Thursday, June 12, 2008

NBA Finals, Game 4

Absolutely the worst NBA Finals game I have ever seen played – by the Celtics in the first half, and by the Lakers in the second. The first half was the Laker blowout I expected in Game 3, and the second half was a ridiculous implosion by the mental-midget Lakers.

Props to the Paul Pierce, Doc Rivers, and the Celtics. Pierce played some of the best defense ever on Kobe Bryant, Doc Rivers made some great calls (moving to a small lineup, putting Pierce on Bryant, going with Eddie House, force-feeding the ball to Garnett), and the Celtics played brilliantly. Pierce has really moved up on my respect-o-meter. I used to think he was a soft gunslinger who didn’t know how to win. I’m almost ready to call him a stud after his effort in Game 4. Consistency will be his key.

F*ck the Lakers. Absolutely the worst possessions at the end of the game by the Lakers – Ray Allen drives on Sasha Vujacic for an easy layup, and then the debacle of a final offensive possession. And how do they let it get to a few possessions? You’re up TWENTY-FOUR and you can’t pull it out? At least Lamar Odom showed up for one half (that was nice), and Pau Gasol had a nice overall game, but he needs to be an absolute force on either the offense or defensive ends. He can’t be both and this missing layups thing while missing help assignments is ridiculous. He merely plays okay on both ends.

The question now is where the hell are Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant? Phil hasn’t shown the genius moves he’s capable of, and Kobe is schizo. Jackson’s acquiesced to the players and moved away from the defense- and team-first attitudes he was known for while creating a pretty good offensive team, but the Lakers just aren’t mentally tough enough.

Kobe can’t decide how to play – he can’t score while playing the facilitator, and if he doesn’t play the facilitator, he gets too focused on scoring. I don’t know exactly where the balance lies for him, but he needed to come out like he did in Game 3. I think he’s got to score between 35-40 points for the Lakers to win. Wonder how he’s going to feel if the Lakers lose the series. He’s the one who wanted to shoulder the burden. He’s the one who wanted to win alone. He complained about not having pieces, they got him pieces, and now it’s not happening.

Argh. Aggrivating. Oh, well… like my dad says, you don’t get a dollar if they win.

1 comment:

a mindless zombie said...

"You don't get a doller if they win, but you get white hairs, ulcers, and headaches if they lose."

Keep the faith! Go Lakers.