Celtics Central

When I left the TDBanknorth Garden at about 1:30am on Tuesday night (Wednesday am really) I was surprised to be surrounded by group after group of armed, helmutted police officers, each of them carrying long night sticks.

They were in groups of 4 generally. Some groups were larger and they were…. everywhere…no more than 30 yards apart from another group. Instead of celebration, the streets were utterly quiet. The bars were all closed and padlocked. There were metal barriers blocking off Causeway, and each of the adjoining streets, including Friend and Canal. Car travel in the immediate area was verboten.

I was stunned. Expect for some cars honking their horns down the road, the streets were almost empty. A few wanderers were seen here and there. If there was a party, it was over.

When I walked down Canal Street I saw why. Revelers, if that is what you want to call them, had smashed a number of huge picture windows in businesses on the street. There were garbage cans and carts dumped over everywhere. One huge set of completely smashed windows had two ‘One Way – Do Not Enter’ street pole signs laying half way in them. Nice going ‘fans’.

On Friend Street there were a few more broken windows and more dumped over garbage cans.

I fail to see the fun or celebration in causing wanton destruction of property. It is more like idiots need an excuse to be idiots. Some apparently thought they had one.

There is a ongoing debate over who has the worst fans – Boston or New York. I think that argument has been answered. From the anecdotes I’ve heard, and sometimes the stories are told proudly, Boston fans step over the line more than New York fans do. Bravo. Great going. You’ve proven you are bigger jerks than New York fans.

I stopped and talked to a few of the officers. What was the problem?

“Just some vandalism.”

Oh. Was it out of control?

“Not once we got there.”

As I was talking to the officer, I saw a large contingent of police, must have been at least 50 officers, walking military style, two by two, down the street in front of the Government Center Parking Garage. I’m not kidding.

Were you called in after things started or were this many officers already nearby?

“We were already here. If you want more information, you will have to talk to one of the sargents.”

Where’s a sargent?

“He is one, right over there.” (nodding his head)

I walked a few feet to the sargent.

Excuse me, were there any injuries or harm to people?

“No. Not that I know of. It was all property damage.”

Can you tell me about how many officers are present in total?

“Yes, there are 1400.”

Shortly after, I heard another officer being called to “The Commons”. The crowd had moved there and there was a fight in progress.

I got the thought of sharing a beer with some Celtic fans at Sullivan’s Bar or any other of the well known local establishments quickly out of my head. I headed to my car and saw a SWAT Team vehicle parked along with all of the other police vehicles as I walked.

Call it an imperfect end to an otherwise perfect evening.

The poor Lakers didn’t stand a chance.

Boston’s marathon is now over. 108 games after they started, the Boston Celtics are the 2008 NBA Champions. 82 wins against 26 losses. It is banner number seventeen for the storied franchise.

Boston’s triangle of stars, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, and the Celtic team defense were too much for the Lakers’ triangle offense. They outscored the Lakers in every quarter, ran up a 43 point lead, outshot the Lakers by 23 attempts, had 33 assists to 16, out rebounded the Lakers by 48-29, had 14 offensive rebounds to LA’s 2, set an NBA Finals record with 18 steals, had 7 turnovers to LA’s 19, and 4 blocked shots, while LA had none. As the losing fighter with the black eye says, “It wasn’t even close, ma.”

Boston’s recent penchant for digging ditches served them well as they turned to digging the Lakers’ grave last night. They dug it so deep that I believe the 39 point win is a Finals record for the clinching game.

Call it the Boston Massacre. Call it Bryant’s Last Stand. Call the police with the name of the green truck that ran over the Lakers.

How could the Lakers win against these prophetic numbers? Numerologists will have a field day. The Celtics won championship # 17 in game 6 on 6/17. In a personal sign from the heavens addressed to me, Bill Russell and John Havlicek got off the elevator together in front of me before the game. Reminded by numbers oracle Justin Poulin, that is # 6 and # 17 for those who don’t remember. No team can go up against karma like that.

Poetic irony? The Celtic team stopped Phil Jackson from passing Red Auerbach in number of titles won. Phil was 9-1 in Finals appearances. He lost to Finals rookie, coach Doc Rivers. The Green made the purple and gold blue…. for Red.

Coach Rivers was at the helm of the worst game 7 home loss in Boston history (97-70) against the Indiana Pacers in 2005. Last night he directed the 2nd largest Celtic play-off win ever, at a 39 point margin. With a drastic change in players, obviously, so does Doc’s success.

