CELTICS -at- LAKERS - 6/15 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Win No. 14 - Refuse to Lose... With 37 seconds left and up by 2 points, Kobe Bryant reached around Paul Pierce to knock a ball loose to Lamar. Kobe busted down court, took the outlet and dunked. A huge play, giving the Lakers a shot to try to extend the series to a Game 7 in Boston.

The defensive stop was one of our few against Pierce, who went for 38 points (19 attempts from the line) and 8 assists. Down the stretch in the 103-98 Laker win, L.A. had to defend the Pierce/KG two-man game. They gave up several scores and have to do a better job both keeping him off the line and out of the paint. Regardless, the Lakers took the win.

"We'll probably have to play better," Kobe said afterward. He stressed our need to keep the Celtics away from the line. Both teams went there 31 times.

Win the third quarter, win the game? The Celtics were a +43 in the third quarter prior to this game, having won that quarter in every game. The Lakers put in a much better effort this time. The Lakers had a 19-point lead at one point and it was just three at the half.

"I went into halftime and said, 'Thank God, we don't have a lead,'" Phil joked. "It's important we don't have something like that because we just don't now what to do with it anyway."

The Lakers won the third quarter 24-18. That same group of Laker starters rushed out to a 39-22 lead in our first quarter. After pulling out to a double-digit lead in the fourth, the Lakers gave it up again. This time, however, there would be no Ray Allen going in for easy layups. Some great efforts under the glass by the Lakers on some of those late-game battles.

"I thought they were the more physical team," Doc Rivers said.



Kobe -- -- "As soon as I noticed the ball was exposed a little bit for me it was import to go after it," Kobe said of the steal, one of five in the game and three in the fourth quarter. Afterward, Kobe said he had a bad game. He stormed out of the gates and was on fire from three, but cooled off. In the second quarter, he ran the two-man game with Pau and helped to get our offense out of the mud. In the third quarter, he picked up his third and fourth fouls off charges and had to be careful with his attack. Defensively, we had him sag off Rondo again, and we also used him a lot at the SF spot. He and Pau need to rework their defensive scheme a bit on those high screens for Pierce (the foul trouble may have had something to do with this). The Stats: He scored 25 points on 8-21 shooting (4-9 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 4 assists, 5 steals, 6 turnovers and 4 fouls in 44 minutes. The Action: He drained a wing three on our second trip down of the game. He missed a chuck from three on the next trip down. He missed a wing jumper (he had Lamar open and a double coming). He jab-stepped, spun and hit a 10-footer. He picked up his first foul 4 minutes in when Rondo attacked off the dribble. He sank a wing three in early offense. He sized up his man, got into a rhythm and sank another three straight away. He swished a slightly fading sideline three on the next trip down. He crashed the boards and just missed an And-1 putback, he made one FT. He pulled up at three and hit Vlad with a jump pass for a layup. He had 15 points on 5-8 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a quick three. Pierce dunked and scored a three off Kobe (we should have gotten the ball back before that three, but the refs said PJ Brown didn't tip a rebound out behind Kobe, seemed obvious). He threw a pass away off the two-man game. He missed a turnaround in the post. He worked the Gasol screen-roll and it led to a high-low for Lamar from Gasol (a lot of those shots available if we work it). He missed a wing three. He attacked and kicked to Farmar for a three. He lost the dribble out of bounds, not taking a two-for-one shot early in the shotclock like he usually does. He missed a running fade at the halfcourt buzzer. He was 0-2 in the second quarter, but he was the hockey-assist man on what did work for us. Second Half: He missed a floater. He missed a three. He hit a short jumper in the lane and drew a foul, he made the FT. He charged trying to create off the dribble. Poor rotation and he gave up an open jumper. He picked up his fourth foul on another charge, attacking down the lane out of a timeout. He would have to change up his approach in the middle of the third quarter with the foul trouble. He turned the ball over on pass when KG was illegally zoning up (so obvious). He missed an easy elbow jumper. He had 3 points in the third quarter. Pierce attacked him off the dribble for a layup. He swished a 19-footer when we needed a score with over 7 minutes left. He missed a wing jumper when the offense went stagnant. His pass was deflected for a turnover. He drew Pierce's fifth foul with 3:31 left. He stripped Pierce at the top of the arc to force a breakaway for Fish. He attacked off the dribble, drew a foul with 2:14 left and a 2-point lead, he made both FTs. He missed a tough leaner, Pau got it back. He missed a three, rattling in and out. Then the huge, huge defensive sequence: Kobe reached around on Pierce to poke it loose, he busted down court and took the long pass from Lamar for the dunk to lead by 4 with 37 seconds left. He was fouled with 16 seconds left up by 5, he made just one FT. House hit a three on him. On the in-bounds he nearly fell out of bounds but passed to Fisher who was fouled with 9 seconds left with a 3-point lead. We always make it interesting.

