Kevin Garnett played like "garbage" in Game 5. The entire Lakers team did in Game 6. The Celtics pounded the Lakers by 39 points in Game 6. The 39-point margin broke their own record for the biggest point margin in a close-out game. The 1965 Celtics closed out the Lakers by 33 points.
The Lakers took pride in not letting the Celtics close them out in Game 5 on the Lakers' home floor. Any remnant of pride could not be found following Game 6 as the Celtics outscored the Lakers 53-35 in the first half and you could see defeat in the Lakers eyes.
The Celtics owned the night from start to finish and when the game ended, it was all over but the crying. But the Celtics were the ones crying. KG in particular had to cover pull his ball-cap way low to hide his tears during an interview with Michelle Tafoya.
Following his Game 5 choke, New York Post journalist, Peter Vecsey called the Big Ticket, Counterfeit Ticket. Garnett came back with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists, while shooting 10-18 from the field and six of seven from the line. He had missed three of his last four charity shots in Game 5. KG said he would not shy away from going to the line in Game 6 and he came through.
The defining moment of the night for KG came on a post-up. He cut accross the lane and made an and-one on a play where he avoided the block, and flung it in like a pirouetting shortstop throwing it hard to second base on a close play.
Ray Allen was able to forget about family issues and a poke to the eye and played another brilliant game. Allen scored 26 points, including tying Scottie Pippen and Kenny Smith's record for seven threes in a Finals game. Allen also broke the record for threes in a final series with 22 threes.
Paul Pierce continued to play within himself. Struggling from the field at just 4-13, Pierce was able to still add 10 assists and continue to be part of a team defense that stymied the Lakers all series long. Pierce won the Finals MVP and joined an impressive list of Hall of Fame Caliber players who have taken the honor; an honor that Kobe Bryant has not won.
Pierce is the grizzled veteran, but in all 26 playoffs games he did not lead the Celtics in points (KG - 20.8), rebounds (KG - 10.5), assists (Rondo - 6.6), steals (Rondo - 1.7) or blocks (Perkins - 1.3). That will tell you something about the Celtics balanced attack. The Celtics team game was in stark contrast to Kobe constantly playing one on five verse the Celtics.
Pierce did step up his game against the Lakers though. If you take out his abysmal Game 3 performance, Pierce averaged 25 points and seven assists.
Undoubtedly Pierce, Allen and KG will likely be healthy enough to take one or two more cracks at forging a new championship era. And they will no doubt revel in being the team to beat. But the emergence of Perkins and Rajon Rondo who are just 23 an 22 has to have some Celtics fans thinking really big.Perkins was the 9 point 9 rebound guy on 67 percent shooting in the Conference Finals and he anchored a defense that looked nearly invincible at times. He was slowed down by injuries in the Lakers series, so unfortunately we did not get to see the real Perkins showcased. Andrew Bynum is a presence in the middle and should the Lakers and Celtics rematch in the Finals, the Lakers will definitely be more formidable with Bynum being an all-star caliber center.
Yes Lakers fans you can play what-if all you want on the Andrew Bynum injury, but it'll make you feel about as good as Celtics fans playing what-if on the Len Bias death. Actually Celtics fans feel much worse, since that was the death of a person and rings, whereas this is only one possible ring.
At times the Lakers must've been having flashbacks of the pesky Manu Ginobili. In Game 6, Rondo was one steal short of the NBA Finals record of seven steals that oddly enough is owned by Robert Horry a.k.a Big Shot Bob. The rest of Rondo's line looked quite impressive as he finished Game 6 with 21 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and the aforementioned 6 steals.
Kobe Bryant would have gladly taken Rondo's numbers. But the Celtics weren't giving him anything of the like and for another night the Celtics made the comparisons of Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan look silly. Kobe shot just seven for 22 from the field as the Celtics left him shooting long contested shots all night. Kobe only went to the line five times. He also never opened up the game for his teammates, as he had only one assist on the night.
Ironically as Phil Jackson tried to break Red Auerbach's coaching record of nine titles, Auerbach's rumblings that he could not win without the best players must have been rumbling through his head. The Celtics were the one with the three-headed beast, tenacious defense and deeper bench. So no blaming Phil, but the Celtics ironically are the team that advanced Auerbach's theory.
The Lakers had 4 steals to the Celtics 18, who feature the Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett. The Lakers had 29 rebounds to the Celtics 48. And blocks, well Lakers fans do you like donuts? Because the Lakers got ZERO to the Celtics four.
Some of us only remember the offensive prowess of teams that win championships. But it is always defense and rebounding at the heart of winning. In 1984 when the Bird's Celtics beat the Magic's Lakers the first time, Bird average 14 rebounds to go with his 27.4 points. People forget that Bird averaged double-digit rebounds for his career.
The original Big Three also combined for 3.7 blocks per game. Bird was a solid rover just as KG is. Kevin McHale's lanky arms were everywhere. Of course, those teams were so good offensively that the Lakers average 117.4 points that series and still lost! So they weren't the defensive jugernaught that the current Celtics are. But then again, the current Celtics aren't the offensive powerhouse that those Celtics were. But then who is?
Did ShotsHeard call the Lakers a glorified version of the Memphis Grizzlies in the last post? Perhaps it would have been more apropos to say they look more like the Clippers. And I don't mean today's mediocre Clippers with Elton Brand and Chris Kaman. Think more more of the 98/99 to 99/00 Clippers, who had a combined record of 24-108. I would imagine the over-under being around 35 points for such a match-up between them and let me be the first to say it, YOUR WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON CELTICS!
Other 2008 NBA Finals Postings
2008 NBA Finals Predictions
2008 NBA Finals Posting #1: Reflecting on the first two games between the Celtics and Lakers2008
NBA Finals #2: Game 3 Analysis2008
NBA Finals #3: A Tale of '24'
No comments:
Post a Comment