Back In Boston, Can The Celtics Finally Win It In Game 6?

OK. I failed to make an analysis of game 5. So I’ll do a hybrid. This on will be an analysis of game 5 and a preview of game 6. Here I go…

Game 5 for Boston is very disappointing.  They had the Lakers where they want them but they just can’t convert the shots they needed. The end result is a view of LA celebrating for extending the series. The Big 3 of LA was present. Kobe did his job, Pau Gasol finally showed up, and Lamar Odom played well enough to snatch game 5. As for the Celtics, Paul Pierce was the lone bright star in their Big 3. KG was in foul trouble and had a hard time shooting the ball, Ray Allen’s three-pointer didn’t went in when they needed it the most, and Pierce who dropped a lot of points suddenly lost his focus during the end game that caused them the game.

Now, in a few hours, game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals will be played on Boston’s own court. They now have the perfect setting for winning championship number 17. What do they have to do? Relax. The team was so eager to finish the Lakers in L.A. that they lost focus. KG can’t go strong towards the basket and take a soft attack to the basket expecting a foul to be called. Paul Pierce can’t be too eager and lose the ball if he wants to win. Ray Allen needs to show that he has one more spectacular game in him to finally finish of the Lakers. The Celtics needs to run the plays drawn by Coach Doc Rivers. The last thing that the Celtics need to win championship number 17 is another spectacular game from the bench. That’s where they get their extra strength. Again, the Celtics need to relax and let the game flow and feel it. IF they do this, it’s over for the Lakers.

Now, the Lakers are once again in a win or go home situation. The good thing about this is that they already survived one. The only thing they need to do is to tighten their defense and be ready for a Celtics attack. Coach Phil Jackson’s Zen philosophy might not be working on Kobe but it seems to me that it does with the rest of the team. That is good enough for me. If Kobe is resting then the Zen philosophy is at work and it has been working for the Lakers as the bench have kept the game close enough so that when Kobe comes back they are poised to go for the kill.

Who will win? I say Boston. They have only conceded one game at home in the playoffs. With that, I think the magic or hands of Red Aurbach is at work and Red will definitely look after the Celtics for game 6.

KB24 Lost A 24-Point Lead. Boston One Win Away From Clinching Championsip #17

Where should I start? Hmmm…. Starting a new entry about an event that happened 2 days ago is very hard. Ok. Here I go…

The Lakers are bunch of unbelievable group of individuals. Before the Finals began, everyone chose the Lakers as winner of this series. The Lakers breezed through the playoffs and sold them selves as a Champion team and waiting. Four games later, it was the Celtics who are poised to win the championship.

The Lakers led as much as 24 points at the half and maintained it to 20 points up to the 7-minute mark of the 3rd quarter. From then on the Celtics climbed slowly and cut the deficit basket after basket. The Celtics kept the scores close until the 3-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Then Eddie House and James Posey got to work. Garnett made baskets as if it was a shoot around. Then came the Ray Allen drive to the basket leaving Vujacic and shooting it with a left-handed layup. The face of Vujacic during the two consecutive timeouts called by Phil Jackson for the Lakers to advance the ball was priceless. As if Vujacic was told that he is going to die in 7 days. Maybe this is karma (if you believe in it) for Vujacic after taking that last second 3-pointer against the Spurs during Game 5 of that series even though the Lakers were already guaranteed a win.

All game long and all series long, it has been the Ray Allen show. It took Ray Allen three playoff series before coming out of his shell and wreck havoc. What a great timing!

I like what Paul Pierce said that maybe there is someone up there who doesn’t want to be overtaken helps the Celtics to win. With the way thing are looking, its not a distant fact.

Is the series over? Not yet. Yes, history is against the Lakers as no team has ever come back from a 1-3 deficit but there is always a time for firsts. Should the Celtics give a free win for the sake of winning it in Boston Garden? Hell no! Garnett, Pierce, and Allen should give their all in Game 5 and finish off the Lakers. The last thing that the Celtics should do is to uplift the spirits of the Lakers and by giving away Game 5 might do so. I say end the series in Game 5. Flyback to Boston and celebrate with the Larry O’Brien Trophy already in thier hands.

Kobe Drops 36. Cut The Series 2-1

Finally!

Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers held off a last attempt by the Boston Celtics to win the game cutting the lead of Boston to 2-1.

Wasn’t able to watch the game so here is the link to a game recap by Y!Sports:

Game 3 Recap

**I will post my comments on this game later…

Celtics Survives Lakers Run In The 4th Quarter. Gains 2-0 Series Advantage

Boston Celtics take a commanding 2-0 lead against the Los Angeles Lakers in their best-of-seven series. It was looking like a walk in the park for the Celtics up to the last eight minute mark of the 4th quarter. After that, Hurricane 24 (hope it’s alright to borrow this term Vic) came wrecking through the Garden and came close by cutting the 24 point lead to just 2 points near the end of the game. Paul Pierce drilled in his two pressure-packed free throws to give them more cushion. The game ended with the final score of 108-102.

Ok.. enough of the reporting type of writing. I am going to admit that I overslept and missed most of the game on television so I am just going to write about the things that I saw. I was perfectly speechless about Leon Powe’s game. He was dominant. As if it was him who is the star player of the Celtics. I guess to some basketball analyst and journalist, this didn’t came as a surprise. Why? Leon Powe was a high school basketball star. Someone told me that he even had his own article in SLAM Magazine. What made Powe a virtually unknown commodity in the basketball world? He busted both of his knees. I guess, Powe’s story is a feel good one. It’s great to see him “back” and provide unbelievable performance for the Celtics.

Let’s talk about the meltdown. WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THE CELTICS DOING?!?!! Come on, if that happened in Staples Center then we would have seen the Lakers completing the comeback. The only thing that kept the Celtics alive was the people of Boston. The Celtics won that game for the people. They sucked enough life into them to prevent one of the greatest meltdown in a single playoff game in the history of the NBA on their own backyard. They better watch that fourth quarter over and over again and review what happened. They can’t come to Los Angeles and repeat this kind of fourth quarter performance. Fine, I will admit that I didn’t saw the whole meltdown. Boston was up by 22 points in the fourth quarter when I stood up, went downstairs, and get my freshly cooked snack and eat as fast as I can. When I came back upstairs, I saw Pierce about to shoot two free throws and saw that the lead was already down to two points. I was shocked, speechless and motion less.

The key to winning game 3 for the Lakers is to repeat everything they did during their comeback bid in the fourth quarter and don’t forget to give the ball to the man who wears jersey #24. As for the Celtics, they should repeat their performance during the first 40 minutes of game 2 but this time do it for 48 minutes.

Will the tides turn as the series shift to L.A. for games 3,4, and 5? Will the Celtics come back to Boston to celebrate or will they need their last 2 home games (games 6 and 7) to finish off the Lakers. Will the Lakers be able to defend their home or will they succumb to the best defensive team in the NBA? Will the Lakers have enough desire to win it all in Boston? What will happen? Your guess is good as mine. Watch out for game 3 of the 2008 NBA Finals as it will be the turning point of series.

Celtics’ Defense Wins Them Game 1

Boston Celtics won Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

Surprise! Surprise!

OR IS IT?

We all witnessed game 1 and we saw how good the Celtics defend. Of course, all teams have lapses but when it mattered most they shut down the Lakers. The people of Boston and all the other Celtics fans should also thank 2008 MVP Kobe Bryant for delivering game 1 to Boston in a silver platter. Kobe was at it again. He was hogging the ball and completely disregard setting up a play. If the play designed by Phil Jackson is to give to Kobe the ball at all times and let Kobe take any shot he wants then I have lost my confidence in Phil Jackson. That is why I don’t buy it. It was all Kobe.

Okay, to be fair to Kobe, he did made those shots most of the game (and I was in awe) but when it mattered most he faltered and forced the issue. Lakers could have gotten game 1 had they set up a fluid play to give Kobe more room and give him a higher percentage of making what ever kind of shot he has in mind. But they didn’t. When Kobe was missing, so was the whole team. Point blank shots by Gasol and wide open three point shots from FIsher and Vujacic all missed the bottom of the net. If it wasn’t nerves then maybe the spirit of Red Auerbach played a hand here.

