CELTICS -at- LAKERS - 6/12 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Choke... The Lakers have struggled to play with leads quite a bit this season. So, when they went up with the largest first-quarter lead in Finals history, you knew it was going to be a long, long game -- even with the difference of 3-1 or 2-2 in this series on the line.

The Lakers lost their sense of urgency late in the second quarter. Then, they lost the third quarter badly. The Celtics went on a 21-3 run as they went small and we failed to take advantage of our mismatch with Lamar in the post. After a brilliant first half setting up teammates, Kobe struggled that third quarter going 1-7 with just 1 assist.

The Celtics would take their first lead of the game with 4 minutes left. A huge three by Posey with a minute left from the left side killed us. The Lakers fell, 97-91.

This will go down as one of those ESPN Classic games where Laker fans turn off the tube when it comes on.
Enough said.



Kobe -- -- Great first half, disecting the D and setting up the offense. His third was poor as our offense bogged down and he went up against Pierce and help defenders. We tried to spread the floor for him late, he was effective, but we couldn't get key stops on the other end. Kobe had a big perimeter foul that hurt, too. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He missed a three on his first attempt. He attacked in transition next time down and drew FTs in a crowd, he made one. He drew a crowd, hit Lamar in the lane and Lamar dumped it to Pau for the dunk. He swiped the ball from KG (this drew a tech on Rivers). He picked up his first foul on a swat attempt from behind Brown. He was mugged in the post, drawing Perkins' second foul, he made both FTs. He hit Pau for FTs in the lane. He found Ariza for a corner three. He set up Pau for FTs on a drive and dish. He didn't have a field goal in the first quarter, but picked the Celtics apart. He posted up, drew a crowd and dished to LO for a score. He attacked, collapsed the D and kicked it to Sasha for a three. He picked up his second foul, a charge midway through the second quarter. He missed a wing three. He missed a runner out of a timeout. He picked up his third foul with 52 seconds left in the half trying to take a charge. We had an 18-point lead at the half with Kobe going 0-4, but he had 6 assists, 4 steals and a number of hockey assist plays. The three fouls were still a concern because he was the engine of the offense. Second Half: He swished a jumper over Pierce, his first field goal of the game a minute into the second half. He swished a wing jumper with a foot on the three line from the right side. He missed a jumper. He missed an 18-footer. He got blocked by Pierce trying to shoot a turnaround over him. He lobbed to Gasol on a broken play for the dunk. He missed a runner out of a timeout. He settled and missed a long jumper. Very ineffective third quarter by Kobe, going 1-7 with just 1 assist. He had 7 points on 2-11 shooting after the third. The only Lakers starter not in double digits at this point. He missed a long jumper. He missed a tough runner in the lane. He attacked from the wing off the Ronny screen and scored a layup. He sank a wing jumper over Pierce. He missed an up-and-under scoop, coming up short. He found Lamar in transition for a layup. He busted out with Famar, attacked with aggression and dunked with both hands to get a 4-point lead with 5:47 left. He missed a runner trying to go glass. Out of a timeout, he attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked with the floor spread and hit a twisting layup. Pierce got a huge perimeter foul on Kobe with 46 seconds left for FTs. He hit Pau for a dunk.

Gasol -- -- Some very sloppy turnovers from Pau tonight. The ball looked greased around him. I guess he didn't get rid of that Kwame-itis from the last game, which consisted of missed shots in the paints and missed FTs. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He dunked off the extra pass from Lamar. He airballed an open baseline jumper. He missed a chippy under the hoop. He and Lamar pushed out on the break and LO gave it up to Pau and got it back for the layup. He got mugged on a lob attempt with no call. He was hit in the lane, working off the interior feed from Kobe, he made both FTs. He drew FTs on a drive and dish from Kobe, he made one. He fumbled away a good pass in he lane. He missed a running hook. He set the pick for Kobe, rolled and took the pass from Lamar and dunked. He dropped another pass from Fish. He scored an And-1 layup, working the two-man game with Fish, he made the FT. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting, 6 boards and no fouls in the first half. Second Half: He missed an open elbow jumper. He dunked off the lob from Kobe. He posted up KG and drew the fifth foul on Posey with 2 minutes left in the third, he made one FT. He missed a dunk in the lane he should have finished. He came back in with 6 minutes left in the fourth and the Lakers up by 2. Big score with the shotclock low and he somehow created around KG in the lane, should have been an And-1. Panicky forced pass to Lamar and it was stolen with under 4 minutes left. KG scored on iso over Pau to take a 5-point lead with 2 minutes left. He fouled Pierce with 1:44 left for FTs on a switch.