Gasol -- -- "This win definitely helped us to build that confidence back up," Pau said. "I know I don't want to see the Celtics celebrating on our home floor with champagne and all that crap." Great effort from Pau tonight. He was aggressive on the offensive end. He battled the boards and blocked a couple shots. He outplayed KG, who struggled with foul trouble and even choked a couple of late freethrows. We have to have more of that in Boston to survive. He was especially effective off the Kobe two-man game. He set up Lamar for several scores working it. Getting to the line was also key. Defensively, the Pierce/KG two-man game will have to be better defended. We need to at least make Pierce a shooter on some of those when he's getting to the rim again and again. It rarely happened. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting (7-10 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, no turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: He hit a hook in the post to start the Laker scoring. He blocked Pierce in the lane. He attacked off the dribble and hooked a pass to Vlad for a the layup. He missed badly with his left, got it back and scored the And-1 under the hoop, he made the FT. KG scored back-to-back hoops out of a timeout, then KG picked up his second foul with 1 minute left in the first quarter and had to sit, Gasol made both FTs. He had a layup goaltended off a pass from Kobe at the end of the first quarter. He had 9 points in the first quarter. He aggressively attacked KG with the shotclock low and drew his third with more than 7 minutes left in the half, he missed both FTs, however. He got drilled from behind with no call on the glass. He hit Lamar off the high-low (Kobe/Gasol screen starts those plays). He hit Lamar with a bounce pass, working off the screen again and drawing the D. He didn't score in the second quarter, but had a few assists. He had 9 points, 7 boards and 4 assists at the half. Second Half: He missed a layup in transition. He overpowered KG in the post and scored a layup. He faced up Brown, beat him with a good first step and drew an And-1 foul on KG on the layup, he made the FT. He was fouled from behind by KG in transition for KG's fourth, he made both FTs. He kept a couple boards alive to give us multiple shots on one possession. He posted up Brown and drew FTs, he made one FT. He swatted Allen and controlled it to deny penetration. He missed a left-handed hook over KG. Pierce attacked him off the high screen to get to the line. He backed down KG, overpowered him and scored a layup with some contact (could have been an And-1). He drew KG's fifth with 3:37 left. Huge sequence, up by 2, he missed a jumphook over KG, then fouled over the back of KG with 2:31 left (KG choked both).

