June 12, 2008 – Dr. Browntorious
If any of you caught Wednesday night’s game, you would have seen something you’ve seen all year long, but didn’t see in Game 1 or 2 of this series. For one, you had good old Jack sitting in his usual courtside seats cheering away. Second, you saw the fans going absolutely crazy. Third you saw Odom and Gasol crash the boards. Fourth you saw Radmanovic and especially Vujacic dropping the open threes. And finally you saw Kobe Bryant doing what he does best scoring often and in the clutch. Kobe’s offense was a defensive nightmare for the Celtics. He was hitting fade aways, driving to the hoop through 3 or 4 defenders, getting to the line for 18 free throws and shooting above 50 % from the field.
What changed? Well for one, he was guarding Pierce. This was the match-up I thought would be in place from the beginning. Although Pierce is a great offensive player Kobe doesn’t need to spend near as much defensive energy chasing Pierce as he does Ray Allen. Allen is constantly moving, running off multiple screens and looking for an open look. The only part of Kobe’s game that was absolutely dreadful was his free throws: 11/18! Come on, had he been hitting these, the game might have been a blow out.
Where did the Celtics go wrong? Well, first off, they’re playing in LA, a hostile atmosphere. As mentioned before, not counting their road win against an injury riddled Detroit team, they’ve lost every road game so far in the playoffs. One of the best road teams of the regular season is now one of the worst road team’s of this post season. Secondly, KG can you please stop taking outside jumpers? It is a little disheartening for Celtics fans to see KG constantly settle for the outside jumper when he is probably the most ferocious big man of this decade taking it to the cup. This is the Lakers; you’re being guarded by Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. You can beat those guys off the bounce in your sleep. Use your first step and ball handling ability for a big man and draw some fouls on their bigs! KG needs to drive to the basket and over power his defenders. Paul Pierce, you’ve got Kobe upset, so there is no advice I can give you except to hope that Kobe eases up on the lockdown defense he played in Game 3.
The big challenges for the Celtics is not only the fact that LA finally woke up, it’s the 2-3-2 NBA Finals format. The reality here is that the Lakers have an excellent chance to win the next 2 games at home and be back in Boston up 3-2. Boston wasn’t able to beat Atlanta or Cleveland on the road and watching KG and Pierce yesterday evening, if some major adjustments are not made by Doc Rivers the Celtics could struggle in Games 4 and 5 as well.
Here are some key things to watch for in Game 4:
LA Lakers
1) Kobe Bryant, time to make your free throws, it’s the NBA Finals.
2) Pau and Odom – great to see these guys are back to crashing the boards, keep it up. Increasing their scoring numbers thus far wouldn’t hurt. They need to keep forcing the Celtic bigs into outside shots. Don’t let Garnett dominate the paint.
3) Derek Fisher – It’s time to show your leadership and experience. Rondo has outperformed you thus far.
4) Sasha – Stone cold gunner in Game 3, can he keep the stroke hot?
5) Turiaf – early foul troubles has kept Turiaf’s energy level down. The Lakers feed off his energy it would be nice to see him have a solid game on both ends of the floor.
6) Fans – Need to keep doing their thing, get loud, go nuts.
Boston Celtics
1) KG – Needs to stop settling for the outside shot. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. you’re definitely the toughest and nastiest player on the floor, drive to the basket.
2) Pierce – Can Pierce shake the defense of Kobe Bryant? Look for Pierce to be more of a distributor in Game 4 and get his teammates going.
3) Ray Allen – Great performance in Game 3 with the 5 threes. You absolutely can not fall back into a shooting slump if you want the Celtics to win this thing. Ray Allen kept the Celtics in it for much of Game 3. If the other members of the “Big Three” also come out to play, they should be able to get one in LA.
4) Defense – Great job on Lamar and Pau, however Kobe and Sasha were not only on fire, but wide open on some possessions. How is Kobe ever wide open? No excuses. Ray Allen may need to log heavy minutes, as he seems to be the only player to be able to slow down the Black Mamba.
5) Fans – Boston needs to get the LA fans out of their head. Yes, you guys might really like Eddie Murphy, Jack Nicholson, and all of the Hollywood babes that attend these games, but they don’t like you for the duration of this series. Get your autographs out of the way now and focus on playing in Game 4.
Tip-off for Game 4 is June 12th at 9 p.m. EST
