NBA Finals 2008: Game 2 – Gasol attacks, but someone called the Powe Powe!

NBA Finals 2008 | Game 2, Leon Powe, Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce

June 9th, 2008 – Dr. J-Water

Pau Gasol, I must apologize to you. I am sorry Pau Gasol for calling you “soft.” I also apologize on behalf of the other writers at The Hoop Doctors who have ever called you soft. There is no way that anyone who throws down a dunk as nasty as we saw tonight in Game 2, right in the grill of “The Big Ticket” Kevin Garnett, can be called “soft” by anyone at any time. Kevin Garnett posterized? Say it ain’t so! Ah well, it could happen to anyone at some point.

I think sometimes European players who come overseas to play in North American professional sports leagues get an undeserved rep as “soft”, “passive”, or “unemotional.” The genesis of this perception probably stems from hockey’s National Hockey League (NHL) where a lot of historic rivalry between USA and Canadian teams with European teams, specifically Russia and Sweden fueled some fairly unkind analysis of the differences in playing style between North American players and European players. As there is clearly a difference in playing style between the NBA and FIBA, I don’t find that the players as a whole are less aggressive or “soft” in either style.

Now that we got that out of the way. How about the rest of the game tonight? When people talk about Boston’s “Big Three” after tonight’s game they won’t be talking about Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. What they will be talking about is Boston’s 3-pt shooting performance, and the Celtics number of 3-pt plays off Laker shooting fouls. How many ‘hoop and the harm’ plays does it take before the Lakers decide to give a significant enough foul to prevent the Celtics from getting a good shot off? As far as the long range shooting tonight from the Celtics goes, I haven’t seen a team this hot from beyond the arc in the NBA Finals for quite some time. The Celtics were 6 for 9 from downtown as a team in just the first half alone.

In keeping with the format of The Hoop Doctors NBA Finals 2008 coverage, here are Dr. J-Water’s keys to Game 2:

• Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Kobe Bryant did a much better job tonight of coming out aggressive to start the game. All three of them attacked the basket and played tight and physical on defense. Unfortunately for Kobe Bryant this translated into 3 first half fouls, two of which came early in the game resulting in Kobe having to sit significantly more on the sideline than the Lakers would have liked. Pau Gasol on the other hand kept the Lakers in the game early going 6 for 8 from the field in the first half of the game.

• As good as Paul Pierce was in tonight’s game, in the first half the players who should be considered the Celtics “Big Three” are Leon Powe (21 points, 6-7 FG, and 9-13 from the stripe), Rajon Rondo (numerous steals, lay-ups, dishes, and even a key block on a Radmanovic 3-pt attempt), James Posey (multiple diving hustle plays, drawn charges, and a clutch 3-pter to help break the game open for the C’s).

• Ray Allen in the first half of tonight’s game once again had Kobe Bryant on lock down. Kobe is having to battle extremely hard for every millisecond of an opening trying to get his shot off. Ray Allen is in such great physical shape, he is probably the only player on the planet that is quick enough to stay with Bryant, but also strong enough to bump and battle with him.

• Kobe Bryant is also having to work very hard defensively guarding Ray Allen. While Ray Allen hasn’t exploded for huge numbers, every few plays Bryant will lose his defensive focus and let Allen get enough space to have a clean look, or try and cheat a screen by sliding over top of it. Ray Allen is not the type of offensive player you can give extra time to for setting his feet. He is one of the best jump shooters of all time.

• Kobe Bryant’s scowl for the majority of the 3rd quarter. No, seriously! This is a huge key, as a player with the basketball IQ of Kobe Bryant should be aware of the effect body language of a team leader can have on his troops.

• Leon Powe, Leon Powe, Leon Powe. I don’t know if he was motivated knowing that there was a TNT half-time show feature tonight on his struggles growing up, or if he just finally got the burn he deserves when Perkins got in foul trouble. Either way the play of Leon Powe was a welcome sight for Celtics supporters. The man was an absolute beast on both ends. There was one stretch at the end of the 3rd quarter during the decisive run of the Celtics blowing open the game by more than 20 points, that Leon Powe had back to back dunks in the grill of the Lakers big men that I would rush out and buy the poster for if they make one.

• The Lakers defense was extremely porous. We knew this series would be decided by the battle between the Lakers great offense vs. the Celtics great defense. But if the Lakers don’t start to play even a mediocre defense by NBA standards that debate will be moot, as the Lakers will lose this series in the worst way, SWEEP.