Notes of The Game:

• Paul Pierce suffered an injury during the 3rd Quarter. It was a scary injury and Pierce mas grimacing in pain while holding his right knee. Luckily for the Celtics Paul Pierce shook it off and played one hell of a ball game with two 6-point swing on different occasion. Part of the first 6-point swing was a four-point play via a foul-counted three point basket by Pierce
• Kendrick Perkins also went off the court a few minutes after Pierce did. He never returned to the ball game. It was then reported as a sprained left ankle injury.
• Kobe’s unbelievable shots (fizzled out in the end game) including a dunk via a fast break play.
• Kevin Garnett’s hell freezing follow-up dunk over Pau Gasol. Go watch in YouTube NOW!
• Gasol’s block on Garnett early in the game. Gasol was called for a foul but as shown in the replay that it was a clean one but Turiaf did hit Garnett’s forearm. So there was actually a foul but called on the wrong man.
• Pierce and Odom competed on who will be fouled out first. Both players went into an early foul trouble.

-shooter’s bounce

2008 NBA Finals Head-to-Head Matchups

To completely understand how great this battle between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers and eventually to give my prediction for this year’s edition of the NBA Finals we will take a look and analyze each head-to-head matchups of the starting line up and compare the bench and the coaches of each team.

Let the battle begin!

CENTER

VS.

Kendrick Perkins vs. Pau Gasol:

Without looking into any statistics, hands-down Pau Gasol wins this match-up. Perkins is just raw to stop Pau Gasol one-on-one. Perkins is also incapable of scoring heavily over Gasol. Perkins will be most effective helping on defense, denying Pau Gasol the ball and grabbing the loose balls. Pau Gasol on the other just need to get the ball in his hands and beat Perkins one-on-one. If help defense comes (ie: Garnett) it won’t be a problem for Gasol because he has good court vision (3.2 AST season average) that will allow him to elude his defender and make a great pass to Mr. MVP Kobe Bryant.

• CELTICS – 0
• LAKERS – 1

POWER FORWARD

VS.

Kevin Garnett vs. Lamar Odom:

Just like the first match-up, this one is also a landslide win. Garnett is just superior over Odom in all aspects. Garnett is also the heart and soul of this Celtics team. You can see in his eyes that he has complete disregard of human life when he gets into the zone. Lamar Odom is just to inconsistent to be able to make a difference in this series most specially that he will have the task to stop Garnett. For Lamar to be effective, he needs to coordinate with Gasol for the help defense. A few switching of assignments between Odom and Gasol can help distract Garnett and prevent him getting comfortable over his defense. What does Garnett need to do? He just needs to be himself

• CELTICS – 1
• LAKERS – 1

SMALL FORWARD

VS.

Paul Pierce vs. Vladimir Radmanovic:

Radmanovic has been playing great lately that I predict Phil Jackson will most likely continue to start him. Radmanovic going head-to-head with Pierce seems to be odd but if he is going to start I doubt he will be tasked to defend Perkins or Garnett. Maybe at some points he will defend Ray Allen and Kobe will take on Pierce. With Radmanovic defending Pierce, I give this match-up to Pierce. Pierce is just to dominant for Radmanovic to stop him. Pierce have a wide array of arsenal that Radmanovic will literally be brought into school. For Radmanovic to be able to help the Lakers, he should try to deny Pierce the ball or make Pierce work hard for his shots and him drilling those 3 point shots he is know for.

• CELTICS – 2
• LAKERS – 1

SHOOTING GUARD

VS.

Ray Allen vs. Kobe Bryant:

Need I to say more? Ray Allen is the best shooting guard in the NBA! Just kidding.. Of Course, 2008 NBA Season MVP Kobe Bryant wins this one. Kobe Bryant is arguably the best player in the planet right now. I just have no confidence that Ray Allen can stop Kobe. Like Garnett, Kobe Bryant just needs to be himself for him to dominate the series. As for Ray Allen, he should ask Doc Rivers to design a play for help defense against Kobe. If they can afford to switch assignment between Pierce and Allen on defense then that will be better. Ray Allen also needs to come alive all throughout the series. He can’t fizzle out the way he did early in the playoffs. If he can’t stop Kobe, he should at least match Kobe’s output.

• Celtics – 2
• Lakers – 2

POINT GUARD

VS.

Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher:

For me, this is the most interesting match-up in the starting line-up. The other four positions are all lopsided wins. Here, Rondo or Fisher can come up on top. Rondo has the better stats over Fisher but Fisher is the veteran and knows how to win championships. The key to this match-up is whether Rondo will allow Fisher to bully him on the court. Both players are capable on the offensive and defensive of the game. Practically, this is a tie. A wait and see match-up.

• CELTICS – 2.5 (.5 [DRAW])
  
• LAKERS – 2.5 (.5 [DRAW])

COACH

VS.

Doc Rivers vs. Phil Jackson:

The battle between this two coaches does not only involve winning the championship for the Celtics or the Lakers. This also a battle for legitimacy. Doc Rivers has been regarded as one of the worst coaches in the NBA before Celtics formed the new Big 3 and winning the championship is in some way his vindication. If Doc Rivers and the Boston Celtics win the championship, Rivers will finally earn respect as a coach. Phil Jackson on the other hand is chasing Red Auerbach’s record. If Phil Jackson notches his 10th NBA title then he can claim that maybe he is the greatest coach that ever lived. Coincidentally, Red Auerback was the mastermind of the numerous championships of the Boston Celtics. Phil Jackson can claim his 10th while beating Auerbach’s former team.

Who is the better coach? if we base it on championships won then Phil Jackson will win it 9-0. Is there anyway Doc Rivers can out coach Phil Jackson? I doubt it. What should Doc Rivers do? He should just work and improve their defense with the help of his assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. Who wins this one? Phil Jackson

• CELTICS – 2.5 (.5 [DRAW])
• LAKERS – 3.5 (.5 [DRAW])

BENCH

VERSUS

CELTICS BENCH: Tony Allen, Sam Cassell, Glen Davis, Eddie House, James Posey, Leon Powe, PJ Brown

VERSUS

LAKERS BENCH: Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, DJ Mbenga, Chris Mihm

This one is also tough to call. Both benches have delivered for their respective team. In the front line, Davis, Posey and Powe came up for the Celtices while Walton and Turiaf did the same for the Lakers. At the back court, Allen and Cassell has delivered for the Celtics so as Farmar and Vujacic. Which bench will come on top? It will depend on how the coaches will rotate their line-up. Another crucial part in this series is the first substitution for both teams in all games to be played. This will actually show how the coaches can adjust and match-up the opponent. The clear contrast between the the benches is that Celtics’s bench is more defense oriented while the Lakers bench is comprised of offensive players. On how this will play out, your guess is as good as mine. Virtually it’s a tie once again. But I have to give a little more edge to the Celtics because I believe that defense wins championships.

• CELTICS – 3.25 (.5 [DRAW] + .75)
• LAKERS – 3.75 (.5 [DRAW] + .25)

CONCLUSION

As my scoring shows, the Los Angeles Lakers have the slight edge over the Boston Celtics. If my scoring is consistent then I expect a Game 7 with the Lakers winning by virtue of a great 4th quarter play.

MY PREDICTION

Although the Lakers have won this head-to-head match-up scoring, I still pick the Boston Celtics to win six games or less. I just feel that the Celtics is hungrier with three aging future hall of famers raring to have a championship ring. Neither of the Big 3 ever came close to winning the championship before and they know that this might be the only year tghat they can take it. The Lakers on the other hand is also hungry to win as Pau Gasol is yet to have one and Kobe wanting to prove he can win a championship without Shaq (but with Gasol) but I still pick the Celtics because I believe, as I have written above, that defense win championships and Celtics is one of the most underrated defensive team. This will be a battle of heart and who wants it more. Truly a making of an epic battle that will forever be etched in the history of the NBA.

The 2008 NBA Finals Preview

PRESENTS

VERSUS

This year’s NBA Finals will revive memories of classic battles between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Memories of Bill Russel vs Jerry West and Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird will come back to those who has witnessed their greatness. NBA’s biggest stage has waited for 21 years to once again witness a battle between two teams who have so much pride and tradition in them

In the history of NBA Finals, the Celtics and the Lakers will face each other for the 11th time this year. Celtics have won the first 8 meetings while the Lakers has taken the last two. Of the 10 championships between them, 5 championships went the distance and the Celtics won all of them.