Lamar -- -- After a rough game for everyone, Lamar again found success for the second game in a row. We are doing a much better job in the past couple of games in setting up Lamar off the Kobe/Pau two-man game. We've got to continue to milk that more. It's the second pass off those attacks where we catch the Celtics for their overplay and rotations. Defensively, good job again on the boards, as well as getting a piece of a few shots. "Lamar is very resilient and showed that tonight," Phil said. Lamar also said he didn't want to see the champagne flowing. I'll take a couple more 20-11 games, please. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-10 shooting (1-1 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 assists, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: Nice challenge on KG to force a miss. He kept a board alive to Pau who scored an And-1. He traveled trying to attack into a crowd. He grabbed a rebound, pushed it out and scored a layup around KG. He posted up Posey, drew the double, but then threw it away. He missed a layup. He scored a layup to end a 15-0 run, working the high-low from Gasol. He putback in a Kobe missed three. He scored an And-1 layup off the Pau/Kobe sequence, he made the FT. He scored a tough reverse off the corner entry from Fish (again working off a Kobe draw and dish). He had 11 points on 5-6 shooting, had 7 boards and 1 assist. Second Half: He scored a layup over KG. He fumbled a pass off his foot in transition. He missed a 19-footer left open. He was stripped from behind, trying to take Posey off the dribble. He ball-faked and powered up a layup. He sank a wing three in early offense at the beginning of the fourth. Scary shot, big make. Back in midway through the fourth with Posey on him defensively, he fumbled an offensive board out of bounds (Celtics down by 4 at this point). He was fouled off a drive and dish from Kobe with over 3 minutes left, he made both FTs (good job, KG missed his). Wow, cheap, cheap over-the-back foul call when Lamar was battling for a board to give up FTs to Pierce with 1:14 and 4-point lead. He grabbed the loose ball Kobe poked free and outlet to him for the dunk with 37 seconds left.

Fisher -- -- What will probably go unmentioned in a lot of places was the third quarter DFish put in. We've been getting beaten badly as a team in this quarter all series. There was a stretch when DFish was manufacturing points in the third and keeping the offense going. He had 6 points while getting to the line 5 times in that quarter. In previous games, we've gone dry and struggled. Someone has got to continue to step up for us. Little contributions like that mean a lot. Hopefully, DFish can hit some threes on the road for us. We need a hero role player. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 3-10 shooting (1-5 from three, 8-11 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He pushed out the break and drew a foul on KG in the lane before going down hard into the cameras. He sank a wing three on a swing pass. He missed a layup and wanted the foul. He gave room to House and gave up a three, no reason to sag. He blew past his man off the dribble, hung trying to get contact and banked in the layup. He forced up an airball trying to draw a foul on a jumper. He missed a corner three. He and Allen drew double techs. Second Half: He got tied up off the dribble but wanted the foul on the reach. He won the jumpball, got a pass back, got body slammed on a jumper from the right side and banked it in, he made the FT. Next time down he swung a pass to Vlad for the open three and it forced a Celtic timeout. He drew FTs on a loose ball foul for our next score, he made both. He got hit on a jumper by Pierce to send him to the line for our next score, he made one FT. He missed a corner three. He then sat with 53 seconds left in the third. Back in, he missed a baseline jumper. He missed a three. He nearly swiped a pass, but stepped out of bounds. He scooped up a loose ball, attacked in transition and drew FTs, he made one with 3:07 left. He missed a three with a minute left. He was fouled with 24 seconds left on an in-bounds, we led by 4 points, he made just one FT. Walking back to the bench, he and Kobe had a friendly stare, one of those ones between two guys who have been in a lot of battles and you know that you should have knocked those down. Kobe would miss one of his a few seconds later. Up by 3 with 9 seconds left, he was fouled after a scramble, he made both. He then stole the in-bounds pass when Rondo tried not to pick it up. Game over.

Radmanovic -- -- Good first stint from Vlad, but to start the third he was into Space Cadet mode. Several careless possessions. Despite all that, he actually led the Lakers with a +20. To me, this is more of an issue of how poorly our back-up SF spot did. Pierce had 28 of his 38 points in the second and fourth quarters. He's the engine for their second units and Vlad didn't have to face that. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Pau. He hit the top of the backboard on a corner three. He missed an 18-footer. Nice crash on the defensive boards to track down a rebound between Celtics. He scored a layup off the jump pass from Kobe in transition. Back in and he draws a quick technical after a make. Second Half: He started the second half with a turnover on a pass from Fish. He had a board taken away from him, not securing it and it led to a three. He swished a three on a swing pass from Fish. He swiped a kickout pass, sitting on his man instead of sagging. Pierce stepped around him out of a timeout for a layup. He tried to push up a break and telegraphed a pass that was swiped (should have at least tried to make a bounce pass on it).