But has Doc himself gotten better as a coach over the years?

Oh, I think you evolve every year. Not only as a coach..as a player, as a person. I never stopped believing what I could do and….that probably got me through this. With all the injuries and destruction we had in this Finals. I just thought guys listened. We had a goal. We didn’t say how the goal was going to be reached. We just said we were going to reach it. They kept believing so…again… you can instill that in them, but they still have to go out and get it.

Injuries and destruction indeed. The Celtics Kendrick Perkins had a sprained ankle, then a strained shoulder. Rajon Rondo had a twisted ankle. Paul Pierce has a messed up knee. Ray Allen was poked in the eye. The destruction? That was done to the Lakers.

How did you improve?

Patience. I think as years went (on) I believed in what I was doing and decided I wouldn’t change it.

That was patience, not patients, I think Doc meant. He has had plenty of both over the years. While it might not equate with the patience of Job, it required a firm resolve to stay the course in light of the obstacle course Doc has run as the head coach of the Boston Celtics for the previous three years. Last year they were 24-58, with a franchise record 18 game losing streak, Paul Pierce injured and very, very young. The year before it was 33 wins and a difficult mix of youth and experience. The year before that was a frowning, obstinate, less mature Paul Pierce with little help.

Doc has a special ability to talk to his three franchise players straight up and directly to them as few coaches would even try to attempt. Doc’s sincere, fatherly, but disciplined approach has been well received by three star players previously used to doing things their own way and making many more times Doc’s salary. In a league where that requires the resume or the respect to be able to that, Doc clearly made it happen with personal respect.

We had a good respect going into it. But I told them day one, that I was going to be harder on them than any of the other players, because I thought it was important for the other players…and I was lucky that I had three guys that could take it.

Was there any time that you worried that it might not work out that way?

Before I met them. (laughs) Because I didn’t know but…honestly the first day that we were together I knew that they would take it.

Doc may be evolving as a coach, but he has had a gift for communication all along. Even when his Celtic teams were achieving records for futility, the young players never quit on him, and Doc always had an ability to say and do the correct thing at the correct time.

This very difficult and special achievement of winning the NBA title goes mostly to the players, and it should. But if the Coach of the Year Award was voted on now, I wonder if Doc might not be the winner.

His sometimes unusual moves in the play-offs have mostly paid off. He has adjusted his bench rotation much like an intuitive baseball manager might go against accepted corollaries, and he played players, against set rotations, in what proved to be wise moves.

Finding the right point guard and the right back up power forward each night has been a challenge. Playing well when you get the minutes generally get you more time. But not always.

But what ever Doc did, he did it his way, and the players accepted that.

So it is three players and a coach that have solidified their personal legacies with a 4-2 series win against current coaching giant Phil Jackson, league MVP Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. They did it in convincing fashion…and for all time.

Three of a kind beats one ace. One ‘triangle’ beats the other.

It is a storybook ending to a storybook season.

And they lived happily ever after.

The Boston Celtics would make the ditch diggers union proud. Coming from the city known for the Big Dig, I guess it is symbolic.

They are a blue collar team, but this is ridiculous.

For the 2nd straight game, at the Lakers’ Staples Center at that, the Beantown Ballers dug a huge 39-22 first quarter hole to get out of. It reached 19 points before Boston’s bench ‘dug in’ defensively and used Paul Pierce as the power shovel to dig out. They got to work and closed to within 3 by half time, 55-52 with crew chief Pierce putting his hard hat on and repeatedly attacking the basket. Like a jack hammer, he dug big holes in the Lakers’ interior defense resulting in 21 points. Foreman Doc Rivers asked him to fore go coffee breaks as Paul played the entire half.

Handicaps almost overcome
Even while short handed with Kendrick Perkins out due to a shoulder sprain from last game, point guard Rajon Rondo playing poorly, and Kevin Garnett being severely limited by a fine defensive performance by Pau Gasol, the Celtics would erase the entire deficit by the 3rd quarter to take a short lived lead on a Rondo’s only make of the night, a jump shot, at 62-60. They would fight back again to tie it at 90 on a Pierce drive and kick out for a Garnett open jumper. Close out time? Not quite. The Comeback Kids would come up just short on this night.

