NBA Finals game six: lambs to the slaughter
Posted by: SPQR on Jun 18, 2008 - 11:34 AM
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The Lakers took their charter east, hoping to chart a path to one more win and push to a deciding game seven. Instead, they were being taken down the garden path like lambs to the slaughter by a Celtic team that was leading them to a place where they could be trussed up, immobilized, cut up and dissected at Boston’s leisure.
The Laker death sentence was scheduled for 9pm eastern time and there would be no commutation of sentence by their legendary coach or a reprieve meted out by there MVP leader. The execution was carried out with malice and forethought. It was cold and it was brutal.
Kobe came out and scored and then Derek did the same to give LA a fast 4-0 lead. Kobe started firing threes hitting them in that spectacular way that he can when he has lightening in bottle. Before you knew it he had 11 points. But this, like everything the LA Lakers tried in this series and this game was just a mirage, so much smoke and mirrors. The Celtics had long ago gotten into the Great Man's head and his game far to deeply to allow him to have any impact on the celebration they had planned.
The first half of the first period was frenetic action and missed shots. Both teams scrambling to find a rhyme and an edge: Kobe threes. A Fish drive and score. No continuity on offense by either team.
Our center set the real tone for the game with his early play: Pau losing the ball. Pau collapsing on the floor as Garnett dunked. Gasol fading away and shooting and missing a jumper over the much smaller Paul Pierce.
The ominous warning signs were already being established. When the Celtics tied the game at 10 after shooting 2 for ten to that point, one could sense what was about to come.
Rondos jumper gave them their first lead at 12-10. Kobes last effective play of the game, his last three, gave us back a temporary lead. Pau missed another jumper. By this point Rondo had three steals, Pau three turnovers and the Celtic pressure was building
The damn broke with three straight Garnett baskets. Boston 20-18. This was followed by another Laker turnover, and an Allen two. A Jordan Farmar turnover and a Garnett dunk. Ray Allen had to leave the game from a hit to the head by Lamar. Farmar missed an easy two and Pierce countered with a two. Kobe missed a three he took from the Pacific Coast Highway. It would symbolize his entire night; desperation and confusion. The Celtics lead 24-20 at the end of one and were rolling.
In the second, the Celtics picked up where they left off and ABC could hear thousands of TV’s across the country being shut off. Kobe took another bad shot. Pierce hit a three. Lamar threw a bad pass for a turnover, Kobe missed again. Ronny and Luke entered the game, and Van Gundy once again brought this observer a good chuckle as he talked about Ronny’s “energy.” With this “energy” once again in full force the Celtics got three offensive boards on one play and converted it into a three pointer. After another three the Celts had a nine point lead, all the momentum and the NBA championship. At this point they had seven offensive rebounds to LA's zero. It spoke volumes on what was happening in this pivotal sixth game that the Lakers had to have.
Kobe was way short on a jumper and the lead stretched to 21-12. The Lakers were led by sloppy, careless play from Kobe and Pau; Kobe drives into the teeth of the Celtic defense, dribbles behind his back and gets the ball stolen again. Posey converts with a three. Kobe by now had more turnovers than the one assist he would have for the game. You wondered if he had learned anything playing against this team, trying a move that dumb against a defense that good. Luke misses and easy shot, Farmar gets the ball stolen by Rondo again.
By now the game is a blur of Boston steals, blocks, fast breaks and threes. They accelerate into a 23-6 run which goes to 26-6 after another Kobe three point miss.
At the end of the first half nightmare Boston leads 58-35 holding the Lakers to 29 percent shooting.
The second half was just a more intense version of the second quarter. One half expected a Celtic cheerleader to come off a pick and roll and just prance to the basket for a lay-up…and drawing the foul. Allen rained in threes like he was Pacman Jones at a strip club with someone else’s money. Just a comedy of mistakes and excruciating to watch featuring Pau backing to the basket, having the rug pulled out and falling to the floor like the worlds biggest wet noodle as he crumbled to the floor; Kobe was stripped again which was becoming his signature play of the game along with missed jumpers; Sasha leaving Ray Allen alone to shoot threes like he had the Ebola virus.
