Here’s where the 2-3-2 format in The Finals gets really interesting. With a 92-86 win in Game 5 behind a big 27-point effort from Paul Pierce, the Celtics are in position to close out the Lakers, but they’ll have to do it at the Staples Center.
Pierce was amazing offensively, hitting 12-of-21 shots from the field, which mostly offset Kobe Bryant’s 38 points. The Lakers only had one other player in double figures (Pau Gasol, 12-12), and Kobe grew visibly frustrated as the fourth quarter wore on.
Along with Pierce, Rajon Rondo (18-8-5) controlled this game for Boston. He made four huge plays late in the game, including two steals (though curiously, he was only credited for one in the game), a timely tip-in on an offensive rebound and a very nice catch and layup on a late pass from Pierce. Kevin Garnett (18-10-3) and Ray Allen (12-3-2) also played well for the Celtics.
Heading back to L.A. it will be interesting to see if the Lakers can turn things around. So much momentum swings with one game, and now that the Celtics have won three of the last four, the Lakers will be feeling the pressure. If they can rally together and win Game 6, they’ll regain control of the series.
A couple of other random thoughts from the game:
- Jeff Van Gundy had a great line about Derek Fisher’s propensity to flop. Mike Breen said that Fisher did a nice job of selling the call. Van Gundy responded, “If I never hear ‘selling’ and ‘basketball game’ together again, I’ll be happy.”
Breen: “Veterans know how to sell.”
Van Gundy: “How do you fool…these guys have all refereed this guy for 14 years. They know every time he goes up it looks like there’s sniper fire in the building.”
Classic.
- There was a weird sequence between Pierce and Rondo at the end of the first half. The Celtics were running the clock down and Pierce felt that Rondo “looked him off.” As Rondo started to penetrate into the lane (and looked to pass the ball to Pierce again), Pierce was already walking towards the Celtics’ bench in frustration, wiping his hand away at Rondo in dismissal. When asked about it moments later by Doris Burke, Pierce said he wasn’t upset when it was very obvious that he was.
That play was the opposite of ubuntu. What if the Celtics had lost by one point and that play could have made the difference between Boston winning and losing? Why is Pierce pouting about not getting the ball on a play like that?
Want to know how it feels when you’re a reserve and you have a direct impact on the outcome of Game 4 of the NBA Finals? Watch this video of Nate Robinson and Glen Davis. They don’t hold anything back…
There is definitely a different mindset as a starter versus a reserve. As a starter, you expect to be in the game at crunch time and are prepared to play with the game on the line. There will be games where you decide the outcome.
As a reserve, you go in and do your thing, but you’re usually pulled with five or six minutes remaining (or earlier) because the coach wants to get his starters back in. Doc Rivers made the decision to let a unit that featured four bench players continue to play deep into the fourth quarter because they were performing so well. Both Davis and Robinson admitted that they kept looking at the clock wondering when they were going to get pulled.
I have to hand it to Doc Rivers. How many coaches would have had the balls to play a lineup that included Nate Robinson, Tony Allen, Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis deep into the fourth quarter of a tight, must-win game against the Lakers? Ray Allen was the fifth Celtic on the floor, and at times he looked a little like Kelly Leak playing with the Bad News Bears.
That group started the fourth quarter, trailing 62-60, and slowly but surely built an 85-74 lead with 3:57 to play. There were points that Rivers sent Garnett/Pierce/Rondo to the scorer’s table only to pull them back to the bench after the aforementioned fivesome made a nice play to continue its run. This is not something we see often in the NBA because most coaches are afraid of their stars, but these Celtics don’t mind riding the wave with the bench when they are outplaying the other team’s starters. Ubuntu.
When Garnett/Pierce/Rondo did re-enter the game, Mark Jackson was concerned about their readiness to shoot when open, but these guys are pros (not to mention champions), and they answered the call. Well, Paul Pierce (19-6-5) answered the call. He scored five quick points, including a very suspect three-point play where he drew a block on Kobe. It looked as if Kobe got his feet set outside of the circle before Pierce left his feet, but the call went Pierce’s way. That’s why there’s such a thing as home court advantage.
With their backs to the wall, the C’s did what they needed to do in Game 4. Now they have to prevail in another must-win game to put the pressure back on the Lakers as the series heads back to L.A.
I remember this play when it happened, and I’m glad “BasketballBreakdowns” posted the clip on YouTube.
