Celtics 98, Lakers 88: Instant Analysis
1-0Why the Celtics won: Paul Pierce. He started out the second half outscoring the Lakers 8-2 by himself to give Boston the lead, then did the Willis Reed Lite thing and sparked a run that put the C’s ahead by the end of the third quarter. They would never relinquish that lead.
Why the Lakers lost: Fourth-quarter execution. Kobe didn’t play his best down the stretch, and he didn’t get much help from the Kobeaires. Pau Gasol, Sasha Vujacic, Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Ronny Turiaf — they all failed to come through when they had opportunities in the fourth quarter; about the only guy that didn’t choke was Derek Fisher, and he only took one shot. There was a killer four-minute stretch in the fourth when the Lakers didn’t score, and the resulting eight-point deficit was too much to overcome.
Key numbers: Paul Pierce (22 pts); Kevin Garnett (24 pts, 13 rebs); Ray Allen (19 pts, 8 rebs, 5 asts); Kobe Bryant (24 pts, 6 asts); Pau Gasol (15 pts); Derek Fisher (15 pts); Rebounds (BOS 45, LAL 33).
June 5th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Jon says:
wow una ako. hello po sa mga kamaganak ko
June 5th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
d16 says:
Why the Lakers lost: selfish Kobe showed up in the 2nd half.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
JOB33 says:
to andrew: the celtics beer does look delicious, but only b/c it’s miller light. how dare you confuse the too?! it don’t look like the jager has a celtics logo
anyways,
pretty good game, i’m going for celtics, but the lakers didn’t lose too bad for as bad as they played. gotta think kobe’s coming back strong, but the lakers struggled and kobe got his points w/ a high volume of shots, not free throws.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am
JOB33 says:
i could be wrong about the jager though, can’t see the left side too clearly
June 6th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Big Freeze says:
Peirce pulled a Dwayne Wade when he was screaming in agony and clutching his knee only to return a few plays later and drain some daggers. He had to be carried off the court by Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrini, and of course that’s the only time they broke a sweat the whole game.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Washington the Frog says:
Weird game…SOOOOOOO many shots rattled in and out for the lakers. Almost encouraging; perhaps they can shake that off and steal game 2.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:07 am
JOB33 says:
that’s the most tony allen and scallopedbrini have done to help the celtics
June 6th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Coach T-sun says:
The Lakers need to step up outside of fish and kobe in the 2nd half noone took a shot in the flow of the triangle. Kobe’s gotta attack the hedge more and get into the paint, he has to take more shots since they are on the road and remember farmar, sasha and these guys they are young and they looked nervous tonight.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Remy Nguyen says:
Kobe better rally his troops and get a road victory.
Kobe better get his ass out of his ass and take out the freaking game.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Captain America says:
Who was Gashole guarding with KG’s put-back dunk? Must be chasing Spanish flies.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:25 am
MoxWestCoastRep says:
I knew pauls fat ass was faking!
Not Kobe’s fault No one stepped up and made shots.
I’m going to have nightmares tonight of KGs put back
Lakers in 6
.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Big Freeze says:
Peirce wasn’t faking, he just over-reacted when he felt his knee pop and the tremendous pain that followed. He thought he blew out his knee something terrible, but fortunately that wasn’t the case. He sprained his knee, but I’m sure they gave him a shot of some good shit so he could get back out on the court. Both him and Perkins are hurt, so it remains to be seen how it will affect the rest of the Finals. PJ Brown was busting his ass tonight tho
June 6th, 2008 at 12:42 am
James says:
@ Coach T-sun: Kobe needs to take MORE shots?! The guy went 9 for 26, and was forcing up bad shots left and right. He should at least pretend to run the triangle before jacking up a shot.
@MoxWestCoastRep: Kobe shot 35% from the field, and the loss wasn’t his fault? Kobe needs to step up before you call out his teammates for not bringing it.
I’m a huge Kobe fan, but his selfishness tonight was a little too much to handle.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:44 am
JOB33 says:
I think the most important number of the game was 9-26. kobe wasn’t hittin at all. go KG, wish i could’ve seen his put back.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Jeff says:
Baron Davis just had an off-night, I think he’ll definitely bounce back on game 4. Monta was pretty decent, though his 3s weren’t really falling. Props to Deron Williams for holding his ground again over Davis and for controlling the tempo of the game for the Jazz’s advantage. S-Jack needs to step up and I think that bum knee is bothering him.
All in all, the Warriors played a good ga… oh. Okay. Go Lakers.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Big Freeze says:
@ post 15
I don’t get it dude.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Remy Nguyen says:
Too many folks had their money the Lakers, Vegas was calling the shots.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
fallinup says:
Too many jumpshots for the Lakers. Especially in the forth. They will be moving and cutting in the second game. Credit Boston’s D though for always getting a hand in the shooters face. If Boston wins game 2…all they have to do is pull off one win in L.A…and then it’s over.