The Lakers looked like a fuzzy, gentle rabbit that had stumbled into a den of wolverines and was wondering why it was being torn apart in ten different directions and so desperately looking for an exit. Unfortunately in the NBA, you can’t leave the court till time runs out.
The Los Angeles Lakers came to Boston looking to make history....and they did. By the fourth quarter they had allowed Boston to tie an NBA record 17 steals. It only seemed like 170. Allen has likewise by this time tied another NBA record with seven threes. It only seemed like 17. Finally and fittingly, Boston won by an NBA finals record 39 points. It only seemed like 139.
Some thoughts on this series and what it showed: I never thought a team could take a player as great as Kobe Bryant and flat out turn him into another just another basketball player on the floor, and lots of times a bad one at that. Has Kobe looked so bad in the playoffs since his rookie year? His abject failure brings one renewed appreciation for the dominance Shaquille O’Neal displayed in leading the Lakers to three straight championships. I have a feeling lots of Laker fans, and Kobe himself, have a new found respect for how Shaquille O'neal completely dominated three NBA finals, literally taking them in his hands and crushing out the opposition in game after game. Being the "Man”, the way Shaq was, was no mean feat. What Shaq did was incredible and should never be forgotten by Laker fans, no matter how it ended with him. Kobe will have to wait another year to try imitate the big mans success in just one finals….let alone three in row.
Once the Celtics reduced Kobe to a just another player on the floor and by extension made Pierce the best player on the floor, this series was over. If Kobe was not the best player on the floor against Utah or San Antonio, we don’t win those series either. Credit the Celtics for doing what was thought to be impossible.
The defense played in the West is WEAK. The Celtics showed how even the vaunted San Antonio defense is a paper tiger. I bet the only coach almost upset as Phil is Pops because now he knows how flimsy his defense really is and how far he has to go to revive that team. The Celtics took the Lakers offense apart from the ground up. You get the feeling if we had to play them again, they would win by 70.
The Lakers will have to shore up defensively, even with Drew next year, if we have a rematch with this team.
The Bench Mob is highly overrated. We have two good guards-Sasha and Jordan. We may have a very good young player in Trevor. We have two forwards who are worthless-Luke and Ronny. In the long, less intense regular season the Bench Mob can do the job with reasonable effectiveness. In the playoffs where teams can game plan you and defense and intensity go up three notchs, Lukes and Ronnys flaws are brutal for our team. If you don't think so, ask yourself, how much did they help us in the last three rounds? How much did Bostons bench help them against us?
Coaching: I’ve long suspected that coaching genius is overrated. A bad coach can hurt you, but all good coaches are fairly equal and there is little “coaching magic” that goes into victory. If two teams have good coaches, it’s the one with the best horses that wins. If Doc and Phil were switched I think the results would have been pretty much the same. If there was any real “advantage” or “magic” a “great” coach can somehow conjure up then Phil, with a good team at his disposal this year, would have done so and won this series. I think a good coach is a good coach and Phil is no better then Red or Pat Riley or Doc Rivers nor are they better than he. Doc had the worse record in the league last year and now he wins the title. Did he suddenly become a genius in the off season? No, he got the players in the off season. It in the end it comes down to who has the horses.
Despite the dismal end this has to be classified as a very exiting and successful year. Kobe got his long overdue MVP award, the Lakers ascended to predominance in the West and now have a nucleus of players that will enable them to contend for championships for a long time into the future. Only two teams get to the NBA final and we were one of them. The teams achievements far outweighed the final outcome of their season.
The ending for this game was fairly predictable but the future is obviously bright for us. I'll take this season and look forward to the next with even greater anticipation. We will be back in the finals next year. Let’s hope that next year we can make that last push and get our next ring.
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