Reasons Why Celtics Lost to Lakers on Christmas

[Jammer]

1. Turnovers Boston 17 versus LA 11. Of the Celtics 17 turnovers (5 by PP),
8 to 10 were simply bad passes that shouldn't have been thrown where they were.

2. Three Point Shooting. Celtics 5-22 (22%) versus 8-20 (40%) for Lakers.
Ray and Eddie (combined 3-14 from 3) were off.
Even though KG was on fire, and PP was on, they need at least one of
Ray or Eddie to be shooting well from 3.
Actually, the Celtics had 5 made baskets whistled off
due to personal fouls before the shot, 3 by Ray, I believe.

3. Personal Fouls Boston 24 to Lakers 18. Celtics, who drive a lot,
depend on a tightly called game to get to the line.

I'm sure other posters will come up with other reasons.

That offensive foul on Rondo when Kobe raked Rondo in the face
was hideous, but it wasn't the worst call.

[chakdaddy]

The 40 or so offensive fouls Derek whatshisname called...

Anyway, at least the refs were pretty even when it counted back in June. But this was pretty pathetic.

[shobe_81]

That Rondo call was pretty bad but he did hook Odom. It's like a call which doesn't get called very often kinda like KG's illegal screens.

Anyways, this wasn't the Celtics, too many unforced turnovers.

Personal Fouls Boston had 6 more than Lakers and the free-throw advantage 15 to 8 Lakers. That isn't that big of a difference.

Lets start hearing the officiating complains:

[shobe_81]

The 40 or so offensive fouls Derek whatshisname called...

Anyway, at least the refs were pretty even when it counted back in June. But this was pretty pathetic.

Take off the homer goggles

Game 2 of the Finals:

Boston 21 Personal fouls to Lakers 28

Boston 38 Free-Throws to Lakers 10

Yea pretty even

[SuigintouEV]

How about the playmaking. Way too much Tony Allen handling the ball. Way too little Kevin Garnett posting up. Rondo got pretty exposed today, despite the 12 assists. But the main thing is the BENCH. Tony Allen sucks. Celtics bench bigs sucked. House didn't get any rhythm threes.

This is my first time watching the celtics this season to be honest but i wasn't all that impressed. scoring 83 points is just bad against ANY defense when you have this many great players.

[Dirty Water]

The 40 or so offensive fouls Derek whatshisname called...

Anyway, at least the refs were pretty even when it counted back in June. But this was pretty pathetic.

Take off the homer goggles

Game 2 of the Finals:

Boston 21 Personal fouls to Lakers 28

Boston 38 Free-Throws to Lakers 10

Yea pretty even

When your offense goes through the paint, you get fouls. Boston has most of an inside physical presence than Lakers, hence disparity of free throws

[shobe_81]

Exactly but just pointing out to his post.

The Lakers attacked the basket a lot, yes Celtics had more Points in Paint but KG was shooting jumpers, I don't remember KG hooks/dunks besides the Lobs. And Rondo attacked but he would pass the ball off rather than attempt the shot.

Primarily the bench was the problem, Powe didn't attack like he usually does, it was Tony going 1 on 1 often.

I think Home Court will be a huge advantage because the bench players tend to play very well at home.

And give some credit to Lakers defense, they held the celtics to 46% and were also held to 46% by the Celtics. They played the grind it out Celtics style and won.

[Jammer]

I also thought that Eddie House, Tony Allen,
Paul Pierce and Rondo made almost no effort to
get Ray Allen open looks.

Now, I noticed Rondo and Ray got in a tiff,
and Paul separated them by pushing Ray to where he should be as
the ball was being inbounded.

But to not pass the ball to a guy who was on early
(Ray may have lost his legs late in the game),
well, that was poor execution,
bad play by PP, Rondo, Eddie and Tony,
and part of the reason that the Celtics lost.

[return2glory]

The reason we lost:

WE ONLY SOCRED 2 POINTS IN THE FINAL 3:56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The was no P.J. Brown or Posey to bail us out with big shots. This curent team will not be able to advanve against the Cavs. We need to need better players to our bench. Rondo and Perkins were non factors offensively down the stretch.

[Jammer]

It's too bad that OKC has 15 guys on their roster.

Because to get Joe Smith, the Celtics would have to
cough up Scal + one of (Davis, Pruitt, Giddens, O'Bryant or Cassell)
Walker doesn't work in a 2 for 1, although with Cassell, Walker does,
if Cassell is waived by OKC.

