LAKERS -at- CELTICS - 6/17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry

A Day in June... Last summer, the Celtics made not one, but two blockbuster trades to put together a formidable team -- a team that was favored to be the next champions. All Laker fans could do was sit back and watch the Celtics gear up to make a run for the rings. What's worse, the Lakers, themselves, appeared to be going in an opposite direction, hell bent on implosion.

Who would stop the Celtics? They were now on the mountaintop. We were wandering the desert. No one would have predicted we would be here trying to stop them ourselves and playing for a championship on a day in June.

The present is painful, but the future is bright.

If you were going to win this series, you would have to win a game on the road. The Lakers couldn't do that. The wheels came off in the second quarter where the Lakers were out-scored 34-15. Unlike the last win, there was no big first-quarter lead to absorb the Celtic push. Too many turnovers and too few rebounds.

Offensively in the half court, we looked very similar in execution to our first game against the Celtics. There was no rhythm with our three impact players. We resorted to iso ball and hard shots. Meanwhile, the Celtics were scoring at will. The Celtics set a record for steals in a Finals game on their way to the 131-92 win. Perhaps the bottom line of the series will be good defense beats good offense.

It was a bitter loss after coming so far. For the Laker players and management, they need to use that this offseason to work on their weaknesses.

Kobe --

-- Kobe started off feeling it from downtown. The Celtics then looked to double him and our entire offense went south quickly. The rest of the game there was very little playmaking or picking apart of the D. The Celtics did an excellent job defending Kobe in the series. They make you not only pass once, but make the second pass to get an easy shot. You have to think as a team and we failed to do that in this one. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He drained a smooth corner jumper on his first attempt. He sank a three from the wing. He swished a three on the next trip down, a couple steps behind the line and obviously feeling it. He got completely tapped on a three looking for the And-1 that didn't come. He threw the ball away off a double team, should have found Pau. He drained another three after pumpfaking Allen, stepping to his left and just beating the shotclock. He missed a layup getting to the rim in transition. He missed a long three attempt. He missed a fade over Posey. He set up Lamar for FTs on a drive and dish. He made a tech FT (Doc didn't like Kobe's D on a screen). He missed a three. He made a tech FT. He didn't rotate and gave up a three. He missed an iso wing jumper out of a timeout. He lost the ball on the dribble and it led to a Celtic three. He hit a tech FT (another illegal D call). After 11 points in the first quarter, he finished the half with 14 points on 4-11 shooting (3-7 from three) and 3 turnovers. Second Half: He missed a pull-up jumper. He gave up an And-1 to Rondo in transition. He hit a wing jumper, just beating the shotclock. He missed a difficult fading jumper. He missed a 17-footer. He attacked in early offense, crossed over, went baseline and reversed. He got picked trying to cross over Rondo. He attacked off the screen, reversed directions and scored a layup. He attacked the lane on the next possession and earned FTs, he made both. He was swatted by Brown on a spin move. He missed a pull-up at the end of the third. He had 22 points on 7-19 shooting and no assists and 4 turnovers after three quarters. Back in, he missed a three. He attacked and fed Ariza for a dunk. He missed a three.

Gasol --

-- He had a turnover-prone first quarter. Credit some of the Celtic D, credit some bad decisions within the Tri. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He iso'd on Perkins and drew a foul on the first possession. He didn't wait for a defender to follow the cutter and lost the ball when blindsided. He missed a fade over Pierce. He hit Luke under the hoop for a layup. He blocked Rondo's penetration. He missed a baseline jumper. He hit a running hook over Davis in the post. He posted up Davis, drew a double team and a foul, he made both FTs to end a Celtic run. He iso'd on Davis and created again in the post for a jumphook. He missed a jumphook in the paint. KG had 17 points on 8-12 shooting, Gasol had 6 points on 2-5 shooting and 4 turnovers. Second Half: He dunked attacking the glass. He was fouled on a defensive board and drew FTs. He had the chair pulled out from him and lost the ball. He posted up and hit a jumphook with his left to cut it to 25 and got Van Gundy saying, "The Lakers are on a run." He had 11 points on 4-7 shooting, 5 turnovers and 8 boards after three quarters.