Kobe Bryant made the key defensive play, a knock away steal from Pierce when the Celtics were within 97-95 and had the ball after a missed Fisher three pointer with 40 seconds left. Odom got it and passed the ball back to a streaking Kobe for a breakaway dunk. Some thought it was a foul. Paul Pierce said no, it wasn’t.

The Celtics had their chances to win and end the series right here. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen missed lay-ups in the last 2 minutes while Kevin Garnett missed 2 foul shots and two point blank put backs of each of those missed lay-ups.

Starting center 6′ 10″ 280 lbs. Kendrick Perkins did not play.
It showed in the Celtics’ interior defense and the final score. The Lakers jump out to a 39 point first quarter, due to a ‘free range’ Kobe. He was once again assigned Rajon Rondo and Rajon failed to make the Lakers pay for treating him as the invisible man on offense. Substitute starter, 6′ 8″ Leon Powe meant Kevin Garnett had to guard Pau Gasol, resulting in early foul trouble for KG. With 5 minutes gone, the Celtics were already down 10 when Doc switched to the taller PJ Brown. Things didn’t get better until the 2nd quarter.

With Garnett on the bench, Paul Pierce, PJ Brown, James Posey, and surprise substitution, Tony Allen dug in defensively in the 2 quarter, holding LA to 16 points while scoring 30 themselves.

Paul Pierce had a Kobe Bryant-like game. Similar to Kobe, when he often does that, his team lost. Paul played all but 2 seconds of the game and finished with 38 points, including 19 free throw attempts, making 16, with 10-22 shooting, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 TOs.

Doc Rivers…

I thought, as a whole though, especially down the stretch, I didn’t think we trusted our offense as much as we should have. I thought we tried to force plays. The floor was wide open. I mean, it really was…and we just didn’t make extra passes as a group.

We had great shots. Missed some lay-ups. Missed some free throws.

James Posey had another good game, taking charges and making hustle plays that don’t show up in the boxscore. But James had 18 big points last game and should be looked for more at the offensive end with defenses collapsing on the the big three.

Another sign of a missing Perkins? The Celtics were out rebounded slightly on the evening, and were out muscled for much of the night. Pau Gasol benefited the most as he had a particularly good night at both ends of the floor. Pau and Odom feasted on the boards for 24 rebounds combined and 39 total points. Though the smaller Celtic line up helped them get back in the game, there are times when Perkins height, aggressiveness and defensive skills are sorely needed.

Space Invaders

Rivers…

I thought they started out the game more physical. I thought we had our stretches…but overall I thought they were the more physical team. From Gasol on, they posted when they wanted to post, they caught the ball in the spots that they wanted to catch the ball on. They forced us off of spots…. offensively….. we told them before the game….Who could invade the other person’s space?….and I thought they invaded our space.

All three of the Celtics stars played with foul trouble. Ray Allen ended up fouling out, while Paul and Kevin each got their 5th fouls consecutively at critical points late in the game.

Will Rondo lose his starting spot in the next game?

When asked about the recent slow starts, Doc said this…

They were more aggressive and we have to solve the Kobe problem…you know…being a roamer to start games. When we go with more shooters….he can’t roam. We tend to score more.

The implication is that Eddie House or Sam Cassell, either of the Celtics 2 reserve ‘shooting’ point guards, might get to start the next game. Clearly Kobe guarding (meaning – not guarding) Rajon Rondo has caused problems for the Celtics offense. Rajon scored three points on 1 of 7 shooting in 14.5 minutes of action.

Both House and Cassell require defensive attention at all times. The Celtics outplayed the Lakers by a gaudy 23 points when Sam was in the game tonight. At one point Sam had 7 straight Celtic points. House hit a big three right near the end of the game. That opens up things for Garnett particularly, but for Ray and Paul as well.

These last two play-off rounds are proving to be tough times for Boston’s young point guard. Keep in mind that Rondo is playing hurt as well. That limits his quickness which is his forte.

Garnett finished with another double double with 14 rebounds (7 offensive) but only 13 points. Ray Allen contributed 16 points with 3 three pointers on 4-13 shooting. The Celtics bench added 28 points on 50% shooting combined.

Pau Gasol had a stellar game with solid defense on Garnett and 19 points, leading the Lakers with 13 rebounds and 6 assists while adding 2 blocks and a steal. Kobe finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assist, 5 steals and 6 turnovers.

This has been a series where no hole has been too deep, nor any lead too big to assure a win for either team. This is the result of both teams have shown a penchant for playing poorly with big leads. With that being said, the Celtics are in command with a 3 to 2 lead and heading home for the duration.

