NBA Finals: Boston vs. LA Lakers - Series BOS leads (1-0)

[Curmudgeon]

The Celtics' defense on Kobe was no surprise. They had 7 games to practice on LeBron James, who is bigger, stronger and a better passer than Kobe.

I love watching Kobe take those turn-around, fall-away jumpers from 18-19 feet. It's poetry in motion. Too bad it's such a low percentage shot.

[JIMBATT34]

frosty must be smoking some irish spliffs if he thinks that ray allen's d is stopping kobe. the lakeshow is in great shape. they really played boston toe to toe gm1. considering poor shooting and turn-o's, no freethrows or rebounds in 2nd half and pierce's lazarus act they were right there in the waning moments. lakers have won a road game in every round unlike boston. they will win game 2. btw, pjack made a mistake in trying to cross match garnett/gasol. if odom is your pf let him gaurd his own man.
besides garnett won't ever shoot enuff to dominate an entire game anyway, he's too unselfish. if odom plays poorly thru remaining games and we lose, he is as good as gone. i never liked him anyway- too inconsistant to make 13 mill per. stop making kobe gaurd every damn body. let him shut shuttlesworth down! then there's only the big 2 to deal with.

[Curmudgeon]

The Celtics never rely on a single player to stop a premier scorer like LeBron or Kobe. Their defense is layered. If Kobe gets around one guy there will be another, and if he gets around the second guy, Garnett comes over from the weak side.

Of course that leaves shooters open. If Kobe passes the ball, guys like Radmanovich will get open looks. If he doesn't, Kobe will be shooting difficult shots all night.

[hermes]

The Celtics never rely on a single player to stop a premier scorer like LeBron or Kobe. Their defense is layered. If Kobe gets around one guy there will be another, and if he gets around the second guy, Garnett comes over from the weak side.

Of course that leaves shooters open. If Kobe passes the ball, guys like Radmanovich will get open looks. If he doesn't, Kobe will be shooting difficult shots all night.

the lakers need their shooters to make more open shots to spread the floor out more

[BRINGTHEPAIN]

This is a great rivalry on paper, but these Lakers just don't feel like real Lakers.

Today's Lakers don't show their emotion, they aren't confident and aren't experienced enough to 'let it go'. They don't play on passion and are rather robotic. And Kobe doesn't fully 'let it go' either, he appears scared of failure when the heat is on. Deep down he is still the same player that shot airballs in the playoffs as a rookie.

Boston are full of passion, and they take this matchup personally. Ray Allen won't let Bryant get the better of him. Paul Pierce bleeds green. Garnett wants a ring. There are a lot more specific motivations that drive Boston. The motivations aren't clear in LA, guys like Fisher and Bryant have had too much success to be hungrier than Boston. While the other Lakers are just not dominant personalities, not made for the big stage.

[Curmudgeon]

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the lakers need their shooters to make more open shots to spread the floor out more

Yes, but it's hard to make shots when you don't have the ball. Kobe will have to give it up instead of forcing his own shots.

[dsorc]

Key matchups:
Benches: Pretty much even
Bos-> 17pts 12rbs 2TO 7-20fg
LA-> 17pts 7rbs 1TO 5-15fg

PG: Slight edge to Lakers from steals
Rondo-> 15pts 5rbds 7ast 2TO 0stl
Fisher-> 15pts 4rbs 6ast 2TO 3stl

Critical Team stats: format is Bos v LA
FG%: 421 vs 416 => even
3pt%: 316 v 214=> slight adv Bos
Rbds: 46 v 33 => adv Bos
Assts: 20 v 21 => even
Fouls: 22 v 29
FT: 35 v 28

I think the teams matched up pretty evenly last night with the exception of rebounding. The two matchups that LA had to win in PG and bench play were pretty much even and that trend may change for the next game. Similarly Kobe should be expected to shoot better next game though the caveat is that this year he hasn't done so against Boston. I think the key for LA is Gasol becoming a true second option offensively. At least half his points were created by Kobe when they were exploiting the horrible Boston pick and roll defense in the first half. But Gasol needs to be able to generate his shot and from there shots for his roleplayers on the outside so that the Boston defense can't just pile on to Kobe.