Luke -- -- If you look at the failings of the second unit with Mihm out there, a lot of it had to do with our defense on Pierce. Or the lack of it, that is, from guys like Luke. He didn't have a clue out there in his first stint. We ended up sending Pierce to the line again and again and the Celtics got into the bonus early. Rather than tweak the center spot, you've got to look at this one. Luke has defended him much, much better in the regular season. This was like he was playing him for the first time. You can't be looking that lost in the Finals. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 assists and 5 fouls in just 10 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three. He fouled Pierce on a drive for FTs. Next time down, he gave up more FTs on the perimeter, bad D. Second Half: We had a 6-point lead when he entered for Kobe with a minute left in the third. Pierce attacked him on the first play of the fourth to go to the line. He hit Lamar for a three in early offense. He hit a pull-up jumper on the break. He was called for his fourth foul going for a soft pass. He gave up FTs overplaying at midcourt. "I'm just trying to figure out what these guys defensively are thinking about," Van Gundy says after this one. Luke sat for Lamar.

Turiaf -- -- Phil was looking for some improvement from our bigs and went to Mihm for a brief stretch. Perhaps the next game he'll go with some Mbenga? Hard to say. I think Ronny's lack of ability to put anything on the stat sheet has Phil concerned. Our second-unit minutes will be entirely different next year with the ability to run Pau or Bynum on there for stretches, but Phil's going to be searching to get something, anything, for the Lakers in the meantime. They should really look to script a few plays for that unit instead of Triangle read and reacts. With Mihm out there, we went to some high screen-rolls for Farmar. We'll probably see some more of that while trying to deny Pierce the lane on the other end. The Stats: He played 1 minute and had a turnover and foul on one play. The Action: He was called for a charge off the two-man game with Kobe (Posey was late, poor call). Second Half: No action.

Farmar -- -- Phil went with him down the stretch of this game with Sasha misfiring. "We thought Jordan could attack with his speed and quickness," Phil said. He ran Fish in the backcourt with him as a shooter. Farmar played well, scoring a number of layups by working off the screens in the half court sets and getting to the rim. More please. I think Phil wanted to see our transition game flourish a bit more with Farmar out there. Hopefully, that happens in the next one. He's been playing well all series and got the extended run tonight. Defensively, he had a few issues with Cassell and also needs to make some better reads on help D. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, no turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He blew past House with ease and scored a layup. He attacked off the high screen from Mihm and scored a layup down the middle of the paint. He attacked off the Mihm screen again and kicked out to Sasha for a jumper. A three rattled in and out. He and Sasha exchanged words after we gave up a dunk on an in-bounds pass. He airballed a three by a couple of feet, wow. Next trip down he drains the wing three off the Kobe kickout. He missed a sideline three. He had 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three) in the first half. Second Half: He attacked off the high screen and scored a layup. He didn't settle for the three, attacked the paint and scored a layup over KG. Cassell posted him up for a score. He got tapped on a layup. On the other end, Cassell pumpfaked him, then lowered his shoulder to draw a foul on an And-1 (those are sometimes called an offensive foul when you do it that way). Van Gundy got on Farmar for not taking a charge when Pierce attacked the lane (only 5 charges all year). He gave up a wide open look to House, who luckily rushed the three and missed.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was cold from the perimeter and Phil gave him the hook. Sasha can be streaky and it wasn't the good kind tonight. "Sasha didn't have a real good game going, so I put Fish in as a partner (with Farmar)," Phil said. To win in Boston, we've got to have our second unit manufacture some offense. Sasha's got to bring it. On a side note, I'm surprised we haven't seen him a little against Eddie House since he defended him well when he played against the Suns. If he has his jumper going and Farmar and Fish do not, maybe we will see it. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He swiped the ball on a blindside and took it the distance for a two-hand dunk (first jam of the season?). He drained a long wing jumper off the Farmar kickout. He missed a wing catch-and-shoot off the screens. Great hustle to keep an offensive board alive. He missed another wing jumper. Second Half: He came back in midway through the third for Vlad. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a three. He missed an open corner three, then fouled Posey for no reason. He missed a jumper, got it back and was dumped to the floor as the refs called a jumpball with Cassell...Sasha was ticked, Staples was ticked, he won the jumpball, then got completely tapped on a three. He let Cassell drive for a layup.

