good start for the celtics.... and that alleyoop on gasol from kg... love it.
only one game but it does show the celtics have the team to do well. i'm expecting the lakers to bounce back and potentially win the next game, but i think the C's will get a game back in LA... they already have won there this year.
Kobe wont miss that many shots in the next game.
Pau needs to learn how to box the **** out man. Also we need Ariza in this series. Luke hasn't had a good game since we played Denver, I'm baffled as to why Ariza isn't getting his minutes, not only can he D up Pierce, Rondo, Allen, Cassell or anyone on the Celtics from the 1-3 positions, but he also has superior slashing abilities and he can actually finish around the rim. Hell I heard he guarded Garnett well when he played for Orlando earlier this season. But we need him out there. This next game is pivotal, if we win it, we steal Home court, which means if we continue to not lose a game at home in the playoffs, the series might not go back to Boston. So we need to take this game even if we somehow win the middle 3 after being down 0-2, because we do not want this series going back to Boston, lead or no lead.
I call BS on Pierce's injury.
grandpa? he may be old but hes a capable player. he wont score much but experience counts for a lot when it comes to defending and rebounding, and especially for setting an example on the younger players.
close game for game 2 i think... lakers may edge it but i dont think teh lakers are gonna win 3 in a row at home at all. celtics to win in 6/7
It's hard to play defense when you are getting called for little touch fouls every time down the court. I like how we played in the first quarter, I like how Kobe came out determined on the defensive end, only to be taken out of the game by 2 ridiculous shady calls. I'm not going to act like we played perfect and got screwed by the refs, because that obviously wasn't the case, then again I'm not afraid to say that the refs owned majority stake in our lost. But if over half your starters are being taken out in the first quarter by the refs for trying to play defense(perimeter and interior), then your going to have to let up at some point in time. But I would like to point out the end of the game where they stopped calling phantom and ticky tack fouls and we were able to get back in the game, by playing defense and hitting shots. Now imagine if the refs allowed us to play like that from the get go.
Originally posted by SpaceMonkey
The Lakers are obviously the better team here... seriously. How can a team who went 12-3 in the tough West play-offs be down 0-2 to a team that was almost knocked out in every series in the East play-offs? It does not add-up here.
no i think the celtics have alot more weapons than the lakers.
if Kobe is the best, then he should be the best. he shouldn't rely on referees.
Jeez that was a tough game to watch in some stretches, especially the 3rd quarter abortion. I always try to stay off the refs excuse but its obvious to anyone who watched that game that the fouls were not called evenly. I can even live with the amount of FT's that the Celtics got (although Powe was rewarded for just being out of control a few times in the 1st half) but we should have had at least close to that number ourselves. We started off the game exactly how we should have, aggressively playing defense and attacking the hoop but after some really suspect fouls we had 3 starters on the bench and it was all up hill from there. One of the ones that stands out for me was the Turiaf block on Powe when they say he landed on him after the shot, not only that but the official that made the call was at half court. Soon after that Gasol was fouled twice by KG on a lob play which he somehow converted but no whistle. Another obvious call was near the end of the game when Kobe drove the lane and Pierce grabbed his right arm so Kobe had to switch to his left and shot it, sure it went in but it should have been another and1. To sum up the Lakers took twice as many shots in the paint than the Celtics but somehow had 28 less FT's, nobody who saw that game could possibly have an explanation for that.
Now all that said, we played some horrible stretches defensively. The play where Powe went coast to coast for the dunk was mind-boggling, stop the ball and make him give it up. Im pretty sure he is a worse passer off the dribble than he is at converting uncontested dunks. Kobe needs to start on Pierce, if he can play him even and make KG beat us then i think we are in good shape. Pierce is the main problem on offense and its obvious that Vlade cant stick with him. Speaking of Vlade he pretty much killed what had been a nice little rally in the 3rd with two boneheaded plays (shooting off the dribble early in the clock and trying drive and create on the very next possession). We had been running the two man game with Kobe and Pau very effectively and were getting high quality looks but Vlade all of a sudden thinks he is the number 1 option and killed our momentum. As a team we tend to defend well if the offense is clicking so we have to stick to whats working and Vlade needs to understand that he is a catch and shoot player. I love that Kobe kept fighting to the end, love the guts that Sasha and Farmar showed to when we were down big. Not impressed with Sasha's three point attempt when we were only down 4 at the end though, the ball needs to be in Kobe's hands there - he had already shown he will give the ball up if he is doubled. I liked Lamar's aggressiveness but he was taken out of the game with fouls, he needs to recognise that if he drives from the 3pt line that he will get called for the charge - they are waiting for him because they know he wont shoot from the outside. He is best working weakside and looking to dish it off before he gets to the rim if he cant take it strong.
We cant expect to win just because we going back to Staples, i hope the officiating is a non factor and they just let the guys play - you play all year to get to this point and to have the refs be such a focal point is frustrating. We have to get the next game, the pressure is on but we have a good enough team to get it done.
havent seen the game yet, but my sister has apparantly recorded it for me. sports should have good refs, i dont understand how sometimes they can be so terrible, and even though i have yet to see the game, it does sound like a bad job was done.
dont worry laker fans, go away from home in the first two games you're expected to lose. staples for 3 games, its important they dont drop any there. remember the celtics performed well against the west, so i'm not surprised as to how well they're doing.
The Celtics match up well with us, they dont have anyone who can stop Kobe but that doesnt matter when the other guys are not threats and they can load up on him.
We dont have anyone who can stop Pierce although i think Kobe needs to try, as much as we are a team that relies on great offense i think it could come down to how well we defend in this series. That is also directly linked to how the game is called to, last night we were not allowed to be aggressive defensively i hope that changes in LA.
i think teh celtics can match up great with any team, hence why they had a successful season. perhaps the reason they had trouble with teams in the playoffs was simple because a lot of players had yet to experience playoff ball? just one of those things. people look at the east and think its terrible compared to teh west, but its not THAT far behind. the top few teams in the east can compete with the west teams.