Lamar --

-- He didn't score a field goal until the fourth. He did a good job on the boards, but we missed his impact. A lot of his offensive activity took place in garbage time. When the Tri isn't clicking with Kobe and Pau, Lamar's game has clear issues. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He missed a heave at a jumper trying to beat the shotclock. He missed a runner in transition. He drew a foul on Perkins in the paint (Perkins second of the first quarter), he hit one FT. He was fouled on a drive and dish from Kobe, he made one FT. He attacked in transition off a rebound and drew FTs against Powe, he made both. Horrible outlet pass trying to get it to Kobe and the Celtics turned it around for a layup. He got tapped on a short jumper. He got blocked on a spin move. He had 4 points on 0-4 shooting and 7 boards in the half. Second Half: He attacked the paint from the right wing and drew a foul on Perkins, he made one. Perkins picked up his fourth 45 seconds into the third on the other end, pushing Lamar on the boards. He was stripped and it led to a three the other way. He tried to create off the dribble and threw it away for more points the other way. He had 5 points on 0-4 shooting, 3 turnovers and 9 boards after three quarters. He drew FTs in the paint on a good Laker passing sequence, he made one. He got blocked on a drive. He iso'd on KG, spun to his right and scored a layup, his first field goal with just under 8 minutes left. He got swatted on a drive again. He attacked and got swatted to the floor on a foul call and had words for KG. He dunked off a drive and dish from Luke. He attacked and drew more FTs.

Fisher --

-- Not even Fish could work some magic to give this team the poise and hoop IQ needed in Boston. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He drew a blocking foul on Pierce (looked like a charge, but he drew the shooting foul) and hit both FTs. He missed a challenged corner three. He picked up his third foul off the ball against House and had to sit midway through the second quarter. Second Half: He missed a good look at a wing three. He attacked from the corner, drew contact and muscled in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He hit a jumper, pulling up at the elbow.

Radmanovic --

-- Vlad-esque game. There's a world of difference between his role playing and a guy like Posey. The SF spot was a big difference in this series. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He fouled Allen in transition. He picked up his second defending Pierce midway through the first quarter and sat. He missed a three badly. He then fouled Pierce 30 feet from the hoop on an in-bounds to give up FTs, dumb foul. He was benched with his third foul. Second Half: He bricked a three badly. He swished a corner three after his man rushed by. He swished a wing three. He missed his next three.

Luke --

-- He finally picked this game to show up a little. Again, our SF spot let us down in this series. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He scored a layup when his man doubled Pau. He attacked baseline and took contact from Brown, he made both. He swiped a post entry to KG on the switch. He took a foul-to-give on Pierce with 1.8 left in the first, good foul. He bricked an open baseline jumper. Second Half: He hit Lamar for a dunk off a baseline drive. He rattled in a corner three. He was fouled from behind for FTs.

Turiaf --

-- Not much action for Ronny. More than the last game, but it didn't matter. Little impact. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: Great effort hustling for a board and he drew a loose ball foul on the Celts. Second Half: He hit a face-up wing jumper.

Farmar --

-- Good series from Farmar. Nice to see him step up in the Finals. When he doesn't have to face a strong guard, he can give you some good minutes. He'll need to work on his strength in the offseason and still learn how to take a charge. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: Careless turnover on the dribble and he lost it out of bounds. He got tapped on a mid-range pull-up. He got fouled off the dribble and got to the line, he made both FTs. He lost the handle on a drive, he stole the ball back on the other end, pushed out the break and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He was called for a flagrant foul on Rondo, disrupting his dunk attempt. He sank a three from the top of the key. He missed a wing three. He sank a wing three. He sank a three.

Vujacic --

-- Sasha had the nice 20-point game, but other than that...not a great series for him. His effort was always there. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: He drained a wing jumper after taking a couple dribbles in when his man rushed out. He missed an open look at a three in semi-transition. He attacked off the dribble and threw the ball away, not playing to his strengths. Second Half: He tracked down a FT miss and hit a wing three. He threw a jump pass away. He gave up a three by trying to shoot the gap threw several defenders. He swiped the ball from Allen on the next trip down. Same thing on D and another three for Allen. Van Gundy: "I am really tired of this defense now!" Sasha was sent to the bench shortly later. He hit a corner three.

Ariza --

-- He got in to start the fourth quarter. Wish we could have integrated him more into the playoff rotations with as badly as we suffered from the SF spot at times. The Stats: Will add them later. The Action: No action. Second Half: He was hammered in the paint after taking a pass from Ronny, he made one. He missed a three. He dunked off the Kobe drive and dish. He missed a hanging layup.

