Kobe Bryant said this was a “statement game” and it seemed that the Lakers were taking it a little more seriously than the Celtics were. Not that C’s weren’t focused — they were — but there’s a certain swagger that comes with being the defending champs; you’re going to get everyone’s “A” game, but it’s important to remember that one regular season does not a championship make. That seemed to be Boston’s mindset.
The difference in this game, specifically in the fourth quarter, was the play of Pau Gasol. The Laker big man scored seven points in a 80-second span in the closing moments of the final period. The Celtics were shading over to help on Kobe, and as a consequence they were letting a wide-open Gasol catch the ball at the free throw line. He used an array of driving moves to score three buckets (with one three-point play) to put the C’s in a corner. Then, with 1:16 to play and the Lakers leading by five, he came up with a crucial block of Ray Allen’s three-point attempt to put the game away.
