NBA Finals: Lakers (1) vs Celtics (4)

[Andrew]

When Bynum caught the high pass and the tip in:

Mark Jackson: He caught the ball and his hands stayed up. You can't teach that. Good fundamental move by Bynum (paraphrasing).

WTF, you can't teach fundamentals? Shut the hell up Mark Jackson.

Yeah, that was a ridiculous comment. You can't teach instinct, but you can hone skill and teach fundamentals.

Celtics tie up the series as they finished fairly strong, but they came awfully close to throwing the game away. Huge performances from Rondo and Allen.

[puttincomputers]

I was wrong about the celtics, i am glad.

[Sauru]

Amazing that despite the media being completely against and always doubting him, the refs doing everything they can to keep the Celtics in the game and unjustifiably foul him out, the league and especially David Stern trying to find someway to make him look bad (like with the made up rape charges), Kobe keeps his focus and leads the most underdog team in league history against impossible odds and had the refs been unbiased would have been going to Boston to face the racist crowd up 2-0.

Kobe leading by example, the Lakers not even giving up with six seconds to go.

this is the best post ever

[shadowgrin]

Kevin Garnett a non-factor in the game, I don't know whether that's a good or bad sign for the Celtics as the series goes on.

Good thing Big Baby came to play, Ray Allen got hot in the first half, and Rondo doing the usual, but we all know the only reason the Celtics win this one is because The Landlord got to play early in the game.

[dare]

Overall the Celtics just got lucky

[shadowgrin]

Why?

[dare]

Because Ray Allen just had an amazing shooting night, if his shots weren't falling in this game would be easily won by the Lakers

[Lean]

I wouldn't call the Lakers lucky in Game 1 with Kobe and everybody in the Lakers getting hot on shooting.

[shadowgrin]

Because Ray Allen just had an amazing shooting night, if his shots weren't falling in this game would be easily won by the Lakers

I could do the same for the Lakers and say they were lucky in game 1 because Kobe scored 30 and Artest hit double figures. If that didn't happen Boston could have easily won that.

I don't find anything lucky about Ray's shooting since he proved in his entire career he's capable of that.
Now if it was Rondo that hit those threes, maybe we can consider the Celtics lucky, or if Perkins was driving to the basket and making shots.

[benji]

That's because the refs called a more fair (but still pro-Celtics, anti-Lakers) game in game one. This one was all about getting extra shots for the Celtics (and calling a few blatant two-pointers as threes) and no shots for the Lakers. It was payback by the refs as ordered by the league and hoped for by the media after Kobe stood up to the Celtics juggernaut in game one. Goliath gets mad if David beats him too much. The media-commissioner-referees axis is just another arm of the Celtics Goliath. And that media arm especially was angry at the player they love to hate, Kobe Bryant.

[dare]

In the game 1 the Celtics are just playing sloppy, in game 2 the Celtics are sloppy again. But with the greatness of Allen they got only 6 point lead in the first half.

They should have led double digits after that.

[Lean]

I'm starting to get scared of benji.

In the game 1 the Celtics are just playing sloppy, in game 2 the Celtics are sloppy again. But with the greatness of Allen they got only 6 point lead in the first half.

They should have led double digits after that.

Were you expecting the Lakers not to bounce back in every possession?

[shadowgrin]

The Celtics will never win in double digits against the Lakers. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, who is the new Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan would never allow a double digit loss.

[Rip32]

Because Ray Allen just had an amazing shooting night, if his shots weren't falling in this game would be easily won by the Lakers

Yeah, because future Hall of Famers don't have hot shooting nights or anything. I'd probably say the defensive duo of Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar played into that considerably. If you've never seen a chicken with its head cut off-- that's how it looks.

Even constant defense from the G.O.A.T. wasn't going to force Allen to miss ALL of those shots. Give a guy with that stroke 11 attempts from three point range and he's going to knock in 4-5 shots.

Is it just my dislike for him or did Derek Fisher have an awful last 5 minutes in that game? It seemed like he (and Kobe) lost track of their guy countless times and Fisher didn't look sharp on offense at all. Rondo's D will do that to you, but it was a lot of unforced errors towards the end I thought.

All in all the Celtics played a pretty solid game. Free throw advantage went to the Lakers, but the Celtics just toughed it out. I hate that the refereeing is so terrible in this series. Not that I feel its slanted or anything, but the officials need to decide if their going to call ever ticky-tack foul or let them play. I like when they let them play, but towards the end of tonight's contest things got really ticky-tack.