Ariza -- -- Hardly any action for Ariza in this one. He fouled Pierce on the perimeter on one defensive stand, then got the hook. The Stats: He didn't score and had 1 foul in 1 minutes. The Action: He fouled Pierce overplaying on the perimeter. Second Half: Did not play.

Mihm -- -- He started the second quarter in Ronny's spot at the C. "Pierce went right by our defenders and put him in jeopardy," Phil said. He hinted we probably won't see that again. Mihm doesn't anchor as well as Ronny or Mbenga, so that penetration didn't bode well.The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, he had 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 3 minutes. The Action: He gave up an And-1 to Pierce who got dribble penetration. He airballed a jumphook, then fouled. He threw an in-bounds pass away when Farmar went one direction and he threw it another. Second Half: Did not play.

Phil -- -- Both coaches stressed taking it one possession at a time prior to the game. They both seemed to do a good job of that, but the turnover numbers were high (18 for the Celts, 17 for the Lakers)...
With Perkins out, the Celtics put Powe in. We stormed out of the gates. They started Brown in the second half... The Lakers jumped out to an 18-5 start midway through the first before a timeout came. Kobe hitting from three, Pau doing some damage in the paint... We led 31-15 by the next Celtic timeout late in the first quarter... The Lakers led 39-22 after the first quarter, hitting 65 percent of their shots... We started the second with Mihm, Lamar, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup... Pierce was just attacking relentlessly against Luke and manufacturing points every time down. Phil finally subbed him out for Ariza briefly. Pierce scored 11 of the Celtics last 13 points... The Celtics cut it to 11 off our second unit which was clueless and also let the Celtics get into the bonus just 2 minutes into the quarter. Disaster on both ends... We brought back in the starters with Sasha instead of Vlad. The offense remained stagnant and the Celtics grabbed some momentum with a 17-4 first half of the second quarter to cut the Laker lead to just 4 points... We then ran a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Fisher, Farmar lineup... The Lakers got outscored 30-16 in the second quarter. The Lakers led just 55-52, shooting 50 percent in the first half. Pierce had 21 points on 7-12 shooting in the first half. Vlad, Luke, Ariza and Kobe all were put on him defensively... The Lakers would have to compete in the third quarter for the first time this series to not trail heading into the fourth... Phil called timeout when Pierce attacked for a layup midway through the third. we had a 65-64 lead... After Fish hit an And-1 and Vlad hit a corner three the Celtics called timeout. We led 71-64. The Celts went to Posey at PF again... The Lakers won the third quarter (24-18) for the first time in the series to lead 79-70. Some big points by DFish in that quarter... Phil kept Luke on Pierce again after getting chewed up in the first half. This was a huge reason for the Celtics success in coming back in that half... Phil went to the starters with Farmar at the 6:22 mark. Again, we had the Lamar vs. Posey match-up that the Celtics killed us on in the last game. With the offense stagnating, this should be a Lakers point of attack to get the D to collapse... The Celtics tied the game 90-90 after trailing by double digits in the quarter. The Celtics were milking the Pierce/KG two-man game against Kobe and Gasol... Getting KG and Pierce's fifth fouls with 3:31 left in the game, Phil then called a timeout to set up a play. The Celts switched Allen onto Kobe, we hit Lamar in the paint off a drive for FTs... With 26 seconds left, we grabbed a rebound and had it knocked out of bounds. We had just 4 seconds to get the ball across midcourt, so Phil called a timeout and advanced it... The Lakers shot a poor 8-27 from three in this game. Both teams got to the line 31 times. Hopefully, we can get our share of freethrows in Boston... "I wish we could do this on Thursday," Doc said of the quick turnaround for game six in Boston...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A good sign in this game were the number of Laker runs. The Celtics had two big ones to reel us back in, but we had a number of them throughout the game. Sam Cassell was a +23 and James Posey a +9. Vlad led the Lakers with a +20. Basically, our second unit had serious issues, and we still had issues with Posey out there on the floor.

