff Previews: Boston vs Chicago

Regular Season Standings

• Boston Celtics — 62 wins and 20 losses
• Chicago Bulls — 41 wins and 41 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• The Celtics trashed the Bulls twice before Christmas. Those games where with Kevin Garnett though.
• The C’s and Bulls only faced off one more time during the season, resulting in a 127-121 heartbreaking loss for the Celtics. Then again, Boston where not only without Kevin Garnett, but also without Leon Powe (left early — four minutes in), Glen Davis and Brian Scalabrine. They had only one good big man, and one other big man, for the entire game and resorted to playing Pierce some time at the four spot. Neither team played much defense that night either.

Defending The Title (regular season W-L)

The Defending Champion Boston Celtics have finished the season with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses. That’s hugely impressive.

How impressive? Let’s have a look at every defending Champ from the past 30 years.

• 2007 NBA Champs — The San Antonio Spurs — The Spurs won 56 games the following season
• 2006 NBA Champs — The Miami Heat — The Heat won 44 games the following season
• 2005 NBA Champs — The San Antonio Spurs — The Spurs won 63 games the following season
• 2004 NBA Champs — The Detroit Pistons — The Pistons won 54 games the following season

Playoff Previews: Cleveland vs Detroit

Regular Season Standings

• Cleveland Cavaliers — 66 wins and 16 losses
• Detroit Pistons — 39 wins and 43 losses

Regular Season Matchups

• Cleveland won the season series 3-1. Their lone loss came in the first month of the season.
• Three of the games were closely contested and came down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The one other game was a blowout in the Cavs favour.

Detroit’s Outlook

The Pistons Experience + Two Detroits

Detroit have been there, done that and bought the T-shirt. They’re battle tested, and have shown both great character and great intelligence over the past few seasons. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen these qualities on display for most of the season.

The Field Is Set

Eastern Conference

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #8 Detroit Pistons

#2 Boston Celtics vs #7 Chicago Bulls

#3 Orlando Magic vs #6 Philadelphia 76ers

#4 Atlanta Hawks vs #5 Miami Heat

Western Conference

#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs #8 Utah Jazz

#2 Denver Nuggets vs #7 New Orleans Hornets

#3 San Antonio Spurs vs #6 Dallas Mavericks

#4 Portland Trailblazers vs #5 Houston Rockets

KG May Be Out For Playoffs

Marc Spears is reporting the following

In an interview this morning on Boston sports radio station WEEI, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said it was likely that Kevin Garnett would not be ready to play at all in the playoffs. “After today there’s no way he can play,” said Rivers, who left open the possibility his star could return at some point in the postseason but was not optimistic.

More on this breaking story in a bit …

Wow ….

KG Update

The Boston Herald reports

Kevin Garnett’s availability for the playoff opener will very much be up to the player, according to Celtics Danny Ainge. executive director of basketball operations

“When Kevin plays is his decision,” Ainge said yesterday. “But I think Kevin (right knee) plays once the playoffs start. Ultimately, it’s just his decision. Could Kevin play right now?. Absolutely. But the question is whether it is in his best interests. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who feels he can’t play. It’s just a hot topic right now – like the Tom Brady knee issue (for the Patriots).”

George Hill Out Of Rotation?

The San Antonio Express reports

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has spent the past few weeks fine-tuning his rotation as the playoffs approach.

As things stand today, rookie guard George Hill won’t be in it. If that wasn’t made obvious by Hill’s flagging playing time lately, Popovich all but made it official before Monday’s game at Golden State.

“This playoff probably isn’t for him,” Popovich said.

Eastern Conference Taking Shape

Let’s have a look at our playoff hopefuls

Top Three Seeds

A few days ago, I had a look at the top three seeds and how they were likely to play out. It’s a near certainty that Cleveland holds onto the top seed, while Boston and Orlando battle it out for the second seed with Boston favoured to win it outright.

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers

#2 Boston Celtics

#3 Orlando Magic

The Fourth Seed

The Atlanta Hawks have locked up the fourth seed after a terrific home-stand which saw them sweep all seven home games. They Hawks currently have 42 wins against only 29 losses and are on track for a 48-49 win season.

Doc Rivers Joins A Select Few

Doc Rivers becomes only the 5th Head Coach to win a Championship since 1991 joining Phil Jackson (9 titles), Greg Popovich (4 titles), Rudy Tomjanovich (2 titles) and Larry Brown (1 title) as NBA Champion Head Coaches.

Congradulations Doc

NBA Champions – Boston Celtics

Congradulations to the Boston Celtics on winning the 2007-08 NBA Championship. Their 17th title in franchise history. The first title for Pierce, KG and Ray and many others. Sam gets his 3rd ring and Posey gets his 2nd ring.

NBA Finals Game Six: Boston vs Los Angeles

The series switches back to the Garden tonight with Boston holding the chance to end the title in triumph holding the NBA championship. Do or die for Los Angeles tonight.

Kendrick Perkins is going to try and play tonight. He’ll regain his starting position. The only need one game from the big fella before he gets some rest and gets that shoulder right.

• Nice introduction from Breen and Van Gundy on Paul Pierce’s dominant play
• Here we go, Gasol wins the tip, back to Fisher, right to Gasol in the left post, iso, fouled by Perk on the driving pass. Perk is taped up behind his injured shoulder. He did not take a cortizone shot before the game, he’ll play through the pain. Doc is appearantly monitoring how physical he will be early.
• Garnett inside from the pass by Rondo, blocked, Perkins offensive rebound, misses the jump hook, Ronod outjumps Radmanovic to the ball despite Vlad having inside position, miss, Odom comes up with it, puts it on the floor, Perk in his way, has to turn, Rondo pressures him, free for all going on, Odom managing to hold onto it, finally gets rid of it to Fisher, fastbreak, Fisher through the lane, blocking foul on Pierce. Fisher hits both FTs.
• 26th playoff game for Boston this postseason, an all-time record.
• Rondo has to take the baseline J to beat the shot clock, miss
• Entry pass to Gasol, Rondo from behind steals it, he leads the break, drive and kick to Ray for three, hits it. That was a really bad pass by Rondo to Ray’s ankles. Well done Ray for bailing out Rondo. Rondo had a layup there too but never even looked to shoot it. Ray bailed him out.
• Blocking foul on Garnett on Fishers pump fake and drive
• Lakers make a meal of Boston’s bad double team on Kobe off the show on the screen and roll, Odom takes a three to beat the buzzer running right into his teammate to catch the ball (bad spacing), miss, rebound Ray, coast to coast, fouled, Ray makes two of two at the line.
• Bryant pops out for a three, hits it
• Rondo’s floater, miss, Lakers mess up the defensive rebound, tap, Rondo snares it and gets fouled on the layup. Terrible defensive rebounding by the Lakers to start this game.
• Kobe hits another three
• Celtics miss another, Lakers make a mess again but get it back. Rondo steals the ball again from Gasol.
• Defensive three seconds foul on LA, Ray hits the FT
• Rondo floater to beat the buzzer, miss, offensive rebound Perk, putback, Gasol got a piece of it, Bryant and Odom fight for the board, Odom takes it
• Gasol flops, Garnett layup on the break,
• Rondo steals it from Gasol on the roll, Bryant steals it back, takes the three, grabbed and fouled, not called, Celtics rebound, Rondo misses a layup, rebound Gasol
• Gasol fadeaway over Pierce, miss. He had Pierce on him and he jumped five feet backwards. Dumb basketball. Go straight up, he ain’t blocking you.
• KG misses a shot of his own out of the post, Fisher pushes it, draws another foul
• Phil Jackson telling Gasol to play tough on the sideline
• Halfway point in the first
• Radmanovic had played very good defense here at the start. He’s not going for any of Pierce’s pump fakes and he’s not getting as close defensively making it harder for Pierce to drive around him.
• Gasol out of the post to Kobe, pump fake, Ray still in his face, fadeaway at the buzzer, hits it. That’s three threes for Kobe.
• Radmanovic finally fouls Pierce. Well done for lasting so long Vlad and I’m not joking. Best defense this series.
• Gasol defensive rebound. Odom on Pierce there.
• Another Lakers miss, Celtics run out, Ray goes baseline and gets the layup. Ray makes it to half court by the time LA get Odom in the post and he draws the foul. Very slow to get back up. Doesn’t look like anything serious, Ray just got rattled. Well now they take Ray out and bring Posey in. Odom makes two of two. Ray will be back in a couple of moments.
• Garnett turnaround J in the post over Bryant, hits it
• Walton drives baseline, passes up the layup, gets it back, drives again, fouled on the layup, hits two
• Garnett hits the jumper from the left wing from 20 feet
• Gasol misses a 16 footer right wing off the bounce pass feed from Bryant on the screen and roll
• Garnett left post, fadeaway J, hits it, Garnett has 8 points now. Quick 6 right there.
• Timeout Lakers
• Boston lead 20-18
• Rondo steals another from Gasol, Pierce coast to coast, doesn’t finish, Gasol out-fights Garnett to the rebound, Kobe coast to coast doesn’t finish, defensive rebound, long outlet, Rondo into the paint, back out to Pierce, open three, miss, defensive rebound Gasol.
• Alley oop to KG, slam dunk
• Farmer drives, pull up J from 13 feet, in and out
• The Garden is pumped, it’s ready to explode
• Garnett has Walton in the post, Walton fights him for post position and steals the entry pass. Lazy seal by Garnett cost that turnover.
• Rondo called for a foul trying to steal another. Farmer hits the first, KG subbed,
• Pierce hits a tough contested J for his first bucket of the night
• Kobe overdribbles and over-milks the clock, takes a contested three, down and out again.
• Pierce holds it, Lakers have a foul to give, Walton fouls on Pierce’s late drive. 1.8 seconds to play. Celtics get organized. Pierce inbounds against Kobe, to Powe, Powe drives, quarter buzzer ends before he shoots his driving layup.

Second Quarter

• Turiaf back in the rotation tonight and no sight of Chris Mihm
• Pierce throws a pass out of bounds there. Not sure who’s fault that was, missed their actions of the player supposedly recieving the ball
• Loose ball foul on Boston as Turiaf battles three Celtics 10 feet of space and and in the air for that rebound. Great hustle by Ronny.
• Glen Davis enters the game to fight Turiaf for PJ Brown.
• Powe fouls Kobe out on the perimeter, soft call, Posey knocks Bryant after the foul. Breen and JVG having a chuckle. Mark Jackson mysteriously quiet.
• Sasha and House exchange jumpers while Kobe and Pierce exchange assists on jump shots
• Kobe drives in again, finds Odom, Odom to the hoop, fouled hard, he hits one of two. Boston rebound, Kobe knocks it loose, Boston get it back, almost a steal.
• Technical foul on Doc Rivers for yelling at Joey Crawford. C’mon Doc, that’s Joey.
• Pierce takes and makes a long three pointer to put Boston up 5
• Vujacic dribbles up and takes a quick three after only 4 seconds of the shot clock, miss
• Powe fouled on his way to the basket, on the floor. Odom was far too far away from Powe. He needs to contest the pass to stop Powe.
• Powe in the paint, given room, face up J from 14 feet left wing, miss, rebound Odom, coast to coast, fouled by Powe on the layup, back to the FT line, hits two.
• Powe, PJ, Perk all have two fouls already
• Little full court pressure from Vujacic, now he lets Pierce go, Kobe takes Pierce, goes under the screen again, three pointer again, misses, defensive rebound Odom, terrible outlet pass, stolen, Posey takes it up, to Pierce, Pierce drives to Powe, layup
• Timeout
• Still no Ray Allen
• Pierce draws the foul on Fisher, back to the line, hits one of two, two fouls on Fisher
• 8 minutes to play in the half. Pierce now has 7 points and 5 assists.
• Lakers lead 32-26
• Gasol fouled by Davis in the post, Gasol took a long time sizing him up before making his move. Davis is a foul machine so let’s see how this goes. No sorry, not on Davis. Illegal defense, Kobe hits the tech. Gasol gets it back, quick move, running hook, hits it
• Pierce drives again, nice pass to Posey, passes up the three, slows it down, now drives, draws the foul. Good recovery by Posey but he should have taken that shot.
• That was Gasol’s first basket tonight but he does have 6 rebounds
• KG having words with Davis probably telling him what to do defensively
• Davis miugged in the paint, no call, miss, out to House, three at the buzzer, miss, huge offensive rebound Posey, Boston swing the ball, find Posey wide open in the corner as Vujacic makes a dumb rotation to leave him open. Three pointer good.
• Posey deflects the pass, steal Davis, fastbreak, House from three, nails it
• 9 point lead
• Timeout Lakers
• Starting Five back in for the Lakers, Bryant way short on that shot off the bounce, barely hit iron
• Pierce drives, bad pass to KG, KG and Odom fight for it, jump ball
• Eye doctor rushes in for Ray Allen. Now Ray comes out. About bloody time.
• Garnett wins the tip, Fisher knocks it loose, House and Fisher in a foot race, nobody gets to it
• Boston lead 38-29
• Midway through the second
• Foul on Fisher, that’s three on Derek
• Bryant loses his dribble, another celtics steal, Pierce leads the break, tees up Posey for a three, Posey nails it. They’re up 14.
• Timeout Lakers. Phil Jackson is very nervous. The championship is slipping away from LA.
• Lakers are very easy to defend right now. They’re not involving Gasol or Odom. They’re not passing. They’re not moving off the ball. It’s all Kobe all the time.
• Gasol low post, spin move on Gasol, Posey fouls on the help. Great defense until the foul. Gasol makes both
• Bryant defending KG in the post, KG takes a fadeaway, misses. Exact same as Gasol shooting that dumb fadeaway instead of going up strong.
• Gasol low post, pivots around until he finds a shot he likes, hits the right hook, he has 6 points now, the last 6 Lakers points
• Pierce drives to the hoop again, finds Garnett, hits the 20 footer along the baseline
• Radmanovic takes a rainbow three after 7 seconds goes off the shot clock, miss
• Radmanovic with another dumb foul hacking Pierce 40 feet from the rim on the catch. Dumb dumb dumb dumb. Pierce hits another two at the line.
• 3:50 to play in the first half
• Defensive three seconds as Gasol gets another post up, Kobe takes and makes the tech.
• Boston lead 47-34
• Lakers go to Gasol again, Perkins back in, Gasol quick jump hook, miss
• Rondo misses the floater on the other end
• Farmer drives in, to Walton in the corner, Pierce runs him off the line, Walton steps in and takes the 19 footer, miss, over the backboard out of bounds.
• Timeout Boston
• Celtics lead by 13
• The Lakers want to get this to single digits, the Celtics want to hold this double digit going into the half. Let’s see who finishes the half better.
• Rondo pokes Farmer’s dribble away, Ray saves it to Perk, great play by both guards, lovely pass by Perk to Rondo for the layup, Rondo doesn’t look to shoot, almost turns it over looking to force the pass, KG gets it, back to Perk, Perk to Rondo for another layup attempt, stolent, Farmer coast to coast, fouled as he’s tripped in the lane. He goes to the line and makes one of two FTs. Celtics lead by 14.
• Garnett fadeaway in the lane, unguardable, hits it. Gasol was awful there, he didn’t even contest where KG wanted to post up. KG caught the ball in the paint.
• Dumb double by Farmer late in the shot clock, Rondo cuts to the 10 feet mark in the paint, Rondo gets the pass, two on one against Odom, ball fake, layup
• Kobe throws it away again
• Nice pass to KG, fouled on the shot, gets it to go and hits the free throw. Lovely bounce pass by Pierce. Celtics now up 21 points. This game is over.
• Odom on the drive, first time he’s drove on KG tonight, Perkins blocks him
• Perkins dunks it home on the other end
• Boston lead 58-35
• Terrible finish to the half from LA
• Kobe misses a three, rebound Garnett
• Halftime

Halftime

• Boston finished the half on a 26-6 run to blow open the game. They’re up 23 points. This is over. No way the Lakers make back 23 points to win a title clinching game. No way.
• There’s no way the Celtics give up 23 points and lose a title clinching game. It’s just not happening.
• The Lakers hopes of making a run are abysmal. Kobe Bryant isn’t playing well. Odom has done absolutely nothing to create a shot for himself or a teammate tonight. Gasol has done very little. None of their perimeter role players are showing up. They’re not passing the ball well, they’re not moving without the ball well. They’re not shooting the ball well. They’re not getting stops, they’re not rebounding. Where exactly is a run coming from? There’s no run happening from there. I don’t see how they can turn all that around, make back 23 points, finish the game against a top side who’s about to clinch their first title. It’s just not happening.
• Boston lead 58-35
• Lamar Odom hasn’t made a field goal. He’s hit four FTs. He has one assist. That’s the entirety of his contribution offensively. Gasol has 6 points on 2-5 shooting, 1 assist and 4 turnovers
• Odom and Gasol do have 13 rebounds between them.
• Everything offensively is easier when Rondo plays with intelligence. Push the ball and keep moving to the open space as close to the basket as possible when his man doubles off of him. Defensively Rondo has led the Celtics’ Defense perfectly forcing turnover after turnover. He’s been a terror in the open court creating for his teammates. Brilliant performance from Rondo.
• KG has been red hot after getting a pair of post ups and a long jumper to drop. Garnett leads all scorers with 17 points on 8-12 shooting to go with 6 boards and 3 assists. He hasn’t done too much defensively but that’s in large part to Odom playing like Ben Wallace.
• Odom does realize he actually has some skills right?
• Kobe Bryant leads the Lakers with 14 but he was atrocious in the second quarter. The Lakers fell apart and he could do nothing to glue them back together again or to keep them within distance by going on a scoring binge. Bryant is only 4-11 and 3 of those were threes. 7 of his 11 shots have been three pointers. He can’t get to the rim and he’s completely avoiding the post. Get your butt in the paint and help your team.
• Paul Pierce is the star of the show in the first half with 10 points and 9 assists. He’s orchestrating everything. If he isn’t getting an assist he’s getting a hockey assist, he’s creating the spacing and taking the Lakers defense off balance on nearly every possession. He’s been incredible. Great defense too.
• Ray Allen only played 11 minutes but he bagged 8 points in those minutes
• Some Team Stats – Celtics are trouncing the Lakers on the backboards 26-14 and 8 zip offensive boards to Boston. The Celtics have 10 steals (Rondo and Posey have 7) and 1 block. Lakers have three steals and no blocks. The Lakers have 11 turnovers costing them 19 points, that’s the lead right there. The Celtics have four turnovers costing them four points. The Lakers have taken only 27 shots versus 43 from the Celtics (turnovers, offensive rebounds). The C’s have 17 assists and 20 made field goals on 46% shooting, 5-12 from three, 12-14 from the line. The Lakers have only made 8 shots on 27 field goal attempts for just under 30%, with 5 assits on those, 3-11 from three, 16-19 from the line.
• I didn’t like the second unit Boston put out on the floor in the second quarter but they kept the lead and actually extended it by one or two. Pierce was truly magnificent during that spell.
• Boston’s bench has 15 points against 9 points for LA

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Rondo nails a 21 footer along the baseline to start the quarter
• Odom takes it hard to the hoop, fouled on the layup,
• Rondo pushes it hard again, finds Ray for three again, nails it
• Fisher and Radmanovic taking dumb shots. Lakers resorting to three pointers already.
• Drive and dish by Odom in transition, Fisher passes up the three, wiggles into the paint, gets fouled, hits two of two. That’s better from Fisher.
• KG left open from 20 feet, passes up the J, dribbles inside, draws the defense, jumps up, hits PJ under the rim, fouled on the layup. Lovely play by KG.
• Everything Boston is doing is excellent right now
• Alley oop to Gasol, dunk
• KG loses the catch, dribbles, gives it out, Pierce strolls by Radmanovic for a layup. There was no explosion on that move. Just horrific defense.
• Radmanovic hits the corner three on the other end
• Rondo right to the rim, hits the layup and the foul, hits the FT
• Celtics lead by 26
• Fisher pull up J, hits it from 15 feet left wing
• Celtics miss another, nobody on Los Angeles tries for the rebound, bounces right out to Boston, Rondo takes a jumper, misses
• Odom stripped by Rondo, his 5th steal, pushes it ahead, finds Ray in the corner, three pointer good
• Celtics lead by 29
• Gasol post, backs down PJ, loses the dribble, out of bounds off Ray, 1 second on the shot clock, Odom to Bryant hits it
• 7 minutes to play
• Rondo walks it up slowly, milks the clock, now to KG, inside, stripped by Kobe, fouled by Gasol. Nice hard move by Gasol.
• Gasol turns it over again, Ray Allen almost gives it right back with a bad behind the back bounce pass. C’mon Ray you know KG doesn’t like bounce passes. Celtics get it back, Gasol fouls again.
• Pierce doubled on the screen and roll, to KG late in the shot clock, turnaround in the post, miss
• Gasol tied up in the paint, great play by KG, Gasol showed way too much off the ball there, Gasol wins the tip, Radmanovic quick three, hits it
• 28 point lead
• Boston lead 79-51 with 5 minutes to play in the third
• KG hard to the rim again, Odom contests it well, missed layup, Rondo tips it in
• Garnett has 21 and 10 already
• Garnett fouled off the ball
• KG goes 1 for 2 at the line. They were 23-24 from the FT line before that.
• Odom drives and jumps up in the air with nowhere to go, turnover, Pierce steals it, leads the break, Lakers foul him for no reason. Pierce hits two at the line.
• Radmanovic takes a contested high arcing three, miss
• Individual steals record? Is it 7 or 8? Robert Horry holds it from 1994 against the Knicks (Game Four or Five I think. Rondo has 6 now. He has a real shot at taking the record.
• I drifted off for the last few minutes. The C’s are just lobbing it on.
• KG flops trying to draw the blocking foul on Kobe, Kobe keeps going, fouled at the rim.
• Boston lead 85-56
• This is over
• The Lakers still have no offensive flow or scoring options. They still can’t get stops. They still can’t rebounds. No hope of making a run.
• Gasol gets another short shot to fall
• Rondo hits a layup
• PJ Brown blcoks the layup, Ray looks at the clock, holds it up, milks the clock, high screen and roll, finds Rondo cutting to the rim, Rondo finds PJ Brown. Jump shot.
• Lakers miss
• That last possession by the Celtics spoke volumes about what Rondo is doing right tonight that he was doing wrong in Los Angeles. Instead of staying stagnant standing out at 20 feet he cuts to the hoop, recieves the pass on the move, is in the paint, defense collapses, spots the open shooter.

