June 18th, 2008 – Dr. J-Water
Coming in to this game most of the discussions I heard regarding the game were about Kobe Bryant. Will he be able to extend the series for the Lakers? Will a win or loss affect his legacy in the NBA? Will Kobe be a passer, or will Kobe be a shooter? What does Kobe eat for breakfast on NBA Finals Game 6 game days? “Stop the madness!” or “Hold the phone!” or if you really love cliché’s how about “Put a cork in it!” Enough with the Kobe Bryant individual game talk for a minute. Last time I checked there were two teams filled with warriors battling it out in this series. Why don’t we talk about the fact that the Celtics have a few pretty good players themselves in this series that might deserve some discussion. They only have (*cough*) a past league MVP, a Celtic Legend, and one of the purest shooters the NBA has ever seen.
I hate to give in to the hype machine on this one, but to answer the question that undoubtedly is going to be asked by the majority, Kobe came out shooting folks! The good news for Kobe fans is that he was also hot. Bryant scored 11 points in his first 7 minutes on the floor. The bad news for Lakers fans as a whole is that while Kobe was scoring efficiently, he was shooting the ball on almost every possession. He did hit a variety of tough off-balance jumpers and three pointers in the opening minutes, however as discussed by The Hoop Doctors in a few articles during this post-season, this style of play for Kobe most times takes his teammates out of the game as they become passive and stand around watching more than playing. Kobe can individually keep his team in the game against the best of opposition; however when the well of “tough shot makes” dries up as it always does at some point in the game, the gap widened. Pau Gasol for example was clearly uninvolved in the offense, weak on the boards, and had 0 points and 4 turnovers by the end of the first quarter. In fact aside from one basket by Luke Walton, no one on the entire Lakers team besides Bryant scored a field goal in the first quarter of Game 6.
Although the Celtics are star studded with their “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen they played tonight as they did all season long and throughout these playoffs; defense first, and unselfishly share the ball on offense. Sharing the rock for the Celtics has become contagious. Their ball movement tonight was so strong at times it looked like they were playing a game of hot potato. It bordered on excessive actually on a few possessions. These guys are so close to the title they can taste it. I don’t recall seeing a team this good defensively ever, but the scariest part about that is they can score too. There are lots of great defensive teams we have seen in the last decade such as the Spurs and Pistons, but both of which often have scoring droughts and lack a big scoring punch in crunch time. Not the C’s.
When this series began a lot of the analysts had predicted the Lakers to tip the balances and win this series on one major factor, bench play. All season long the Celtics bench has been an underdog, constantly proving the critics wrong. When the Celtics made their big moves for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to assemble the “Big Three” skeptics across the league felt they needed a strong supporting cast to become a winning ball club. Well this is the NBA Finals so we all know how that story played out. But the Celtics bench in this series absolutely dominated the Lakers bench. In fact I feel that the Celtics bench players James Posey and Eddie House tonight were the keys to the C’s breaking open the game. When Ray Allen got scratched in the eye and went to the locker room, James Posey was given the assignment of guarding Kobe Bryant. Immediately the physical defense and grit of James Posey started to both Kobe, who only scored 3 points in the entire second quarter after his opening quarter 11. To top it off Posey and Eddie House combined to knock down 4 big time 3-pt shots in the second quarter to break the game open. I don’t want to take away from the performances of the Big Three in this series as they’ve been amazing, however each game of this series has been littered with memorable plays by Celtics bench players to turn the tides and fortunes in the favor of the C’s. James Posey, Eddie House, Leon Powe, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, and even Glen “Big Baby” Davis (tonight), have had their moment to shine at one point or another. This team was truly united, and as a team had no weak links.
So after a barrage of threes from the C’s bench players in the second quarter, 4 steals by point guard Rajon Rondo, and a couple of three point plays by Garnett (and 17 first half points), the Celtics finished the half up 58-35 on the Lakers. Yes that’s right, the Celtics defense held the Lakers to only 35 first half points! A Lakers team that includes offensive dynamo Kobe Bryant…
In the second half the Celtics didn’t let up. They came out hot and scoring from every angle, and did so with more unselfish ball movement. Mid-way through the third quarter Boston was up by 28 and the announcers were stunned and had nothing to say but “The Celtics are embarrassing the Lakers now.” Excuse me sir, but the Lakers embarrassed themselves in this one! They looked absolutely shell-shocked. What happened next was not surprising in the least. Kobe Bryant took more shots, hell virtually all the shots it seemed. What was surprising however, was he made barely any of them. Not only were the Celtics embarrassing the Lakers, but if you believe the hype machine that will follow this game tonight, they embarrassed Kobe Bryant directly.
Defense still does win championships. By the end of the 3rd quarter Celtic players Rondo, Allen, Posey, and Pierce combined for 14 steals. Talk about thievin’, huh? Throw in blocked shots for the bigs Perkins and Garnett, and a couple of jump balls and charges drawn, and you have a well oiled defensive green machine finely tuned by none other than the Celtics defensive assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. Playing great offense takes a high degree of skill, but playing great defense takes a level of commitment and heart that only a select few players possess. That is what makes the Celtics defense so amazing; they literally have all 5 players on the floor exhibiting that sought after defensive effort at the same time.
At the end of the third quarter the score was 89-60. The only reason anyone needs to watch the fourth quarter is to see if the Celtics can set the NBA Finals record for largest margin of victory in a series clinching game, set by Bill Russell’s Celtics in a 33 point victory over (none other than) the LA Lakers in the 1965 NBA Finals Game 5.
Points of Note:
- Ray Allen broke the NBA Finals record for most three pointers in the series with 22. The previous record was 18 held by Dan Majerle.
- Ray Allen also tied the record for most three pointers in an NBA Finals game at 7.
- The Celtics had 5 players in double figure scoring, 2 players with over 5 pts, and only two players on entire team who did not score in this one.
- The Celtics had 18 steals!
- 4 different players recorded a blocked shot for the Celtics.
- Paul Pierce had 10 assists.
- Kobe Bryant was 30% from the field, with 4 turnovers and only 1 assist.
Celtics win 131-92, Record Time, Pierce Finals MVP, NBA Title to go with it…
I’m out like Kobe and the Lakers.