Fourth quarter, Celtics trailing by two, 72-70, with seven minutes left in the game. Boston had come back from a 17-point deficit, but hadn’t yet been able to tie the game or take the lead. They were on a 9-5 run in the quarter, and had a chance to tie the game with a bucket on this possession.
Rondo missed Pierce on what would have been a pretty easy bucket, and the Lakers scored on Derek Fisher jumpers on the next two possessions to push the lead to six. Had the Celtics scored here and tied the game, the Garden would have gone nuts and it might have changed the outcome.
“I don’t really see anything he’s doing special that any other teams haven’t done throughout the course of the playoffs,” Pierce said. “That’s it.”
So despite struggling against Artest during the Finals and the regular season, Pierce thinks it’s simply a coincidence some of his worst games have come while Artest is guarding him?
“I think so,” he said.
Those words might make things even tougher for Pierce, since Artest tends to play better when he feels he’s been disrespected.
When Artest was asked about the inevitability of Pierce finding his shooting touch in the series, he stopped the reporter mid-question.
“Who said that?” Artest said. “Who said that it’s inevitable? I don’t know what the game’s going to bring, but I know I’ll be playing better defensively. I don’t like the way I’ve been playing defense, so I’m going to make sure I step up.”
Pierce has missed some open shots, but he doesn’t seem to be getting open looks at his sweet spot, which is about 17-19 feet from the hoop, to the right of the top of the key.
The Celtics need at least two of the “Big 3″ to score well to win the series. In Game 3, Allen was a no show and Pierce struggled with his accuracy.
Check out Ray Allen’s line from each of the last two games:
Game 2: 11-20 (8-11 3PT), 32 points, Celtics win, 103-94
Game 3: 0-13 (0-8 3PT), 2 points, Celtics lose, 91-84
I wondered how the Celtics would handle the long flight and quick turnaround from Game 2 to Game 3 and it appears that Allen didn’t handle it well. Kevin Garnett kept Boston in it, hitting 11-of-16 shots for 25 points and six boards in what was easily his best game of the series. Generally speaking, the Celtics played well enough to win, but they had trouble scoring largely due to Allen’s struggles from the field. However, he did play good defense on Kobe Bryant (29-7-4 on 29 shots), but it still wasn’t enough.
The reason the Lakers won was Derek Fisher’s excellent fourth quarter. He went 5-of-7 from the field for 11 points in the period. In essence, he gave the Lakers what Kobe usually gives them in the fourth quarter.
In Finals history, ten series have been tied 1-1 after the first two games and the team that won Game 3 went on to win all 10 series. That, coupled with Phil Jackson’s amazing record in series where his team wins the first game, would seem to make the Celtics big underdogs. They absolutely have to win the next two games and hope that they can steal another game in L.A.
You know it’s not much of a game when Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are talking about Scrabble with 4:45 to play in the fourth quarter, and that’s exactly what happened on Thursday night.
If there were any lingering concerns about the Lakers’ toughness or focus, they were answered (at least for now) in Game 1. LA outrebounded Boston, 42-31, and looked every bit as determined as the Celtics an a decisive 102-89 win to open the series.
Kobe Bryant was brilliant (30-7-6, 10-of-22 from the field) and Pau Gasol (23-14, 8-of-14) was the second best player on the floor. When those two guys are really going, the Lakers are tough to beat. Ron Artest (15-4) and Andrew Bynum (10-6) were the other Lakers to finish in double figures.
Paul Pierce (24-9-4) finished with a good line, but did a lot of damage in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided. Ray Allen (12 points) was saddled with foul trouble the entire game — he has enough trouble guarding Kobe without the refs calling ticky-tack fouls like they did Thursday night — and he could never get into rhythm. Rajon Rondo (13-6-8) played pretty well, but he needs to control the game if the C’s are going to have a chance in the series.
Lastly, the lack of lift in Kevin Garnett’s knees was very noticeable tonight. There were a couple of plays in the third and fourth quarters when the Celtics were trying to make a run where he missed a couple of bunnies right at the rim. Boston wouldn’t have its defense set, so the Lakers would go down and score, essentially making it a four-point swing. Two or three of those and you’re talking 8-12 points, the difference in the game. KG has played well in these playoffs, but he’s going to need a spring in his step if he’s going to get over the length of the Lakers down low.