The Celtics have 2 more chances to close the series out as they return to Boston on Tuesday.

Magical. Surprising. Entertaining.

You can think of a few more adjectives to describe this Boston Celtic season of 2007-8. They would all fit, I’m sure.

Three supposed ball hogs, two of which were not known for their defense, were not expected by anyone, Celtic fans included, to do what they have done so far.

They are one win from being the NBA Champions in their very first season together and that game will played at 9pm on Father’s Day in game 5 in Los Angeles.

There is the possibility that LA will delay Boston celebrating a title win on their own floor for the first time in 39 years, but the eventual outcome is hardly in doubt. Boston has shown the penchant for easing up when they get a lead. They have a 3-1 lead. That is, they have done that until recently.

As scary as it sounds, the banged up Celtics are getting better and better. They have entered a new zone for composure and composing victories. And just maybe this isn’t even their most difficult series. Maybe the games against Cleveland and Detroit were harder fought. The east is about defense, the west is about offense. Guess what wins championships?

The recent Celtic win was LA’s first home loss in the 2008 play-offs. This, against a Celtic team that could not buy a win in Atlanta or Cleveland in their first 2 rounds.

Finally, against Detroit, Boston won 2 games on Detroit’s home court at the legendary Palace at Auburn Hills. They figured out how to get over that hump.

It took that long for this team to re-learn how to play well enough against home town calls, fired up crowds and newly energized opponents to come out with a W.

But what has surprised many, if not most fans and observers, is that they did it as a team and did it with defense, the likes of which the NBA has not seen in a very long while. Yes. Defense. Yes, this roster.

My gosh, even Ray Allen, the last to join the D Party, is the prime defender on the prime offensive nightmare in the league, Mr. MVP Kobe Bryant. He has done very, very well against him. Who would have thought that a possibility a year ago?

The biggest bit of fun to watch play defense is Eddie House. Yes. Eddie House. Never in my wildest dreams, did I think that Eddie would D-up like he has this season. He hasn’t always gotten lock down results, but he is always trying. He is always trying. My gosh, I’m talking about shooting specialist Eddie House. What is going on here? Call the cult deprogrammers. We need an intervention.

It started in the Church of the Right Reverend Glen Rivers and his associate pastor, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau. The sargent-at-arms is choir director and Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett. He is so crazy, he won’t even let you shoot at the basket when time is called. Watch what happens when someone tries to.

Paul Pierce is entering special territory and lofty heights as the guy who would do anything for the team. Beside playing great defense, rebounding when needed, and passing often, Paul has emerged as the go-to guy on a team with 3 of the league’s top go-to guys.

When the other team’s defense has clamped down, it is Paul they ask to open things back up with one of his patented moves that drills into the tightest defensive walls for a foul and often a basket. He has done it playing hurt since the early rounds of the play-offs. We are watching just a magnificent performance by Paul Pierce.

Pierce, Perkins and Rondo are known to be playing hurt. Perkins is only recently said to have a chance to play in game 5 tonight.

The Lakers are reeling since that game 4 collapse. Can they get a heart transplant in time for game 5? Phil Jackson says yes but what else would he say? He can’t concede before game time. And the Celtics have not always shown a sense of urgency. Have they finally gotten that out of their system?

I just watched the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers with my very own eyes and I’m not sure I saw what I saw.

Call it Manifest Destiny, call it the sporting event of the year, call it ‘role call’ for legacy makers. Call it the story that wrote itself.

Winning an NBA title is as much about who will step up and make the pressure baskets that get and keep the lead, as much as it is about getting stops at the other end.

The Celtics Big Three have been saying all year that it will take other players stepping up at different times for them to win a championship. Never has that been more important than in this Finals series. With Rajon Rondo’s and Kendrick Perkins’ offensively deficiencies displayed front and center, it has put a tremendous burden on the three stars to be offensively productive all of the time. Then both Rondo and Perkins added injuries to their woes. Where would the support come from?

Leon Powe made just one basket all night. It was a turning point basket that lesser men would not attempt. It tied the game at 73 for the first time since 28 seconds in. James Posey came alive offensively for the first time in a long, long time and hit for 18 points including 4 of 8 from three point land. It was the 2nd highest point total of the year for James, and by far the highest of the play-offs for him. After shaking off some nervousness, Eddie House had 10 big points and solid defense in only his 2nd Finals game ever.