Lamar -- -- Great bounceback game, getting it going early on...one of the big reasons we had the big lead. We didn't take advantage of him in the post and he didn't go in there very much either, when the Celtics went small. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He attacked on the first play and had his layup goaltended. Kobe drew a crowd, hit Lamar and Lamar fed Pau for the dunk. He dunked in transition off the pass from Vlad. He scored a layup next time down when Fish drove and dished to him. He attacked and kicked to Vlad for a three. He scored off the breakaway give-and-go with Pau. He drew KG's second foul midway through the first quarter off an offensive board, he made one FT. He picked up his first foul on a defensive board battle. He drained a step-back jumper from the top of the key. He swished a top-of-the-key jumper out of a timeout. He had 13 points in his first stint. He took the Kobe interior feed, attacked and scored a layup. He set-up Gasol for a dunk off the Kobe/Gasol two-man. He scored 15 points on 7-7 shooting to go with 8 boards and 3 assists in the first half. Second Half: A lot of contact and no call for Lamar on our first shot of the half. He drew Perkins fourth foul on an attack and throwdown attempt, he made both FTs. He set up Vlad on a breakaway give and go. The Celtics put Posey on Lamar, going small. Lamar grabbed an offensive board against a smaller man and it led to a Fish jumper. Meanwhile, Pierce attacked past him for scores. He finally posted up after a couple minutes and drew a foul on Posey. Powe posted him up and scored. He missed a three. He scored a layup off a pass from Kobe in transition. He somehow bricked a point-blank layup on a post up over Posey.

Fisher -- -- Good first half. Let the D rush past him and he attacked the paint. He sat out a lot in the fourth. I was wishing he was in there when Farmar missed a big three. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He created off the dribble and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a tech FT. He got into the lane, drew the D and dished to Lamar for the layup. He swished an 14-footer in the lane. He up-faked and attacked down the lane for an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He attacked again off a similar play and drew FTs on Posey, he made both FTs. He set up Pau for an And-1 layup off the two-man game. He had 9 points on 2-2 shooting (5-6 from the line) in the first half. Second Half: He drained a wing jumper on good ball movement. He missed a rainbow three. Bad positioning on the kickout and he hit a long jumper with his feet on the three line.

Radmanovic -- -- Pretty reasonable game from Vlad. He had some nice plays in transition, too. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He didn't run through a pass and it went out of bounds. He pushed out the break, gave it up, got it back and fed Lamar for the dunk. He drained a three on a kickout from Lamar. He swished a corner three with a man on him. He missed a three. He missed a layup trying to power up, he wanted the foul. He missed a three. Looked like KG goaltended Vlad's shot with no call. He plowed over Rondo at the end of the half to give up FTs. Second Half: He scored a layup, pushing out the break and working the give and go with Lamar. He cut off the Tri post feed, got it back from Gasol and drew FTs, he made both FTs. He missed a corner three.

Luke -- -- Nothing to report. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He missed a three. He bricked another three. He sank his third three attempt, this time from the corner. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Turiaf -- -- Minimal action. He missed an FT and jumper in the fourth. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: Minimal action in the first half. Second Half: He drew FTs on a pass from Kobe under the rim, he missed both of them to start the fourth. He missed a baseline jumper. Good help and then recovery onto Brown to contest a dunk at the front of the rim.

Farmar -- -- Farmar missed a bunch of shots tonight, the toughest one he made was a running three at the halftime buzzer. He missed a huge three with over 2 minutes left. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He missed a layup. He missed another hanging layup off a good attack. He missed a long pull-up jumper in transition, not great selection. Phil subbed him in with 5 seconds left in the half with Kobe out, Farmar took it the length of the court and hit a running three off the glass. "I needed that," he said heading into the locker room. Second Half: He airballed a three trying to beat the shotclock. Nice push out to get the ball to Kobe on the break for a score. He missed an open three with 2:20 left.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha got beat badly off the dribble by Allen for a key score in the final minute. He never got it going with his jumpers offensively. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: He missed a wing jumper, getting challenged from behind. Good D at midcourt to force a travel on Powe. He airballed an elbow jumper. He drained a three off a kickout from Kobe. He telegraphed a pass and it was picked off. He missed a three. Second Half: He missed a three. He dove for a loose ball, didn't get it and it led to a Posey three as the D was scrambled. Allen took an offensive board when Sasha didn't box out, he would then score a layup shortly later. He missed a jumper at the shotclock buzzer. He gave up a layup to Allen with 15 seconds left to trial by 5 points.

Ariza -- -- Pretty good effort from Ariza. I only wish we could have seen a little more of him. The Stats: To be added later. The Action: In for Vlad at the end of the first, he fouled Pierce on iso. He drew FTs on a defensive board, he made one but got his miss back and then swished a corner three. He swiped a kickout pass. He pulled down a Sasha missed jumper and dunked it back in. He swatted Allen's drive. He pulled down an offensive board on a Sasha miss and it led to a Luke three. Second Half: Nothing to report. He was a -9 in one brief stint.