Fourth Quarter

• Celtics lineup – BBD/Powe/Posey/Ray/Rondo
• Lakers lineup – Odom/Turiaf/Vujacic/Ariza/Farmer
• Both teams just running up and down not doing much. Rondo has a layup and now fouled on a layup, Rondo makes the layup and gets the free throw. Flagrant foul on Farmer for that foul. Nah, well maybe. Yeah actually, no attempt to play the ball. Minimal contact though.
• Rondo has taken 19 shots tonight
• Rondo makes the flagrant
• KG back in for PJ Brown
• Celtics lead 94-65
• Farmer bags a long three
• Bynum wearing a nice orange shirt behind the bench underneath his suit. Nice little ensemble. He looks disappointed. He’ll get a few shots at these games over the next few years.
• Vujacic loses Ray, three pointer open in the corner, awful defense, Ray drains the three
• Odom down low to Turiaf, up over KG with the face up J, hits it
• Ray Allen bags another three pointer as Vujacic loses him again
• Boston lead 101-70
• Timeout Lakers
• 17th Boston steal on the June 17th for the Celtics’ 17th Championship
• Rondo is going to come out and he gets a standing ovation
• 7 minutes to play
• Odom frizzling and frazzling with the ball. Head fakes, shoulder fakes, jab steps, cross over dribbles, over and back dribbles …. oh but he hasn’t moved a foot yet. Now he gives up the ball. Well done Lamar. That’s a circus move, not an NBA Champion move.
• Posey hits the layup as LA gamble with backcourt pressure
• Everyone on the Celtics’ bench is standing
• Odom drives on KG this time, KG stuffs him
• Ray ties a Finals record with another three pointer
• Another Timeout after a surprising hard foul on Odom’s drive for a team up 36 points
• Paul Pierce bags a three
• Doc waits til after the timeout to sub out KG, Pierce, Ray to give them standing ovations. It turns into a hugging celebration that the refs have to break up in order to restart the game.
• Tony Allen drives to the rim, hand off to Powe, dunk
• Bryant has a three rim in and out
• Fisher telling his guys to push up on the defenders and keep trying
• Posey nails a three
• Boston lead 123-85
• A 38 point lead for Boston
• Odom inside, draws the foul on Powe, timeout, Odom hits the first, misses the second.
• Sam Cassell is bouncing. KG is covering his eyes, Pierce is going crazy.
• Backdoor cut on a baseline inbounds pass again catches the Lakers blindsighted, Powe catch and dunk, nope fouled. Hits two at the line.
• Turiaf does the exact same thing but passes up the dunk for a three, Walton bricks another perimeter shot. He’s been missing all series.
• Eddie House with a lovely alley oop pass to Tony Allen for the reverse dunk
• Farmer hits another three
• House fouled on the drive
• Boston up 40 right now
• Paul Pierce throws the water cool full of Gatorade over Doc
• Timeout
• Eddie dribbles it out, 24 second violation
• Celtics win 131-92

Boston Celtics win their 17th Title. A fantastic achievement and a magical season from Boston. Great work.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Kevin Garnett’s Missed Free Throws

Kevin has been getting a lot of blame for missing 3 of 4 free throws during two trips to the line in the fourth quarter. Garnett is a great free throw shooter for a big man and he’s a great free throw shooter at the end of games and under pressure. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. I’m saying …. don’t read too much into his misses and give the man a break. He’ll make those free throws tonight if he gets them again and he’ll make his detractors sound foolish.

Now for the rest of his game – He was well below par last night and completely outplayed by Gasol. KG is the best big man on the court and he has to act like that from start to finish. It’s his job to control the paint. Kevin needs to do more, a lot more. Every time he fails to do he makes it so much harder for his team to pull out the victory.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Perkins To Play

Celtics.com has this

The Celtics’ shootaround just concluded, and center Kendrick Perkins (strained left shoulder) told the media that he’s going to give it a go tonight. No word on whether or not he’ll start at this point.

Perkins, who injured the shoulder in Game 4 and missed Game 5, says he’s still in pain, but that it’s getting better each day.

So no idea how effective he’ll be but he’s going to try. This will be interesting. Great heart young fella.

NBA Finals Thoughts: PJ Brown On KG’s Practice Ways

PJ having some fun telling stories of how it is

Garnett’s teammates, too, have seen the wildness in his eyes. P.J. Brown calls KG the hardest-working player he’s ever been around, and that’s saying something considering Brown also has been around Alonzo Mourning, a legendarily hard working player.

“His practice habits, man, are unmatched,” Brown said. “KG doesn’t take breaks. If I’m subbing for him, we have to make him come off the floor. Doc will say, ‘P.J. get him’ because he doesn’t want to do it. He’s making me the bad guy.”

“KG’s looking at me with that crazy look, like ‘I’ll tell you when I’m getting off the floor.’”

NBA Finals Thoughts: Garnett’s Media Responses To His Game Five Performance

“I played like garbage tonight. I can do better and I will,” said Garnett. “I definitely have to do better.”

Kevin added

“That will definitely haunt me tonight,” he said. “Those are free throws I know I can hit. I’ll take them again if you put me in that situation and I’ll have the confidence to knock them down.”

Garnett said he wasn’t happy that Gasol could do so much damage. The Lakers finished with 50 points in the paint to Boston’s 40.

“I’m just so upset with my play because defensively I know I’m more sound than that. I know my presence needs to be on the court for us to be a dominant team,” he said.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Doc Quotes

Doc handing out some impressive praise to Kobe Bryant

Between games, Rivers said Bryant may be the best help defender he has seen since Scottie Pippen

On the Lakers physical play in the paint

Rivers agreed. He said the Celtics need to start being more physical, especially inside, if they hope to avoid another early deficit. The Lakers scored nearly half their points (50) in the paint.

“They posted when they wanted to post,” Rivers said. “I thought they forced us off of spots offensively. We told them before the game this was going to be a game of who could invade the other person’s space, and I thought they invaded our space.”

NBA Finals Thoughts: Kendrick Perkins Injury Update

The Boston Herald has a Perkins update:

“I would say that would probably be doubtful,” coach Doc Rivers said before the game of Perkins returning to the floor for Game 6 at the Garden. “But I don’t know.”

Equally disturbing, perhaps, was that the normally gung-ho Perkins didn’t have an answer, either.

“It’s a good question,” Perkins said of whether he could play the rest of the series. “I couldn’t tell you. I can raise my arm, but there’s just a lot of pain right now. I don’t know if I can take a hard hit on it. When we get back to Boston I’m supposed to get an MRI on it, and then we’ll know more about it.”

Perkins was a massive loss to the Celtics in Game Five. If he had of been healthy I think Boston wins that game. Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol went wild for 24 rebounds and for the first time this series the Lakers controlled the paint.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Kobe’s Finals PPG

• 2000 — Indiana Pacers – 15.6 PPG, 36% FG
• 2001 — Philadelphia 76ers – 24.6 PPG, 42% FG
• 2002 — New Jersey Nets – 26.8 PPG, 51% FG
• 2004 — Detroit Pistons – 22.6 PPG, 37% FG
• 2008 — Boston Celtics – 26.8 PPG, 43% FG

NBA Finals Game Five: Los Angeles vs Boston

Final game of the season for the Staples Centre tonight. If neccessary the next two games will be back in Boston.

Elimination game tonight. Boston have the better team and should close out the series tonight. It’ll be interesting to see how much pride the Lakers have in their team and see if they avoid the Celtics sealing the series on their homecourt. Memories of 1991 when the Lakers failed to do this are flooding back.

As for Boston we have a lineup change tonight. Kendrick Perkins is not able to go tonight, his shoulder injury from Game Four is bothering him too much. Instead we’ll see Leon Powe start the game with KG sliding over to the centre position. Leon will likely guard Lamar Odom. Powe is one of the best in the league at drawing charges so look out for Lamar Odom to get himself in trouble against Leon tonight because offensive charging fouls have caused him problems all series

• Celitcs win the tip. Lakers matching up as expected with Gasol on KG and Odom on Powe. Pierce falls over and travels. Turnover.
• Leon is matching up with Odom
• Lakers first possession, Odom left wing, entry pass to the post, backs KG down, right jump hook in the lane. Hits it. Lovely move.
• Gasol fouls KG on the other end. Sideline ball, KG iso, drives, jumps up with nowhere to go, turnover, Lakers fastbreak, three pointer, good.
• Another quick Lakers foul with Radmanovic fouling Pierce.
• Celtics cause havoc but end up confused on the ball movement as Pierce passes up a wide open jump shot then picks up the ball, rebound Odom, steal Boston, out of bounds. Boston turn it over after the inbounds.
• Pierce drives, lot of contact, no foul, turnover, Fisher strips him, goes coast to coast, bumped out of bounds by KG.
• Bryant face up J over Ray, miss right wing 18 footer
• Ray drives inside, stops pivots, nowhere to go, finds KG, 18 footer baseline, hits it
• Bryant drives inside, finds Fisher for a three, miss
• KG inside down on the block, turnaround J over Odom, miss, rebound Gasol
• Bryant iso above the free throw line, drive, spin, elevates, knocks it down
• KG with a good look again from Rondo’s pentration, hits another 18 footer on that baseline
• Perk tuck in your shirt beneath your suit please.
• Rondo drives into the paint, drive and kick, open three pointer for Pierce, miss, Rondo saves it off a Laker.
• Gasol scores again inside. Nice move.
• PJ Brown comes in for Leon Powe
• Lakers score again from the quick push and Kobe three, the Lakers lead 18-5
• Timeout Doc Rivers
• Pierce hits the FT line jumper over Radmanovic off the dribble.
• Odom travels as the Celtics try to tie him up and confuse him. Turnover.
• KG with a nice pass to PJ Brown, Lakers collapes, misses the short shot, Lakers rebound
• Bryant pushes it up and takes another three pointer. That’s his third already. He has 11 of LA’s 21 points.
• Eddie House knocks down the open three on the right wing. Derek Fisher can’t leave him that open.

Having trouble with my internet connection. Game log will start back in at the Second Quarter.

• Farmer made some nice plays there at the end for LA on both ends of the floor. Good pressure defense on Eddie House which bothered Eddie.
• 25 seconds to play in the first. Pierce high screen and roll, drives, fouled, will shoot two, misses the first, hits the second.
• Bryant holds it for the final shot, finds Gasol, Gasol inside, goaltend on PJ Brown
• Lakers lead 39-22
• Kevin Garnett picked up his second foul and had to sit. That makes Boston quite small with their bigs.

Second Quarter

• 39-35 Lakers scored in the first quarter tonight versus last night. The Lakers shot 65% in both. The difference is Kobe Bryant 15 points to 3.
• Chris Mihm has come in for Los Angeles
• Jordan Farmer drives right to the rim, hits the layup
• Pierce drives from the top of the key, down the lane, Mihm goes for the block, Pierce just smacks into him and hits the short shot. Nice control by Mihm to jump straight up and avoid the foul. First appearance by Mihm in the Finals.
• Vujacic gets the corner three, Lakers up 19
• Pierce left wing, drives right by his mant othe rim, layup and the foul. Pierce is going to take over and lead this second unit. Tony Allen, PJ, Posey, Sam and Paul is the lineup. Pierce is burning Walton every time.
• Vujacic misses the catch and shoot J from 17 feet off the off the ball screen
• Pierce gets Vujacic off the switcfh, bodies him up and spins right by him at the top of the key, fouled at the rim, hits two. He’s unstoppable right now.
• Trevor Ariza checks in to handle Pierce
• Farmer has a three rim in and out, Ariza fights for it with Posey, out of bounds, Lakers ball.
• Jeff Van Gundy – “So many guys out there for both teams who haven’t been in the rotation” – there really is and it’s a wierd sight.
• Chris Mihm left block, goes baseline, hook shot, misses badly, fouls Pierce needlessly on the rebound
• Ariza called for a push on Pierce. That’s four team fouls in 130 seconds. There’s 10 minutes to play and the Lakers are in the penalty.
• Pierce drives right by Ariza again, Ariza crowding Paul, gets to the rim, toughly contested, hits it
• Tony Allen steals the inbounds, drives back in, hand off to Posey, knocked loose. Celtics ball. Inbounds pass, Tony Allen runs off the screen, open for the dunk
• Timeout Los Angeles
• Boston on a 8-0 run
• Pierce has 11 of the last 13 Celtics points. He has already 7 free throws. Oh and he had the assist on that other Celtics bucket.
• 9 minutes to play in the half. Remember the Lakers are in the penalty and hack defensively.
• Odom doubled late as he picks up the dribble, throws it away, turnover.
• Phil Jackson upset that his defenders are overplaying Paul Pierce
• Cassell slowly gets to the basket, decides to kick it out, Tony Allen drives, pull up J, hits it
• Lovey bounce pass by Kobe to Turiaf, layup, charge. Bad call. Posey was moving and arrived there after Turiaf jumped. I hate those calls.
• Turiaf mugged in the paint, called. Sideline ball.
• Into the post to Gasol, kick out, re-post, backs down KG, turns and shoots, KG hits him on the arm, called for the foul. KG doesn’t think he got the arm, replay says it was both arm and ball. Tough to tell. He might be right, might be wrong. That’s three fouls. 7:37 left in the half. Actually that was a bad call, different angle. Too much ball. KG shouldn’t have reached while in foul trouble.
• Gasol misses the free throw line
• PJ Brown levels Gasol on the screen, Pierce open lane, slam dunk
• Celtics are on a 12 run over the past 4 minutes
• Tony Allen inside, spinning move, layup, miss, PJ Brown smacks it out of bounds, Celtics basketball. Bad call.
• Pierce knocks down a three
• Lakers lead 43-39
• Vujacic misses the three, offesnive rebound Odom
• Fisher forces a contested shot, Pierce gets a piece of it
• Lakers haven’t scored in the last 5:10
• Pierce misses a pull up three
• Kobe has to score right now, throws a bad pass to Gasol, turnover, Gasol wasn’t looking.
• Turnover as Tony’s pass to Sam goes out of bounds of Sam’s finger tips
• Lakers have only four points in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter. Kobe iso left wing, in and out, miss, Odom tips it three times to himself, layup over PJ, miss, offensive rebound Gasol, fouled, not called. Laker ball baseline. Inbounds, Fisher three right wing, miss, offensive rebound Gasol, stolen by PJ to Tony. Celtics push it up, Pierce’s drive goes nowhere, Cassell has to take it, miss, Gasol rebounds, PJ Brown pushes him on the rebound, not called, hasn’t been called all series, Gasol loses it out of bounds. Celtics miss again, rebound Gasol. Well he’s fighting.
• Gasol lobs it into Odom, layup
• First basket in almost 7 minutes
• Timeout Celtics
• Lakers are 3-13 from the field here in the second quarter
• Lakers lead 45-39 with 4 minutes to play
• Posey misses a three, rebound Bryant, pushes it up, jumps to pass it over the top to Odom, Odom smacked to the ground, fouled.
• Bryant three pointer, miss, offensive rebound Odom, layup, tech on Radmanovic. Rad was pissed at the refs lack of calls under the backboards.
• Tony Allen flies by Radmanovic, layup over Gasol
• Lovely pass by Gasol to Lamar Odom, layup and the foul
• Tony Allen blows by his defender, Farmer, again, gives it up
• Farmer air balls a three
• Lakers lead 50-42
• Tony Allen finds Ray off the screen, three pointer left wing, hits it
• Farmer responds with a three of his own
• Ray pushes it quickly, back to Paul, foul off the ball on Fisher. Ray gets two freebies. Tech no Derek Fisher.
• Lovely ball movement by LA again, swing it to the corner, baseline pass, reverse layup Odom. Odom has 9 points on 4-5 shooting in the period now.
• Farmer three pointer miss, PJ pulls back Gasol and holds down his arms, no call.
• Ray to the hoop, fouled o nthe layup, hits two
• Kobe smacked across the arms, no call, out of bounds
• Pierce iso on Fisher, hits the three over him
• Halftime

Halftime

• Lakers lead 55-52
• The refs have been absolutely horrible. Gasol is getting smacked around on every rebound to a ridiculous level and not one foul has been called. Celtics hitting the Lakers all over the court.
• Pierce was phenomenal in the second quarter especially in the first 6 minutes, he just took the game over and pulled his back into it.
• The refs have lost control of this game
• The Lakers are overly emotional and it’s killing their performance. They have no hopes of winning this game if they keep reacting to every single play like this. Some poise and focus is badly needed from them right now.
• Some Team Stats – Lakers lead 20-15 on the boards and 5-2 offensive boards. Combined blocks/steals is 6-4 LA. Lakers have 7 turnovers costing them 9 points, Celtics have 6 turnovers costing them 7 points. The Lakers have 11 assists on 19 buckets on 44 attempts for 50% shooting, 6-16 from three and 5-8 from the FT line. The Celtics have 12 assists on 19 buckets on 39 shots for 49% from the floor, 5-10 from three, 9-12 from the line.
• Pau Gasol has 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Odom has 11 and 7. Kobe hasn’t scored since the first quarter and has 15 points. Farmer led the bench with 7 points.
• The Celtics second unit got them back in the game. The Lakers have no answers for two penetrators of Tony Allen and Paul Pierce’s caliber.
• Paul Pierce was phenomenal with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. KG had 8 points but was limited to 11 minutes. Ray had 9 points.

