Of course Lakers fans would lash out on Paul Pierce's pseudo heroics in game one. It's been beat into the ground by columnists across the nation, but thanks to the marvelous photoshopping of a supposedly-anonymous Lakers fan, this one takes the cake:
Welcome to the greatest thing to happen to the NBA in years.
The conspiracy theorists got their wish as the #1 seed Lakers and the #1 seed Celtics clinched into the finals to make for the perfect storm of playoff basketball. Two of the most storied franchises in sports meeting in the finals for the first time since 1987. A lot of things have changed since 1987 (gasoline sold for around $1.15 a gallon... that's enough evidence), but the rivalry remains the same. Back in 2000, ESPN ranked it the the #2 "rivalry we wish still existed." Well, It's back. The importance of this rivalry spans generations, going back to their first meeting in 1959, and the subsequent six meetings in the 1960s.
This rivalry is so huge, that even I know a detailed history of it. I was -2 when the Lakers and Celtics last met in the finals, though thanks to some keen storytelling from my father and seemingly endless hours of programming on ESPN Classic, I know the history... I know the pageantry. I think it's the pageantry that puts it over the top. With the rivalry on the brink of dormancy in 1989, Electronic Arts released one of the greatest video games of all time--'Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs.' What other rivalry has an entire video game devoted to it?
Enough about the past. Though history is there, these are two completely different teams trying to write their own page in the book.
The Celtics had a much tougher route to the finals, requiring seven games with both Atlanta and Cleveland. However, after not winning a single road game in the first or second round, the Celtics managed to grab two in Detroit... Something that closes the door to the "they can't win on the road in the playoffs" thoughts. The Lakers did away with a sluggish Spurs team in five, much to the surprise of some.
The Lakers got back a key piece to the puzzle in that Spurs series; Trevor Ariza. While Trevor didn't get much action in the conference finals (four points in around nine minutes total), the week of rest was the best possible thing for Trevor's return. “I hope he’s going to have an opportunity to play,’’ Phil Jackson said. “He can help us.’’ Ariza then stated “I can’t say what the situation is or will be, but I know when the time comes, I’ll be ready.’’
The matchups are going to be what makes or breaks this series for either team. The Lakers main concern is going to be containing the Celtics big three. No surprise there. The LA Times is reporting:
Derek Fisher will guard second-year point guard Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant will start out on Ray Allen, but the frontcourt is somewhat unsettled.
Lamar Odom said he expected to match up against physical Boston center Kendrick Perkins, who outweighs Odom by 34 pounds.
“I’ll try to meet him as far out on the court as possible,” Odom said. “I’ll have my hands out, be like an offensive lineman coming right off the line and jam him early. I guess I’ll be Orlando Pace out there.”
Pau Gasol probably will start out on Kevin Garnett, and Vladimir Radmanovic probably will draw Paul Pierce, though this is the type of series where defense-minded forward Trevor Ariza could get more playing time, presumably against Pierce. [LA Times]
I know it won't happen, but I figure the Lakers would be better off sliding Kobe to the three to defend Pierce, bringing Sasha Vujacic into the lineup to guard Ray Allen. Having Vlad Rad guard Pierce doesn't seem too productive... unless, like the story suggested, they can get Trevor Ariza involved at that level.
Time for all the fun stuff:
The Celtics have won both matchups with the Lakers in the regular season. One being the "short-shorts" misstep, and the other being a 13 Lakers loss in late November. Since I've made the "post-Gasol acquisition era" a bit of a trend, I'll add that the Lakers have not seen the Celtics since the acquisition of Pau . Pau, however did see the Celtics on January 4 as a member of the Grizz. Pau got contained rather well, only scoring 12 points and pulling down eight rebounds.
In the
regular season, the Lakers scored 108.6 points per game and allowed
101.3 points per game with an offensive rating at 3rd of 30 and a
defensive rating at 5th of 30. The Celtics scored 100.5 points per game
and allowed 90.3 points per game with an offensive rating at 9th of 30
and a defensive rating at 1st of 30.