[Tony Almeida]

First!

Edit:

Great recap as always DB.

I'll never really understand Phil and his coaching methods, but I think it's hard to argue against someone as successful as him. That being said, I'm still trying to figure out that 2nd quarter lineup along with insisting on giving Luke minutes and having him D up on Pierce. It just seems so unnecessary and counter-productive.

Hopefully Ariza can get more minutes in Boston. If we keep playing the same guys on Pierce, along with playing similar P n R, I'd rather not try and think how many free throws he'll get back home after he just got 19 at Staples.

[XTN]

Thx DancingBarry, great read as always.

[manofpeace]

IMO Phil did not deserve any happy faces.
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"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed."

-MJ

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

for the win

phil jackson almost sabotaged another game though
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB

The bench mob is gonna have to make a better collective effort out there.

I hope we can push this series to 7.

GO LAKERS!
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*sighs*

!...

[Vadorojo]

Glad to pull out the W. Thanks for your recap, DB!

I'm particularly proud of Farmar and Gasol tonight. Farmar really took it to the Celtics defense, penetrating with determination and getting some great layups. Gasol, on the other hand, showed some of his own skills attacking the basket off the dribble, something which he had hardly done all series long, and he was rewarded with good buckets and KG foul trouble. Props to our Lakers!

Quick question, DB: Why do you think Phil went with Mihm instead of Ronny? I see the question-mark face next to the waving banana ... perhaps you're as perplexed as I was? (On a side note: I seriously wondered if Phil was putting him in there to lay a Mchale-clothesline on Pierce ... come on ... you know you were wondering it too!)
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"I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest

[DancingBarry]

[ReaListik]

The bench players need to step it up in a big way for game 6. Kobe is due for an all-around solid performance, and Gasol/Odom need to keep the confidence growing with their inside presence.

Gasol looked a lot more decisive tonight with little hesitation. That's going to need to continue against a pissed off Perkins.

[DancingBarry]

[SpicyTempura]

I hope the crowd over at Boston doesn't get to the Lakers in game 6.

They still haven't won a game in Boston.
I hope the same intensity they had getting those large leads can convert to points over there, and I hope the refs will be fair.

[Sister Golden Hair]

I'm actiually glad that JVG is caling out the lakers on D. he's basically saying that the lakers have no clue out there as to who they are actually playing because they keep making the wrong plays. It's almsot as if ... they don't practice defense.

In the fourth the lakers struggled to het shots while Pierce seems to waltz into the lane.

Many of my frustrations about PJ's laissez faire defensive tactics (especially against the PnR) were voiced by JVG.

PJ's rotations were also horrid. I just don't seee the value of Luke for any real minutes out there. And even a struggling Ronny gives you more than a hobbled mihm. And why so reluctant to give Ariza serious minutes?

Finally, to me Boston just looks ragged. And I think the small things the refs let them get away with (illegal picks; bear-hugging opponents on the boards; stripping the ball with lots of contact) adds up to a huge advantage over the course of a game and certainly over the course of a series mainly in the form of keeping them out of foul trouble while penalizing the opponents who don't get such leeway.