Once it appeared that the Celtics would indeed make a real run at the Lakers’ lead after being down as much as 24 in the first half, I was prepared to write about whatever happened next. The great thing about sports is the winners and losers are pretty easy to determine. Winners make shots and plays. Losers don’t.

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen anchored an impossible comeback with tremendous defense, holding the Lakers to just 33 second half points. They did it with bench players playing solid defense along side them. Even Phil Jackson took note of that. They cut off passing lanes and 1st options with regularity. Former Laker hero, Sasha Vujacic, was a goat this night, with a woeful 1-9 shooting.

But the Celtics also had to make shots and they did that as well. In addition to House, Powe, and Posey, Ray Allen made 2 reverse lay-ups in the last 3 minutes or so, including the basket that gave the Celtics a 5 point lead with 16 seconds left to ice the win. Ray finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals.

As the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant tried to stop the Celtics from taking the lead with shot making of his own, the Cs tied the score again at 75 and 77 on baskets by Pierce, then Garnett, to answer Kobe baskets. Getting over that psychological and very real hump would not be easy.

An Eddie House jump shot with 4:07 left gave the Celtics the lead for good at 84-83. Posey made 2 big threes and Paul Pierce hit 3 of 4 pressure foul shots to ice the game. Garnett made huge free throws down the stretch as well.

Kevin finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul had 20 points and 7 assists to lead the Celtics in both categories. Both players played excellent defense the entire game with Pierce defending Kobe Bryant extremely well in the 2nd half. Ray had the first half assignment and also did well. Both players got help immediately on any moves to the hoop. Kobe said there were 3-4 Celtics there everytime he made a move.

Climbing back into a Finals game on the enemy’s court after being down so many points required multiple thrusts forward while hoping that you don’t fall back too far. Finding out who would be the players who would get something positive accomplished took a while. Doc Rivers experimented with line-up combos before finding one that worked. After trying Rondo, House and Cassell without any positive results for much of the game, Eddie House finally settled down and played well at both ends of the floor.

The winning combo turned to be a small ball unit that would look familiar to those who watched much of the earlier part of the season. It was comprised of Garnett, Posey, Pierce, Allen and House. The success of that unti eventually caused Phil Jackson to match it with a small unit of his own. It was too late.

A tremendous comeback win by the Celtics puts the Celtics in a commanding 3-1 lead going into the Father’s Day game on Sunday. No one has ever come back from that deficit to win an NBA Finals.

In the 1960s, Ralph Nadar first came to national notoriety when he wrote a seminal book about the lack of safety of automobiles called “Unsafe at any Speed”.

In the 2008 Celtic Summer of Love, Mr. Nadar is still alive and kicking. Maybe there’s another book he could do. If the 2008 NBA Finals prove anything, it is that an NBA game is “unsafe at any lead.” After seeing their own 24 point lead wiped out in about 6 minutes in game 2, the Celtics set two records in game 4.

They were down 21 points in the first quarter, a league record for the Finals. They came back and won the game after an 18 point half time deficit, another league record from the 24 second clock era forward. They were behind as many as 24 points in this game.

Those who saw it, witnessed a tremendous game with a number of heroes and goats. There were a far larger cast of characters with big roles in this game than in the Celtics’ recent game 7 classic Pierce/James shoot out with the Cavaliers.

It was possibly the worst first quarter of basketball the Celtics played all year. They were losing 26-7 at one point, and finished at 35-14. Ouch. The second quarter didn’t go much better until the Cs finally found some defense and some offense. They ran off 12 straight points to close a 24 point Laker lead to 12 at 45-33 in a game that looked like they could do nothing right.

Shortly after, the Lakers pushed the lead back to 18 with a running three pointer by Jordan Farmer as time expired in the half. The Celtics pushed hard in the 3rd quarter to close within 2 before they made it all the way back in the 4th.

For me, this was the most satisfying win of the year for the Green Machine. If sports can represent courage, hope, calmness under fire, and a never-say-die attitude, then this game, more than any other, embodiment of those qualities.

Paul said that James Posey told them afterwards that, if they thought winning this game wasn’t hard enough, wait until they try to close out the series. The close out game is even harder.

After a 2 day rest, they go at it again in friendly LA.