Last thing. Ron Artest said he was happy with his shooting tonight. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

[shadowgrin]

Fisher always loses track of any player faster than him especially like Allen who runs around screens. I even thought Ray was going 8 for 8 when he lost Fisher from those screens but Ray missed his first three.

[benji]

I'm starting to get scared of benji.

Kobe haters can't handle the truth.

Last thing. Ron Artest said he was happy with his shooting tonight. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

I'm not, I told JaoSming before the game (he can confirm this) Artest was going to take seven threes in this game since he went 3-of-5 in the last game.

But after he was 1-of-6 through three he didn't try another. The jackass.

[NovU]

Amazing that despite the media being completely against and always doubting him, the refs doing everything they can to keep the Celtics in the game and unjustifiably foul him out, the league and especially David Stern trying to find someway to make him look bad (like with the made up rape charges), Kobe keeps his focus and leads the most underdog team in league history against impossible odds and had the refs been unbiased would have been going to Boston to face the racist crowd up 2-0.

Kobe leading by example, the Lakers not even giving up with six seconds to go.

I love this comment...

[koberulz]

Hey, Ron Artest.

FUCK YOU.

That is all.

[Killer Crossover aka OG]

Hey, Ron Artest.

FUCK YOU.

That is all.

Haha Yeah last year he was the rival of Kobe and now they play together in a BasketballTeam

Good Game by Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo Go Celtics Go

[Slizz]

I don't wanna say that the Celtics didn't deserve the win but the officiating played to big of a role in this one. Four calls come to my head.
First. Kobe's offensive foul on Ray Allen should've been a non call he didn't lower his shoulder there.
Second. Rondo steals the ball from Kobe and falls out of bounds WITHOUT a shove by Kobe. no call there either to me
Third. the tipped rebound they reviewed to me clearly looked like it was last touched by Garnett (not 100% sure though and they probably could see it better)
Fourth. Artest tipped the ball loose without fouling Rajon after that terrible pass by Allen.

All of these calls had a major impact of the game as the first two put Kobe into foul trouble and the last two would've given the Lakers posession late in the 4th.

It's a series now though let's see the Celtics win three straight at home against my Lakers.

go for the fifth KB

[koberulz]

I'm not sure Artest's last foul was a bad call, Mike Breen said he saw Artest grab Rondo's shirt, which wouldn't have been visible from the replay angle. I would, however, question the offensive foul on Kobe, given that Davis was still in the circle when Kobe left the ground. I'm not sure whether the problem is with the rule or the interpretation, but the defender seems, in the NBA, to need to do nothing more than get there before the offensive player, regardless of whether or not the offensive player has a chance to avoid contact.

Artest is a fucking moron. He could've dived on that loose ball, like Farmar, but instead waited for Robinson to pick it up and then tackled him for no apparent reason. Late in the game, he dribbles around aimlessly for 22 seconds before realising the shot clock is about to expire, and hoists up a contested three. Then he grabs Rondo's jersey for no reason, negating a Celtic turnover. Fuck you, Ron. Don't come back next year.

[Sauru]

Because Ray Allen just had an amazing shooting night, if his shots weren't falling in this game would be easily won by the Lakers

no shit if a team is not making shots they would easily lose. you are calling ray allen lucky for hitting shots? have you ever seen a nba game before?

[Lean]

Bird was lucky hitting threes. Kobe isn't. (did I do it like benji does it?)

[Andrew]

I'm not sure whether the problem is with the rule or the interpretation, but the defender seems, in the NBA, to need to do nothing more than get there before the offensive player, regardless of whether or not the offensive player has a chance to avoid contact.

They do seem overly generous towards the defensive player in those situations and as Ben noted when I brought it up in the ECF thread, Glen Davis is pretty adept at drawing charges on airborne players.

[Sauru]

I'm not sure whether the problem is with the rule or the interpretation, but the defender seems, in the NBA, to need to do nothing more than get there before the offensive player, regardless of whether or not the offensive player has a chance to avoid contact.

They do seem overly generous towards the defensive player in those situations and as Ben noted when I brought it up in the ECF thread, Glen Davis is pretty adept at drawing charges on airborne players.

the nba has made it where the best way to defend someone is to jump in front of them or flop because if you actually try to guard them then you will get called for the foul.