FanNation - The Republic of Sport

6/18/08

 

On a day when The New York Mets couldn't have embarrassed themselves more off the field, the Los Angeles Lakers couldn't have embarrassed themselves more on the court, falling to the Boston Celtics 131-92 in game 6 of the NBA finals, giving the C's their first world championship in 17 years.

In, addition, like many experts who get paid for their opinion, I couldn't have been more wrong in predicting a Laker victory in 6 games, just assuming that between having the best player on the planet, one of if not arguably the greatest coach in history as well as having just thrashed the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals, the Doc Rivers led Celtics would be no match for Kobe, Phil and the purple and gold.

But as Chris Berman loves to say, "thats why they play the game".

This series had two significant turning points as far as im concerned, the first being game two, when the Lakers allowed Leon Powe to go off scoring 23 points while attempting more free throws than the entire Laker team.

The second of course was the great Celtics comeback in game 4, winning after falling behind by as many as 24 points. 

After failing to even up the series at 2 games apiece, the Lakers showed just enough to send the series back to Boston for game 6, with the thinking being that once back in Boston, somehow forcing a game 7 would erase everything up to that point, and with the best player and significant coaching advantage, a game 7 win for Los Angeles wouldn't have been far fetched.

That never happened, as series MVP Paul Pierce, along with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen combined to score 69 points, along with 21 from point guard Rajon Rondo in absolutely obliterating the western conference champs by 39 points.

From the opening tip of this series, the Lakers just didn't seem to play with that fire and passion that had brought them to the Finals following convincing wins over the Nuggets (4 games), Jazz (6 games) and Spurs (5 games). 

This series wasn't really as close as some of the scores may have indicated, as Boston's swarming defense kept Kobe and the rest of his mates constantly off balance, forcing up bad shots and committing an abundance of turnovers.

Speaking of Kobe, who very easily could have put himself into the Michael Jordan conversation...and I mean nothing more than into the conversation with a championship, was pretty dreadful throughout the series.

Kobe did a poor job shooting the basketball, and when he decided to attack the basket, which wasn't nearly often enough, he was constantly running into a wall of Boston defenders, unable to control the pace of the game like only Kobe can.

Pau Gasol, who was a pivitol contributor in the Lakers success getting to the Finals, was a non factor, looking very soft and vulnerable against a much tougher Boston front line.

Defensively, the Celtics were simply dominant.  Tom Thibodeau should have received some consideration for MVP, as his defensive schemes stifled the Lakers offense throughout the series, reminiscent of the way The Patriots defense (sorry Boston fans) was shut down by the defense of Steve Spagnuolo and the Giants in  the Super Bowl.

As a Knicks fan, I was watching this as objectively as possible, but despite pulling for a Laker win, I have to give credit where credit's due, and that to Doc Rivers and his squad, who showed why they were the best team from wire to wire this season.

The Celtics got tremendous contributions off the bench of James Posey, Eddie House and Leon Powe, among others, with Posey hitting big 3 after big 3, as the Lakers just refused to acknowledge his presence outside the 3 point arc.  House hit some big shots throughout the series as well, notably giving the Celtic's their first lead during that historic game 4 comeback.  Powe's scoring outburst in game two may very well have won the series for Boston, as a 1-1 series heading back to L.A. would have had a very different feel to it, and easily could have resulted in a very different series outcome.

But most of all, credit needs to be given to Doc Rivers, whom i had not a shred of faith in heading into this series against the far more experience and battle tested Phil Jackson.  Doc not only out coached Jackson, but did a far better job of motivating his players, who were after ever loose ball, attacked the offense glass relentlessly, and just played like they wanted it more.

The NBA, desperately needing this series, probably didn't get the renewal of the rivalry the series was being hyped up to be, as the Lakers really failed to answer the bell in game 6- and I'll argue that despite winning 5 at home, in an unconvincing manor, were still pretty shook from their game 4 collapse. 

Their effort in game 6 was abominable, as the Celtics continued to out hustle them up 35 points in the fourth, while the Lakers seemed to quit well before the end of the first half.

Ray Allen re-emerged as the star we all knew he could be, hitting big shots and playing with the aggressiveness we never really saw from the guy he was guarding.  KG was good not great, although in game 6 when it mattered most he delivered.  Paul Pierce, the lifelong Celtic and team captain, was a fitting choice for series Most Valuable Player, as he not only shined offensively, he also defended Kobe well when assigned to do so.

Another season in the books, and despite the referee scandals which rocked the league both before the season started and again during the finals, the NBA should be pleased with the direction in which the league is heading, as it has two of it's greatest franchise's reborn.

Congratulations to the Celtics on a hard earned championship.