The Lakers returned home and played their best game of the series, led by their star, MVP, Kobe Bryant with 36 points.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce could not get untracked offensively all night, while Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic led the Lakers with 56 points combined to win game 3, cutting the Celtics Finals series lead to 2-1 to stay in the hunt. A loss would have them down 3-0, and pretty much out of contention.

In a tightly contested, yet somewhat strange game, neither team played excellent basketball.

In an unusual move to start the game, with an eye to keeping Kobe fresh for the offensive end of the floor, Kobe Bryant guarded weak shooting Celtic point guard Rajon Rondo. Strangely, Rondo ‘manned up’ with Kobe as well. It was just what Kobe needed to get off to a good start with 11 first quarter points.

Rondo later twisted his ankle and played only 21 minutes total. After Sam Cassell gunned his way to the bench in 7 first half minutes, Eddie House entered the 2008 NBA Finals for the first time in the second half and played fairly well.

Kobe Bryant used that strong start as a stepping stone to his 36 point effort, tying his career play-off Finals high. That included hitting some big shots in the decisive 4th quarter to help win the game for the Lakers. He aggressively attacked the middle in this game, getting to the line 18 times, but making only 11 on the evening. There was one spectacular spin move in the middle and a number of other difficult shots that stayed down for the league’s MVP in this game.

Only 4 players total got into double figures for the evening. The Celtics shot 35%. The Lakers shot 43%.

Phil Jackson…

I thought our first half defense was exceptional.

If Kobe and Phil could not find their way to compliment the Celtics defense after game one, then the same could said here.

The Lakers defense was good, but ‘exceptional’ would be somewhat misleading. The Celtics, meaning Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, missed shots all night that they normally make. Ray Allen led the Cs with 25 long distance points, sporting a deadly 5-7 from the arc to keep the Celtics in the game most of the night.

Pierce never got in sync and managed just 6 points on 2 of 14 shooting, as he started in foul trouble and remained so for most of the evening. Garnett’s shooting was equally futile, with 6 of 21 shooting for 13 points, for a combined 8 of 35 (23%) for the duo, though Kevin did manage 12 rebounds to tie Pau Gasol for game honors. Kevin has shot poorly 2 straight games now.

The game was won in the 4th quarter as the Lakers played better down the stretch with Bryant and Sasha Vujacic each making big shots to ice the game. Pau Gasol more than doubled his game totals with 5 points, including a put back and a lay-up in the paint to help keep the Celtics at bay when the Lakers needed him most.

Boston, as bad as they played, somehow actually led 68-66 until 6:55 of the 4th quarter. From there, Kobe Bryant hit the most wide open three pointer of his career, at the top of the key and miles of real estate around him. It was clearly a missed rotation, but you could see that Boston was tiring after playing an extremely tenacious game without their best players playing well. The Celtics would not lead again.

One thing this series has shown is the ability of either team to stay within striking distance, even when they are playing poorly. That is the sign of a championship caliber team. Neither team gets rattled when things aren’t going right. Tonight, it was the Celtics’ turn to hang around.

To borrow a Phil Jackson term, a ‘ridiculous’ first quarter foul shooting disparity of 14 to 2, as expected, was in the Lakers’ favor. But even with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett shooting blanks at 0-9, the Celtics came back from a early deficit to tie the game at 20 by the end of the quarter.

Another role player, with an even more difficult name to pronounce, stepped up and made a difference in the game again. Laker sharp shooter Sasha Vujacic (Voo-ya-chich) aggressively stepped into a number of big shots, some open, some with a hand in his face. He hit a huge three with 2 minutes left to make the score 81-76. He finished with 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting in 27.5 minutes.

Celtic coach Doc Rivers might ask…..How does somebody named Sasha Vujacic end up with more foul shots than Paul Pierce?

But he didn’t. Maybe it was because he knew he couldn’t pronounce his name, though that didn’t stop Laker coach Phil Jackson, after Leon Powe went off for 21 points, and more foul shots than his whole team in the previous game.

Coach Phil Jackson politicked hard about the foul shooting advantage the Celtics had the game before (18-2 at one point). Everyone in America knew it was coming.

Doc Rivers did not use the perfect opportunity to tweak Phil and the refs. Instead, he said that the Lakers earned their 20-4 (late in the 2nd period) foul shooting advantage by being the aggressor all night. The Lakers 34-22 foul shot advantage did play a big part in the game regardless of what Doc Rivers says. At least Doc manned up about it, unlike his counterpart a game earlier.