Phil --

-- "This is where we want to be. Right on this court," Phil said before the game. He told the team to not worry about the officiating or let it take them out of the game. It didn't matter as it seemed the team was never really in the game... The Lakers led 13-12 at the first timeout, 7 minutes into the game. The Celtics shot 3-14, but had 5 offensive boards... When Vlad picked up his second foul, Phil had Lamar on Pierce defensively when we would switch on pick and rolls to help Kobe... KG hit a couple shots and Phil called a timeout, trailing 20-18 with 2:40 left in the first... The Lakers trailed 24-20 after the first quarter. Pau had 4 of the team's 6 turnovers in that quarter. After making our first 4-8, we made 1 of our next 6... Kobe had 11 points in that quarter. "He's got to be our main force. Right now we're not functioning well as a team," Phil said of Kobe and the team after the first quarter... We started a Turiaf, Odom, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar line up at the beginning of the second quarter. We got the Celtics into the penalty early in the quarter. We followed shortly later... Finally an illegal D call when Pau posted up on iso to expose it (could have used those in game 1 and on)... The Celtics hit back-to-back threes to take a 9-point lead midway through the second quarter. The Celtics had 10 points on 8 Laker turnovers at this point... After getting poked in the eye earlier in the game, Allen finally returned to the bench at the 6 minute mark of the second quarter... After another turnover and a Celtic three, Phil called another timeout, trailing 43-29, an 11-0 Celtic run... Another illegal D call... The Celtics were scoring with ease in the second quarter while the Lakers struggled and turned the ball over, a 26-6 run for the Celtics... The Celtics led 58-35 at the half. The Lakers shot 8-27 in the first half, the Celtics 20-43. They out rebounded us 8-0 on the offensive glass, and had a 11-4 advantage in turnovers. They scored 19 points off turnovers while we scored 4 in that half. You can't survive those stats. They will kill you... Phil let them have it at halfime: "We're just giving it away. Don't give it away! Give yourselves a chance," he yelled... Perkins picked up three fouls in the first two minutes of the second half and had to sit with 5... We trailed by 31 just 6 minutes into the third... The Lakers never recovered from that second-quarter run. And got to watch dunks and threes the rest of the game on way to a 40+ point slaughter...

Mrs. DB and Kids --

-- From allowing me time to cover the team in the summer league and no arguments about a trip to Hawaii for preseason, my love and thanks to them. Every game, all season long, the Lakers are on and I am covering them for LG. I can use the DVR to pause the games and read a book to my kids before sending them to bed. But there is certainly a lot of "Dad Time" that they miss.

Tony Almeida · Retired Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 12072

First.

Sigh.

JUST-MING · Retired Number Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 44135

Thank you DB. You're the best.

KobeJaws · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks DB

Siguy · Star Player Joined: 19 Feb 2003 Posts: 2321

Very good use of the unhappy smiley faces.

A great season with a horrible, horrible ending. Thanks for all the recaps all year round.

Everybody should relax. We went to the finals. We shouldn't have. Us going to the finals was huge over-achieving. We went up against a tremendously good team and they just beat us. They were better. We had some chances to win this series, but they were just that, chances. The Celtics looked better in every single game.

Also, everyone blaming Kobe needs to cool down. Fine. He's not Jordan. I never thought he was Jordan. But he played great all year and brought us to the finals, including dominating performances in the western conference playoffs. If he's as bad as everyone is saying, why does it only show up against the greatest defensive team of the last ten years? Maybe, just maybe, it's because they're a truly great defensive team whose best defensive player played the same position as our second biggest offensive threat (Gasol) and Kobe couldn't magically carry the team.

We'll be back next year. And the year after. And the year after. And the year after that.

Also remember, we only had Gasol for half a season. Celtics had a full year together. We never faced real adversity with Gasol. Now we have. Next year we'll all be more comfortable and we'll be better.

Tony Almeida · Retired Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 12072

Thanks DB. Your write-ups are truly legendary, and I thank you for the time you dedicate and the wonderful analysis you provide. I genuinely appreciate all the hard work you put into the Thoughts and Ratings after each and every game. I don't think I ever logoff until you post your brilliant insight on the game I just watched, win or lose, no matter how tired I may be, and they are always more than worthwhile to stay up for. Your writing is always a work of art and seemingly always hit the nail on the head with each and every player and game summary. I was really hoping the Lakers could provide you three straight wins (minus the drama) after giving us some hope in Game 3, for a less stressful write-up, it just wasn't meant to be. Thank you once again for a wonderful season of writing. Major props. (Also big time props to Mrs. DB and kids who make it possible for the rest of us to enjoy and read your T & R.)