• The Boston Celtics almost got burned tonight in the 4th quarter. Anyone who has played this game at any level knows that when you are up by 20+ it is very hard to maintain your team’s intensity and take the game seriously. But at the professional level where quite literally anything can happen, you have to stay focused. It is inexcusable that the Boston Celtics let the Lakers come back from a 22 point deficit in less than 7 minutes to close the game to within one possession.

So with the Lakers continuing to fight to the final buzzer, and the Celtics almost blowing it requiring key free throws from Pierce down the stretch to seal it, I would only add that “a win is still a win” and the Celtics take a 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 in Los Angeles.

Game 3 – June 10th, 9 p.m. EST in Los Angeles

NBA Finals 2008: Game 2 Preview - Questions need Answers

NBA Finals 2008: Game 3 Preview – ‘There’s No Place like Home’

Comments

MJ Dominates Kobe

amazing win C’s. Even if you blew a lead, the win is all tha matters. Now go get one in LA and end this thing once and for all!!

Leon Powe is tha man!!! He has been amazing all season, i’m glad he’s going to get some spot light now for his performance!
Franz

Kobe must use his head in defending Allen and do what he does offensively. The the rest of pack except for Pau(whos doing great) must help offensively and come up with defensive intensity.If Radmanovic can only limit even not stopping Paul Pierce(no one can stop Paul) defensively and somehow demoralize him Lakers can stand a chance.
Trixxx

I agree – bravo Celtics! They literally outplayed the Lakers in every department and managed to neutralize the biggest offensive threat in Kobe Bryant.

Really glad to see some of the bench players for the Celtics get some glory and good minutes – Powe, Posey and even Brown showed why Doc Rivers has such faith in them! Rondo was also a great improvement in the game – he took a lot of flack during the Pistons series for “not looking after the ball”, but he sure came up trumps in this game!

I’m concerned about KG though – he has been off since the last two games against the Pistons by his standards. Should we be consoled by the fact that Allen has found a way out of his slump and that Pierce and the rest of the team are on fire?

The “near collapse” at the end by the Celtics is concerning though. It brings back memories of the Pistons series where they took their foot off the pedal and let the other team in. The Lakers might not have pulled it off this time, but it will play on the minds of both sets of players and give the Lakers such much needed encouragment.

KG and the boys need to come out blazing in Game 3 to let the Lakers know that even though they haven’t done well on the road – this is different, it’s the NBA Finals!
DUH

I don’t understand why people who insist on comparing Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant are also Kobe haters. The fact is that Kobe Bryant accomplished records that Michael Jordan never even came close to vis-a-vis Michael Jordan did things that Kobe could never really do. I’m still trying to look into the psyche of seemingly sick people like MJ Dominates Kobe.
MJ Dominates Kobe

Well I guess his name “DUH” says it all. Anyone who names themselves “DUH” obviously is a real smart guy.

You put MJ at Kobe’s age with this Lakers team and they probably set the record for wins in a season. Can you imagine MJ with players of Pau Gasol and Odom’s ability, coupled with good outside shooters that aren’t too small to play big minutes (kerr for ex). It wouldn’t even be close.

Kobe on the other hand, if he had Jordan’s teams with centers like Longley, and Cartright. etc. wouldn’t even make the playoffs.

“Duh” you’ve outdone your name this time.
Raps Fan

mj: i can’t see radmanovic even coming close to giving pierce a tough time on defense.

trixx: i have to agree, a win is a win, but the collapse late int he 4th was concerning. they just need to steal one in LA, and it’s over.

i can’t see the lakers winning all three at home. they will for sure blow out game 3, not sure which one the celtics steal though.
MJ Dominates Kobe

yeah Raps Fan you are right, the Lakers will come out hot in Game 3, but I think the Celtics defense is strong enough to weather the storm and keep it close enough to steal it at the end.

I am so excited to see Garnett, Allen, and Pierce hoist that trophy. They have had such great individual careers, they are very deserving players to win a ring.
ps

Takes 4 wins to hoist the trophy! Lakers take all 3 games in LA and head back to Boston up 3-2.
wow really?

yeah ok, the c’s did ok. a win is a win. but the laughable collapse at the end of the game? and the blatantly biases officiating in the first half (i napped during the third quarter)

come on. who really deserves this championship?

i guess we’ll find out in the next few games.

but here’s a good idea of what was wrong with the zebras in game 2. i found it on another blog.

