The Lakers needed to win. Kobe did what he always does and put the team on his back. Besides uncharacteristically missing more than a couple of free throws, Bryant was dominant and made sure LA would now have a fighting chance to get back into the series.
But 87-81? Really?
The Corpse formally known as Paul Pierce played his worst game of the playoffs (and maybe even the whole year) and KG couldn't hit a shot if he was playing Scalabrine in a pickup game. When did he forget that he's 6-11? He had Turiaf in the post but refused to take him to the basket multiple times. He would kick the ball back out to one of the guards and settle for clanging 18 footers all night. Granted, his defense was as sharp as ever, but Ray Allen was the only Celtic who could get anything going on offense. (Sad thing is, Garnett was the only other Boston player in double figures. Yeesh.) Of course, Rondo's ankle injury didn't exactly help matters.
Our man Leon saw his minutes cut by more than half from Game 2 and never really got in any kind of rhythm. Of course, the first time he touched the ball down low (end of the first quarter), three Lakers collapsed on him with Jordan Farmer winding up and hacking Leon's arm like he was collecting a Barkley debt.
No call.
Leon did draw another charge on Lamar Odom early in the second quarter, which was his third foul of the game. Lamar has been atrocious so far in the Finals and was limited to 28 minutes last night because of foul trouble. Leon ended up grabbing a couple of boards but that was pretty much it.
Boston had more total rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. They actually had a 62-60 lead after three quarters but only managed 19 points in the fourth. I guess Celtic fans can feel okay about losing a close game that LA had to win, but a loss is still a loss. Even with that third quarter lead, it just didn't look like the C's had what it took to go up 3-0.
But the Lakers didn't exactly show any kind of drive to win either. So we move on to Game 4. I think Leon definitely deserved more minutes than he got last night but with Doc at the helm, who knows if he'll even play Thursday...
Leon's line from Game Three:
6 minutes
1 point
2 rebounds
0-3 FG
1-2 FT
1 turnover
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2 comments:
i gotta say, i'm not entirely unimpressed with doc's coaching last night. the only real mistake he made was putting cassell in for a split second in the first half, but as soon as he took that craptacular long jumper off the dribble 6 seconds into the possession he was yanked.
i even think he was making a good call with powe playing less. the lakers didn't want to be reading headlines about a "nobody" stomping them again. it was clear right when powe stepped on the floor that the lakers were focused on making things hard for him (and they had that luxury since pierce and garnett weren't requiring too much attention). doc went with brown who, while not an offensive force, held his ground and didn't do anything to hurt the team.
doc also made the call that almost stole them the game: he actually played eddie house in some quality minutes. granted it was not so much a good call but the call that should have been made several games ago, but it gave that unit some energy that cassell could not have possibly supplied (even though eddie couldn't buy a basket).
we'll see how he does thursday. i hate to say it, but it looks like he's getting better.
hate to say it? I LOVE to say it! I'll scream it from the rooftops! HOORAY! DOC RIVERS IS GETTING BETTER AT COACHING!
Man, that felt good. Now let's just hope it holds up.
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