DB for MVP!

mhan00 · Retired Number Joined: 13 Apr 2001 Posts: 32076

you're the man db.

running-the-point · Starting Rotation Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Posts: 762

Thank you again for your dedication. We don't take it for granted.

IPK · Star Player Joined: 19 Feb 2008 Posts: 6859

TooCool · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject:

Thank you DB for your effort.

Thumbs up for you for everything you did all year long.

Middle Finger for the Lakers for quitting during the 2nd quarter.
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No. 17 · Star Player Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 7040 Location: L.A

We will be back big time next year, you will see.
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It's winnin' time!

MedRomLaker · Star Player Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 8817

Wow that was fast db, man that was a hard one to take, I had a bad feeling after we lost one at staples, *sigh* oh well, next year we'll have a great squad and payback will be a B!

I want to thank you DB for a great year of game recaps, have to totally agree with Tony Almeida thank you for a great year of recaps.

Thank you DB, sincerely MRL

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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

City_Dawg · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject:

Thanks so much this season DB.

Im so hurt right now, another disappointment filled summer. I really dont even wanna go on further in posting.

Its bad enough to squander a 24 point lead. But to lose by 40, in the Finals to the CELTICS...

...Im gonna be sick....
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*sighs*

!...

XxBaDGuYxX · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:15 pm Post subject:

Thanks a lot DB for your keen insight all year and your exceptional post game right ups. Look forward to having the privilege of reading your work next year as well.

On a side note.. enjoy your summer guys... at least its gonna be shorter than most now that we're in June.
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What I'm doing right now, I'm chasing perfection.

- Kobe Bryant

Aces25 · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject:

Thanks DB for the great season long recap.

Mike C · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all your work from October to June. Outstanding season!

jd2k · LG Multimedia Team Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 973

Thanks DB. There's not ONE single play worth putting in a highlight for today. These Celtics are truly the better team but I didn't expect the Lakers to just roll over and die like this. I am still proud of this team and we'll definitely come back stronger next season.

I lost a damn bet now I have to do highlights for Celtics. Grrrrrr

bupby2 · Starting Rotation Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 406

Thanks DB for putting in the effort all season!!

LakerSanity · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject:

kups · Star Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 1716

DB, thank you for a season of reading your excellent recaps. i'll miss them over the course of this long off-season.

although i'm disappointed w/ how the season ended, i'm excited how this young group will fare over the next few years. the better prepared & more seasoned team won, & i just don't get why a number of scribes favored us to win this series. they probably saw the team chemistry kicking up a notch. this young team is very close to winning it all, a few tweaks in the line-up to balance it & experience for the youngsters plus a little bit of luck and we'll get it.. this team is too good not to. after getting this close, i have faith in our FO to do what it takes to get to the top.

now, we could start healing & dealing again. best of luck to all lakers fans next season. we're almost there.

"you can't chop a big tree w/ 1 big chop, it takes many small chops."
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#2 Lonzo
#28 Derrick White, Jordan Bell, Deonte Burton

smoothazsilk · Starting Rotation Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 826

Klone_dd · Star Player Joined: 11 Mar 2002 Posts: 7330

At the start of the season, I never expected the team to be where they ended up. I didn't expect them to win tonight, but I also didn't expect them to play so horribly. Still, you gotta take this as another learning experience. The team's youth, the promise of Bynum, the maturity of Kobe are all positive signs for the future. That doesn't mean the path isn't going to be without some lumps. The Lakers will return.

Thanks, DB, for all your great work during the season. Much like Chickie baby, you present the team's assets and its flaws in a fair manner while maintaining some needed homerism. Have a good summer, dude.

kobester · Star Player Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 1247

Thanks DB, you are my favorite poster here.

TheLakerFeeling · Starting Rotation Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 196

Thank you DB! You're work is much appreciated!

--
GO LAKERS!!

Mation · Star Player Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 3614

Thanks DB for all your excellent thoughts and ratings!

Completely agree with Tony Almeida's post!

Until next season. I'll be looking forward to it.