Though Doc did get this in when told of Phil’s remark that Garnett looked tired in the 4th quarter…

“Well, I’m just surprised he didn’t whine about fouls tonight.”

It wasn’t that the Lakers got foul shots they didn’t deserve, rather, the Celtics did not get some calls they should have gotten. If they did, things might have been different, but the Cs clearly were outplayed anyway.

PJ Brown- mini-slump?
Though PJ Brown has been a nice substitute for Kendrick Perkins, it seems as if he doesn’t play the type of ‘Iron Curtain’ defense in the middle that Kendrick does.

The Lakers had 30 points in the paint last night and 40 in the previous game, where PJ has played more due to Perkins turned ankle. I’ll have to look at the tapes, but it is possible that more of that comes with PJ in the game. Perkins was ‘plus 6′ in game 3, while PJ was ‘minus 13′ in his 17 minutes.

This may surprise as well, but Perkins contributes more on offense as well of late. Kendrick was 4 of 5 in game 3 for 8 points, with 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocked shots. When PJ’s shot is on, he draws the defender out. When it’s off, they drop off him like they do Perkins. PJ’s shot has been off more of late. The less than stellar interior defense might be because of Perkins ankle injury, but I doubt it. Those numbers will significantly impact a game.

The Lakers’ bench outscored Boston’s 29-21. You could say that was the difference in the game, but the cold shooting of Paul and Kevin made this a difficult game for the Cs to take control of, though they tried to all night.

Ultimately, the Lakers wanted this game more and played like it. It is up to Boston to come back strong on Thursday night.

With Celtics handling the Lakers so well at home, a few thoughts and questions come to mind.

Is the Western Conference over rated?

Many thought it a travesty that the Golden State Warriors would not be a play-off team and would be a lottery team. The draft balls weren’t especially lucky for them (drafting at #14). They couldn’t have done worse (0-4), and more than likely would have done better against the Lakers, than Denver. But I don’t see any special place beyond a 1st round exit for them if they made the cut.

Many thought the Atlanta Hawks were an embarrassment to the league’s prestige when they made the play-offs.But it turns out Denver’s 50 win ‘team’, and I use the word lightly, was the embarrassment. Until Carmelo re-thinks who he is as a basketball player, they will have difficulty moving forward. They have the individual talent to compete with almost anyone. They don’t have the team chemistry to do more than what they already have. It starts with the team leaders – Carmelo and Allen Iverson. Is it too late for Allen to change his game?

With what has transpired, the question can be asked – Is Atlanta that much worse than Denver? Could they possibly even be better? The short answer is that they certainly are not more experienced or even talented overall than the Nuggets, but they are on a much better learning curve and their performance against the Celtics was gritty, eye opening and a just a little bit brave. Joe Johnson coupled with Mike Bibby, Josh Smith, Josh Childress,and Al Horford, a rookie who played beyond his age and experience, are a nice core of players going forward.

Parity between the two conferences is somewhat misleading. The style of play that Boston faced to get to the Finals was in many ways written in heaven, or at least, a fortuitous draw of the cards. Atlanta challenged them athletically. Cleveland really challenged them defensively. The Cavs also gave them a chance to test their defensive schemes against the next best thing to Kobe Bryant – Lebron James.

From there, the defensive-minded, play-off hardened Pistons were ready to test Boston’s composure and will. Things started to come together for the Celtics team, by going through each series in order.

None of those three teams play western style basketball. While the east isn’t as deep from top to bottom, the specific teams that Boston faced helped prepare them and harden their game for whoever came out of the west. The west simply doesn’t play like the teams mentioned.

Utah is a great team and can play a more physical style than most in the west. But it isn’t equivalent to what Boston, Detroit, and even Cleveland can conjure up defensively over a 7 game series. They have been a different team on the road all year, as well.

San Antonio, and Phoenix could have been as good of representatives from the west as LA. San Antonio’s defense is quite good. The Suns have difficult match up problems for the Celtics.

It could be argued that the Lakers defense has been the easiest the Celtics have faced in the play-offs so far. That alone gives Boston some easier looks than they have had in a while. Gasol and Odom are not any scarier on the defensive end than Wallace and McDyess. And there is no Maxiell to come in off the bench on the Lakers. Nor is there is a Verejeo.

So the Lakers trump card is their offense. But we knew this coming in. Why so many would be influenced by western play to automatically make them the odds on favorite to win the series and win it easily, is a bit mind boggling.