This year, history doesn’t matter. The only remnants of those fierce battle can be seen on the banners hanging over the court. This year’s cast is composed of new faces. This year, both teams are hungry to win the championship and are raring to leave their mark in the history of NBA.

Los Angeles Lakers’ and 2008 Season MVP Kobe Bryant has been raring to go back in the NBA Finals after losing to the Detroit Pistons in 2004. That last trip to the finals also signaled the last day of the Lakers Dynasty. The team was practically disbanded with Shaq O’Neal being traded to the Heat and the rest of the supporting cast left Los Angeles. Kobe was surrounded by new faces. Faces that somehow spelled D-O-O-M for the Lakers. For three consecutive seasons, Kobe has the face of frustration. No one knew how frustrated Kobe was until his recorded conversation dissing his teammates were leaked out last year during off-season. Everybody was expecting to see Kobe Bryant in a different uniform this season but that did not happen. Kobe played his best and played hurt. What kept Kobe Bryant from playing is that he saw his teammates, the same ones who he ripped, heeded to his call and are playing better. Then one day, Lady Luck or any other mystical being has smiled and Kobe and delivered him Pau Gasol. The Lakers got Pau Gasol by trading loose change. It can be considered a freebie. It could have been an orchestrated trade putting all the other teams at a disadvantage but I still give props to Mitch Kupchak for making this trade happen. After the season has ended, after all the drama and issues that has happened, the Lakers came out on top of the Western Conference.

The Lakers playoff battles seem to be easier as they dispatch teams fast (but well fought). They took down the Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and the rest of the Denver Nuggets via sweep. Next they battled Utah Jazz and ended the series in 6 games. Finally, they defeated the defending NBA Champions San Antonio spurs in 5 games. The Lakers just showed complete dominance over the Western Conference all throughout the playoffs and that brought Kobe and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers back to the NBA Finals.

Boston Celtics on the other hand was also at lost during the off-season. Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers were both being asked to step down from their own responsibilities. The Celtics were so miserable the previous season that they got the NBA second worst record. Unfortunately for them no mystical being smiled at them on draft lottery as they went down just picking 5th over-all on draft day after having the biggest chance of getting the number one draft pick. Criticisms never stopped for the once mighty and proud Celtics organization.

Danny Ainge made a big trade on draft day acquiring Ray Allen and rights to Glen Davis from the Seattle Supersonics trading away their 5th over-all pick (Jeff Green), Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. This trade gave hope to those who support the green and white. A few days later, Danny Ainge made another big trade by trading seven of their players for one man. That one man is Kevin Garnett. All those supporters of the Celtics who were in hibernation suddenly came out of their caves and are ecstatic for having a new Big Three wearing the Celtics uniform. Some doubted that their chemistry will be off and they will be only competitive next season but the Big Three composed of Garnett, Allen and Pierce prove them wrong and snatched the NBA best record this season.

The playoff battle of the Celtics were not as smooth sailing as the Lakers. The first round was the biggest surprise of all. The Atlanta Hawks were able to push the series to the limit even though all analysts and common sense have count them out in four games. Game 7 of that series showed the veteran side of the Celtics as they humiliated the Hawks by finishing them off 99-65. The Celtics faced next the defending Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. The series seem to be a photocopy of the first round. The series could have gone both ways. LeBron James could have beaten the Boston Celtics had the rest of the Cavaliers played their hearts out. Boston once again won this series but sports a 0-6 record on the road. This seem to be a lethal info as they face next the Detroit Pistons. In this series, the Celtics lost for the first time at home but they also won their first road game and owned the Detroit Pistons 4 games to 2.

The two teams started the season on the same page and now both teams are at the end of their campaign together. Whoever will win this championship will have one hell of a season to remember. A season they will tell their grandchildren as if it was a fairy tale because it will be a fairy tale ending for both teams.

Who will win the champiosnhip? Celtics or Laker? Who cares! If you’re not a fan of any of the two then I suggest that you sit back, relax, and enjoy the fiercest championship battle you will ever see with both teams having one thing in mind…

THE LARRY O’BRIEN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY

-Shooter’s Bounce

——————–

I might actually have a prediction next time as I will try to break down each head-to-head match-up between the Celtics and the Lakers.