Phil -- -- "Make sure you know what your roles are," Phil told the team in the locker room. "Take good shots. Take care of the basketball."... We led 16-6, forcing a Celtic timeout after getting Lamar going with 4-4 shooting and some good transition ball... Phil called a timeout just as we were about to work a high-low. We had a 24-7 lead with 3:20 left in the first quarter... The Lakers led 35-14, the largest first quarter lead in an NBA Finals game. The offense simply picked the Celtics apart. The D was good, although the Celts simply missed a few open ones... We started a Pau, Luke, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup... We led 45-21, shooting 56 percent (5-9 from three) midway through the second quarter. Kobe had 6 assists and had not made a field goal... After we took and missed a series of threes and gave up an open three to Allen in transition, Phil called a timeout... The Celtics cut the lead to 12 a minute later, going on a 12-0 run... Great sub by Phil with 5 seconds left and Kobe out. We needed a ball handler with speed, so he put in Farmar and he hit a running three at the buzzer... The Lakers had their lead chipped away at the end of the second quarter, but led 58-40 at the half. We were out-scored 26-23 in the second quarter. The Lakers shot 50 percent (6-13 from three) and had 15 assists (Celtics 4 assists). The Celtics shot 35 percent (going 4-14 from three). We had a 5-2 advantage on the offensive glass, and a 26-16 rebound advantage with all the Celtic misses. We took 19 freethrows to the Celtics 13... "We got to go out and win the third quarter. Win...the...third...quarter," Phil stressed in the locker room at halftime. The Celtics had won every third quarter of the series so far... The Lakers stretched the lead back to 20, but the Celtics went small and we failed to take advantage of Lamar in the post. The Celtics cut the lead to 11 with 3 minutes to go and Phil called a timeout... The Celtics erased the Lakers lead, cutting it to 2 points. The Lakers problem of holding leads, showing up again. The Celtics went on a 21-3 run at the end of the third. The Celtics won another third quarter, this time 31-15... "Momentum is a strange girl," Phil said, "...we just did things down there offensively that put us in a bad situation." He said momentum would come back... He started the fourth with a Turiaf, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup... It was tied up 75-75 with 8:47 left as we went to the timeout. Our play busted out of that timeout and Lamar missed a three... The Celtics got their first lead with 4 minutes left. They had the ball and called timeout. They scored a layup and then KG scored on Pau to lead 88-83 with 2 minutes left... Phil went to a Pau, Vlad, Kobe, Sasha, Fisher lineup out of that timeout... Posey swished a huge three with over a minute left... Down by 5 we inbounded the ball then called timeout. Mental mistake, par for the course... We couldn't get key stops when we needed... This season has started off with much despair during training camp and the team and organization turned things around for a great run to the Finals. It would take another amazing turnaround in this series now that we are down 3-1...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A 21-3 run in the third and an 8-0 run late. Arrrrrrgh.

[DancingBarry]

At halftime, for the first time all season, I told Mrs. DB I didn't want to watch the second half. I debated having her just tell me the score when it was over, but pushed through anyway.

You could see it coming.

I'm exhausted. I pounded this out and will clean it up later. Going to enjoy a stiff drink or two...

[L33T kObE8]

first? YEAH!!! second to DB, but that counts, hooray.
_________________
In regards to a certain fan wanting to cut his wrists:
Orestes: "Guess that's one way to find out if you really bleed purple & gold."

[patmcfar8]

[twoface723]

Wow this hurts. The series is over.

[City_Dawg]

[DancingBarry]

Just knew it. Just saw it coming.

I guess it's part of the growing process for some of these guys. I don't know.

[LakerSanity]

This one deserved a few extra frowns and some dead bananas all around.

: - (((





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Twitter: @DeleteThisPost

[hoopschick29]

You're wonderful, DB.

The shock is slowly wearing off and I am just sad and disappointed.

There really isn't a whole lot to say right now.
_________________
So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[Vandal08]

so many things wrong in this game. tale of two halves. two different teams. im still in shock.
_________________
"For we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are unseen. For the things seen are temporary and the things unseen are eternal"

[Chrome Hearts]

[Freakout]

I thought Radmanovic was beyond horrible.

That one possession Ray Allen had inside position and got the defensive rebound. Vlad didn't even try getting back defensively. In fact he side stepped and let Allen by.

Mentally he is all over the place.

[Siguy]

Thanks for the recap. I'm gonna do something odd and post an email I just sent to my out-of-town friends explaining what it was like to be at this game.

WARNING: It's long, so don't blame me if you get bored.

Sigh. Well this may be my last real email for the finals.

That was the worst sports experience of my life. It was unbelievably awful. I went into this game, expecting us to lose, and we couldn't even do that. We had to lose to the biggest finals comeback in history, with the biggest choke-job in history, in the worst Lakers playoff performance in history.