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Lakers lead 55-52
• Celtics have dominated the thid all series. Plus 9, 10, 8 and 16 over the four games. That’s a plus 43 points in the third quarter for Boston this series.
• PJ Brown starts the third
• Pierce steps on the sideline as he makes his move, turnover
• Pierce whistled for a foul on a Radmanovic flop on a screen and roll.
• Odom takes it right at KG, layup, he wants that fourth foul
• Rondo drives, jumps up, nowhere to go, loses the ball, Kobe taps it out of bounds.
• Baseline inbounds pass, backdoor layup Ray Allen. Exact same play as earlier
• Bryant misses the short shot over KG
• Rondo steals Radmanovic’s rebound, just took it out of his hands, Rondo on the drive and kick to Ray Allen three pointer right wing, hits it
• Kobe misses a three
• Kobe isn’t driving anymore.
• This game has the potential to end in a Celtics rout right now
• Pierce fouled, hits one of two, Celtics have the lead, rebound Gasol
• Radmanovic misses the short hook off a lovely pass by Gasol
• Odom forces the miss on Pierce’s fastbreak layup, great contest, defensive rebound Odom, three Celtics around him looking to steal the ball, one dribble, long pass ahead, Kobe to Gasol, short hook, miss, offensive rebound Kobe, he dribbles back in, fouled and hits the fallaway over KG. Makes the FT.
• Garnett in the post, driving layup, hits it
• 60-60 Tie Game
• Rondo pokes away Fisher’s dribble out of bounds. Second straight possession he knocks that loose.
• Offensive foul on Kobe Bryant as Pierce draws the foul. Great play by Pierce
• Rondo left wide open by Kobe Bryant, hits the 21 footer from the corner
• Gasol backs down KG, spin move, layup over PJ Brown and KG, hits it
• Pierce tries to draw the foul on the three, no call, right call, miss, offensive rebound tapped, KG gets it, Fisher is boxing him out, fouls him under the hoop before the shot.
• Rondo smacks Kobe as he made himself available for the outlet pass. So many Celtics fouls on rebounds.
• Gasol driving reverse layup and the foul. That’s four on KG.
• Doc is going to leave him in
• Rondo left wide open again, same spot, miss
• They change the foul to PJ Brown, that’s four on PJ, three on KG.
• KG slaps Odom’s dribble, off Odom’s foot out of bounds, turnover
• KG right block, travel, turnover
• Bryant looks to calm it down, that’s a mistake, you don’t want to let the C’s defense set up. Odom takes a 20 footer off the dribble, KG just gave it to him, in and out
• Celtics rebound, ahead to Pierce, Paul drives left from the left wing, gets to the rim, layup
• Kobe Brytant offensive foul as Posey draws another charge
• Lakers lead 65-64 somehow
• 6 minutes to play in the third
• Rondo flips up a layup over Kobe, miss, both fight for it, Kobe snatches it
• Rondo ties up Fisher as Fish looks to penetrate, Rondo was on Kobe and just sagged off at the last minute. Rondo will win this tip. Kobe needed to take Rondo into the post. Fisher wins the tip, Kobe controls the ball, Kobe top of the key, drives on Ray, down the right hand side of the lane, out to Fisher in the right corner, shot fake, pull up J off the one dribble, fouled by Fish, off the backboard, good, hits the FT.
• Rondo drives on Kobe, throws it out, Radmanovic steals it, Kobe pushes it hard, drives inside, out to Fisher on the left wing, touch pass to the left corner, Radmanovic from three, nails it
• Timeout Boston
• Lakers lead 71-64
• 11-2 Lakers run during the last 3 plus minutes
• Radmanovic iso’d in the corner, Pierce drives right by him, reverse layup. The help was coming from the top, he was meant to seal the baseline. Didn’t
• Great play by Posey to knock the ball loose from Odom on the drive, he had a layup there and was just starting to elevate
• JVG wants Odom on Pierce and I absolutely agree. They have no other acceptable option
• Fisher fouled in the backcourt by Eddie House, in the penalty, hits both.
• 4 minutes to play in the third
• Ray Allen drives on Fisher, throws it away, Kobe dribbles turns it over, Radmanovic beats everyone to the loose ball, then he throws it away, Celtics steal going the other way, Ray Allen fouled on the driving floater. Ray hits both. Ray has 16 points now.
• Blood rule as Eddie needs to sit
• Cassell misses the three pointer, fast push by LA, Gasol beats everyone down into the paint, seals Sammy right under the hoop, KG smacks Gasol from behind, foul on KG. Gasol makes the first, makes the second.
• 2:30 to play in the third
• Sam looking to find Ray off the ball, Ray Allen pops out off the screen, open three, miss, offensive rebound Posey. Foul by Odom, not in the penalty. Sideline out.
• Cassell tries to lob it into KG, Gasol tips it out, Sam gets it back, finds Ray in the corner, three pointer, miss, tap by KG, Celtics get it, back to Ray in the corner, steps on the sideline, turnover
• Posey dives on Fisher’s entry pass into the post, knocks it out of bounds
• Eddie back in for Sam
• Gasol fouled, not called, finds Sasha open from 15 feet baseline, miss, Odom steals the offensive rebound, to Kobe, miss
• KG into the paint, misses the hook shot in the lane, Kobe brings it up, slides through the paint, finds Vujacic on the left wing, open three pointer miss, offensive rebound Gasol, out to Fisher, corner three, miss, tap by Gasol out of bounds off Pierce. Great work by Gasol on the backboards.
• 54 seconds to play in the third
• Lakers ball, inbounds baseline, Vujacia trapped in the corner again, Gasol makes himself big, gets the pass, quick pass to Odom, one dribble layup
• Eddie House sees an open lane, tries to drive, changes his mind, jumps up nowhere to go, throws it out of bounds
• Gasol fouled inside, basket doesn’t count, on the floor, in the penalty so he’ll shoot two.
• Mark Jackson had some good advice for Gasol – paraphrasing – know how PJ Brown is defending you, he’s being very physical bumping you and not letting you back him down, make that quick sharp move earlier and he’ll foul you.
• Pierce holding it for the final shot, Walton on Pierce, PIerce gets by out to Posey, to Ray in the corner, miss, rebound Gasol.
• Lakers win the third quarter for the first time this postseason

Fourth Quarter

• Lakers lead 79-70
• Pierce drives, spins into the middle, knees Odom in the balls, gets fouled, goes to the line, hits two.
• Odom is still shaking it off, doing a bit better now.
• Farmer brings it up, high screen and roll with Odom, nothing going, Lakers swing the ball. Farmer gets it back top of the key, drives left, down the lane, on the drive, hits the layup
• Quick push, nothing going, Odom decides to shoot from downtown, hits it. Only the third three pointer of the playoffs from Odom
• Timeout Boston
• Good timeout Doc again. His last timeout to get Rondo out in the third was very good also. He’s doing a great job of controlling the tempo best he can.
• Pierce on the drive, out muscles Kobe to get to the rim, layup. Bryant defending Pierce now. He has four fouls so this is something to watch.
• KG taps loose the entry pass to Gasol from behind, out of bounds, still Lakers ball. Inbounds to Gasol, drives hard on KG, Boston collapse, pass to the corner to Sasha, to the left wing to Farmer, shot fake, drives hard to the rim, finishes off the glass over KG
• Gasol blocks Ray. Great play by Gasol, KG tapped the offensive rebound out to Ray, Ray drives, Gasol from the weakside, smacks the ball up in the air, snatches it, fouled by Ray
• Dumb foul by Sasha as he pointlessly hits Posey after the rebound
• Gasol steals the ball as KG’s pass is knocked loose, long outlet to Walton from the bottom right corner to the left sideline at halfcourt, Walton brings it up and hits the pull up jump shot
• Walton fouls on the pass. That’s three team fouls with 9 minutes to go.
• Lakers lead 88-74
• Ray inbounds easily to Sam, he backs down Farmer, great defense, up and under, lovely move, shoots it, gets a piece of the shot, Cassell hits it anyway. Great play by Cassell and good defense by Farmer. He didn’t let Sammy back him down.
• Farmer has the ball knocked loose out of bounds. Inbounds. Vujacic three pointer top of the key, miss, Gasol keeps it alive, Vujacic runs it down, Sammy ties him up and throws him to the ground as Cassell tries to wrestle it away from him. Vujacic should win this tip, let’s see, he’s going to Kobe, no taps it to Gasol, KG gets a piece of it, to PIerce, Sasha keeps it alive, Kobe steals it from Pierce. Inside to Gasol, out to Vujacic top of the key, three pointer, it’s down and out, oh my. Out of bounds of Boston, inbounds baseline, out top to Walton, to Farmer, Farmer drives inside, layup, miss.
• Sam Cassell pump fake, Farmer buys it, Cassell draws the foul and hits the jumper off the glass. He hits the FT too. Huge 5-0 run by Boston.
• Lakers lead 88-79 with 8 minutes to play
• Way too much time left
• Bryant face up J over PIece. Walton got trapped as he picked up the dribble, Kobe sprinted 15 feet or so to make himself available, than jab step boom.
• Sam Cassell misses the corner J, offensive rebound, KG, to Sammy, drives inside, layup. Sam has 7 straight points.
• Gasol left block, jump hook, soft shot, miss
• Garnett tries to draw contact, doesn’t get the foul, great help defense by Walton making himself big.
• Bryant takes a quick jump shot, miss.
• Walton dives on the floor, fouls Pierce at midcourt. Dumb foul again. They’re in the penalty. Pierce makes both.
• Seven point game with 6 minutes to play.
• Bryant’s pass deflected by Pierce, Kobe knocks it out of bounds trying to save it.
• Pierce dribbles it up, high screen and roll, KG goes away, Pierce drives, falls over,  passes it out, ball bobbles out to Posey, he hits the three
• Kobe brings it up, drives, finds Fisher in the corner, misses the three, offensive rebound by Odom, slips out of his hands, out of bounds. Celtics ball.
• Timeout LA
• Lakers were up 14 points with about 9 minutes to play. Four minutes later the Celtics had cut the lead to 4.
• Lakers lead 90-86
• Pierce to the hoop again, fouled again. Hits two again. 5:16 to play. Pierce has 34 points, same as his jersey, and 8 assists on 10-20 shooting. He’s been phenomenal again.
• 14-2 Celtics run
• Fisher has to take a long three to beat the shot clock, miss
• Celtics turnover, Fisher was out of bounds as he stole the pass. Celtics ball. That looked like a fastbreak layup right there.
• Pierce to the bucket, high screen and roll, drives on Gasol, finds KG open at the elbow, KG hits it
• Pierce picks up his fourth foul fouling Kobe Bryant
• Pau Gasol up and under on KG, gets hit and fouled, no call, hits the short hook
• Ray Allen top of theky, lobs it in to Garnett, fouled by Odom from behind
• JVG – “Lakers are having to take tougher shots” and – Celtics are giving it to Pierce and on a simple high screen and roll are getting easier shots
• KG hits one of two
• Pierce great ball denial on Bryant, picks up his dribble, foul on Garnett off the ball, didn’t see what happened. That’s five on KG.
• Lakers inbounds to Fisher, to Odom top of the key, entry pass to Kobe in the post, fouled by Pierce, that’s five fouls on Paul.
• Timeout Lakers
• 3:31 to play
• Lakers lead 92-91, the smallest of margins. Lakers ball still
• Kobe is only 1-8 from the field since the first quarter. He can’t score. Pierce is bothering him.
• Bryant drives, double is there, spins back on the right elbow, forces up the J, no last minute dish to Odom, layup, hacked by Posey. Good foul by Posey. Odom makes the first as he gets a friendly roll, makes the second.
• 3:23 to play
• Celtics bring it up, high screen and roll, Kobe knocks it away from Pierce, Fisher steals it, coast to coast, fouled. Great defensive play by Bryant. Brilliant. 3:07 to play. Posey  blocks the shot to avoid the three point play, Fisher misses the first, hits the second.
• Pierce on the drive, Farmer knocks down Pierce to avoid the layup. Pierce hits the first, hits the second.
• 2:56 to play
• Lakers lead 95-93
• Pierce has played the entire game
• Lakers inbounds to Fisher, he brings it up calmly, to Kobe, iso, high screen and roll now, Ray kicks the dribble. Shot clock reset.
• Gasol with a lovely move, misses the short hook, goes for the rebound, slightly bumps KG, KG flops, KG gets the call. KG to the FT line as LA are in the penalty. KG has 13 points and is 1-2 from the line, he’ll make two, misses the first, screaming at himself, he’ll make the second, he misses the second.
• Gasol rebounds, to Kobe, Kobe brings it up, milks the clock, drives on Ray, fouled on the drive. Odom and Posey smacks Odom after the foul call. They have words. Kobe goes to the FT line, hits the first, he’s got a little jump in his step after that it’s called relief, hits the second.
• Lakers lead 97-93 with 2:14 to play
• Pierce drives again, goes right at Gasol, miss, KG point blank tip shot at the rim, air ball, Pierce gets it, misses it, Lakers come away with it.
• Kobe iso, forces the short J on the pump fake, miss, Gasol offensive rebound.
• Kobe milks the clock, 1:23 to play, Kobe takes the long three, in and out, Odom tips it, loose ball foul. Horrible call by the officials.
• 1:14 to play
• Pierce back to the FT line, he hits another two FTs, he has 19 FTs tonight, and 39 points.
• Tony Allen comes in for defensive purposes alongside Pierce, Ray, Posey, KG. Lots of length and quickness, they’ll switch everything defensively.
• Kobe brings it up. Ray is on him. Kobe milks the clock, down to 10, makes his move, fouled on the pass, Gasol gets it, out to Fisher, three pointer, miss, Pierce comes away with an incredible contested rebound.
• Pierce drives, Kobe from behind pokes it loose, he leaks out, Lakers get it, long outlet, slam dunk
• Timeout Doc
• That’s Kobe’s fifth steal tonight. Great quick pass by Lamar Odom. Posey was running hard after Bryant. Great play by Kobe to sprint hard to make sure he got the easier two.
• 37 seconds to play
• Boston bring it up 2/3rds of the court. Pierce inbounds to Ray, Ray drives to the hoop, miss, Garnett’s tip misses, Garnett and Ray trap Odom after Odom comes down with it, knock the pass out of bounds.
• Timeout Phil
• 27 seconds to play
• Lakers advance the ball on the timeout
• Lakers lead 99-95
• Inbounds to Fisher, fouled by Ray as he and KG go for the steal. He has shot 85% from the line in the playoffs. He takes and misses the first. Second free throw … PJ Brown comes in to rebound, Fisher only 5-8 from the line tonight, Tony Allen left the floor, checking for an illegal sub, nope …. Fisher huge free throw …. good.
• 5 point game
• 24.8 seconds to play
• Timeout Doc Rivers. He has 1 more timeout after this.
• Doc drawing up a play frantically.
• Eddie House open in the corner, miss, rebound Gasol, hacked, not called, Gasol gets it to Kobe, Kobe dribbles up the left sideline, waste 6 seconds off the clock as Ray fouls and fouls out of the game.
• Phil talking to Farmer about the defensive mistake that allowed Eddie to get himself open in the corner
• Kobe swishes the first, 6 point game, misses the second, rebound KG, timeout Celtics.
• 15.4 seconds remaining. 6 point game.
• That’s the final Celtics timeout.
• JVG ripping apart the Lakers defense right now. He feels their two best defensive plays where Kobe’s hail mary steal and KG’s missed FTs.
• Eddie takes the corner three again, contested lightly, hits the  high arcer. Gasol inbounds, to Kobe, Eddie dives on it, Kobe saves it to Fisher, FIsher dribbles out of four Celtics, fouled by Posey. Great defense by the Celtics trying to force the turnover there. Fisher hits the first FT. That’s the game right there. Gasol comes out. Fisher hits the second.
• 9 seconds to play, quick advance, steal Fisher. Game Over

This series is heading back to Boston. It was ugly but the Lakers pulled it out. Honourable metion to Paul Pierce who was incredible tonight.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Update On Perk

Comcast and WEEI are reporting that Kendrick Perkins is ruled out for tonight and will not play.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Pau “I’ll Be More Agressive”

“I’ll try to be as aggressive as I can, offensively and defensively,” Gasol told reporters on Saturday.

“I’ve tried to do a good job defensively on (Celtics’ forward Kevin) Garnett all series long, but I’ll try to be a little more assertive on offense if I get the chance,” he added.

Did the whole “if I get the chance” part reduce your level of trust in the statement too?

NBA Finals Thoughts: ESPN Reports Perk Favours Shoulder In Practice

In the 30 minutes of practice open for reporters to watch, Perkins kept his left arm mostly immobile. He took some warmup shots, as did the rest of the team, but they were one-handed — with his right arm — with his left arm hanging at his side.

“It feels all right, mostly a little sore,” Perkins said. “The doctors said I could do nothing in practice today. I’m going to give it some rest and give it a shot tomorrow. It’s getting better every day.”

Check out the rest here

NBA Finals Thoughts: Doc – Perk Should Play

During media day Doc had this to say about Perkins

“I think everybody’s good,” Rivers said. “[Perkins] is moving his arms and shoulders pretty well, so again, we won’t know until tomorrow, but right now I think everything looks good.”

NBA Finals Thoughts: Odd Stat – KG FTs

The Celtics have played their record-tying 24th playoff game this postseason and KG has had double-digit free throw attempts only twice. Only two more times has he had more than 6 free throw attempts. For the postseason he’s averaging about 4.5 FTs a game.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Can Kobe Single Handidly Win Three Straight To Claim The Title?

There isn’t a single player in this league that can win a series of this magnitude against a team of this caliber by himself. It’s impossible.

Kobe needs his teammates to perform. It doesn’t have to be scoring (well they need some scoring like Sasha gave in Game Three). It can be rebounding, it can be defense (what LeBron gets from his teammates on a nightly basis to give him a shot)… but has to be something worthwhile and valuable. Kobe can’t outplay this Celtics team by himself and he cetainly can’t do it for three games.

A great player can win a 4-5 minute spell, even a quarter. By the half he’s stretched out completely and he’s only keeping his team within shooting distance. Over 48 minutes that one player has no hope of winning the game.

A great player can lead his teammates and be the one most responsible for the victory …. but he cannot do it by himself. With the way the Lakers are performing on a whole right now that is what we are talking about and no one player can do it … and we’re not just talking about one game we’re talking about three games. It’s impossible without his teammates performances rising to a high level.

Let’s have a quick look at another incredible individual performance that led to a title – Dwyane Wade. Wade led an incredible Miami comeback to four straight wins. His performances were spectacular. It’s one of the greatest one-man shows in the NBA Finals.

But he still had Udonis Haslem shutting down Dirk Nowitzki. He had Shaq in the middle drawing the defense and giving him 15/10. He had Antoine Walker bagging clutch shots. He had Jason Williams running the offense to allow Wade to stay in attack mode instead of having the burden of his teammates hanging on his shoulders. He had James Posey locking up Josh Howard. That’s a lot of help and right now that’s far more help than Kobe Bryant is getting from his Lakers teammates.

Now let’s remember something else, the Celtics aren’t Dallas. The Celtics are the best defensive team in the league. The Celtics are a dominant rebounding team. The Celtics have three 20+ scoring threats who are perennial All-Stars and each has a good matchup on the offensive end.

The task is impossible without Kobe getting far superior performances from his teammates. Kobe cannot take this series and he cannot single handidly win the title. Kobe needs his teammates to show up and then the Lakers would have a shot (not a good one but a shot) at making a comeback. Until that happens for an entire game the Lakers have absolutely no hope of winning series.