The problem was that the Lakers weren’t playing significantly less aggressively than the Celtics, and still got hosed. It’s one thing to see teams get the short end of the stick and retreat into a shell. The Lakers, though, continued to go to the rack. Check the shot charts for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=280608002

Pretty much every shot is in the paint or just outside it – between the two of them, they took 23 shots. 18 of them were within 5 feet of the hoop. They shot 1 foul between them. Look at the comparable shot chart for KG – 2 shots in the paint. 4 free throws. There’s getting hosed, and then there’s inexplicable.

Don’t like ESPN? How about CBS: http://www.sportsline.com/nba/gamecenter/shotchart/NBA_20080608_LAL@BOS

30 shots by LA were layups or dunks. Boston had 18. Let’s amend that somewhat by noting that the Celtics were the recipients of a number of 2-shot shooting fouls. They were credited with SEVENTEEN shooting fouls – LA got THREE. If we were to give every one of Boston’s 2-shot fouls to the Celtics as a ‘layup’ or ‘dunk’ attempt (they had 14), that gives them 32 shots at the rim. Both of LA’s two-shot attempts were on layups, I believe (one by Fisher, one by Bryant). That gives LA 32 shots at the rim. Gasol and Odom had 16 of them, and received, again, one foul shot for their troubles.

I’ll reiterate simply because it bears repeating: Exactly even at the rim in shot attempts. Seventeen shooting fouls to three. On a night when the two teams took the exact same number of shots at the rim. That’s not bad, that’s borderline absurd. You pretend like the officiating got better in the second half? First half: 19-2, Boston. Second half: 19-8, Boston. Oh good, the Lakers got 6 extra free throws. “Fouls at the end of the game” don’t hold water, because LA only fouled once on Posey – let’s take that out. 17-8 in the second half, despite long stretches that saw LA play more at being matadors than at defenders because they were trying to avoid getting called for fouls!

I don’t expect LA necessarily be -ahead- in free throws. But one expects them to be within, oh, I don’t know, twenty? Fifteen too much to ask, perhaps? You’re calling out Odom – maybe he struggled because every time he tried to go in the lane, he got hammered or called for an offensive foul? The same is true of Gasol, who admittedly allowed the officiating to take him out of the game – but it took him out of the game because it was so egregiously bad that he attempted 11 shots right in the paint amidst a significant amount of contact, and was rewarded with one foul shot.

Lost in all of this is the fact that Kobe actually played really well against the “Kobe stopper” Boston defense. 30 points on 23 shots is plenty efficient (that’s just as efficient as 39 points on 30 shots, which was how he played in game 5 against the Spurs, when everybody couldn’t stop talking about how well he played). He tossed in 8 assists to boot. All this despite being saddled with 3 fouls early, all of which were on the floor. I don’t know that being “MVP” is worth the 20 or so FTAs it seemed to be against Utah, but, really, Kobe gets called for ticky-tack stuff 3x in the first half while Leon Powe spends his first 10 minutes in the game shoving Pau Gasol half into the stanchion every time down the court!

The ‘comeback’ almost buries the story more than it should, because the fact is that the officiating killed the Lakers. It pulled Kobe out of the game early, and as soon as he left the early LA lead evaporated (Lakers were up by 1 when he left, were down by 8 when he returned). When he got his 3rd on yet another nonsense call (I was unaware that being shoved into Paul Pierce by PJ Brown was considered a foul, but hey, I’m not an NBA ref – on the flipside, I can see better than Stevie Wonder, which seems to be something they all lack), the Celtics extended a 7-point lead to 12 at the half. And you’re fooling yourself if you don’t think that the tight officiating (at the Lakers’ end, and ONLY at the Lakers’ end, for the 2nd quarter) didn’t affect how LA played defense for the remainder of the game.

Sigh.

Just had to get that off my chest, sorry. Not going to get to replay the game again (unless Brent Barry really has found Doc Brown somewhere), but to pretend that the officiating didn’t CAUSE much of the other troubles that the Lakers had is to be naive at best on the way that a basketball game can be changed by a couple misplaced whistles.
sina