I left that game sick to my stomach, with drunken obnoxious Boston fans running around the Staples Center screaming and dancing and seeing everyone around me swearing and staring at the floor. The team wasn't just embarrassed, we the fans were physically embarrassed by the whole thing. But enough about me, here's how the game went.

Obviously I was shocked we were up by twenty during the first. Then we started the second and we gave back some of the lead but not a ton and we went back at them and finished with that incredible Farmar three-pointer. Not to mention, Ariza had a sensational second period with a block that I was sure was gonna go down in history for its awesomeness once we won the game. When we managed to hold them off and keep an 18 point lead at the half, I thought, "(bleep), all we need to do is score 40 points in the second half." We scored 33, and most of them were garbage points after we'd already lost.

The third started and they got it down to 14 ... and we got it back to 20 with 5:30 left and I was certain we were going to win at that point. What came next was the worst collapse I've ever seen in my life. It was Kobe's fault. It was Phil's fault. It was Odom's fault. And it was Gasol's fault.

It was Kobe's fault because he went brain dead and lifeless and didn't try to kick start the offense when it stalled until it was too late. He essentially fell asleep, unable to transition himself from playmaker back to scorer until the fourth when we were already a trainwreck. He had 18 and 10, but it was the worst performance of his career because he simply could not read the gameflow to understand when he had to take over until too late.

It was Phil's fault because he was a moron at this point in the game. He just couldn't deal with the Celtics putting in that small lineup. (By the way, Doc Rivers is a (bleep) joke, Tom Thibodeau literally called every defensive play; he'd get up and stand IN FRONT OF Doc and call plays) The lineup had Posey at Power Forward and because it was so quick, whenever we missed, they ran back for quick scores, and whenever we penetrated or they doubled, they got back out on the shooters. But the hideousness of it was that Phil didn't understand what to do. They were scoring like crazy on us and all he had to do was put Odom in the block with Posey guarding him (we finally tried this later in the game and Odom blew a lay-up, but he got perfect position). San Antonio did the same thing to us with Udoka and Finley at Power Forward and Odom killed them. Phil failed to do this. In fact, he took Odom OUT of the game to match up and the Celtics went on a massive run. Phil's plan was putting the ball into Gasol's hands in the post against KG. (see Gasol below)

Odom had a great first half, then disappeared the second. He got passive and stood around the three point line with Posey on him. He had to get into the post, but instead he was in the middle of the offense holding the ball for 15 seconds. Phil made things worse by taking Odom out during the Celtics crucial run.

Gasol. Gasol has been awful this series. He was embarrassing against KG. Phil should be punched in the face for going to this match up over and over and over again, but Gasol makes everything worse by holding the ball for ten seconds. He gets the ball in the post with KG on him, then looks around like he expects a double-team. He likes to pass so he just holds the ball for a full 8 seconds of the shot clock, looking for a cutter that never comes or another post player, and then he either passes out to someone with no time left on the clock or tries a hook shot over KG and misses. He was a one man sinkhole for our offense this entire series, and even during our big run in the first half, he never successfully made a post move. Late in the game he tried to pass to Odom with an impossible angle and gave up a turnover that was the nail in the coffin.

Anyway, this was the worst loss of the year by far, and the worst game I've ever been to. We undid a full year of over achieving and hard work. Instead of just losing this game the normal way and losing this series like an over-matched team should, we embarrassed ourselves and we'll now be the laughing stock of the league for the next year. Now next year, we'll suddenly have a monkey on our back, something we have to get over like the Mavericks did after their Warriors collapse. The thing made me so sick that I'm not going to game five. I refuse to go watch us lose the championship or win a meaningless game. A god damned disgrace. That's the only way to describe it.

[10scott10]

the only good thing to come out of this game was LO. he was the onyl one who had a good game. or as good of one as you could have in a game like this.


Ariza was good in the first half, but he really got killed in the third quarter

[TNLakersFanInLA]

Farmar and Sasha killed us tonight. Terrible shooting
_________________
Monta Ellis: "Kobe is #1, I'm #2, LeBron is #3."

[DancingBarry]

[Klone_dd]

Perfect 1st half. Should've gone for the jugular in the 3rd, but got too comfortable as the ball movement and bodies slowed to a crawl. Gave up too many transition baskets in the 3rd.

Normally, our small lineup has hurt the Celts. Tonight it switched and we really didn't do much at all to combat it.

This one's going to be hard to swallow.

[Drifts]

[IPK]

[Mation]

Thanks DB. Appreciate the write-up.

Just an emotional roller-coaster of a game. Draining.

Man. Just difficult to take...

[brian313]

[DancingBarry]

[10scott10]

[Magic'sSon]

[Brand New]

i cried when sasha was crying i hate the celtics with a passion.