NBA Finals Game Four: Los Angeles vs Boston

Big swing game for the series. This is a must win for Los Angeles

• Rondo will start the game as expected
• Perk wins the tip, Lakers control the ball, Odom gets it, Lakers get into their offense, quickly back to Odom, on the drive, layup, goaltend by Garnett. Good start for Odom.
• Ray on the pump fake at the top of the key, defender buys it, drives right him and takes the finger roll in the lane
• Fisher turnover as he throws it out of bounds
• Rondo with a quick drive, nice drive and dish, missed shot
• Fisher dribbles hard, creating a lot of body contact and bumping against Rondo, spins round, fouled on the runner. He’ll shoot two, make two.
• Lakers on the quick push, Kobe from three, miss
• KG gets Kobe on the switch backs him down, double, kickout, long shot, KG doesn’t bother to go for the offensive rebound, Kobe pulls it down.
• Kobe to the paint, fouled, hits one of two
• Both teams exchange turnovers, Lakers waste two brilliant chances. Tech on Doc, Kobe pushed Pierce in the backcourt to create that second turnover, Pierce gave up on the play but Doc didn’t give up on the officials.
• KG inside, spin move into the paint, layup, miss. Phil Jackson would call that a weenie shot.
• Quick push, lovely passing, Fisher to Odom, runs down the open lane, dunk
• Rondo hits the jumper, Kobe gave him that
• Odom hits another
• Perkins on the left block, backs down Odom, jump hook in the lane, knocks it down
• Odom drives on KG again, the help comes, passes into the corner, Radmanovic hits the three
• Rondo takes an out of control floater as Gasol comes to block, miss, Odom tips it, KG taps it out, Celtics get it. Miss, Gasol tips, Lakers get the rebound.
• Defensive rebound Radmanovic, ahead to Odom, he gallops down the right wing into the middle, pass left wing to Gasol, touch pass back, layup. Beautiful fastbreak.
• Timeout Boston
• KG has a quick 21 footer rim in and out from the left elbow extended
• Kobe takes the 22 footer as his defender slips, Odom outjumps KG and steals the rebound, spin move in the paint, hook shot, fouled by KG, two fouls on KG. Odom misses the first free throw. PJ Brown checks in. Lakers have to continue to push the pace here and punish the lack of footspeed from Perk and PJ. Odom hits the second FT.
• Halfway through the first quarter. Pierce and Ray have to take over now and handle the scoring.
• Ray into Pierce on the post, double off Rondo, Rondo makes a good cut, Pierce throws it over his head and out of bounds, turnover.
• Radmanovic nails a three out of the left corner over Pierce
• Lakers lead 20-6
• Eddie House checks in for Rondo
• Pierce loses Radmanovic on a screen on the left elbow, pops out to the three on the left wing, gets the pass, in acres of space, takes it, misses it, offensive rebound Perkins, fouled by Odom.
• Kobe Bryant blocks PJ Brown, they give the foul.
• Kobe lobs it up for Gasol, ball flies through his hands, turnover. Oh easy layup missed there. Gasol wanted the foul on the push, didn’t get it.
• Eddie House pump fakes Kobe, moves left, pull up, miss
• Fisher pull up J from 15 feet as he beats House, nails it over PJ Brown
• Odom knocks down another jumper, he’s 5-5 from the field
• Eddie House left wide open from three as Kobe continues to cheat, misses the three
• Timeout
• Odom nails another jumper, he’s 6-6
• Pierce in the low post, doubled, finds PJ Brown baseline 15 footer, miss, Perkins has inside position, Odom shuffles over and takes it from him
• Radmanovic open three top of the key, miss, Celtics rebound, long outlet, ahead to Pierce, spins into the paint, layup
• Radmanovic blocked inside by Perkins, ahead to Pierce right wing at the three point line, shot fake, Odom buys, Pierce drives right, draws the help, finds Ray in the left corner, nails the three pointer. That’s better from Boston.
• Sam Cassell is talking to KG over on the bench. KG has a flabberghasted look on his face.
• Perkins fouls Kobe in the paint, Kobe shoots two, makes two. Posey comes in for Perkins. He’ll defend Lamar Odom as Boston goes small. Bryant has some MVP chants going.
• Pierce in the high post, draws the foul on Ariza, mid post on the inbounds, gives it up, Posey drives, misses the layup
• Kobe down on the right block, draws the help, finds Gasol, Pau is mugged, gets the call. He gives Farmer a tap on the head for making a good cut. Gasol hits two FTs.
• Lakers lead 30-12
• Pierce finds Eddie House wide open in the corner, misses the three, Ray Allen hands a frustration foul to the Lakers as he wrestles Ariza after Ariza pulls down the rebound. Ariza hits the first, lovely high arc-ing swish, misses the second, offensive rebound on the long bounce.
• Kobe drives inside, finds Ariza open in the left corner, nails the three
• Eddie House from 40 feet, beats Farmer off the bounce, takes the floater off the glass
• Kobe has it, he’ll hold it for the final shot, dribbles down the clock, Ray Allen on him right now, Kobe drives inside again, finds Gasol again, Posey smacks Pau again, he’ll head to the FT line. There’s 4.7 seconds left in the quarter which is more than enough time for the Celtics to get off a good shot. Pau misses the first, Celtics go small on their subs, Phil matches, Pau hits the second.
• Inbounds to Ray, screen, runs the sideline, three falling out of bounds from the sideline, miss
• Worst deficit at the end of the first quarter in NBA Finals history.

Second Quarter

• The Lakers have gotten this lead far too early in the game. This is going to be very dangerous for them. The C’s are one of the hardest working teams in the league. They’ve a great defense and plenty of offensive weapons. They’re one of the best equipped teams in the league at making a run, they’ll make a run and you can bank on that.
• Sam Cassell and Leon Powe comes in
• The Celtics miss their first shot, then Powe fouls on the other end.
• Lakers lead 35-14
• Vujacic misses the 20 footer, Ariza beats Posey to the rebound, loud dunk
• Garnett drives into the paint, nice dish off to Powe, fouled, Powe makes one of two
• Farmer drive and kick, Walton misses the wide open three in the corner
• Powe carries it, turns it over as Powe tries to bring the ball up court on the Celtics save and push
• Walton’s pass knocked down away from Gasol’s reach, turnover
• Ray Allen drives on Ariza, blocked by Ariza, long outlet by Gasol ahead to Walton, he has the space but loses the footrace, just gets to it, finds Farmer, layup, miss
• Pass ahead, Ariza knocks the ball out of bounds
• KG right wing, drives, spins back, layup
• Walton spots up from three, misses
• KG low in the left block, Walton is on him on transition D, easy turnaround J, Lakers had to help there and didn’t
• Vujacic’s shot tapped by Ray, Ariza saves it, kicks it out to the left wing, ball swung to the corner, open three by Vujacic, hits it
• Gasol stops KG from making a move by getting right into his body, KG gives it up
• Posey draws the foul, he’ll shoot two.
• Ariza has 6 points and 5 rebounds in 6 minutes
• Timeout
• Lakers lead 40-19
• I like KG’s aggressiveness in taking it to the rim. Two nice moves on drives, another nice turnaround out of the post, another drive that set up Leon that resulted in two FTs. Keep it up. Celtics offense looks more organized now. Hard to be organized when none of your three best players are controlling the action.
• Luke Walton has shot the ball poorly here in the quarter. He’s not doing their offense or defense much good right now. He hasn’t had a good series, hasn’t been awful but below par.
• Kobe in the post, doubled, pass to the cutting Odom, layup again
• Perkins has three fouls. Missed that. KG has Farmer in the post, turnaround over him, miss. Good take by KG.
• Quick push by LA off the miss, Farmer in the corner, drives along the baseline, layup, miss
• KG low post, doubled on the bad spin move, trapped, jumps up and looks to bail himself out, turnover, Sam Cassell fouls Kobe to avoid the pass ahead to Farmer for the open dunk
• Lakers lead 42-22 with 7 minutes to play in the first half
• Kobe on the drive and kick to Sasha on the right wing, three pointer over Ray Allen, hits it
• Celtics have only 1 assist versus 7 turnovers
• Powe moves into the post, spin move, layup against four Lakers defenders all going for the blocked shot, miss, rebound LA. Good collapsing defense on Powe to make his life hell there.
• Sasha’s pass picked off by KG, as Sasha tries to lob it over the top to Kobe who had his man pinned as he tried to front him in the post. Sasha makes up for it by stealing Ray’s pass.
• KG in the post, pass to Cassell, three pointer, miss
• Bryant whistled for an offensive foul. Weak call. He had stopped and the Celtics play, Pierce, flopped.
• Timeout
• Posey misses a three out of the left corner to re-start the game, Lakers push, Kobe runs right down the middle of the court, gets into the paint, kickout, open three, miss, offensive rebound, another miss
• KG hits another short J from 10 feet out of the low post
• Bryant puts Pierce down on the post, double, kickout, Radmanovic misses a three, rebound KG
• Nobody picks up Ray Allen in transition, open three pointer right wing, nails it
• Timeout Phil Jackson – he didn’t like that defensive breakdown that gave Ray an open look
• Bryant drives again, takes an off balance runner, miss. Kobe has only 3 points tonight
• Fastbreak Celtics, Posey fills the left lane, gets the pass, goes up for the reverse layup, fouled.
• KG low post, kickout for the three, nails another. Celtics have cut it to 14.
• 3 minutes to play in the half
• Pierce iso left wing, face up J
• Celtics on a 12-0 run
• Fisher on the drive out of the Lamar Odom post up, gets fouled and hits the finger roll off the glass
• Timeout
• Fisher hits the FT, Celtics miss a long J, Kobe runs the high screen and roll, finds Gasol, dunk
• KG low post again, gives it up, defensive three seconds on Kobe, hit the T, didn’t see who because ABC didn’t show it. Guessing Ray.
• Posey for three from the top of the key, hits it. 13 point game.
• Radmanovic blocked inside, goaltend I reckon, by KG
• Ray misses a three in transition
• Posey gets the blocking foul against him as Fisher takes it hard to the rim
• 1 minute to play. Lakers lead by 14. Garnett and Kobe head to the bench. Pierce hits another FT.
• Fisher’s pass slips through Gasol’s hands again, that’s their 9th turnover
• Pierce drives into the paint, takes a fallaway on the drive off balance, miss, Odom defensive rebound, holds the ball up and slows it down
• Lakers hold it for the final shot, Fisher runs the high screen and roll, bounce pass through the gap, layup and the foul on Pierce. Gasol hits the FT
• 9.1 seconds, inbounds to Rondo, try to get it to Pierce, Rondo falls over, Radmanovic hit him, Lakers in the penalty, Rondo will shoot two. Phil won’t like that unneccessary foul, I know I don’t. Rondo fell pretty easy there, he’d lost his balance and was starting to fall over already. Dumb contact by Radmanovic. Rondo misses the first, Farmer comes in, 5.2 second to play, hits the second.
• Lakers inbound it to Farmer, he drives through the middle of the floor, gets off the long two pointer as his foot was on the line and banks it in from the top of the key. Nice runner. It was a three pointer by a good margin. They change it.That’s a very difficult situation to defend. With 5 seconds left and a quick point guard running at you. You don’t want to foul and give up two FTs. The opposition will be very aggressive and go right at you because they’re playing against the clock. Very difficult to defend.

Halftime

• Lakers lead 58-40
• Lakers did a great job finishing of the half once Boston got the lead down to 12 to push the lead back up to 18. Completely changes the momentum right before the half.
• Some Team Stats – Lakers dominating the backboards 26-16 and leading 5-2 on the offensive boards. Lakers have 38 shots, 19 misses. The Celtics have 37 shots, 24 misses. The Lakers have 15 assists on 19 made field goals shooting 50%, 6-13 from three and 14-19 at the FT line. The Celtics have 4 assists on 13 made field goals shooting 35%, 4-14 from three, 10-13 at the line. The C’s have 8 turnovers against those 4 dimes, but it’s only cost them 5 points. The Lakers have 9 turnovers but the C’s have only gotten 2 points off those turnovers. Combined blocks/steals Celtics lead 8-7. Celtics have 14 pesonal fouls against 11 fouls for the Lakers.
• Lamar Odom was the star of the first half with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists
• Kobe Bryant is still stuck on three points, he hasn’t even made a field goal. Two of his four field goal attempts were from three. He’s shot 3-4 from the line. However he’s controlled the game by forcing Boston to double him in the post and off the dribble and screen and rolls. he has 6 dimes, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds. Kobe has done a fantastic job facilitating the play.
• Gasol has already beaten his scoring total from the previous game with 10 first half points. He also has 6 rebounds. Fisher has chipped in with 9 big points off two shots and chimed in with 3 dimes. Radmanovic has two threes to give him 6 points and 3 boards.
• The Lakers bench 15 points and 9 boards.
• Despite the two early fouls Kevin Garnett ended up playing 17 minutes. He had 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. He was pivotal in helping get Boston back in the game. What did he do? He went into the low post and he attacked the paint on the dribble drive instead of settling for long jump shots.
• Ray Allen leads Boston with 9 points on 3-8 shooting but he is only 2-6 on three pointers. He’s settling for too many long jumpers right now. Pierce hasn’t been up too much with 6 points on 2-6 shooting, he also has 2 and 2 for rebounds and assists.
• Perkins has 2 points and only 1 rebound in 11 first half minutes. His lack of rebounding is a big reason why they’re getting beaten on the backboards. Another is that they’re missing more shots than LA.
• James Posey was the saviour for Boston by hitting a few long jumpers to stop the effectiveness of the Lakers doubles. He also did a good job attacking the rim hard. He has 10 points. Unfortunately he was beaten out to every loose ball by Trevor Ariza for a 6 minute spell. The rest of the C’s bench has 4 points, 4 rebounds.
• The game’s tempo was definitely in the Lakers favour
• When you’re down 20 plus you normally don’t get a handful of chances to get back in the game. I’m worried the Celtics didn’t make enough of the chance of the chance they got in the second quarter.
• I didn’t like Rondo being benched for so long between the first and second quarter spells he recieved. Good things happen when he’s on the floor. They can work around his lack of a jumpshot.

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Pierce quickly goes into the post, pump fake, draws the foul. 9 seconds is gone and Pierce is already at the line. Great start from the Celtics.
• Odom in the post, short shot off the glass from the low post, miss, he gets a piece of the offensive rebound, Celtics corral it.
• KG hits the 20 footer
• Kobe Bryant one dribble pull up J from 20 feet on the right wing, hits it
• Rondo drives on Bryant, floater in the lane, hits it
• 14 point game right here. This is far from over.
• Gasol misses the 16 footer
• Garnett wide open from 17 feet on the right wing, miss, offensive rebound Ray Allen. Fisher was too busy fronting him to keep him away from the rebound that ball actually bounced over his head. KG drives inside, spins, layup
• Odom drives down the middle, goes up for the dunk, fouled by Perkins. Perk has hurt his shoulder on that play. Doesn’t look good.
• Pierce switches onto Bryant
• PJ Brown misses the open J on the baseline from 14 feet, defensive rebound Lamar Odom, he pushes it ahead, finds Radmanovic, Rad takes it hard to the cup, reverse layup over two Celtics, hits it. Great play by Radmanovic. I love it when he’s aggressive like that.
• Kobe has Pierce in his face, drains the long J
• KG throws it out of bounds as the Celtics get confused offensively
• KG doubled in the post, gives it up, the ball swings around, Rondo gets it after three passes, catches it on the left baseline 13 feet from the rim, tries to drive and put pressure on LA, moves towards the left elbow, finds Posey for the open three on the left wing, miss
• Kobe hits Gasol on the screen and roll, Gasol kicks it back out to Fisher as the defense collapses, Fisher nails it. 8-0 Lakers run.
• Timeout
• Lakers lead 68-48, 20 point lead
• Skip ahead a few plays, Lakers lead 72-57 with 4:20 to play
• Odom backs down Posey in the paint, gets fouled. I love seeing Lamar in the post. It’s a pretty sight. Lovely seal on posey to create the easy passing angle. Odom in the paint again on the lob pass, retrieves it, gets doubled, kick out to Fisher, misses the three
• House finds Posey inside, layup
• Gasol posts up KG, lefty hook off the glass, doesn’t get the roll, offensive rebound but the Celtics steal the ball, Ray Allen got the steal, goes coast to coast and gets the layup
• Timeout Lakers
• Kobe drives into the paint, takes the fallaway, miss, Lakers keep it alive, KG yanks it down. Big rebound by KG in traffic.
• Offensive foul on KG for settling illegal screens. That’s his third.
• Gasol in teh post against KG, pump fake, KG bites, Gasol draws the foul, hits one of two
• Pierce gets into the paint, gets the layup and the foul, hits the FT
• Ariza came back into the game a few minutes ago
• Lovely pass by Kobe to find Gasol, dunk, missed, good contest by KG to bother Gasol. Worth pointing out he didn’t get any of the ball and wasn’t jumping up straight.
• Lakers lead 73-64
• Eddie House strokes a three pointer. This is suddely a 6 point game. The Celtics are on a 15-3 run.
• Foul on Kobe Bryant on Ray’s drive. They’re in the penalty so Ray will head to the line. He makes the first, makes the second. 41 seconds left in the game.
• PJ Brown knocks down the easy two