Game 2 will tell us whether or not the Celtics will make this a series. I mentioned in my Finals preview that the C’s needed to win one of the first two games to have a realistic shot at winning the series and they didn’t look very good on Thursday night after plenty of rest. They won’t play again until Sunday, so fatigue shouldn’t be a concern, but the two-day-plus-travel turnarounds between Game 2 and Game 3 and between Game 5 and Game 6 are going to take their toll on the Celtics’ old bones.
There’s been some debate in the last few days about whether the Lakers will deploy Bryant or point guard Derek Fisher to defend Rondo, but to me it’s not even a question. I suspect Jackson was being coy when he told reporters that Bryant would spend some time defending Rondo. Other than the second head-to-head meeting during this year’s regular season, when Bryant was injured, the Lakers have used the same strategy against Rondo the last two years. The belief in backing off Rondo is so strong that Minnesota’s Kurt Rambis, a former Lakers assistant, even employed a similar philosophy when the Timberwolves faced the Celtics this season.
Here’s the funny thing about Rondo’s rapid development over the last two seasons: It has little to do with his shooting. According to Hoopdata.com, Rondo shot 43.0 percent on long two attempts in 2007-08, which is actually pretty good. This year, that percentage plummeted to 33.0 percent. Yes, Rondo is now a tiny bit of a threat from downtown, but really what has happened is that Rondo has learned how to work around his weakness and get into the paint anyway, creating shots for teammates and boosting his assist rate.
We certainly saw that in the game between these two teams at the TD Garden this season. Rondo was 1-of-5 on long twos, but he still shot 9-of-16 from the field and dished 12 assists thanks to his ability to get into the paint. Transition will be big for Rondo in this series, since he can create easy shots in the early offense when the Lakers haven’t yet had a chance to wall off the basket. He can also take advantage of switches that put slower defenders on him on the perimeter.
I’m not sure that Jackson and company will make a switch defensively, because the way they’ve defended Rondo brings other benefits–as Gary Collard pointed out on Twitter, Bryant doesn’t have to chase Ray Allen through screens this way, and his ability to give help can be disruptive to the rest of the Boston offense. Still, don’t expect the strategy of backing off Rondo to be nearly as effective as it was in 2008.
Rondo has a way of making teams pay for playing off of him on the perimeter. His jumper is shaky, but when his defender is off of him, it’s very difficult to box him out, which is why he’s so good at retrieving long offensive rebounds. Playing off of Rondo also allows him to get into the paint with relative ease, which puts pressure on the defense and opens up passing lanes to open shooters or to guys cutting to the basket.
With the “Big 3″ all two years older, the onus for the Celtics is on Rondo. If he has a great (Finals MVP-type) series, the Celtics have a good chance of winning their second title in three years.
The “Big 3″ are two years older. (So is Kobe, but he doesn’t look it.)
Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are 34, and Paul Pierce is 32. They’re not over the hill, but they aren’t spring chickens, either. The way that the schedule is set up, Game 2 is on Sunday and then both teams will have to fly to Boston on Monday for Game 3 on Tuesday. There is also just one day of rest between Game 5 and Game 6. These are going to be tough turnarounds for the 30+ crowd. In terms of play, KG is playing as good as he has in the last two seasons, but he’s still not in ’08 form. After a substandard regular season, Ray Allen has played well in the playoffs. Only Paul Pierce is playing at nearly the same level as in 2008.
The Lakers have home court advantage.
Last time around, the first two games were in Boston. This time, the series starts in L.A., where the Lakers were 34-7 on the season and 8-0 in the playoffs.
They’re starting Ron Artest at SF instead of Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton.
Artest may be a little crazy, but he definitely makes this Laker lineup tougher. Radmanovic, Walton and Sasha Vujacic got major minutes in ’08, but are now either gone or relegated to spot duty. We can debate Ron Artest vs. Trevor Ariza all we want, but there’s no doubt that Artest is an upgrade over the Radmanovic/Walton combo that faced the Celtics two years ago. He’ll also make Paul Pierce work for his points, which will allow Kobe to worry about Ray Allen.
They want revenge.
The Lakers were embarrassed after losing Game 6 by 39 points. Their win over the Magic last year was nice, but if they had any heart, they wanted to face the Celtics again. A win over Boston would squash any talk about how the C’s would have had a dynasty had Kevin Garnett stayed healthy.