MJ doesn’t dominate kobe…they are different people yet very similar. They can both take over a game…but they have also both lost games putting up 50 points all by their selves. If jordan was playing when the celtics were on top would he have risen to his level? Listen people, i love michael jordan…Larry Bird said “it was like god came down as michael jordan”. But you have to be real ignorant to say “if michael jordan had odom or lomar he would set all these records”. That just shows you dont know much about jordans career.
HE HAD SCOTTIE PIPPEN YOUR RETARD. Scottie Pipen is in the hall of fame as one of the top 50 greatest players ever. And it was after he became an increasingly stronger shooter and defender that helped the Bulls dominate because they just couldnt get to that level for years before they got their first three-pete. Anyway jordan had one of the strongest and most energetic rebounders of his time in Dennis Rodman and he had a cast like paxon and kerr who made KEY baskets leading to bulls championship. Michael Jordan was not alone. He is and always will be the one person to DEFINE basketball but he was not alone. He didnt win a championship untill Phil Jackson got there to help him lead the team.
It’s real simple.Does kobe want to be GREAT? YES…Does kobe want to leave an impact on the game? YES OF COURSE, more than anything… But does that have anything to do with michael jordan!?!? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! He is going to be the best he can. He is going to be Kob Bryant and he is going to go down in history as one of the best all around players in the history of the game. He can take and make a shot from anywhere…defend at an extremely athletic level, and control the outcome of a game with his decision making.
If that means that the only thing you guys can do is say…OH he will he will never be as GREAT as Jordan …then it simply shows how little you know about GREATNESS!!!!!
Greatness doesnt = Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan was great…George Mikan was great….Wilt Chamberlain was great…Bill Russel…Lary Bird…Dr J. …. Clide The Glide…Magic…The Diesl. Greatness is an atribute influenced by talent and heart and everyone has some.
It’s worthless to say that Michael is better than kobe because it doesnt prove anything … its just as stupid to say that Kobe is better or will be better than Michael which some Jordan haters do and make Jordan fans retaliate with talking shit on kobe.

END this horible cycle of nonsence. There have been, are, and will be great players in the game. Just let them play without getting into their heads about whether they are GREAT ENOUGH.
Jordobe?

I am on the fence on this one. I sort of half agree with Sina. It’s about time we stop comparing the two. It’s clear by now that Kobe is amazing but he’s nowhere near as good as Jordan so why compare the two. A better comparison for Kobe might be a Dr. J.

Either way let both of them just be their own person. Kobe had a great season, and great post-season run. Where I believe they differ is in the NBA Finals thus far. MJ had the higest ever scoring average for NBA Finals. That record will never be touched. And to cap that off he had 6 MVP’s to Kobe’s 0. Shaq deservedly won them back when he was in his prime and he was clearly the dominant reason for the Lakers titles. Kobe played a big part, but Shaq was the main reason.

Kobe is one of the best players ever that is for sure. But that is just a testament to how good Jordan was, that there is still miles of separation between him and the next best.

One thing I can say for sure is Sina is right we shouldn’t compare the two, but it’s for a specific reason. MJ would never have been locked down like this in the NBA Finals. MJ had lots of bad shooting nights. But never in the NBA Finals, he was far too good in the clutch and when it counted. HE was a warrior.

Kobe still has time though to become a warrior in his own right. But for now what we are seeing is Ray Allen affecting Kobe’s game, and Kobe yet to respond with his own blow. Maybe that will come tonight?
sina

I appreciate the support Jordobe but i can’t disagree with you more…You are right about ONE thing, and that is that there is no point in comparing Kobe & Jordan…but that was my point so i guess i was right about that. The reason though is much more simple than ANYONE cares to see. Jordan’s career is over, he made his mark, then he made history. But Kobe, who has gained SO MUCH noteriety ALREADY is only 29 people.
Lets do some basic math here. Jordan got three of his Championships after the age of 33. And Jordobe … although Shaq WAS a major reason why the lakers dominated 2000-2002, hes not around anymore and look where we’re at. FIGHTING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN.

Kobe has Michael’s heart, he has michael’s fight, he has michael Coach in Phil Jackson, and guys what…whether you guys think his skill level is up their michael’s or not…it just doesnt matter cuz hes as close as anyone has come to being as individually amazing as the THE GREAT ONE.

So point is would you compare what a sixth grader has achieved with a high school gradute?!?!….No so everybody just calm down, enjoy the next couple of years with watching the lakers dominate the west….

KOBE + BYNUM + LOMAR + FISHER + VLAD RAD = STRONGEST ALL AROUND STARTING LINE UP IN THE LEAGUE…….

SASHA + FARMAR + LUKE + PAO + TURIAF = NOT ONLY THE MOST ENERGETIC GROUPS OFF THE BENCH BUT ONE OF THE MOST DEADLY SHOOTING BENCH TEAM IN THE NBA.

We…lol….(The Lakers), are going to be fighting for many championships in the next 5 or 6 years. Kobe will be about 35 by then. Will he get 6 Finals MVP awards? Probably not…i mean the chances are slim to none…but there are five games left in this series and if kobe takes over and finishes this serious the way i believe he will…then he will only need 5 more to catch up….lets all just wait and see what happens!!!!!
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