Fourth Quarter

• Lakers lead 73-71
• Lakers need to look at themselves in the mirror and question how the hell they blew this lead. This is going to be one heck of a fourth quarter. Lakers have the fresher legs but the C’s have momentum.
• Kobe passes up the J, lobs it inside to Turiaf, fouled hard, he’ll head to the line, takes the first, bounces three times and rims out, takes the second, in and out. Two big misses. Gotta make your FTs. That’s going to cost LA.
• Kobe is only 2-11 from the floor
• Loose ball foul on Turiaf as Leon wins the offensive rebound
• The Lakers offense has completely fallen apart. Hardly anyone is making plays outside of Bryant. Doesn’t look good for them. Gasol looks gun shy after missing a few makeable shots and FTs tonight.
• PJ drives, thinks better of it, goes back, gets it to Pierce, he pushes off, offensive foul. Bryant is on Pierce.
• Bryant misses the long two, offensive rebound Sasha, Lakers move the ball around, back to Sasha on the left wing, takes the three, miss
• Eddie House misses the long two, PJ Brown offensive rebound
• Foul on Vujacic for tripping Ray Allen up off the ball. 2nd team foul. First to get in the penalty will get in trouble
• Powe in the paint, spin move, backs in, turnaround J from four feet, gets it to go
• Kobe Bryant low post, takes the fallaway runner in the lane, miss
• PJ Brown cuts to the hoop, gets the pass, passes over to Leon, layup, miss, tip, miss, tip, miss, Lakers rebound the ball.
• Kobe Bryant gets to the hoop, layup, he has 9 points now
• Pierce iso o nthe left wing at the three point line, Pierce pump fake, dribbles right, pull up from 20 feet, hits it
• Blocking foul on Pierce. That’s the team’s second.
• Timeout
• Lakers get nothing going on the offense, Odom has to take a contested three to beat the shot clock, miss
• Garnett low post, turnaround over Odom, miss, rebound Turiaf
• Bryant gets the iso against Pierce on the left wing, takes the face up J, hits it
• Eddie House loses Farmer on the great screen by PJ, misses the 16 footer, rebound Farmer, ahead to Kobe, he drives into the paint, pump fake, up and under, scoop shot from 6 feet, miss
• Garnett left block against Ronny, takes a tough shot, makes it. Great work down on the block.
• Sasha drives into the paint, finds Ronny from 15 feet baseline J, miss
• Lovely pass to the cutting PJ Brown, Turiaf contests the shot, PJ loses it, Lakers run in transition, Odom gets the layup
• Blocking foul on Turiaf, that’s their third team foul.
• Posey comes in, Gasol checks back in
• Farmer gets another rebound off of Pierce’s miss, Pierce hurt his ankle on the miss. Kobe runs the other way, hesitation dribble, slam dunk
• Timeout
• Pierce says he’s okay
• Lakers lead by 4 with 6 minutes to play
• Lakers doing a great job pushing the ball after missed shots. That’s the difference right now between the Celtics having a lead and being down four.
• Eddie brings it up, Ray slips, manages to get it to KG, Lakers defense falls apart scrambling to steal the ball, Ray gets it back off KG, finds Posey in the corner, three pointer good
• Bryant bank shot on the move, bricked badly
• 6 seconds on the shot clock, baseline inbounds, Gasol against KG, drives into the paint, pump fake, gets a hook/scoop shot to fall
• KG drives into the paint, draws the foul, didn’t think that was a foul. KG makes the first, makes the second. Big play by KG.
• Lakers bring it up, still up 1, Vujacic almost loses it, inside to Odom, layup, Posey slides out of the way, confuses Odom, bricks the layup
• Celtics ball, out to Eddie, 20 footer, hits it, Celtics have their first lead of the game with 4 minutes remaining.
• Lakers turnover, Ray steals it, timeout Celtics
• Timeout
• Celtics ball, they bring it up, Pierce passes up the J, gets it back, pops out for the three, wide open top of the key, miss, offesnive rebound Ray, Iso for Pierce, he has Farmer on him, Kobe helps, Ray gets the ball in the corner, drives baseline, reverse layup
• Vujacic misses as he shoots to beat the buzzer, offensive rebound Odom, Kobe on the drive and dish to Farmer from three, miss
• Celtics lead 86-83
• Garnett travels, hop step in the paint, gets the short J to go off the drive.
• Celtics 8-0 run to put them up 5.
• Timeout Lakers
• Kobe Bryant takes it to the rim, fouled, ABC aren’t even showing the game right now. They’re showing JVG and co. talking. Kobe makes both. 2 minutes to go. Lakers need stops.
• Celtisc inbounds, full court pressure, but light, great defense by Bryant on Pierce, Pierce has to give it up, they run a second screen and roll, Gasol switches, Pierce drives, beats Gasol, gets the foul. Soft call at the end of the game but it was a foul. Pierce will make these, he takes and misses the first, he’ll make the second, makes the second. Four point game. 1:44 to play.
• Lakers have missed 27 of last 29 shots from the floor
• Kobe drives again, foul on the floor, sideline ball. They had a foul to give.
• Kobe into the paint again, hits the layup over KG, two point game.
• Eddie brings it up, Fisher harrassing him, can’t get it to Pierce, to Posey, to Ray, Ray drives, Lakers gamble, lose Posey, open in the corner, three pointer, hits it
• Drive and dish Kobe to Fisher, three, nope foot on the line but he hits it. Three point game with a minute to go.
• Bryant bumps Pierce, Pierce gets the call, he’ll shoot two
• Timeout Doc
• Since the first quarter the C’s have 78 points on 52% shooting plus 14 assists.
• Pierce to the line, makes the first, steps back, looking forward to the next shot, takes it, makes it
• Lakers are small with Fisher/Sasha/Kobe/Rad/Gasol
• Drive and dish, Gasol dunk
• Lakers go full court, almost cause a 5 second violation, KG gets it in to Ray, Ray dribbles it up, milks the clock, drives, Sasha loses him, Ray Allen wide open layup
• Timeout Lakers
• Lakers miss, Eddie House fouled, makes two FTs

That’s the game. Terrible collapse from the Lakers. This series is over. The Celtics will win this series and probably in the next game.

Some Stats

1. Celtics scored on all 10 of their final possessions, that’s the final 5:24 of the game.
2. Also worth noting that each of the five Celtics – House/Ray/Pierce/Posey/KG scored. Posey led the way with six, KG had four, Ray had four, Eddie had three, Pierce had three.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Amazing Stat

This is courtesy of Rick Kamla on an ESPN chat today

It might already be over, based on the amazing stat–err, fact–that the Celtics have never lost a playoff series of any kind when leading two-zip. They are 30-0.

60 years of basketball. 16 championships and they’ve never lost a series when winning 2-0. That’s incredible.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Amusing Story About The Walton’s

CALLER ID: Occasionally, Luke Walton picks up his phone and gets an earful.

“This is Paul Pierce,” the caller says. “You’re a bum, and all your teammates are bums.”

Only it isn’t actually Pierce—or Carlos Boozer or Carmelo Anthony. Instead, it’s just an attempt by Walton’s Hall of Fame father to motivate his son in the NBA finals.

“He wouldn’t even change his voice,” Luke Walton said.

Everyone in the NBA wants to win a title, but Walton has an added motivation: He won’t have to hear from his dad about their disparity in championships any more.

Or not as much, at least.

“It would be a lot easier to have dinner with him,” said the younger Walton, who played at Arizona. “He already talks trash about me not winning an NCAA championship.”

Bill Walton went to UCLA and won two championships, then added to his haul in the NBA when he won three more. He gave the championship rings to his parents, and Luke remembers seeing the baubles when he’d visit his grandparents.

So, if Luke wins one, would he give the ring to his dad?

“I don’t think a Lakers ring is safe in that house,” he said. “It might get mistakenly thrown out.”

NBA Finals Thoughts: Paper Talk

Here’s some Quotes of the day that was from various papers that caught my eye

“Me and Kevin [Garnett] really didn’t play well,” said Pierce, who made two of 14 shots. “But then you’ve got to look at the Lakers’ side. Odom and Gasol really don’t play well. So you’ve got to expect me and Kevin to play a lot better in Game 4 as well as Gasol, as well as Odom to play a lot better.”

Quote from Doc

And he wrapped things up with comments about the Pierce injury, which may or may not have been some kind of jab at Jackson, by saying, ?Paul Pierce got injured and we questioned him, but we believe Donaghy? When you think of the logic of that crap . . .

Here’s an article comparing KG’s play to Ralph Sampson

LOS ANGELES | When this NBA finals series is over, Kobe Bryant may be a real threat to Michael Jordan’s throne, and Kevin Garnett just might finish dethroning Ralph Sampson as the most misguided 7-foot jump shooter in league history

The reality is the Lakers got back into this series (fourth quarter of game two and all of game three) once Kobe quit having confidence in his timid teammates. He’s decided to win this thing by himself. He’ll take help if it’s offered, but he’ll play these last four games without assistance if necessary.

He figured out in game two that the Celtics aren’t so tough, especially with The Big Ticket exposing himself as The Really Big Two Guard.

Seriously, someone who cares about KG needs to put a stop to this. He looks like the kid who ran into the house rather than fight the neighborhood bully. He needs his mama to push him back outside (into the paint), lock the door and tell him don’t come back to the door until the fight is over. It happens to all of us. It’s a rite of passage.

Doc Rivers needs to give KG some tough love. What’s really sad is Gasol is scared to death that KG is going to come in the paint and take his lunch money. Gasol breathes a sigh of relief every time The Really Big Two Guard unspools a harmless 18-footer.

Seven-footers don’t win championships on the perimeter.

Garnett started this championship series in the debate for the greatest power forward of all time. You could mention him in the same sentence with Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Elvin Hayes.

Phil on the Big Three’s scoring

“We’ve said over the past three games that we can’t let all of their scorers hurt us – Allen, Pierce and Garnett,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

“If two of the three have good games, we have to keep one of those guys at a subpar game if we’re going to have a chance to win.”

Rondo showing off his team spirit

“If I’m going out there at 50%, I don’t want to hurt the team,” said Rondo, who had 16 assists in Game 2.

“Eddie and Sam do a great job of running the team, so I’ll let them have it.”

SI.com has an article thinking the Lakers should go small against the Celtics. Here’s a note from the lovable Tex Winters

After Game 1, longtime Lakers assistant Tex Winter noted that Farmar brought a different dimension to L.A.’s attack. He said he wanted to see Farmar play more, but that Jackson preferred the 6-foot-7 Vujacic’s size and defense

Garnett on Pau

Garnett seemed to agree.

“I’ve got Pau on me,” he said after Game 3. “It’s not like he’s easy when it comes to being a defender.

Here’s four more articles talking about what KG is failing to do (amongst many more) – the last one is the best read

What’s wrong with KG?

Garnett’s Jump Shots Are Good – For LA

Getting More From Garnett Would Be The Ticket

Garnett’s Skills Wasted

Here’s a few clips of the fourth:

This is Kevin Garnett?

This 7-foot jump shooter? This player with so much skill and quickness and athletic ability who has decided not to use any of those qualities and instead play these NBA Finals like some hybrid of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Wang Zhizhi?

When you watch a Celtics game on television, someone like Charles Barkley or Kenny Smith tells you that Garnett is one of the best two or three power forwards in basketball history. When you watch a Celtics game in person, you wonder why one of the best two or three power forwards in NBA history is afraid of Pau Gasol.

And Gasol is soft. If I hadn’t made that clear.

Garnett is making Gasol look like Alonzo Mourning

There’s more:

There has never been a player with his size and skills. There are 7-footers who can move and jump, men like Tyson Chandler and Marcus Camby. There are 7-footers who can handle the ball, like Joakim Noah. There are lots of 7-footers who can score on the low block. But there’s only one 7-footer who can do all of those things, and make those things look easy.

And Kevin Garnett refuses to do it.

And more

You have been watching the NBA Finals, right? You have seen him attempt 62 shots from the floor in three games, most of them from college 3-point range. You have seen him make just 22. That’s 35.5 percent. That’s criminal for someone as big and talented as Kevin Garnett

NBA Finals Thoughts: Another Rondo Update

Wearing a hard plastic brace on his left ankle – and, when talking to reporters, no shoes – Rondo described the injury as a bone bruise. He felt less pain after treatment with ice and a night of rest, and he expects to feel even better with another 24 hours to heal.

“I can walk on it,” Rondo said, adding that he wouldn’t be able to wear that brace during the game. “I made a walk around the hotel and I was limping a little bit, but the farther I walked the better it got.”

On Wednesday, Rondo was on the floor for the stretching drills, but he took part in about half of them and appeared to be going at about half-speed. The rest of practice was closed to the media, and the Celtics were not planning a shootaround on Thursday morning.

NBA Finals Thought: Update Rondo’s Ankle

SI.com has this:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo missed practice on Wednesday because of a bone bruise in his left ankle, but he said he would be ready to play in Game 4 of the NBA finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

X-rays were negative, and Rondo iced and rested his ankle overnight.

“Nobody in this league is 100 percent, but I’m sure I’ll play,” he said during the media availability period before practice at Staples Center. “There is no way I’m going to miss the game, probably. But I don’t want to hurt the team, and not be able to give them my all.”

Doc Rivers adds this

“But we missed Rajon’s speed, and he’s the one pure point guard on our team that has the ability to make plays, and that’s what we would lose,” Rivers said. “I’m concerned because if Rondo can play but he doesn’t have speed, then that’s a concern.”

On Wednesday, Rondo was on the floor for the stretching drills that are open for the media to watch, but he took part in about half of them and appeared to be going at about half-speed. He wore a stiff plastic brace on his ankle over his white socks.

“He’s sore and swollen, so he’s out of practice,” Rivers said.

If he can’t play, Rivers said, he’ll find some other combination.

“I don’t worry about guys out; I just don’t. That’s why we play them all,” he said. “If a guy is out, somebody else has to step up and play. That’s what we’ve done all year.

“Having said that, Rondo’s value is extremely important to the team. We understand that. He gives us speed; he gives us great point guard play. He has the ability to pressure the ball. But if he can play, it’s going to be great, but if he can’t, we’re not going to use that as a crutch, I can tell you that.”

NBA Finals Thoughts: Rondo’s Ankle

“It’s sore,” said Rondo, who returned to the game in the fourth quarter and finished with 8 points and 4 assists. “I’ll get a lot of treatment.

“It was a little tender. I could run a little bit, but I wasn’t sure that I could cut on it, so I didn’t make any hard cuts.

“I’ll get a lot of treatment done and keep on resting and staying off my feet. We have a great trainer, so I’m sure I’ll probably be ready [for Game 4].”

Still waiting on the X-Ray results. I’ll give an update when more is known.

It was a mild ankle sprain. I didn’t think too much of it at the time and I still don’t. I fully expect Rondo to be able to play and be effective out there. Rondo’s reaction to the injury has suprised me though.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Gasol’s Defense

Gasol has been doing a very solid job defensively on Kevin Garnett. Pau isn’t a great defender but at 7-1 with a 7-5 wingspan he does pose certain challenges to the opposition. Namely that he is very hard to get a clean look over. Tim Duncan was bother by Pau’s length in route to a 42% shooting performance on 21 shots a night, most of which were right at the rim (because Pau is below par post position defender). The series before Carlos Boozer was held to 40% shooting and only 16ppg.

So far in the series Kevin Garnett is shooting just 36% through the first three games. Those numbers are even lower if you look past the first half of game one, since then KG has made just 16 of 53 shot attempts for 30% shooting. KG is actually taking 20.6 shot attempts a game in the Finals versus the 14 shots a game he took during the regular season. It’s a very important thing that Gasol has slowed KG down, especially since Gasol isn’t scoring enough himself (he needs to shoot more, only 10.6 shots a night).

In the first three rounds KG’s primary defender was 6-foot-9 (Smith, Wallace, McDyess), he was comfortably able to shoot over the top of that defenders in the post and the perimeter. He was always able to get a good look at the hoop. Pau’s length has limited that. Kevin is having to put the ball on the floor and use his quickness and ballhandling to get better shots. When he’s been aggressive and taken it to the hoop he’s been succesful but KG’s passive offensive ways keep creeping back into his game limiting how often he does that. The same thing can be said for KG’s post game. Gasol is also doing a very good job of staying on his feet and not biting on KG’s large number of pump fakes (he over uses pump fakes). He’s also done a good job as he has all season of avoiding fouling and keeping KG off the FT line (2.11 blocks per game versus 2.72 fouls in the postseason).

Basically, Kevin Garnett can score on Pau and can get good shots when he attacks him with intelligence. When he settles for shots he was taking against 6-9 defenders he’s having a more difficult time because Pau is able to get up and contest the jump shot.

It’ll be interesting to watch over the coming games … which KG shows up? If it’s this same one as the previous few games Gasol can continue defending him effectively.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Vujacic Chipping In

Nice write up from Hollinger, check it out

For the series, Vujacic has 36 points in 74 minutes; on a per-minute basis, he’s the team’s No. 2 scorer, trailing only Bryant.

Huge night in Game Three from Sasha Vujacic with 20 points on 7-10 shooting from the floor.

“I thought Vujacic was the key to the game,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “He was aggressive, and he deserved what he got.”

“The Machine played like a machine,” Bryant said. “He’s gotten better as the season has gone on, not just being a spot-up shooter but being able to put the ball on the floor one or two bounces and taking a step back. He’s really developed into a well-rounded scorer.”

“He’s a little bit of a rock head,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “That’s what we call him. He believes in himself very sincerely that he’s going to make the next one, and you have to be that way if you’re going to have the guts to go out there and do it.”

Hollinger adds

Vujacic’s impact on the offense can be seen in L.A.’s scoring totals. In the 27:36 he played, the Lakers scored 55 points; when he wasn’t on the court for the other 20:24, the Lakers mustered just 32 points. The latter is a 75.3 pace for a full game, the former 95.7 — that’s a 20-point swing.

NBA Finals Thoughts: House’s and Sam’s Shooting

Sam Cassell is shooting only 32.4% in the playoffs this season. Only 26.4% on his last 61 attempts from the field.

Eddie House is shooting only 25% from the floor in the playoffs.
Frankly I don’t expect either one of them to continue to shoot badly but it sure as heck isn’t making Doc’s life any easier. If just one of them could step and make a few shots they’d have the spot.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Who Should Be Frightened Post Game Three

Should the Lakers be frightened of Boston because despite the worst games of both KG and Pierce they were still in with a shout to win the game until the final waning moments?

Or should Boston be frightened because the Lakers won the game despite getting such below par contributions from all four of Kobe’s fellow starters?

I don’t know. Maybe it was just a wierd game that has absolutely not warning signs for the immediate future. Let’s wait and see.

NBA Finals Game Three: Los Angeles vs Boston

Must win for LA

• Lakers are 8-0 at home in the playoffs
• Kobe misses the opening shot, rebound Pau, pass out, back in to Radmanovic, Ray Allen blocks it on the way up
• Lovely pass by Rondo to Perk as Rondo cut through the lane after his post entry pass to KG on the left block
• Gasol 13 footer uncontested, rolls off, Odom gives away a cheap foul reaching in after Boston rebounded the ball. That was dumb.
• Ray misses a baselene J, rebound Odom, he pushes it up the middle of the floor, blocked layup by KG
• Rondo takes a wild layup miss, rebound LA, stolen by Ray on the outlet, 20 footer, miss, defensive rebound Odom, outlet to Kobe. Kobe pushes it up the right wing, drives right to the hoop, loses the ball, Gasol scurries over and snatches the loose ball, gets fouled on his layup. HIts 1 of 2.
• Radmanovic picks up a ticky tack foul on Pierce’s baseline drive. Another dumb foul. Dumb foul being an unneccessary foul that had no point and was down to an unintelligent play, usually after bad defense or ruining good defense.
• Garnett takes a 20 footer off the dribble miss, Gasol hits the boards, gets it
• Fisher on the drive to the hoop, layup, miss. Nice ball movement from LA. Fisher had a three and Gasol had a 12 footer. Passing up too many shots. Should have been easier than that in the end.
• Boston lead 2-1 after two and a half minutes
• Bryant post up left block, double from the top, spins baseline, reverse layup
• Garnett right wing, dribbles left, into the paint, layup, blocked by Odom on the help defense. Lakers push it up the other way, hit Radmanovic in the right corner on the break, hits the three
• Garnett throws a bad pass too high for Rondo’s cut, turnover
• Bryant got hit hard on the drive, no call, spills out for the long jump shot, miss, offensive rebound Kobe, fouled on the driving layup, hits two of two
• Garnett left wing 20 footer from Rondo, miss
• Kobe rebounds, pushes it up, Celtics get back, Kobe drives, Rondo is on him, reaches on the jumper, foul. Hits one of two.
• Bryant is defending Rondo and Fisher is on Ray Allen
• Lakers trying to force Rondo to stick with Kobe on the other end by pushing the ball up quickly before Ray can get across to Kobe. Cross mismatches
• Steal Derek Fisher, hard push, back to Kobe, fouled on the dunk attempt
• Timeout
• Kobe misses the first, misses the second. He lets Boston off the hook there. He’s 3-6 from the line to start the game.
• Rondo off the dribble, gets into the paint, fouled
• Gasol rebound out to Kobe, slow push, drives in anyway, has nowhere to go, throws it loose, Odom retrieves it
• Kobe in the paint, catch in the post, fadeaway, hacked by Rondo, no call
• Lakers turn it over on the break, Celtics get an open three pointer for Ray Allen, nails it
• Radmanovic misses the post. Odd shot for him.
• Odom gives up great position in the low post to Perk. Perk backs him down, Fisher doubles, easy pass, layup
• Kobe iso left wing, one dribble right, elevates, hits it
• Garnett right block, turnaround in the paint, miss, offensive rebound Perkins, Odom’s 2nd foul. Ronny Turiaf in. 5 minute mark in the first quarter.
• Pierce in the post left block, drives baseline, reverse layup heavily contested, miss, tap by Perk, miss, rebound Lakers
• Kobe near the top of the key, dribbles to the right, Ray pushes off, foul, Kobe hits two of two
• Kobe standing four feet off on Rondo every time
• Rondo drives inside, Kobe taps it loose, Fisher grabs the loose ball, transition, Fisher pops from 16 feet off the dribble, hits it
• Rondo makes Kobe pay for sagging off with a 18 footer. Kobe was 6 feet away from Rondo on that shot trying to stop the pass to KG
• Travel on Kobe, turnover
• Rondo high arc-er over Kobe, miss, tip by Ronny, spills to KG, out to Rondo, Rondo behind the back ball fake in the paint, then hits it back out to Posey for three, nails it
• Rondo loses Kobe on the screen and roll, floater in the lane, hits it
• Kobe drives into the paint, behind the back pass, Gasol dunk, blocked by KG. KG sprints the floor ahead of the pack, gets the ball, misses the dunk, taps it out, Posey dives on it, fouls Radmanovic, call goes the other way. That’s three on Rad-man.
• Timeout
• Lakers lead 17-14
• Pierce gets the roll on the second FT, makes both
• Vujacic bricks a three badly. Didn’t come close to hitting iron.
• Pierce loses the ball on the dribble, Perk quicker to it
• Pierce forces up a fallaway. Sasha Vujacic played superb defense on Paul Pierce on that possession. He’s happy to get into Pierce’s body and bang him, slap at his dribble, use his quickness to limit his penetration. Paul has to put his back to the basket and beat him down low.
• Cassell comes in. He hurt his wrist again in Game two. Let’s see how he shoots tonight.
• High screen and roll between Pierce and KG, Ronny helps out, bad spacing, Pierce doesn’t have the pass, down to PJ, PJ shoots the 13 footer, hits it
• Miss, Sam dribbles up, FT line J, nails it. Wrist must feel good.
• Turiaf low post, bangs away, turnaround J, miss
• Cassell shoots a three, miss, KG taps the ball to keep it alive, falls to Los Angeles
• Vujacic on the break in the corner, drives baseline, gets fouled, hits two of two.
• Final possession of the quarter. Boston will hold it for the final shot. Powe in. Rondo, Pierce, Posey, Sam.
• Posey just goal tended a free throw by LA after a lane violation. What the heck? Whistle was before the shot, doesn’t count. Okay. Vujacic hits the second.
• Rondo with a nice pass down low to Powe, blocked from behind by Farmer, Vujacic steps on the line as he grabs the loose ball. 1.3 seconds to play. Ray Allen comes in. Posey pops out, air balls a three
• 13-3 Celtics run to end the quarter

