Starting at the 3:00 mark in the video, you can see the three shots Kobe hit down the stretch that sealed the game (and the series) for the Lakers. Love him or hate him, he is incredible.
Tag: 2010 NBA Playoffs (Page 6 of 32)
Is there anything better than two Slovenians continuing their personal rivalry in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals?
The Suns were on life support, down 17 in the fourth quarter, when Dragic came into the game, hit a jumper and started to talk some sh*t to Vujacic, who has some problems with Dragic over the fact that he (Vujacic) was dismissed from the Slovenian national team. Vujacic lost his cool and elbowed Dragic in the face, and it turned into a six-point play. Suns down 11 with 11:11 to play.
Kobe on the squabble:
Still, Bryant, who led the Lakers with 37 points, did not take kindly to Vujacic’s flagrant foul playing a role in Phoenix’s rally. In an interview with TNT immediately after the game, Bryant said he wanted to “kill” Vujacic after what he did and still wanted to “kill him” even though the Lakers won.
So what did Dragic say? Vujacic, who we all know is not to be trusted, said the following:
The Lakers may have won, 111-103, thanks to some incredibly clutch shots from Kobe Bryant (37-6-2) in the fourth quarter, but the rivalry between fellow Slovenians Goran Dragic and Sasha Vujacic (sort of) stole the show. The Suns were on life support, down 17 in the fourth quarter, when Dragic came into the game, hit a jumper and started to talk some sh*t to Vujacic, who has some problems with Dragic over the fact that he (Vujacic) was dismissed from the Slovenian national team. Vujacic lost his cool and elbowed Dragic in the face, and it turned into a six-point play. Suns down 11 with 11:11 to play.
The Suns eventually cut it to three with 2:18 to play, but Kobe hit two impossible shots, a 23-footer with 1:59 to play (and two guys in his face) to push the lead to five and a very contested 21-footer with 0:35 to play to push the lead to seven. Game over.
So we have a rematch of the 2008 Finals — Lakers vs. Celtics. There is plenty on the line for both teams, but I expect Kobe and the Lakers will come out very motivated to avenge the Finals loss two years ago.
On a side note, no one can question what Ron Artest has brought to the table in this series. After his timely game-winning put back in Game 5 and his 10-for-16, 25-point, three-steal effort in Game 6, I doubt there are too many Laker fans wishing that Trevor Ariza was still on the team.
Be sure to check back on Monday for my writeups about where the Suns (and Magic) go from here.
Paul Pierce led the way with 31-13-5 and four other Celtics scored in double figures — including a timely 13-point second quarter from Nate Robinson while Rajon Rondo was sidelined with a bad back — as Boston closed out Orlando, 96-84.
I wrote earlier about how the Magic needed to get to the line (30+ times) and shoot reasonably well from long range (8+ threes) and they failed in both areas tonight. They shot just 27 free throws and hit just 6-of-22 threes.
Vince Carter 17-7-3 was more aggressive than in the last two games, but he shot just 6-of-15 from the field and shot just 37% in the series. I think it’s safe to say that the trade backfired on the Magic.
After Orlando came back to win the last two games in the Eastern Conference Finals, I’ve been hearing/reading a lot about how Orlando’s insistence in pushing the ball is giving the Magic the advantage in the series.
I wasn’t able to find actual pace statistics game by game, so I came up with a somewhat crude method to estimate the tempo for a team in any given game.
Tempo = FGA + FTA/2 – OR + TO
FTA/2 assumes that every time a player makes a trip to the line that he shoots two free throws. This is obviously not true for three-point plays, but those are the exception and not the rule. (Remember, I said this was somewhat crude.) I subtract offensive rebounds because those are additional possessions that show up later as additional field goals, free throws or turnovers, and have nothing to do with how quickly the team is pushing the ball up court. Finally, I add turnovers because those are possessions where the team fails to get a shot at the basket or a trip to the free throw line.
So, for the first five games, here is how Orlando’s “tempo” has looked:
G1: 93
G2: 94
G3: 88
G4: 89 (pre-overtime)
G5: 89.5
If anything, Orlando has slowed the pace a bit since Game 1 and Game 2. While I agree that the Magic should try to run, the tempo of the game hasn’t had anything to do with whether or not Orlando has won the game.
In the two wins, Orlando has shot at least 30 free throws (in regulation) and made at least eight three pointers. In the three losses, they failed to reach this benchmark in one or both of these categories. During the season the Magic were 17-5 in games where they shot 30+ free throws and made at least eight three pointers. In the postseason, they are 6-0 when those two criteria are met.
Tonight, I’m looking for the Magic to feature Dwight Howard early and often. With Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace banged up, the Celtics are suddenly very thin on the front line. Ideally, when Kendrick Perkins is in the game, the Magic need to run action that gets Howard the ball deep inside the lane. Perkins does a nice job keeping Howard at bay when he catches the ball on the block or the extended block. If they can get Howard the ball deep, it will put Perkins in a bad position and he’s more likely to get into foul trouble. If that happens, and Perkins is forced to the bench, Howard can pretty much have his way inside.
Other than that, the Magic just need to hit some threes. That means crisp passing and good shot selection.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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