Series Schedule: (2-3-2) Game One Thursday - 6/5 Lakers @ Celtics 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
Game Two Sunday - 6/8 Lakers @ Celtics 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
Game Three Tuesday - 6/10 Celtics @ Lakers 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
Game Four Thursday - 6/12 Celtics @ Lakers 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
*Game Five Sunday - 6/15 Celtics @ Lakers 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
*Game Six Tuesday - 6/17 Lakers @ Celtics 6:00 - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
*Game Seven Thursday - 6/19 Lakers @ Celtics 6:00pm - ABC Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy
Player Playoff Averages:
(LAL) Derek Fisher - 10 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.2 APG Kobe Bryant - 31.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 5.8 APG Vladimir Radmanovic - 8.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.5 APG Lamar Odom - 14.7 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 2.9 APG Pau Gasol - 17.7 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 4.2 APG
(BOS) Rajon Rondo - 10.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.6 APG Ray Allen - 14.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.8 APG Paul Pierce - 19 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.1 APG Kevin Garnett - 21.1 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 3.5 APG Kendrick Perkins - 7.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 0.6 APG
Rolling with the "we're 3-0 when wearing our new throwbacks" mindset, the Lakers set out to go even further when the Celtics came to town tonight... perhaps to put a little sparkle into the renewed rivalry with Boston. The Lakers unveiled the short shorts tonight; an idea that I thought was brilliant up until it was obvious that the Lakers couldn't control Celtics regardless of what they were wearing, and in effect, wearing the shorts only made the Lakers look stupid...
The Lakers miraculously held the lead to only eight at the half, where, inspired by the philosophy of Phil Jackson (pun intended?), the team went back to the faithful shorts that everyone in the 21st century is comfortable wearing. Those ones allowed them to lose by 19... go figure.
Anyway, I figure we'll never see these bad boys again, so, we pay homage: all photos courtesy of NBAE/Getty Images
I tuned into TNT at around 7:30 hoping to find game two of the double header (Nuggs, Lakers) and was greeted with this:
Okay, no surprise. The Knicks look like this all the time.
"Hmm.. wait.. what? That has to be wrong. 104-56? THE CELTICS ARE WINNING BY 48 POINTS?"
...And the score would have stayed that way if Nate Robinson hadn't nailed a half-court buzzer beater to bring the deficit to 45.
That buzzer beater did, however save a nasty headline in the New York Times Friday morning. The Knicks franchise low for points scored in a game 58. Robinson's three saved the 2007-2008 Knicks from showing the single worst performance in franchise history.
The Celtics played well, and the Knicks just plain suck. I invite you to argue that point. Celtics 104, Knicks 59 [Fox Sports]
[edit] 11:25pm: Did i mention that Jimmy Dolan is clinically insane? [edit] 11:53pm: Gift ideas for the Knicks fan in your life: FIRE ISIAH THOMAS Lightweight T-Shirt | $20 | firethatguy.com
In just the second good Lakers game of the season, Kobe posted 30, grabbed 8 boards, and since everyone in Los Angeles is counting, he smiled a couple of times.
Now when I say good, I don't mean that either team particularly played well, I mean it was fun to watch. The fact that I had to watch it on ESPN, however, was like pulling teeth. I know it's been said in various blogs since the beginning of time, but jeez, could ESPN's coverage of basketball be any worse? I don't want cute father-son moments between Bill and Luke Walton. I don't want to listen to a couple of guys that don't know much of anything about either team pretending like they do. And, I really don't want to sit through 60 seconds of analysis on the Ohio St. v Michigan during a time out with 29 seconds left in a two point game.
Time to explain my situation, for those of you who are not familiar with the Lakers broadcast schedule, all home games are broadcast on Fox Sports Net West, while all away games are broadcast on the terrestrial KCAL 9.
Because of school, this is my first season living outside of the Los Angeles television coverage area, and while we do have Fox Sports down here, we are without KCAL 9, and the beloved LTV pregame show. In effect, I'm lucky to get a road game on ESPN or TNT, because if not, I'm tied to the computer using NBA.com's free live audio, which is great, but it's just not the same.
Now that my diatribe is over, lets get to the game itself...