Second Quarter

• 20-20 Tie Game
• Lakers second unit hasn’t given them enough in the first two games. Let’s see how they play now. It’ll be interesting to see who’s out there with them. Phil should play Gasol and Odom. If he plays without both the Lakers will be in trouble. Let’s see.
• Kobe is playing with the second unit. Farmer and Vujacic. Ronny and Odom.
• Leon Powe steals a rebound from Odom, Odom fouls. Another dumb foul. Walton comes in off the bench for LA. Powe is going to kill Walton. Terrible matchup
• Cassell has to take it to beat the clock, high arc-er from 19 feet with Farmer in his face, miss
• Kobe drives inside, stops pulls up for the midrange shot just outside the paint, 12 footer, over PJ Brown, hits it
• Posey for three, way off
• Bryant drives to the rim again, fouled again, free throws again, hits two of two
• Powe low block, Kobe doubles, Powe has to kick it out, Ray gets it, Vujacic on him, Ray drives, gets the touch foul from Vujacic.
• Powe drives right, travels on the pivot as he picks up his dribble
• Luke Walton shot fake from the corner, drives, layup, miss
• Ray Allen right wing, pump fake, one dribble right, pull up from 15 feet, hits it
• Walton hits the cutting Farmer, layup
• Powe just smacked Walton in the chest with his elbow. That’s setting up post position.
• Powe with a nice roll to the hoop, gets the ball, Ronny helps, both guys go up hard, no fouls, tough shot, miss, Powe keeps it alive out of bounds
• Lovely ball movement by LA, everybody made a touch pass, Vujacic wide open three top of the key, hits it
• KG left block, doubled by Kobe, kickout, back inside, quick turnaround J over Turiaf, miss, rebound Farmer, PJ lands his shoulder right into him, then hacks Farmer as he tries to dribble. Foul. PJ fronting up on the point guard puffing out his chest like a hard man (he is but stop picking on the midget alright). Farmer thinks about, thinks better of it. Kobe and Sasha run over to calm it down. PJ’s already turned around. Refs quick to stamp it out. Some heat.
• TImeout
• Walton passes up the three, looks to drive, realizes KG is on him, brings it back out, looks at the shot clock, has to take it, hard dribble left, fallaway baseline, miss, air ball
• KG right block, fouled on his pass out of the post on Turiaf
• Walton is defending PJ Brown now
• Gasol coming in for Ronny Turiaf now. 8 minutes to play. Ronny will be back in a few minutes.
• Ray off a curl screen, three pointer, nails it
• Farmer hand off from Gasol on the cut in the low post, layup as he jumps into PJ, miss
• Garnett 20 footer, miss, he’s 0-7. That won’t last
• Kobe in transition, Celtics get back, doesn’t matter, layup left handed, beautiful. Nice hesitation dribble against Posey, crossover from the FT line, lefty over KG
• Offensive foul on PJ Brown, moving screen
• Farmer hits a three, nice pass from Gasol
• Turnover PJ Brown
• Farmer is pumping up his teammates, he’s in a zone right now. Very competitive play.
• Walton misses a layup inside
• Ray Allen on the break, alley oop to KG, dunk, that was Walton’s fault for missing the layup
• Timeout Phil
• Walton is making so many mistakes all over the court in the Finals. Celtics are a really bad matchup for him. He’s becoming very hesitant on his shots, keeps passing up easier looks.
• Pump fake Sasha, dribbles left, takes the 20 footer, hits it over Perk
• Turiaf back in, he’s on KG
• KG left block, turnaround over Ronny, miss, Gasol and Perk fight for the board, out of bounds off Perk
• Vujacic takes a 19 footer off the bounce over Ray, nails it, 10 points in 9 minutes
• Pierce’s shot blocked by Walton, Celtics keep possession, back to Pierce, left wing, drives left, uses the rim to protect himself from the block, reverse layup. Great play by Pierce. Lakers have no answer to that, keep doing that.
• KG wraps his arms around Turiaf, fouls him needlessly
• 4 minutes to play in the first half
• Kobe left elbow extended 18 feet out, dribble left, pull up, hits it
• Pierce air balls a three
• Rondo forced to stick with Kobe in transition, all back, Rondo still on Kobe, fights the pass, Kobe gets it right wing three point line, backs him down, Celtics triple team, Kobe spins baseline, fouled by Rondo
• Gasol fouled inside. Misses the first, misses the second. They’re 11-18 from the line tonight.
• KG passes up the 19 footer, passes up the 15 footer, nice pass to Perk, dunk
• Pierce reaches in on Gasol, foul, that’s three on Pierce, they’re in the penalty.
• TImeout
• Gasol hits the first, misses the second
• Rondo misses a fadeaway 17 footer. Gotta go up straight young fella.
• Posey smacks Kobe, gets away with it, tech on Kobe, Ray misses. That tech stopped a fastbreak. Some bright side there for LA. Kobe has 3 techs for the playoffs, no danger of suspensions for total techs
• Lakers lead 41-31 with 2:30 to play
• Garnett trapped hard, forced out, passes over the top, Celtics keep swinging the ball, Posey gets free, drives inside, fouled on the layup. Posey hits both.
• Lakers miss inside, Kobe keeps the rebound alive, jumps on it again, forces Posey to run out of bounds trying to save the ball. No easy boards.
• Vujacic corner three off the one dribble step back over Ray Allen, hits it, foot was on the line, two pointer
• Fisher fouls off the ball. Ray to the FT line, the Lakers are in the penalty too. Ray misses the first, makes the second.
• Garnett doubles Gasol in the post on the spin move, Gasol tries to pass out, intercepted easily. Very poor pass.
• Garnett travels as he passes up the 18 footer. Just keep shooting big fella, they’ll drop.
• High screen and roll Fisher and Gasol, layup Gasol, miss, taps it, Celtics knock it out of bounds, Lakers ball
• Pierce and KG have combined for four points on 2-16 shooting
• Gasol misses a turnaround in the post, bad shot, he was never in control, never balanced on that attempt
• Ray hits another three. He has 12 points now
• Kobe holds up the ball, drives inside, fouled, misses two of two
• 6 seconds on the clock. Eddie House checks in for Perk.
• Celtics outlet the ball, watch the shooters floating to the corner on Rondo’s penetration, Rondo pushes it right down the middle of the floor, none of the Lakers help, forced into a tough floater over Kobe, miss

Halftime

• 2-16 four points from KG and Pierce. Hard to win when two of your big three are misfiring.
• Lakers lead 43-37
• Lakers have thoroughly and completely outplayed the Celtics yet they haven’t been able to build any seperation. That’s a bad sign. The Celtics are a great team for sticking in games when they’re not playing well. Their rebounding, defense and multitude of scoring options allows them to stay within shooting distance.
• Lakers are 12-22 from the free throw line. That’s 55%. That’s awful. You’d think those days would be beyond LA since Shaq left town. Kobe has 5 of those 10 misses. Pau has four of those misses. Kobe is 7-12, Gasol is 2-6
• Some Team Stats – Celtics winning the battle on the boards 26-20 and 6-3 on the offensive boards. The Celtics have 9 more shots, although LA has 15 more FTs which is about 7 shots. The Celtics have 11 assists on 14 made shots, shooting only 33% though on 14-43 shooting. They’re 4-9 from three (Ray 3-3) and 5-7 from the line. The Lakers have 8 assists on 14 made shots, shooting 41% on 14-34 from the floor, 12-22 from the line and 3-5 from three. Combined blocks/steals is 10-6 Boston. Boston have 8 turnovers costing them 9 points. The Lakers have 4 turnovers costing them 8 points.
• The tempo of the game has very much favoured Los Angeles. They’ve done a much better job of pushing the basketball and getting some fastbreak opportunities.
• The Lakers have blown a lot of opportunities. There were a lot of missed layups and missed free throws. Lakers could easily be up 15-17 points if they made most of those.
• Ray Allen has 12 points and is by far Boston’s best scorer. Yet he’s only fourth in shot attempts. KG has 9 shots, Pierce and Rondo have 7 apiece, Ray has 4.
• Kobe Bryant is leading LA with 19 points on 6-10 shooting and 7-12 from the line
• Vujacic has been supporting scoring cast with 12 points. Gasol hasn’t made a field goal and has only two points. Odom hasn’t scored and has only played 7 minutes. Fisher has only 2 points. Radmanovic only 3 points. Walton and Turiaf both scoreless. Farmer has 5 points to be their third scorer. Lakers are going to be in trouble if they can’t get some scoring from the starters outside of Kobe. They will have a scoring drought if they don’t get those scoring right at the start of the half.
• Paul Pierce needs to get his head in gear. He’s been able to get to the rim whenever he drives hard. Do that more often and you’re golden.

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Garnett off the dribble, runner off the bank, god, brick. That was a 6-3 player’s shot. That’s something you see Farmer do. What was that?
• Rondo gets the offensive rebound, falls over, travels, then is fouled, they call the travel first
• Odom in the paint, nice pass from Fisher, Odom loses it, turnover, fastbreak the other way, Rondo falls over on the pass, Mark Jackson thinks it’s a sprained ankle
• House in for Rondo
• Ray with a nice cut, layup
• Kobe passes up the three at the top of the key, drives left, spins on the elbow, floater right handed from 14 feet, hits it
• Pierce on the drive, fouled on the pass
• Perkins fouled inside before the pass, collects the pass, steadies himself, hits the layup, gets the continuation. That’s ridiculous. Lakers starting to foul needlessly again. At least Perk misses the free throw.
• Fisher misses again, defensive rebound, Lakers don’t get back, outlet, Ray takes it to the hoop from the right wing, scores the layup
• Perkins blocks Bryant, Bryant keeps possession, drives, fouled by Perk
• Mild right ankle sprain for Rondo. He walked off the court fine. Just take some tape. Yeah here he comes.
• Rondo sits for a bit
• Eddie House deflects a pass into the backcourt, Fisher saves it, dives on it, throws it away to Odom before he can be tied up, Odom from 32 feet, miss, offensive rebound Bryant
• Ariza is on the floor now, takes a long J, hits it
• KG iso left wing, quick first step, blows by Gasol, fouled on the dunk attempt. KG misses the first, looks at the ball like it betrayed him, puzzled by that miss, makes the second
• Bryant’s pass stolen by House
• Pierce misses a three on the break, tap out by KG, tap by House, Pierce retrieves it. Celtics get back in their offense, House nails a three from the top of the key
• Fisher misses a long two, KG gets his 11th board
• Ray gets Gasol on the switch, runs to the rim, back out baseline, hand off from the post, 14 footer, miss
• Kobe throws another bad pass, turnover, trying to lob it inside to Gasol on the break
• KG left block, right hook in the lane
• Gasol pass fake, dribbles left in the paint between four defenders, loses the ball. Dumb plays here.
• Pierce inside, kickout to KG, 20 footer, Celtics 12-2 run to take the lead
• Boston lead 51-49
• Kobe goes iso mode, drives on Pierce, draws the foul, on the spin into the paint. That’s four on Paul.
• Ray loses Ariza on the high screen and roll, knocks down another three
• Timeout Phil Jackson
• 15-3 Celtics run
• Spacing has been a lot better since Eddie House entered the game. Quick passing, movement and the threat of a perimeter shooter.
• Ariza’s lack of playing time with Gasol is really showing. They have no understanding of where to move when they’re passing to each other.
• Odom down in the paint, hook shot
• Ariza falls over on the three, bad shot, looked a bit shaken there
• Perkins slowly backs down Odom, right hook, hits it
• Odom 18 footer over KG, miss
• Ariza needs to be taken off the floor
• Ariza saves a loose pass that should have been a turnover, layup, he bailed out Farmer there, Farmer jumped up with nowhere to go
• Garnett hits the 20 footer with Gasol in his face
• Celtics lead 58-54 with 2 mintues to play
• Lovely pass by Kobe Bryant to Odom, layup, Kobe’s first assist
• Ray Allen hit on a three point attempt by Kobe, Ray hits three of three
• Kobe Bryant hit on the drive again, no call again, hits off the spin move in the paint, very tough shot
• Garnett left block, fallaway, great defense, miss, offensive rebound, travel, not called
• Timeout
• PJ Brown got fouled, missed the first, hits the second. Celtics up four with a minute plus left in the third.
• Gasol spins right hook in the paint
• PJ Brown misses the layup while he was looking for the shot blocking Lamar Odom
• Layup Lamar Odom, miss
• Celtics hold it for the final shot, Ray trying to create off the dribble, gets some space, draws the help, over to PJ, miss at the buzzer
• Celtics got four offensive boards and created four turnovers (7 points), that was big

Fourth Quarter

• Celtics lead 62-60
• That was good for LA to get Odom and Gasol a hoop in the third quarter. Pity they couldn’t have gotten 2-3 hoops but at least they got them off the mark. They’ll be more comfortable offensively in the fourth after that.
• Vujacic opens the fourth with a three, Lakers take the lead
• Ray Allen responds from the right corner with a three of his own, great screen by Brown to pick off Kobe, Ray completely lost Kobe. Wide open look. Ray is 5-5 from three.
• Kobe misses the fadeaway from 18 feet on the right baseline
• Another offensive rebound for Boston, House misses the three on the next shot
• House and Powe pick up quick fouls. That’s two team fouls.
• Odom down low in the paint, draws the help, kickout, open three top of the key Farmer, miss
• Bryant deflects the pass out of bounds, baseline inbound pass, PJ seals Turiaf, gets fouled on the catch. Foul on the floor.
• Pierce iso left wing on Bryant, face up J, miss from 19 feet
• Doc Rivers hasn’t gone back to Rondo
• Offensive foul, charging foul on Odom, that’s four on Lamar. Powe flopped like normal on those charges.
• High pick and roll, Pierce drives inside, passes to Powe, fouled, he misses the first, hits the second
• Celtics lead 66-63
• Bryant fouled again on the drive. That’s three team fouls. 9 minutes to play. Kobe misses the first, makes the second.
• Offensive foul on Pierce, that’s five fouls on Paul. Good D by Farmer. Pierce knocked over the little fella with his shoulder.
• Timeout
• Sasha misses the three, ball out of bounds of Posey, Boston ball.
• Turiaf knocks the post pass out of bounds, good D
• KG spins to the baseline, hook shot falling out of bounds, air ball, great defense
• Foul on the pass, that’s four team fouls. They’ll be in the penalty the rest of the way. 8:20 to play.
• Vujacic foot on the line, hits from 23 feet over PJ Brown right wing
• 66-66 Tie Game
• Hand off KG to Posey, baseline, layup attempt, foul
• Rondo enters the game for House
• Bryant on the drive, misses the layup, tap by Gasol, rolls off the rim, Posey comes up with it
• Garnett doubled as the clock expires, gets it up, misses, over the top of the backboard, Lakers got lucky there since they had no rebounders in the paint to fight Boston
• 7:15 to play. Boston lead 68-66
• Rondo/Pierce/Ray/KG/PJ
• Kobe/Fisher/Vujacic/Walton/Gasol
• Walton drives baseline, spins back towards the middle, defense collapses, Kobe wide open three from the top of the key, hits it, Lakers lead
• Alley oop to KG, taps it up instead of catching the ball, miss, smacks Gasol in the face on the defensive rebound, no call
• Foul, Lakers hit two at the line
• Pierce loses Kobe, makes a bad pass, stolen by Odom, Odom brings it up, Kobe calls for it, head fake, drives hard, fouled by Pierce. Makes two of two. He has 18 FTs tonight.
• Pass to KG, deflected by Odom, moving screen by KG, no call, Ray misses at the buzzer, offensive rebound and putback Rajon Rondo
• Odom drives baseline on the right wing, reverse layup over KG, miss, tip Gasol good
• 5 minutes
• Pierce to KG, KG passes it up, passes it out, Ray three, miss, Odom rebounds and saves the ball
• Odom hop step in the paint stripped by Pierce
• Pierce spinning inside, misses the lefty layup off the bottom of the backboard. Pierce was flat out of control on that break.
• Lakers push it up, both teams out of control right now, nobody running with Vujacic
• Timeout Lakers
• Odom misses the jam, another offensive rebound Gasol, layup. Great move by Odom, he started at the top of the key, beat KG with the quick first step, dribbled hard left, spun back right, lost KG
• Lakers lead 77-70 with 4 minutes remaining
• Foul off the ball. That’s the fourth team foul
• High screen and roll between Pierce and KG, Pierce drives into the paint, gets fouled and the roll, three point play. Nope he missed the free throw
• Eddie House is back in the game
• Kobe trapped 40 feet out, he gives it up, Fisher open in the corner, miss, ball bounces right back out to him, pass inside to Gasol, fouled, he’ll shoot two, misses the first, hits the second. He has 9 points and is only 3-8 from the line.
• Foul on Kobe on Pierce’s pass. Kobe reached too much. KG moving screen there again and he held Kobe back too.
• 3:22 to play
• Pierce makes two FTs
• Lakers lead 78-74
• Celtics very much still in this. They’ll be very tough to beat because they will get stops.
• Gasol fouled hard, no call. PJ had his arm locked around Gasol’s shooting elbow.
• Kobe didn’t touch the ball on that possession.
• KG low post left block, hits the hook in the post
• Vujacic misses a three, Kobe gave up that ball softly on that soft trap
• Ray rebounds
• Eddie House takes the pull up jumper from 16 feet, miss, rebound Gasol, to Bryant
• Garnett runs out to trap Bryant, pass to Odom top of the key, to Vujacic in the left corner, three pointer
• Celtics miss again in the paint, good shot, rebound Gasol, passes it out to Fisher, Fisher turns on the gas, runs coast-to-coast and gets hammered. He makes the first FT, swish, haven’t seen many FTs that smooth tonight, I might have just jinxed him, he makes the second
• Timeout Doc Rivers
• Boston have one timeout left after this
• 1:33 to play
• Lakers lead 83-76, they’re up 7
• Inbounds to Ray, high screen and roll, pass to KG, dunk. Both Lakers ran after Ray to take away the three. That play took only 5 seconds
• Lakers milk the clock, no trap, Bryant dribbles it down, takes the 20 footer pull up J, hits it from the top of the key
• Pierce on the drive and kick to Eddie in the right corner, hits the three
• Lakers lead 85-81
• Kobe milks the clock again, dribbles inwards, shot fake at the elbow, gets Ray off his feet, Ray manages to avoid molesting him on the way down, Kobe open look from 15 feet, hits it
• Timeout Boston
• Ray Allen played excellent defense on those two last possessions. Great offense beats great defense, that’s all that happened there.
• 38 seconds to play
• Celtics down 6
• Ariza in now, bad move, he’s been getting lost on screens all night, he’s defending the inbounds pass, making life hell for POsey, Posey gets it in, House takes a long two, miss, offensive rebound, Celtics dribble it, getting organized, offensive foul on KG. Moving screen.
• 21 seconds to play
• Offensive foul on Odom for pushing off
• 6.7 seconds to play Boston ball

Lakers get the win they desperately needed. Game Four big swing game, looking forward to it.