I thought the refs were pretty attrocious tonight, and the numbers don't really give an accurate indication of the preferential treatment.

SGH

[8750]

thanks, DB
it's a win, but i see more shadows than lights, especially regarding our coaching... i don't understand why:
-we always let them shooters wide open, especially in clutch...
-we didn't play especially in fourth quarter high screens and p&r for kobe...
-we tried only for few plays to put lamar on pierce...

[DancingBarry]

Nice post, SGH. Phil is always reluctant to give players minutes if he doesn't develop that trust with them. Back to the end of the season, I was wishing Ariza could have got in several games not so much for him...but so Phil could get that trust going.

I know Luke has played Pierce much better in the past, but he's getting so clearly outmatched out there you just can't stick with that. We got lit up badly at the SF spot. I'm glad JVG called it out, too. For both our coaching staff and for Luke, who was playing some clueless ball.

[Tony Almeida]

[Bas]

[srekal2]

[Sister Golden Hair]

DancingBarry,

This series Luke has been a momentum killer for the lakers and a momentum bringer for the celts. He's just overmatched and has that deer-in-the-headlights look and feel to his game.

He's too slow and has almost no lateral quickness/movement on D. I can't put it any plainer. If Phil keeps playing him, sooner or later Boston will crack the game open.

And if Phil tries any more rotation surprises like Mihm tonight, I have to seriously question what the hell he thinks he's doing out there. This is not game 60 of the regular season.

What worries me most about game 6 is that they really have no time for practice, but their D needs a LOT of practice. If they play the PnR in Boston like they did tonight, with Boston's home cookimg, Boston wins going away.

Likewise, PJ has to figure out a way to get Kobe easier shots. Pierce doesn't have to struggle against the lakers D; But Kobe is having to go against five celtics. Why PJ is so stubborn and refuses to try a few wrinkles to get your scorer to the rack or free him for uncontested looks is starting to look a bit nutty. i PJ thinks PnR is the way to go, then he has to MAKE Kobe do it. But it just feels like PJ has used up all his bullets. Either the cupboard if bare, or PJ is being dogmatic about what has worked in the past that clearly is not working now.

I hope that he at least has a plan to spring some stuff in Boston late in the series that could catch Boston off guard.

But I have been horribly disappointed by PJ's coaching. He almost gives off a vibe like he doesn't partiicularly care what happens. I've found him strangely detached in general, and confused at other times, and I wonder what's going on behind the scenes.

SGH

SGH

[Siguy]

Glad we won. Glad you got to write one more smiley face Thoughts and Ratings.

I felt it was likely we'd win tonight and lose in Game Six. Again they looked better than us except for in the first quarter. They just look like the better team, though we were a few bad calls and some missed shots from being up 3-2 or even 4-1 in this series.

Winning two finals games is important for a young squad. Going down 4-1 would've been too depressing, especially with the after taste of Game Four. Now we have a shot to steal one in Boston and then put them back on their heels for a game seven. Do I think it's gonna happen? Nah. But hey, we could get blown out in game six, or we could win by five. Anything's possible.

[Arizona]

The refs let them play. bad calls/missed calls on both sides. That's all you can ask. Hopefully they call it as evenly in beantown.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[Sister Golden Hair]

[DancingBarry]

[LakerzFanz]

[Drifts]

PJ has been scouted well...that's why Doc makes the right adjustments and Phil is left dumbfounded when he has to counter back.

a more plausible explanation is that our 2nd unit has been subdued. Sasha 1-9 and 2-10 the last 2 games makes it hard for us, he is the player we rely most coming off the bench
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"Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

[gotsport]

Phil countered well with a lineup of Farmar, Fisher, Kobe, Odom and Gasol.
Sasha is due for a breakout in Game 6.