Ever since I saw the schedule for these Finals, I’ve been writing about how the aging Celtics would react to having to fly cross country and play on only one day’s rest. They looked sluggish in Game 3 after a quick turnaround from Game 2, and in Game 6, just two days after Game 5 in Boston, it looked like they never got out of the airport.
This game isn’t quite over, but it has been decided. The Lakers’ defense showed up tonight and that helped their offense, which in turn kept the Celtics at a slower pace. Boston looked out of sync all night, and that was mainly due to the effort and positioning of the Laker defense.
The Laker bench also played well — as of this post, the L.A. bench is outscoring the Boston bench 24-11.
What else is there to say? Kobe needed someone else to step up and pretty much the entire team responded. Both teams are a man down — Kendrick Perkins played only seven minutes before suffering a knee injury, while Andrew Bynum only managed 12 minutes before the Lakers shut him down.
Okay, now it’s a final: Lakers 89, Celtics 67.
I would expect a much better effort from the Celtics in Game 7, mostly because they can’t play much worse. They’ll have a full 48 hours to read about how badly they played, while the Lakers will be riding high.
It’s funny how the momentum in these seven-game series can change on a dime.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
