The House that Boom Built

For me, this was the first of any of these Finals games that I did not loathe watching. The final score shows that it was a gritty game, like most of the last few, filled with fouls and broken plays, but I enjoyed it.

A couple things I noticed that may or may not have played a role in the game:

Ray Allen, probably the smoothest man in Basketball, showed up again. In a playoffs where he could have still been in Seattle hanging out with KD and the gang and we wouldn’t have known the difference, these Finals he has been far and away the Celtics most consistent players. Contrary to those days in Seattle where defense was a far far far afterthought, he has been playing really solid defense (as solid as you can against Kobe) to the point where, even though he got burned, Doc Rivers trusts him enough to play him straight up against Kobe. Sometimes it worked as it had in Boston and sometimes it just flat out doesn’t. Against an unmovable force like Kobe the latter usually prevails.

A small spoiler, this may be for the fact that out of all the Big Three he is still the smallest. Out of KG, Pierce, and Allen, Ray Ray is probably called on the least and faces the least pressure or burden during losses. Nonetheless, I think we can all say we are glad that Mr. Clean showed up for these games because all the other performances have been spotty. Though, if you really think about it, it may just be for the fact that he has been going all Ubuntu on us and we are just now realizing that we still have the second greatest all time shooter in NBA History in our hands.

Pau “Angry Owl” Gasol is someone else who I thought also did a good job tonight. Even though he supposedly struggled and the numbers back that up, I liked what he did and what I saw from him tonight so much more than the previous two games. He came out with a fire in his belly and got slapped in the face, illegal screened, over the backed, and just kept on chugging. Though he was schmucking along offensively like everyone else on the floor not named after Japanese Beef, but he came up with some crucial buckets instead of allowing them which is great to see.

I am definitely not saying that he is coming anywhere close to matching the intensity that any of the Celtic bigs bring to the table, but he played better today. He got beat to the ball early, but I think in the second half showed a turnaround if just in the slightest degree (and I’m not just talking about the garbage putback he was gifted at the end).

In other news, the man still does not know how to close his mouth and for the most part looks like a dope whenever the cameras are on him (though its a nice contrast with the intensity of KG and the stoogiousity of PG).

Of course ultimately, I think everyone watching the game knew that it came down to Kobe Bean Bryant. He played very well within the offense and did all the things he was “supposed” to do, trusted his teammates, etc., etc., etc. Thankfully, he was on today so everything worked out pretty well, but even when he isn’t, Sasha Vujacic, for as much as I reneged on my criticism of him last game, should be the very last person to dribble up and take a contested pull up in the waning minutes of a game. (not too surprisingly, he has taken these kind of shots in the last couple games, which is pretty questionable…)

Another thing I was thinking about was how good a job the Celtics do of making the Lakers a jump shooting team. If you think about it, its not that difficult to see that how much this Lakers team has struggled. When it comes down to it, they aren’t that great of a jump shooting team. Even though, at least for me, I typically thought of them as such, they really have one great shooter, one maybe two good shooters (confidence and competency are often confused), and a lot of really mediocre shooters who exhibit a high tendency to such a confusion.

This really speaks volumes to how well the Celtics have packed the paint and got out to defend the perimeter only when necessary. On the other side of the equation, the Celtics are a very solid jump shooting teams with two great shooters, many very good spot up three point shooters, and one, possibly two of the best mid range shooters to ever play the game. Yet with all this, its my impression that they are doing a much better job getting into the paint and scoring on easy baskets.

Game 3 is the Lakers, hopefully KB and the gang snap out of it…

-E