Some Stats

• Battle of the boards very even at 45-44 Boston with a 14-9 offensive rebounds edge. The Celtics did however miss 15 extra shots which muddies that a bit.
• The Lakers outside of Kobe and Vujacic shot a miserable 28%
• Kobe Bryant was the player of the game with 36 points on 12-20 shooting, 1-2 from three, and 11-18 from the FT line. Oddly enough he had one assist, he wasn’t creating a whole lot of easy opportunities directly tonight but if the Lakers had of made their shots he easily would have had 5 dimes. Kobe also chipped in with 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
• Vujacic was the supporting player of the game dropping 20 points on 7-10 shooting, 3-5 from behind the arc, 3-4 from the line while adding in four rebounds and one assist. Great work.
• Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett stunk up the joint shooting a terrible 8-35. KG was 6-21 for 13 points while PIerce was 2-14 for 6 points. Garnett did have 12 boards, 5 assists, and 3 blocks though. Only two of those rebounds came after halftime though with Gasol of all people coming down with several big rebounds down the stretch.
• Which brings us to Gasol He had four huge rebounds in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Two offensive rebounds and putbacks and two big defensive boards in traffic over Celtic players. He struggled tonight with only 9 points, shooting only 3-8 from the line and just 3-9 from the field. He did have 12 rebounds and two assists. The big plays down the stretch were key for LA winning that game.
• Ray Allen led Boston with 25 points on 8-13 shooting, 5-7 from three, 4-6 from the line. Despite being Boston’s only consistent scorer he finished with the only the third most shots and recieved on two shots in the crucial fourth quarter. Ray also had four boards. Ray played very good defense against Kobe, Kobe just made shots.
• Bench scoring – 29 points for LA, 21 points for Boston. Lakers bench also chipped in with 12 rebounds and 9 assists while Boston had 14 boards and 4 assists. Farmer played well with 5 points, four rebounds and five dimes.
• James Posey had a very strong game for Boston. His hustle was incredible; getting deflections, contested rebounds, and loose balls all over the floor. He chipped in with 9 points and 7 rebounds playing a very good game. He also played some good defense on Kobe Bryant.
• Rajon Rondo had a bad game. Only 8 points and 4 dimes in 22 minutes. Doc benched him for Eddie once the team responded well to House. Perkins had 8 points, 6 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 1 assist. The Lakers duo of Fisher and Radmanovic played below par too so no real damage done.
• The Lakers staters outside of Kobe Bryant were poor. Fisher had only 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist on 1-6 shooting. Radmanovic had four fouls and three rebounds in 13 minuts. Lamar Odom played only 7 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble; finished with 28 minutes, 9 rebounds, 4 dimes, a block and a steal, 5 fouls and 4 points. He made a couple of big plays down the stretch but was mostly a disgrace offensively. His rebounding was huge. Pau Gasol with only 9 points struggled too.
• The Lakers had 17 assists on 30 field goals out of 69 attempts for 44%. They also shot 6-14 from three and only 21-34 from the FT line. The Celtics had 19 assists on 29 field goals out of 83 attempts (14 more shot attempts) for 35%.
• Both teams had 13 turnovers. The Lakers turnovers cost them 19 points, Boston’s 11 points.
• Combined blocks/steals was 16-10 Boston
• Boston had 28 fouls called on them versus 23 for Los Angeles.

NBA Finals Thought: Odom Confused

Here’s what Phil Jackson had to say about Lamar’s second straight below par performance and limited minutes:

“Well, Lamar got confused out there tonight, and that was difficult for him,” Jackson said. “Situations that got him into foul trouble and little offensive sequences that, rather than just taking a shot or making the right play, looked like he was a confused player out there at times. We’ll try to get that straightened out.”

Odom seemed to concede to Jackson’s opinion.

“That’s what Coach says,” Odom said. “What Coach says, Coach says.”

Lamar has to get his head in the game. They need his rebounding desperately and also need that consistent third scorer at around 14-16 points. He has to up his level of performance in a hurry.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Interesting Stats

Celtics:
45 perimeter shots
23 shots in the key

38 free throws

Lakers:
42 perimeter shots
41 shots in the key

10 free throws

Leon Powe 14 minutes – 13 free throws.

Los Angeles Lakers – 240 minutes – 10 free throws

NBA Finals Thoughts: The Numbers Game

I said before the Finals that I believed the Lakers supporting cast would outscore the Celtics consistently and in at least 5 of the 7 games. So let’s have a look at where they are after two games:

Game One: Lakers 35 Celtics 33

Game Two: Lakers 45 Celtics 46

Very even in both of the first two games. Most of the Celtics supporting cast scoring is coming from the Big Three, the Lakers over-helping defenese and dumb fouls … Leon Powe’s 21 points in particular.

Now let’s look at the Big Three of either side. I thought the Celtics Big Three would need to outscore the Lakers 7-10 points a night to win.:

Game One: Boston 65 Lakers 53

Game Two: Boston 62 Lakers 57

Something to keep track of as the series switches over to Los Angeles

NBA Finals Thoughts: Lakers Defense Game Two

Anybody want to take a stab at what team’s defense the Lakers looked like?

Well let’s see ….. Scrambling, overzealous help, leaving the middle open, reaching and fouling unneccessarily. Hmmm … That sounds an awful lot like the Denver Nuggets to me.

The Los Angeles Lakers needs to calm down. They’re making horrible decisions defensively and getting caught out of position for too often. Go back and stick to your man-to-man defense. Pierce killed you more today with his passing than he did Cleveland in Game 7 in the second round. KG will score roughly the same regardless of whether you double him or not. Rondo had 16 assists on penetration because every time he caught the ball he had an open lane into the paint. Then there’s Ray Allen. Then there’s Leon Powe who is killing the Lakers inside as their defense gets caught out of position. The Lakers need to go back to hard nosed man-to-man defense. The Celtics have some matchups, they’re just going to have to let that be because this is hurting them more.

NBA Finals Game Two: Boston vs Los Angeles

All the talk is about the injuries to Perkins and Pierce. I think they’ll both be fine. Odom sat out practice the other day but I expect him to be fine as well.

• Offensive foul Perkins
• Turnover, steal Kobe Bryant, fastbreak, pull up J from 16, miss, offensive rebound, kickout, drive and dish, swing the ball, lovely pass to Odom in the middle of the lane, dunk
• Pierce nails a three
• Pierce draws two quick fouls on Radmanovic inside of 10 seconds with 10 minutes still to play. Trevor Ariza joins the action. This will be interesting, he’s on PIerce. Pierce gets a high screen and roll on the left wing, loses Ariza, pull up from 16 feet, miss
• Celtics turn it over again, that’s their third turnover, steal Gasol, ahead to Fisher, pull up from 18 feet extended elbow, hits it
• Goaltend on Garnett’s block on Gasol. Nice move from Pau, low swing and drive left off the elbow, layup
• Pierce gets the foul and the layup on Ariza
• Gasol spin move baseline, dunk over KG
• Offensive foul KG. That was a frustration foul with his shoulder for the previous dunk. Tech on KG now.
• Ariza 17 footer, miss, tip by Odom, good
• Lakers lead 15-8
• Odom and Gasol leading the charge. The Lakers as a unit very aggressive on the backboards.
• KG with a step back jumper, nails it
• Kobe fallaway off the dribble against three, miss, defensive rebound KG, long outlet, up ahead to Ray in the corner, shot fake, gets to the rim, hits the layup
• Ariza gets the quick swing. Luke Walton in now. And Luke picks up a 24 second violation for pump faking a decent look from 16 feet.
• KG low post, spin move, layup
• Luke Walton seals Pierce, nice pass, backdoor, layup
• Foul on the pass, their fourth team foul, LA that is, foul on Fisher on Pierce’s drive and dish. Dumb foul.
• Ray Allen runs the baseline, left corner, three pointer, hits it
• Foul off the ball on Ray as Kobe looks to post him
• Fisher long two off Kobe’s posts up
• Kobe fouls Ray off the ball. They’re in the penalty now. Great stuff. Every one of the 5 Lakers fouls were unneccessary and dumb. One of the reasons LA lost Game One was lazy reach in fouls which gifted the Celtics too many FTs.
• KG’s pass out of the post intercepted
• Offensive foul on Kobe, that’s two
• Garnett misses another jumper, good look though, Gasol didn’t get up on it
• Odom misses a driving runner over KG
• KG low block, doesn’t get anything, Garnett low post, doubled, kick out, ball movement finds KG at the buzzer, hits it
• Powe comes in for KG
• Boston lead 20-19 with 44 seconds remaining
• Offensive foul on Odom, crap call, Powe is a diver
• Powe drives baseline, gets the foul, crap call, that’s two on Odom. That’s a terrible call. Feet still, hands up. Powe created all the contact. Garbage. Lakers getting the treatment right now. Life’s going to be difficult for Gasol. He’s going to have to stay out here and lead the second unit while Odom and Kobe bide their time.
• Farmer three pointer. They needed that
• Ray Allen at the buzzer from three, in and out, unlucky
• Posey breaks up the play, Lakers turn it over
• Sam Cassell goes into the post, fallaway, blocked, Cassell steals it from Ariza, Ariza fouls as he dives on the loose ball.
• Powe spin move off the post,gets fouled, misses the shot in the paint. That’s two quick team fouls. 11:21 to play. Lakers will be in the penalty again.
• Ariza gets a hand on the offensive rebound off Sasha’s miss, doesn’t get hold of it
• PJ Brown knocks down the 17 footer top of the key
• Foul on PJ Brown
• Way too many ticky tacky calls right now. It’s starting to seriously bug me.
• Posey deflects Walton’s pass, steal, block by Turiaf. Foul on Turiaf after the block for falling on Powe. Crap call.
• Lakers travel, turnover
• Powe draws another foul, spin move off the post, Walton fouls him. That was a foul. Now the Lakers are in the penalty. Powe has 8 FTs in 3 minutes.
• Farmer throws up a wild shot miss
• Pierce stops at the three point line on the break, shoots it, makes it
• Celtics on a 10-0 run
• Timeout Lakers
• Bryant shoulder fake, hits over Posey on the right wing from 18 feet
• Foul off the ball, offensive foul on Pierce
• Radmanovic, Odom and Kobe back in for LA. Farmer and Turiaf there too.
• Celtics ball as the ball slips out of Kobe’s hands
• Garnett getting ready to check back in
• Posey knocks down the open three off the cheating Lakers defense. They went down on the left block to double PIerce
• Odom scores down in the paint with a little hook as he saves Radmanovic’s deflected pass
• Radmanovic tips Pierce’s pass, right to Powe, putback, cheat ticky tack call, Powe back to the line. Another foul on LA.
• Powe has 8 points and 9 FTs in 5 minutes
• Bryant fadeaway out of the post, hits it
• Bryant with Powe in his face from 20 feet, nails it
• Lakers have weathered this storm here. They now need to get a firm foot back in the game.
• Fisher strips Garnett, gets called for a foul, slapped across the arm.
• Gasol finishes in the paint, finishes with his left hand over KG, gets hit by KG, gets knocked to the floor, no call
• Foul off the ball on Powe in the backcourt
• Kobe has a 18 footer bounce three times and rolls off the rim
• Perkins fouled on the finish inside, hits the layup, foul on Gasol, Timeout, Perk hits the FT
• Celtics lead 41-32 with 5:40 remaining
• Lakers got to get this below 7
• Bryant misses a three over KG, Gasol tips it, miss, Odom tips it in
• Garnett throws a bad alley oop pass to Perkins
• Bryant misses a fadeaway, Radmanovic keeps it alive, taps it again in between Perk and KG, KG takes it, outlet pass, almost stolen, missed by Bryant.
• Loose ball foul on Perkins
• 15-1 FTs advantage for Boston
• Radmanovic and Gasol work the screen and roll, Pierce switches on Gasol, Gasol in the post, spin move, fouled, layup, hits the FT too. Celtics lead 41-37 with 4 plus to play. Good Laker run to cut that 10 point lead
• Pierce’s pass almost intercepted, Ray smacks it out one handed to avoid Kobe stealing it
• Timeout Doc Rivers
• KG and LA trade misses
• Pierce long three pointer as Radmanovic cheats off, hits it
• Rondo fouls Gasol, not called
• Ray hits a three on the break
• The Refs are absolutely killing the Lakers right now. I hardly ever say anything about referees but it’s been awful. They’re letting the Celtics get away with everything defensively and calling fouls on LA for doing the exact same thing.
• Timeout Lakers
• Celtics lead 47-37. They’ve built back up their 10 point lead.
• Pierce’s pass kicked out of bounds
• Kobe on the break, goes up in the air, nowhere to go, throws it out, Radmanovic runs it down, three pointer
• Foul off the ball on Bryant. That’s three. He ran through the screen and knocked over the screener. 2 mintues to play in the half. Pierce makes the first, makes the second.
• Gasol inside left hand hook shot over PJ Brown. He’s 6-6 from the field now.
• Pierce jumps into Radmanovic’s body, hits the jumper
• Rondo blocks Radmanovic, outlet pass Garnett, dunk
• Gasol misses the right hand hook. Good shot, just missed.
• Pierce spinning into the lane, miss, offensive rebound Rondo
• Rondo stripped by Fisher, that’s three fouls on Fisher as he’s called for the foul. Badly misses the first, hits the second.
• Celtics up a dozen
• Fisher dribbles it down, half is about to end, Gasol misses the short hook, gets the rebound, gets hit, not called, halftime
• Halftime
• Celtics lead 54-42
• Some Team Stats – Lakers winning 19-17 on the boards including 7-3 offensive boards. The Lakers have 8 more shot attempts, they have 8 assists on 19 makes, shooting 46%, 2-5 from three and 2-2 from the line. The Celtics have 15 assists on 17 makes, shooting 52%, 6-9 from three, 14-19 from the line. Those 19 free throws are 9 extra possessions, shot attempts. That’s where the difference lies. The Lakers have 8 turnovers costing them 13 points. The Celtics have 7 turnovers costing them 7 points. Combined blocks/steals is 5-4 Boston.
• Right now dumb fouls is killing LA. It’s the single largest reason they’re in a hole.
• Paul Pierce has been the star of the half with 16 points and 6 assists. He was creating everything offensively. He was the guy that forced the help defense to rotate and began the Celtics ball movement. He’s the reason they have 15 assists on 17 makes.

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Gasol has a right hook go in and out, miss
• Ray baseline J, miss, offensive rebound Perkins, Ray gets another attempt out of the corner, hits it. Pierce created that with his dribble penetration. Lakers jumping at every pump fake.
• Fisher misses a wide open three
• Nice feed down low to Perk, hammered.
• Odom knocks down the 17 footer
• Kobe short arms a 16 footer off the bounce, good look
• KG misses another, offensive reboudnd and save by Perk, Pierce on the driving jumper, miss, Odom rebounds
• Kobe Bryant spins into the lane, hits the layup, tech on Bryant. He wanted the call and voiced his complaint.
• Why is Fisher playing Rondo full court?
• Bad pass by Pierce, steal Fisher, foul by Ray to stop the layup. Sideline ball.
• KG blocks Odom’s jam after the nice pass by Gasol
• Pierce hits the three
• Foul off the ball by Perkins after the shot. Celtics up 16. They’re 7-10 from downtown.
• Radmanovic knocks down a three
• PJ Brown hits the baseline J off of Rondo’s drive and dish
• Gasol misses a layup
• Ray Allen in and out, Garnett rebounds, saves it, Lakers steal it, Rondo fouls in the open court
• Radmanovic bricks a three. Dumb shot. Contested shot.
• Garnett blocked. Gets the call from the refs again.
• Timeout
• Bryant hits a banked on the drive
• Rondo to the hole, fouled hard by Odom, makes 1 of 2
• Ray fouls Kobe, they’re in the penalty, Kobe to the line, hits two
• Offensive foul on Rondo, turnover, pushed off
• Lovely ball movement by LA. Screen and roll by Gasol-Kobe, Kobe trapped, over to Odom, touch pass to Gasol, dunk
• Pierce misses the 16 footer, offensive rebound KG, layup
• Kobe hits the 16 footer off the screen and drive
• Rondo misses a 21 footer in the corner
• Gasol knocks down the 15 footer. The lead is down to single digits.
• Timeout Boston
• Pierce gets in the paint, misses the runner, defensive rebound, outlet, Kobe slows it down, why? He had numbers on the break.
• Odom drives into the paint, his pass on the run is stolen by Ray, Ray loses it out of bounds as Odom pressures him
• Radmanovic takes another dumb contested shot
• Pierce gets the runner as Radmanovic makes a dumb play defensively. Cheating off his man and left Pierce all alone.
• Radmanovic turnover. Bad pass.
• Radmanovic dumb defensive play again. He left Pierce to run off a screen, cheated over the top, gave him the baseline, didn’t contest the pass, layup.
• Those four plays by Radmanovic were disgusting. The space cadet in full motion right now. Well Radmanovic you killed your team’s momentum and gifted the Celtics the opportunity to regain their footing.
• Kobe misses a bad shot
• Luke Walton bricks a jumper
• Ray in the corner, three pointer, good
• Celtics up 18 points
• Kobe alley oop pass to Pau, too high, turnover, fastbreak, Rondo to Powe, layup, 20 point game. 11-0 run all started by Radmanovic.
• Timeout
• Offensive foul on Odom. That’s five. PJ Brown takes the foul.
• 1 minute to go in the third
• Ray quick J, miss
• Vujacic saves Walton’s bad pass, throws it to Ray Allen, fastbreak, dunking Powe
• Sasha step back J, nails it
• Pierce holds it for the final shot, gets the double team from 30 feet, to Rondo, Rondo ball fake, drives, behind his back to Powe, dunk

Fourth Quarter

• This is over. We’ll run it a bit and see if LA can make a quick run. They need it below 15 with 8 minutes to play to have the slimmest of hopes.
• Defensive rebound Kobe, pushes it, Farmer for three right wing, hits it
• Powe gets the layup on a drive. That was all about Luke Walton’s terrible defense. There was no reason to pressure Powe like that 19 feet from the rim with the shot clock rolling down. Gifted the basket to Powe.
• Rondo throws up a falling shot to beat the buzzer, offensive rebound, Rondo inside, nice behind the back pass to Powe, fouled inside.
• Bryant alley oop to Turiaf. Twice now.
• Garnett knocks down the 15 footer off the elbow
• Farmer three pointer off the dribble over KG
• Garnett 20 footer, miss, offensive rebound Powe, fouled for absolutely no reason. 14 feet from the rim. Farmer was just in a bad mood and slapped at Powe.
• 9 minutes to play.
• Rondo to KG, 15 footer left elbow this time, hits it
• Rondo has 15 assists
• Vujacic blows a jumper, Kobe deflects KG’s outlet pass out of bounds. Still Celtics ball.
• Timeout
• That’ll do it. This is over.
• Leon Powe just dribbled down the middle of the floor. Nobody bothered to stop the ball. Dunk
• Both teams just trading baskets and misses right now. The lead is steady. The game is over
• 96-78 Celtics lead with 6 minutes to play
• 20-7 run by LA to pull it within 11 with 3 plus remaining. Not much hope but it’s still on.
• Back to back turnovers spurring Radmanovic dunk and assist for three. Lakers make another 12-2 run.
• It’s a four point game with a minute left
• Rondo misses a 17 footer, rebound Bryant, fouled by Pierce, they’re in the penalty. Bryant knocks down two.
• There’s 38.4 seconds to play in the game. The Celtics lead by 2. Celtics ball.
• Pierce high screen and roll, he manevours into the paint, draws the foul and will head to the line.
• Inbounds to Gasol, to Vujacic, blocked by Pierce, Posey runs down the miss. Posey fouled. This is over.

