Well, this game is the proverbial stick in the spoke of that bicycle. The first half was atrocious, and the Lakers were hitting everything. Even when we had a mini-run, Farmar hits a running 3 at the end of the half to basically squash all fans' hopes.
I don't know what he said at halftime, but it worked. He switched Pierce onto Kobe, and let him get physical. He went small when it was apparent PJ could not run with Odom, and it worked. He picked Eddie House over Sam Cassell, and it worked. He got Ray involved around picks and moved Garnett to the low block, and those both worked.
I honestly have not seen a coach get his players to believe in themselves and the team the way Doc can do. He did it in Orlando with a putrid team, he did it last year with a putrid team, and now with great players he continues to do it. With a league reputation for fickle superstars, Doc has made this trio and supporting cast WORK TOGETHER- UBUNTU. I think this is one of the key differences (along with D, which goes hand-in-hand with teamwork) between LA and Boston. I just get the feeling LA takes the metaphorical '12 cabs for 12 players', and our Celtics are incredibly tightknit- heck, Cassell freaking LIVES with KG! That is a credit to Doc and all the players, who barely knew each other for the most part going into this year and even midway through (PJ and Sam).
Most importantly, Doc got these players to compete with the kind of passion that a champion plays with. I'm not saying we have the rings in the bag, far from it, but that second half performance reminded me of a championship team. That was, without doubt, the best half of basketball this team has played all year, and Doc deserves a great deal of credit for going with a lineup that barely ever played together, if at all (House-RA-Pierce-Posey-KG). They D'ed up, they scored, and they won the turnover and hustle battles.
Doc might not be the Coach of the Year, but he is certainly growing just like this team. Like his players, he started slowly, but has found his way in the Finals, and IMO, other than a few moments (ie- end of Game 3), he has thoroughly outcoached Phil Jackson.
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