Lakers 93, Rockets 90
The Lakers jumped out to a huge lead, and held it through the half... Then the third quarter hit. Is it just me, or are the Lakers historically horrific in the third quarter?
They were outscored 22-14 in the third. Keep in mind that this was after Tracy McGrady went out with that injury on his right elbow.
Nevertheless, despite it being the second Houston v. Lakers game of the season to end in nail-biting three-pointer, the Lake Show walked out of the Toyota Center with a much needed win. Kobe's 30 points and 8 rebounds were backed by an overall solid showing from the supporting cast. D-Fish finished with 13 and Lamar Odom posted 10 and 7, despite admitting to "playing through the pain" on the Lakers postgame show on KLAC AM 570.
After the game Kobe had this to say: "It's very good for us to bounce back and come out
and play our best. It wasn't pretty the last two minutes. We wanted to
kick it up (in the second quarter) and I was able to get my game going.
My fade-away is my secret weapon. I'm entirely optimistic all the time."
This was one of those games where you find yourself appreciating Kobe, not because you like him, but because there's no way you would have won the game without him.
On the other side of the floor, Yao put up a stylish 26 points with 13 rebounds alongside Bonzi freaking Wells who added 21 and pulled down 10.
The Lakes head home with a 4-3 record, set to take on Detroit friday night.
around the league Chasing 0bscurity You know the drill... if not, see the last post.
Undefeated Boston Celtics (7-0) - next game: 11/16 vs. Miami - 4:30pm pt
Winless Golden State Warriors (0-5) - next game: 11/16 vs. Clippers
Thoughts Two teams succeeded from the ranks of "Chasing Obscurity" tonight. The Sonics finally got a win, beating the Heat tonight, bringing them to a spectacular record of 1-8, consequently, the loss brought the Heat to a 1-7 record. The T-Wolves beat the Queens by a score 108-103, bringing their record to 1-5.
Leg one of the over-hyped Lakers road trip through Texas resulted in a
predictable loss to the now 7-1 Spurs, in a game that saw phenomenal
team ball on the Spurs behalf... like that's out of the ordinary.
Basically, the main point of the night was centered on the
always-entertaining Kobe on Bruce Bowen match-up. Bowen covered Kobe
well, and outscored him, putting up 23, compared to Kobe's 18.
Jordan Farmar played well, putting up 16, along
side Lamar Odom, who kept up the pace from his debut on Friday, putting
up 12 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.
The Lakers simply got outplayed tonight, nothing much more can be said
for their effort, aside from the fact that they will need to rebound
big to beat Houston tomorrow.
Tomorrow night's game is the one that the Lake Show can realistically win. The Rockets are coming off of a 105-95 loss in Memphis, so there is room for the Lakers to snag a win from a team that looked pretty solid up until tonight. around the league Chasing Obscurity Chasing Obscurity is a tradition that I'll be carrying over from my previous blogging adventures that spotlights the league's undefeated and winless teams until there simply are no more. Why? Because that kind of thing gets me going.
Undefeated Boston Celtics (6-0) - next game: 11/14 vs. New Jersey - 4:00pm pt
Winless Seattle Sonics (0-8) - next game: 11/14 @ Miami - 4:30pm pt Minnesota Timberwolves (0-5) - next game: 11/14 vs. Sacramento - 5:00pm pt Golden State Warriors (0-5) - next game: 11/14 vs. Detroit - 7:30pm pt
Thoughts That Seattle v Miami game should be a real thriller. The 1-6 Heat play host to 0-8 Sonics... Look for the Heat to take advantage of the home floor in this one.
I'm a realistic observer of the vast world that surrounds the Los Angeles Lakers. You can thank Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Cedric Ceballos, and Vlade Divac for making that possible. The greatest person of all time is Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn. There's no getting around that. Me? I'm eighteen years old and working my way to a journalism degree.
They were outscored 22-14 in the third. Keep in mind that this was after Tracy McGrady went out with that injury on his right elbow.
Leg one of the over-hyped Lakers road trip through Texas resulted in a
predictable loss to the now 7-1 Spurs, in a game that saw phenomenal
team ball on the Spurs behalf... like that's out of the ordinary. 