Similarly the key for Boston in the offensive end seems to be balance. It seems that KG and Pierce get hot at opposite times at times but they also need Allen to share the scoring load. If Allen is finally out of slump and able to score double digits often they have a good shot.

On the defensive ends, LA needs to hit the boards hard to limit Boston to just one shot. They did well in terms of defense but these extra shots will come back to haunt you. Boston similarly will keep working on closing the point making LA into a jumpshooting team and hoping Kobe keeps taking those low percentage semi-contested fade aways.

[zen_4_10]

Good win for the Celts. As a Laker fan I feel really good about the series after seeing game 1. We could have easily stolen that game even playing as poorly as we did.

Boston is a very good defensive team and quick to the ball in rotations but so much of the Lakers troubles were self inflicted. Can't wait for game 2 where I think we steal home court advantage.

[snaquille oatmeal]

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No they played one of the best defensive teams of all-time. The Lakers are getting that 2004 Pistons defense. Kobe looked like he regressed this game. The Celtics are not the Spurs.

The Lakers lost because of Kobe and the Celtics defense. If they don't win game 2 the series is over.

Kobe regressed? he took about 5 shots the first half and most of his missed shots in the second half were open looks at the basket that he just simply missed. sure there a few plays he should have passed to the open man, but in general he didn't take shots with 3 defenders in his face, now that would have been regressing. I am getting tired of posts that judge the stats without context.

[Curmudgeon]

Good win for the Celts. As a Laker fan I feel really good about the series after seeing game 1. We could have easily stolen that game even playing as poorly as we did.

Well, the Celtics didn't play that well either. Perkins was a non-factor (except for helping to injure Pierce) and Garnett missed 8-9 straight shots in the 4th quarter. And Pierce did nothing in the first half.

[zen_4_10]

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Well, the Celtics didn't play that well either. Perkins was a non-factor (except for helping to injure Pierce) and Garnett missed 8-9 straight shots in the 4th quarter. And Pierce did nothing in the first half.

I know the Celtics can play better as well. I don't think anybody's too worried about Perkins but both teams were tight.

I'm still confident if the Lakers execute the way they are supposed to - they are the better team.

[Curmudgeon]

I don't think the Lakers are better at all. I think the teams are just about even, and it will come down to who wants it more--or perhaps it will come down to yet another blown call by the officials at a crucial moment that will leave the fans of one team screaming.

[Milan24]

As a Laker fan, I am not too worried either. That was a poor game by the Lakers and I fully expect them to play alot better in game 2.

[Frosty]

LA has a huge advantage. Coaching

[greenbeans]

LA has a huge advantage. Coaching

the key advantage: 1-0

[NO-KG-AI]

The pick and roll defense has been Boston's defensive strength, and in the first half they were getting worked. They figured it out at halftime... and La fell apart.

[Celtsfan1980]

I love how people are making it look like LA played a terrible game and Boston played a great game, like the Lakers should have confidence after this. The Celtics missed at least 5 wide open 3-pointers. I think all Celtic fans would acknowledge they're capable of playing much better than that. My only concerns are the injuries to Pierce and Perkins. Brown did a great job, so I'm more worried about Pierce's injury. Boston's offense is not the same when Pierce isn't attacking the basket, so I'm worried about that. Defense and rebounding tend to be a big key to winning Championships. Since Boston is superior in both, I have a lot of confidence in Boston winning this series.

[HarlemHeat37]

LOL @ the people saying LA is in great shape..you can't be in great shape if you're down in the series..

I'm gonna predict Kobe either has another poor performance next game, or explodes for something big..nothing in the middle..

[mr.ankle]

So what were the TV ratings from last night

[Triple M]

I have to say i applaud realgm this has to be the most the best forum for rational basketball talk unlike other boards. I do not know why but i feel like i just had to get that out there reading some other sites and you can see there is no comparison.