I think that Giddens has the potential to be a real player,
so I wouldn't want to deal him.

Due to Walker's age of 21, I'm hesistant to deal him,
since he could turn out to be a player also.

Which means it's Pruitt.

So, it's
Scal + Pruitt

since OKC has enough bigs that O'Bryant would be of no interest to them.

I think the Celtics might want to do
Scal + Pruitt for Joe Smith even if they sign Mutombo.

They can then re-sign Joe Smith for next season,
since Mutombo will likely be done.

Hopefully OKC makes a 2 or 3 for 1 before the trade deadline
so the Celtics can possibly have a crack at Joe Smith.

[Jammer]

The reason we lost:

WE ONLY SOCRED 2 POINTS IN THE FINAL 3:56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The was no P.J. Brown or Posey to bail us out with big shots. This curent team will not be able to advanve against the Cavs. We need to need better players to our bench. Rondo and Perkins were non factors offensively down the stretch.

I guess I didn't make my view clear in the intial post.

The Celtics didn't lose the Laker game in the last 4 minutes.

The Celtics lost the game in the first 44 minutes,
by not taking control of a game that they could have.

Too many stupid turnovers ( 17 ),
poor 3 point shooting (5-22),
not getting Ray Allen open looks when he was on early (turnovers affected that),
a hissy fit between Rondo/Ray and then Pierce/Ray
where Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony stopped passing Ray the ball
when he was wide open,
only giving him the ball late on the clock or when he was harassed/rushed.

Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony mismanaged Ray in my book,
and I think someone has to show them the plays on the monitor
where they didn't get him the ball when he was wide open
before the last 4 minutes.

And having 6 more fouls called,
with a bunch of no calls against the Lakers,
and another bunch of phantom fouls on Celtics,
certainly didn't help.

[Ortho Stice]

That "game" was weird. It was like a four hour long commercial with random minute long bursts of basketball spliced in once in a while. I ended up watching a full movie during the commercials. As for the game: you have to lose once in a while. I think the Lakers felt like they needed to win this game after what happened to them in the finals, and luckily for them the first trip around was in their home court. I'm sure the Celtics aren't happy they lost on Christmas, yet at the same time they should still be confident that they can beat them in a seven game series, again.

[MaxwellSmart]

Lakers "Game of the Year"---just another game for us.....on to the rest of the season...please Danny, we need another Big guy...Big Baby and Powe are too short.

[Chubby Chaser]

The reason why you guys lost is because we are a completely different team than we were last year. I mean you guys did beat us last year during the Finals. There's no denying that. But now that we're finally back healthy it's a different story with Bynum in the middle as was evident today. Now Pau is back at the PF position and KG has to guard him away from the basket. Which is HUGE. KG won't have the luxury of guarding Pau as a 5 underneath the basket in the paint. Now that he's farther away from the basket he isn't going to be able to be as an effective help defender. Which was evident in the final minutes of that game when Kobe drove and KG left Pau open to help and Pau Gasol just made you guys PAY all day. This is where we were so crippled last year when we weren't healthy and we had Lamar and Pau inside as opposed to Pau and Bynum. We dont' give up those cute layups you guys were getting last year because Andrew's in the paint blocking shots and changing shots. We were definitely the tougher team today too on the court, so cut all that nonsense of Lakers being soft. Because when healthy, we're one ofthe toughest teams in the league.

Sasha really pestered Ray Allen and made him really uncomfortable out their today. He chased him off all those screens and got under his skin.

Good game today though. You guys did make it tough and competitive.

[return2glory]

The reason we lost:

WE ONLY SOCRED 2 POINTS IN THE FINAL 3:56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The was no P.J. Brown or Posey to bail us out with big shots. This curent team will not be able to advanve against the Cavs. We need to need better players to our bench. Rondo and Perkins were non factors offensively down the stretch.

I guess I didn't make my view clear in the intial post.

The Celtics didn't lose the Laker game in the last 4 minutes.

The Celtics lost the game in the first 44 minutes,
by not taking control of a game that they could have.

Too many stupid turnovers ( 22 ),
poor 3 point shooting (5-22),
not getting Ray Allen open looks when he was on early (turnovers affected that),
a hissy fit between Rondo/Ray and then Pierce/Ray
where Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony stopped passing Ray the ball
when he was wide open,
only giving him the ball late on the clock or when he was harassed/rushed.

Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony mismanaged Ray in my book,
and I think someone has to show them the plays on the monitor
where they didn't get him the ball when he was wide open
before the last 4 minutes.

And having 6 more fouls called,
with a bunch of no calls against the Lakers,
and another bunch of phantom fouls on Celtics,
certainly didn't help.

Our bench was bad like most games. We had a 24-23 lead at the end of the 1st. Then the starters went our, we were down 37-29 in 5 minutes. Either way you look at it, not having Posey and P.J. hurt us.

As far as the last 4 minutes, we lost the game here as well. We were up 81-79 and got outsocred 13-2 in the final 3:56. Two points in the last 4 minutes is pathetic.

[Ortho Stice]

Lakers fans can rub this loss in our faces as much as they want, considering it means little to us. Get four wins over us, in the playoffs, then I'll have something to be upset about.

[TommyTheCat]

Lakers "Game of the Year"---just another game for us.....on to the rest of the season...please Danny, we need another Big guy...Big Baby and Powe are too short.

that's not too far off of the truth. although i doubt that 'it's just another game' for the C's, especially with a long winning streak like that and going against the team they beat in finals. the lakers actually played with intensity for an entire game which is rare unlike the C's who do it on a regular basis. definitely the lakers are better this year with a healthy ariza and somewhat healthy bynum (still getting his legs and not the same as before the injury) and the C's bench needs more help. hopefully both teams will get a rematch in the finals.

[mr_sunshine]

That Rondo call was pretty bad but he did hook Odom. It's like a call which doesn't get called very often kinda like KG's illegal screens.

Anyways, this wasn't the Celtics, too many unforced turnovers.

Personal Fouls Boston had 6 more than Lakers and the free-throw advantage 15 to 8 Lakers. That isn't that big of a difference.

Lets start hearing the officiating complains:

Because 6 of them were offensive fouls? DURKA DURKA! Fail logic is fail?

[ParticleMan]

yawn, i'm so tired of hearing about posey and PJ. seriously, these guys were not allstars. they really weren't very good. statistically they were by far our worst rotation players. are we going to have to hear that crap after every loss?

our bench actually did OK. they were bad in the 1st half, but they made up ground in the 4th Q. the starters lost this game. we had an 81-79 lead, and they beat us down the stretch.

meh, ish happens. i wasn't that impressed with the lakers. they wouldn't beat us in a 7-game series.

[mr_sunshine]

The reason we lost:

WE ONLY SOCRED 2 POINTS IN THE FINAL 3:56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The was no P.J. Brown or Posey to bail us out with big shots. This curent team will not be able to advanve against the Cavs. We need to need better players to our bench. Rondo and Perkins were non factors offensively down the stretch.

I guess I didn't make my view clear in the intial post.

The Celtics didn't lose the Laker game in the last 4 minutes.

The Celtics lost the game in the first 44 minutes,
by not taking control of a game that they could have.

Too many stupid turnovers ( 22 ),
poor 3 point shooting (5-22),
not getting Ray Allen open looks when he was on early (turnovers affected that),
a hissy fit between Rondo/Ray and then Pierce/Ray
where Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony stopped passing Ray the ball
when he was wide open,
only giving him the ball late on the clock or when he was harassed/rushed.

Rondo, Pierce, Eddie and Tony mismanaged Ray in my book,
and I think someone has to show them the plays on the monitor
where they didn't get him the ball when he was wide open
before the last 4 minutes.

And having 6 more fouls called,
with a bunch of no calls against the Lakers,
and another bunch of phantom fouls on Celtics,
certainly didn't help.

Our bench was bad like most games. We had a 24-23 lead at the end of the 1st. Then the starters went our, we were down 37-29 in 5 minutes. Either way you look at it, not having Posey and P.J. hurt us.

As far as the last 4 minutes, we lost the game here as well. We were up 81-79 and got outsocred 12-2 in the final 3:56. Two points in the last 4 minutes is pathetic.

Good thing we'll end up with one of Deke, Zo, or Joe Smith most likely then eh? Powe + Deke or Zo would be awesome. BBD is a liability. I don't care what anyone else says! He had one good game last year, at Detroit, but almost anyone could have made those layups.