Stayin Alive

Lakers once again find a way to make things interesting. They started out on fire as the jumpers were falling, the passes were crisp, and the rotations on defense were quick. They jumped out to a 39-22 first quarter lead. Kobe Bryant was red hot including 4 three pointers in the first frame . The Lakers obviously wanted to show some heart tonight with fans and media alike counting them out.

Paul Pierce started warming up in the second quarter and never cooled off finishing with 38 points and getting to the basket as he feasted on the defense or lack thereof of Luke Walton and Vladamir Radmanovic. Pierce has been the achilles heal in this series for the Lakers. He has torched Lakers small forwards.

Just like in Game Four, the Lakers couldnt hold on to the lead and gave up a 15-0 run. Garnett was quite ineffective for the Celtics as he couldnt stay out of foul trouble and only played 11 minutes in the first half. But, it was Garnett’s inability to convert in crunch time that cost the Celtics. He missed two consecutive free throws with the Celtics down two in the final minutes. Then he missed a follow up layup at point blank range the next time down. He pulled what i call a “Chris Webber” in that fourth quarter.

The Lakers big men showed up tonight , Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were effective. Odom had 20 points and 11 rebounds as Pau Gasol delivered with 19 points and 13 boards. The two big men have been ridiculed for being soft and unable to finish around the rim in this series. However, they converted tonight and were active. Kobe Bryant did not have a good second half. He hasn’t been able to get to the rim on a consistent basis. He finished with 25 points. I have to give credit to Jordan Farmar, hes been a real spark plug in this series for the Lakers by not settling for jump shots and going to the basket with reckless abandon. Farmar had struggled mightily in the Utah series but has bounced back nicely against the Spurs and Celtics since then.

Celtics blew a golden opportunity to close it out tonight. The longer you give Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson life in a series the more dangerous it gets. However, winning two straight in Boston is not an easy task at all. The Lakers have to forget about winning two and try and somehow steal Game Six and anything can then happen in a Game Seven.

Call It A Comeback

Comeback is exactly what the Boston Celtics did on Thursday Night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Comeback from the largest deficit in NBA Finals history , 24 points. As a Laker fan , I have to say i was thoroughly embarassed. As I was watching the game , I was thinking to myself this is too much too early , referring to the big first quarter lead as the Lakers raced out to a 21 point lead at the end of one. As the lead was 17 points in the first quarter i can remember Jeff Van Gundy , former coach, now commentator saying that he was going out on a limb to say this series is tied 2-2. I was thinking, you’re crazy JVG! As a die hard and loyal fan of the Lakers and a guy who watches nearly every game , i knew that my boys would blow most of this lead if not all. But even I the pessimist, didn’t think my beloved Lakers led by Kobe Bryant would lose this game. I thought for sure , somehow , someway, we would pull it out. But, during the process i would probably develop a coronary, or have some anxiety attack. Nothing comes easy for these guys.

As the game went on the Celtics got stronger and buckled down on defense. Celtics cut a 20 point lead down to 12, here they come uh oh. Then my boys respond with a 8-0 run of their own and the lead is back to 20, whoo hoo! Once again the Celtics chip away but then just before the half , Jordan Farmar hits a running three pointer off one leg to open up a comfortable 18 point lead. Did i say comfortable? Because , no lead is comfortable with the Lakers. They give up the hugest leads with the least amount of time off the clock. Not to mention the fact that the Celtics have absolutely crushed them in every third quarter this series.

Kobe Bryant had a horrible night. His flow of the game was not there like usual. He was fumbling the ball all over the place and didn’t seem to have his usual explosion. There’s nothing like watching Kobe when he has it going and destroying the opposition with ridiculous fade away jumpers , or spin moves with great footwork as the opposition is left in awe and realizing that there is no chance tonight against this guy. However, as equally crushing is seeing Kobe get his shot blocked , him miss free throws, him be unable to get by his defender and not be able to impose his will. Simply put, i hate when Kobe looks human. It sucks.

Anyhow, the Celtics dominated the second half allowing the Lakers only 33 points after they gave up 58 in the first half. That great defense that was there all year for the C’s showed up again and probably won them the series. That is just a crushing way to lose and will be too devastating for the Lakers to recover.

The Lakers have a chance to make history of their own if they now can find a way to comeback from a 3-1 deficit because no one has been able to. Kobe can now take on a new challenge to impose his will first and foremost to send this series back to Boston for game six and take their chances from there. But if they’re gonna come back from the deficit , they’re gonna need Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol to man up big time.

I still believe! …..Well kind’ve , sort’ve.