After taking a full day to digest Thursday night’s results, and revisiting the final quarter and overtime of the game, I have to respectively disagree with Celticshub.com contributor Zach Lowe’s analysis that the Lakers were the better team. This game was a back and forth battle which lacked any real flow due to the questionable (to put it kindly) officiating.
That being said, it was not the officiating that cost the Celtics this game. When Kevin Garnett fouled out with 4:22 left in the 4th quarter, the Celtics led 95-93. The Celtics played nine more minutes of basketball with the Lakers after KG hit the bench with the Lakers going +3 during this stretch eventually, giving them a one point win. Shockingly, the Celtics should have won this game. They squandered a number of opportunities to pull this out and had their flaws as a team magnified as the minutes wore on in overtime with KG on the pine.
These observations are not meant to take away anything from a gritty Lakers win on the road. They were gassed after a long road trip, and had that excuse waiting for them if they wanted to pack it in. However, this game was much more important to them than the Celtics. Psychologically after losing three in Boston during last year’s finals they needed to prove to themselves they could come into Boston and win. To make matters more impressive, they did this despite Kobe Bryant having a subpar game shooting the ball (10/29) including 0/4 in overtime.
Confidence wise, this game is what the doctor ordered for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, having posted lines of 20 and 24 points respectively. A sharp contrast from the disappearing act both pulled last time they visited town. And while both of these two deserve kudos, down the stretch their effectiveness offensively could be primarily attributed to the lack of KG on the floor and the insertion of Glen Davis.
In my mind, once Garnett fouled out in this game the Celtics were playing with house money. There is no way defensively the Celtics can match up with both of the Lakers big men without KG. Big Baby is the best PF defensively off the bench for the Celtics but that really isn’t saying much. His height defiency and lack of speed on rotations killed the Celtics on multiple possession at the end of regulation and overtime.
We saw shades of this sloppy defense and slow rotations with this lineup against Minnesota last Sunday when Al Jefferson and Randy Foye torched the Celtics on pick and rolls without KG. The Celtics survived that one simply because the Minnesota Timberwolves are still the Minnesota Timberwolves. In a game against the best in the west, the Celtics weren’t as lucky.
Regarding the Lakers poor free throw shooting: Yes they shot poorly for the game going 17/29 from the stripe. This fact has been used as an example of how much LA underachieved in this game. However this shooting was not a factor in deciding the game. The Lakers shot no free throws in the last six minutes of regulation. They went 3/4 in overtime with Odom hitting two clutch game winning free throws with 16 seconds left in OT after a foolish loose ball foul by Big Baby.
Speaking of Big Baby, let’s talk a bit more about how much of an impact offensively he had during crunch time and how it ultimately cost the Celtics this game. There is plenty of blame to be passed around for this development and it will start first with coach Doc Rivers.
Rivers has done a great job this year coaching but he had an off night Thursday. During last year’s finals one of the Celtics strengths was Rivers’ willingness to adapt his personnel to the Lakers defensive scheme. When the Purple and Gold clogged up the lane, and lagged off Rondo and Perkins, Rivers went small and inserted Eddie House and James Posey to spread the floor. This lineup along with the big three catapulted the Celtics’ game 4 comeback to give the C’s a 3-1 series lead.
The Celtics faced a similar Lakers defense once the Garnett fouled out of the game Thursday night. Down the stretch though, the Celtics went with a lineup of Pierce, Allen, Davis, Rondo and Perkins. This lineup allowed the Lakers to play off the three poor jump shooters and protect the hoop, forcing Pierce into several ineffective drives and tough shots and ultimately (and perhaps most disturbingly) FOUR JUMP SHOTS for Big Baby in the last nine minutes of this game.
Yes he made one of these jump shots. If KG is in the game though he likely makes at least two of those jumpers and the Celtics probably go on to win that game. However Glen Davis under no circumstances should be taking one jump shot at the end of any meaningful game, much less four. My problem with Big Baby right now as a player is he’s trying to become something he isn’t; a jump shooter. More after the jump