Though the Suns tried dearly for a few years, maxims never change. Pitching wins baseball championships. Defense wins NBA titles.

Until the Lakers learn to “D-up” much smarter than they have, they don’t have a chance, even with the volcanic offense they have composed. For once, they are playing from an inferior position. They held home court until this series. Many of the Laker players do not have the requisite play-off experience to calmly weather the storms that the Celtics will create for you on both ends of the court. Gasol, Bryant and Fisher do, but Fisher has been surprisingly erratic in this year’s play-offs. Gasol still hasn’t proven he is ‘tuff enuff’, and Bryant hasn’t proven he can lead a team to a title.

What has happened so far is that the Lakers haven’t proven they can play the kind of defense to make this a series again. I’m not sure you can learn to play that kind of defense on the fly. To be sure, at this point, things are in large part an issue of will. There are three long time NBA stars on the Celtics who have practiced playing true team defense, and sharing the ball on offense, for one reason and one reason only.

The Celtics are also figuring out how to close out tough games, the last quarter of the last game notwithstanding. Any of three stars can get a big sequence going offensively, but the ball will most likely end up in Paul Pierce’s capable hands. His growth throughout the play-offs has been inspirational to non-believers, but not quite so surprising to the long time faithful followers of double P.

The Lakers have neither the personnel, nor the mindset, nor the defensive technique and schemes to play defense like the Celtics do. That will be the difference in this series. That and a big time shot maker. Surprise. …His name is Pierce.

I expect the Lakers to get most every call in the book in game 3. Will they automatically win? Let’s just say they will have home court advantage, similarly to what the Celtics just had. Can the Celtics play above that handicap? They have developed the focus and determination to weather just about anything including their own success. We will see.

It is not the script anyone would have written. Well, wait. Maybe it is.

The Celtics did their thing for 3.5 quarters, building a 24 point lead, and the Lakers almost erased it in 6 minutes. The Celtics let up, and the Lakers let loose. It was stunning, but not surprising to see.

Excellent Celtic defense, poor Laker defense, a getting-to-be classic Celtic 4th quarter letdown, the usual suspects – Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and a few unsung Celtics, including a man named Leon Powe were the main players in this play.

PJ Brown continues to pay dividends far beyond his salary.

Paul Pierce said the bench hasn’t gotten it’s due all year….

The bench is obviously going to be a key. Our bench has been pretty much overlooked all year. Nobody really talks about our bench.

I guarantee they will be now. Powe, Posey, and Brown all played crucial roles in last night’s win.

James Posey hit two big threes and finished the night’s scoring with two big free throws while getting Kobe Bryant as an assignment on the other end.

PJ Brown played almost 23 minutes of solid defense and just enough offense to make the team not miss Kendrick Perkins and his bad ankle. Well, maybe Kendrick is missed. The Lakers had 40 points in the paint. That wouldn’t happen with Perkins in there. But ‘Big’ Brown was big and didn’t fade in the stretch (unlike the horse of the same name).

Leon Powe cemented his name in Celtic lore for all time. 21 points in 14 minutes. Phil Jackson mispronounced his name, then corrected himself, but only to wonder how a man named Leon Powe could get more foul shots in 14 minutes than the entire Laker team did all game.

Answer: Attack the rim like Leon did, Phil. But wait, he had an open door at times. Thank you, Phil. He was just another one of Boston’s unknown bench players.

The Celtics weren’t quite so obliging, though LA scored inside often themselves. The Lakers actually outscored the Celtics in the paint with an un-Celtic-like 40, to the Celtics 34. The numbers are a little deceiving only because the Lakers fouled so much, sending the Cs to the line far more.

But I have to get Doc Rivers and his players on the same page for interviews.

Doc discussed the bench asserting itself….

Well, they heard how bad they were, and so they have pride, too.

Yet, when PJ Brown and Leon were asked a similar question PJ said…

I didn’t really think about it. I mean, you heard it across the news and the media say that they had a better bench and they had more athleticism. You just (have to) go out there and play the game. People (are) going to make predictions and stuff. I didn’t hear Leon say much about it. I didn’t talk much about it. We are just going to go out there and do what we know we can do.

And sometimes much more.

So the Celtics do what they need to do. The Lakers see a little bit of what they can do.

And Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are two wins away from their achieving their dream of an NBA title. Expect a far better game from the Lakers in LA. I expect they will get a few extra foul calls to go their way after Phil’s politicking as well.