Lakers might be done. I can’t see them sweeping the home games. They really needed to steal one at Boston in the first two games. I thought the Lakers would have to win two games in Boston overall. I can’t see them winning 4 of 5. No sir.

NBA Finals Thoughts: Phil On Pierce’s Injury

“Paul got carried off and was back on his feet in a minute,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if the angels visited him at halftime or in that timeout period that he had or not, but he didn’t even limp when he came back out on the floor. I don’t know what was going on there. Was (evangelist) Oral Roberts back there in their locker room?”

He’s right. This got way too large of a reaction both in the game and after. Pierce thought he was injured, he wasn’t. Does he have a knock and some pain? Okay fine, it’s the playoffs, who doesn’t? It was less than minute after his injury that he put pressure on his leg and stood up. The only reason it took that long in the first place was because the trainers precautionary ways. A few moments later he jogged back out onto the court. He played and played a great game, excellent defense and very good offense. I know it made some nice clips for the media but get over it already.

NBA Finals Game One: Boston vs Los Angeles

Great series on our hands here, this is going to be special.

These player introductions look like an All-Star game the way the players are coming out off a podium (big Finals trophy over the podium). Odom and Fisher getting the Lakers pumped, Kobe coming out looking like a skiller. Phil calming strolls over to the bench. Here comes the Celtics little video to start things off. The League stopped the pyrotechnics in the Conference Finals because of the smoke affecting the TV picture, they are not using it tonight either. James Posey looks pysched in a good way, very steady. PJ has his down, rolling his shoulders left to right, not even looking up when his name is called, getting his mind set. Rondo and Perk are the first Celtics starters to come out, Ray moves out with more fervour, then KG bumping and hopping, now the captain, Pierce shouting “Let’s Go, Let’s Go” repeatedly. Now both sides move over to their benches. We’re ready to start.

First Quarter

• It’s important that KG hits his first shot tonight, or at least an early shot. Nerves can get to him.
• Kobe is going to come out firing early. He’s a lot more aggressive in looking for his scoring on the road. He likes to calm down his teammates by getting them off quick with a few baskets.
• Gasol opens up the scoring
• Rondo misses the 17 footer, Kobe brings it up, later on in the possession takes a fallaway out of the post, miss, Odom keeps it alive, fights for it, out of bounds. Celtics ball.
• KG pump fake, Gasol bites, KG dribbles to the side, takes it, hits it
• Fisher hits a long two
• KG with two offensive boards, very aggressive
• Rondo turnover
• Ray Allen steals Radmanovic’s pass, turns it over, Kobe steals it, back to Odom, one dribble, 20 footer, hits it
• 3 second violation on LA
• Pierce with a nice move to the hoop, hesitation dribble at the FT line, Gasol to his right, Odom to the left, splits the two, reverse layup
• Fisher fouled on a jump shot by Pierce, long two, misses the first, misses the second. Gotta hit your FTs.
• Ray Allen on the screen and roll, Kobe gets caught in the screen, drives inside, out to ROndo, 17 footer, miss
• Radmanovic foot on the line, two pointer, left wing
• Garnett misses the turnaround, offensive rebound Perkins, fouled on the jump hook by Radmanovic. Perkins misses the first, hits the second
• Lob pass to Gasol, nice spin move, backdoor alley oop off the elbow
• KG misses the turnaround
• Radmanovic long three, miss, he wanted the foul, got a piece of his arm
• KG off the dribble, fakes left, crosses over right, loses Gasol, down the lane, dunk
• 10-10 Tie Game after 5 minutes
• Bryant is the only Laker not to score
• Kobe’s bounce pass kicked out of bounds
• Bryant has a baseline J over Perk rim in and out
• Pierce defensive rebound, dribbles the ball up, everyone is back, on the left wing with a spinning driving fallaway from 15, miss
• Gasol gets fouled by KG on a nice move down on the left block
• Timeout
• Halfway point in the quarter
• Odom over Perk, miss, high bounce, over the backboard
• Up and under by KG, blocked by Odom, goaltending. Nice move by KG, he looked in trouble there. Kept his head. Good defense by Gasol.
• Kobe hits off the left elbow off the catch
• Radmanovic gets another foul. Bad flop by Pierce. Sasha in, Kobe on Pierce.
• Pierce immediately goes inside to the post, kickout on the double, KG from the left wing, 20 footer, hits it
• Gasol hits the 18 footer top of the key
• Rondo with a lovely ball fake, floater, miss
• Bad call, backcourt violation, Gasol still had one foot and the ball in the backcourt at the time of the pass. Stopped a fastbreak two on one
• Ray Allen gets a layup on the cut
• Bryant misses another, he’s 1-5
• Ray Allen knocks down the three on the quick push to get the Celtics into their halfcourt set. 9 point turnaround for Boston after being down 4 to up 5.
• Timeout Phil Jackson
• Kobe one dribble pull up, good look, misses
• Rondo cuts to the hoop, fouled on the dunk attempt. He hits both free throws.
• The Lakers need to get Kobe going offensively
• Boston lead 20-14 with three minutes to play in the first
• Farmer in the game, nice runner off the bank, hits it
• Perkins blocked from behind by Gasol, turnover, stopped a dunk. Perkins got that open shot from a Pierce midpost move and lovely feed
• Vujacic dribbles inside, changes his mind comes out, his man sags off to contest the Kobe catch on the high post, shoots it, hits the three
• Rondo slips, travel, lost his pivot foot
• Bryant gets an open three pointer from Farmer’s penetration, miss, 1-7 now
• Alley oop to KG backdoor cut off the elbow, misses it, Kobe defensive rebound, pushes it up, hesitation move, fouled by Posey, keeps going, harder foul
• Kobe catch and shoot from 15 feet right wing, nails it
• Offensive foul on James Posey, moving screen
• Sasha misses a baseline three off the pump fake and dribble
• 21-21 Tie Game
• PJ Brown with the jump hook in the lane, off the glass, ugly but got it to go
• Sam Cassell getting ready to come in
• Perkins blocks Gasol’s running hook, outlet pass, heave at the buzzer, clang

Second Quarter

• Celtics lead 23-21
• That 7-0 run by the Lakers near the end of the first quarter was very good. Without that the second quarter would look a lot different for the second unit. Let’s see how this plays out now.
• Powe and Sam are in with Ray leading the second unit
• Ray cutting to the basket, misses the layup, rebounds the miss as the Lakers bundle it out of bounds, pass, layup Powe
• Turiaf hits a tough shot off the glass
• Ray allen hoists a three, loose ball foul against Luke Walton. Pierce comes back in for Ray Allen.
• Turiaf misses the jump shot over Brown
• Sammy takes the 17 footer off the bounce from the top of the key over Fisher, hits it
• Odom fouled on the drive to the hoop by Powe. Powe came out too hard and left the left hand of Odom open for the drive. Odom misses the first, hits the second.
• Fisher fouls in the backcourt
• Cassell posts up Fisher on the left side, turnaround, nails it
• Odom offensive rebound, flip hook on the spin move, miss
• Pierce misses off the dribble, should have gone back to Cassell, he looks red-hot right now
• Fisher takes Sammy off the dribble, gets to the rim, fouled
• Timeout
• Foul on Turiaf pressuring Powe
• Celtics lead 29-26
• KG back in the game now, Powe staying in.
• Cassell on the left wing, fadeaway, hits it
• Fisher nails a quick three back on the other end
• Pierce fouled, makes one of two
• 8 minutes to play in the first half
• Fisher misses, Walton rebounds, dribbles out, over to Turiaf, 18 footer top of the key, hits it
• Sam drives, pull up in the lane, blocked by Kobe, Celtics retain possession, down low to KG, hard drive baseline, fouled by Turiaf on the layup. Nice move.
• Bryant pull up J baseline from 16 feet over Perk, hits it
• KG pull up off the dribble from 16 feet right wing
• Fisher drives baseline, draws the foul on Pierce. Hits both.
• Lakers knock the ball loose out of bounds. Still 12 seconds on the clock, Garnett blocked by Gasol. Foul on LA, Gasol, his second, clean block. Very clean block. Nothing on it. Terrible call. Garnett makes both.
• Gasol left handed hook off the glass, rolls out, nice move
• Garnett step back J, hits it, he has the last 8 Celtics points now, 16 for the game
• Pierce steals it, falls out of bounds
• Timeout
• Cassell draws the charge on Bryant
• Cassell misses a three
• Bryant fouled on the catch in the lane, throws it up straight away, misses off balance, gets two at the line, makes two.
• Boston lead 40-37
• It feels like the Celtics are ahead by more
• Lamar Odom has done absoluetly nothing offensively since the opneing momements of the game
• Offensive foul on Pierce, charge, Fisher drew it, that’s three
• Bryant to Gasol, pick and roll, dunk
• Posey came in for Pierec there, Posey steals it, long outlet, Posey gets it, not under control, passes it back to Rondon, bad pass, Rondo bad catch, loose ball, Posey dives on it, loose ball foul. On Ray. Fisher will shoot two, makes two. Lakers lead 41-40
• 6-0 Laker run, Fisher leads LA with 11. They’re now 9-12 after missing some early FTs
• Celtics use the whole shot clock, get nothing going until the last two seconds, Rondo 16 footer
• Bryant and Gasol pick and roll, dunk again
• Lakers have 12 assists on their 16 field goals
• Odom takes Perkins off the dribble from the top of the dribble, beats KG to the spot, jumps into KG from the right hand side of the lane, then moves the ball back to his left hand to avoid the block, off the glass. Very clever finish from Lamar
• Timeout
• Post up KG on the left block, hand off baseline cut by Posey, blocked on the layup, both teams fight for it, out of bounds. Laker ball I think, Lakers timeout anyway.
• Mark Jackson likened Gasol and Bryant on the pick and roll to Bird and Parish. I can see the Parish-Gasol comparison. Both very long 7 footers, both roll straight to the hoop, make good catches and finish.
• Rondo with the floater in the lane, lovely bounce pass to set up Rondo off the baseline penetration from Ray Allen
• Odom hits the jump shot over KG on the right wing
• Ray on the baseline screen and curl, quick shot, miss
• Lovely pass by Kobe Bryant. He was wide open in the corner from three, stayed calm, saw Gasol’s defender run out, he just waited til the defender got closer, then threaded the needle, fouled. Gasol makes both FTs.
• Rondo makes a bad pass, picked off by Radmanovic, fastbreak, Lakers bundle their spacing, Kobe has to pull it out, drives on Posey, kickout to Odom, Odom drives, pass inside to Kobe, acrobatic layup, miss, had to avoid the shot blockers
• Fisher three pointer left wing
• Fisher defensive rebound, they’ll hold it for the final shot of the period, Kobe has it, dribbles down the clock, he’s 3-10 from the floor, over to Radmanovic, open three, miss. The Celtics sagged off Bryant so much that they just left Radmanovic wide open on the three. Bryant didn’t even need to make a move. Just passed from 40 feet and got his teammate a 40% three point shooter a wide open look. Ray defensive rebound, heave, miss.
• Halftime

Halftime Stats and Notes

• First the score, the Lakers lead 51-46
• Some Team Stats – Celtics winning comfortably on the backboards 20-15 including a 6-3 advantage on the offensive boards. Combined blocks/steals is 6-3 LA. Celtics have 8 turnovers giving up 4 points. The Lakers have 4 turnovers giving up 2 points. The Celtics have taken two more shots but made one less. The Lakers have 14 assists on 19 made field goals shooting 50% from the floor, 2-5 from three, 11-14 from the line. The Celtics have 8 assists on 18 made shots shooting 45%, 1-9 from three, 9-11 from the line.
• Lakers offense is clearly the story of the first half. They’re moving the ball very well and getting quite a few good shots.
• The Celtics defensive intensity fell off the cliff when James Posey came in for Paul Pierce in the second quarter. The Lakers also made their 7-0 run in the first quarter when PIerce came off. Right now there’s a huge difference between Pierce’s and Posey’s defense, Posey just isn’t doing enough defensively for the C’s at this moment in time.
• The Lakers defense has troubled the supporting acts for Boston but KG has been cash in the bank. Ray Allen has had better looks at the hoop than his 2-8 shooting suggests. Pierce didn’t play enough minutes but looked dangerous whenever he touched the ball, only 3 points.
• Gasol and Fisher have a combined 25 points to lead LA. Fisher has taken only 5 shots to get those 13 points, made 3, 6-8 at the line. Gasol is 5-7 from the field.
• Garnett leads Boston with 16 (6-9) and 6. He’s been excellent offensively and quality defensively in the first half. Rajon Rondo has been his supporting star with 10 points (4-7) and 3 assists. Cassell added 6 points. That’s 32 of their 46 points.
• Rajon Rondo has done a great job of pushing the ball up the floor and getting the Celtics into their offense. It makes such a huge difference to their ball movement when he does this. The C’s don’t have a huge assist number but they’ve moved the ball and attacked from many different spots in the floor in the first half.
• Bryant (3-10) and Lamar Odom (3-6) have 15 points between them. That gives those four starters 40 of the L’s 51 points.
• JVG went back over those two late Pau dunks on the pick and rolls, both were blown defensive rotations by James Posey. He was the help defender who was meant to come over.

Second Half – Third Quarter

• Lakers lead 51-46
• Pierce with the catch low under the hoop, layup
• Paul Pierce head fake, takes the contact, three off the glass, four point play. C’mon Radmanovic, you’re 6-10 don’t bite on that pump fake.
• Boston lead 52-51 from Pierce’s 6 quick points in the first minutes
• Kobe hits the 20 footer right wing
• Pierce high screen and roll, defended well, makes the shot from 18 feet top of the key
• Gasol hacked by Perkins on the pass through the lane
• Slight problem with my browser there, it jammed. KG hit two turnaround J’s, Radmanovic hit a three, picked up his fourth foul, Sasha in, Bryant hits the fadeaway two.
• Great defense by Kobe Bryant, overplaying the right shoulder forcing Pierce baseline, slapped the ball loose, Odom stole it.
• 8:21 to play
• Lakers picked up his fourth team foul
• 58-58 Game Tied
• Gasol steals the pass, Bryant brings it up, KG goes over to trap Kobe, Kobe keeps his dribble alive, double teammed, spins through the trap into the lane, finds Gasol for the layup
• Gasol misses the 16 footer off the elbow
• KG hard dribble into the lane, high release, off glass, rolls out, great defense by Gasol
• Trouble again with my browser again …. Paul Pierce falls hard, he’s in a wheelchair, taken off the court. It’s his right leg. He had a collission with Pierce. Pierce was defending on the top of the key, Bryant drove right down the lane, Perk came over the back for the block, landed on Pierce’s leg. His teammates literally lifted him off the court. He wasn’t moving his leg at all. He put some weight on his legs in the locker room, he was able to take it. Standing and playing basketball are two diffrent things. Danny Ainge has gone back in there to see him. Let’s see how this goes.
• Loose ball foul on Perkins, that’s his fourth foul. Loose ball foul on a missed FT. He’s limping up a bit too. Rondo made a nice move to the hoop, getting fouled, hitting one FT. Bad call, it was just some wierd looking contact where Fisher fell.
• Perkins going back to the locker room too
• Ray stripped, off of Ray, bad call, Celtics ball.
• Ray open in the corner, three pointer. Look for Ray to take over. Vujacic flopped on the screen looking for the foul after cheating over the top on the screen.
• Odom drives, gets fouled
• Fisher pull up on the fastbreak, miss
• The Crowd are pumped, the Captain just came back up out of the hallway, the fanst are giving him a stnading ovation. He moves to check in, Doc yanks him, waits to hear from the trainer, he’s happy, here comes Paul for Posey.
• Timeout
• 5 minutes to go
• Boston lead 63-62
• JVG loves that timeout from Phil Jackson, an “outstounding timeout” where he took the crowd out at the right time. They were exploding.
• Bryant into the paint, tough shot over KG, miss. Foul by Bryant on Pierce on the other end, they’re in the penalty, he hits one of two. He’s barely bending his legs. That’s three on Kobe.
• Lakers aren’t getting anything going offensively here
• Bad pass by Bryant picked off, Ray on the fastbreak, behind the back pass in the lane, stolen by Fisher, ahead to Odom, layup.
• Offensive rebound PJ Brown pushing Gasol out of his way, Fishers ties him, falls loose to Ray, layup and the foul. Hits it. Ray has 14 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
• Boston lead 68-64
• Vujacic fouled on a three pointer attempt in the corner by KG. Hits all three, the Lakers needed those.
• Perkins has a left ankle sprain, they re-taped it, he’s returning to the bench now
• Fisher alley oop to Bryant on the fastbreak, boom
• Lakers lead 69-68
• We got a battle on our hands
• Rondo on the drive, fouled by Gasol on the floor, in the penalty, three on Gasol. Three minutes to go. Misses the first, makes the second. All even at 69.
• Kobe Bryant fadeaway in the corner from 21 feet over Ray with KG lurking to beat the shot clock
• Garnett takes the floater, Ray knocks it out of bounds, bad call, Celtics ball
• 2 mintues to play in the third. Lakers need to avoid fouling
• KG open 21 footer, Gasol rebounds over PJ
• Boston up 10 on the backboards right now
• Odom drives, reverse layup to take out KG, blocked by PJ, outlet pass, Pierce stays at the three point line, Rondo finds him.
• Carbon copy, Rondo to Pierce on the break, three pointer right wing
• Pierce fouls Bryant, that’s four
• Phil Jackson called Paul Pierce the “Heart and Soul of the Team” and I can’t agree more. Also their most explosive player who’s capable of taking the game over, Phil said.
• Kobe makes two at the line, he has 20 and 6 on 8-19 shooting.
• Rondo on the drive, fouled. Rondo hits two of two.
• Bryant takes a contested three, miss
• Rondo has it, holds for the final shot, LA needs a stop, Rondo will take it, over to Posey, contested three, miss, rebound Gasol
• Pierce had three threes and 15 points in the third quarter

Fourth Quarter

• Celtics lead 77-73
• Kobe starts the fourth, hits a bank shot off the dribble
• Ray Allen responds on the other end
• Walton with the floater, loose ball on the offensive rebound, harsh
• PJ Brown blocked by Turiaf, Powe gets the loose ball, fouled by Odom inside. That’s four fouls on Odom.
• Kobe fadeaway, air ball, Odom right there, layin
• Cassell brick, he’s missed his last three shots
• Screen and roll between Farmer and Turiaf, nice pass to Turiaf right by the hoop, fouled hard by Cassell, Turiaf takes the first, KG back in, misses the first, takes the second, makes the second
• 10 minutes to play
• Ray Allen tied up, throws it back into the backcourt, KG dives for it, saves it, PJ wins the high pass, to Sam, hits the J
• Farmer throws the ball away
• Ray pulls it back, goes inside to KG, Odom cheats over, Walton pulls down to cover PJ, KG throws it out to Posey, nails a three
• Timeout Phil Jackson
• Celtics lead 86-78 with 8 minutes to play
• Both teams trade misses
• Fisher and Vujacic hit long twos in between a 24 secon shot clock violati