The Celtics are up 3-1 now, but as Bill Russell told me during the 2001 Finals, every game's a new game.
So in other words, no, they haven't won it all yet.
But Boston made a huge move towards winning the NBA championship with a win tonight at the Staples Center. They fell way behind, down at one point by 24, but made enough clutch baskets to keep the pressure on L.A., and eventually to take control of the game and win.
There was Eddie House's jumper to take the lead. James Posey's three to extend it. Ray Allen had a pair of fabulous drives, the first a reverse lay-up, the second a late-in-the-shot-clock left-hander that his defender, Sasha Vujacic, saw about two minutes before the sound reached him. Kevin Garnett connected on two big shots when he made power moves going left. And Paul Pierce hit that beautiful jumper from the top of the key over Kobe Bryant, as well as three crucial free throws at the end.
Before the Celtics completed their comeback, it was amazing how symmetrical the series was. Each team cruised to a pretty easy victory in its first home game, then blew a huge lead in its second; only Boston held on to win Game Two, while the Lakers couldn't do the same tonight.
Though all five Lakers starters finished in double figures, the team couldn't sustain its pace for the whole game, in large part because of lackluster bench play. Vujacic and Jordan Farmar, two shooting specialists, were a combined 2-for-15, for example. But it wasn't just the subs. Bryant scored just 17 points on horrendous 6-for-19 shooting. For an MVP, that's awful.
Anyway, it was a terrific game. Of all the games I wanted to turn off after one quarter (when it was L.A. 35, Boston 14), this ended up as one of the best. Even if you don't like the Celtics, it's nice that they won, because it's absurd that the supposed road team actually has homecourt advantage over the first five games.
Plus, after seeing that clip at halftime where David Stern said the poor old NBA is going to have to reinvestigate and reinvestigate, even though one key ref has said he was never questioned in the first place, I was craving some good basketball news. Tonight's comeback by Boston definitely filled the bill.
Comments
If you're the home team and you're up by 20 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter don't you HAVE to win that game if you're the "Zen Master" or if you're "just as good as Jordan" (at least according to Mark Jackson)? Jordan would never have allowed his team to lose a 20 point lead in the middle of the third quarter in a finals game.
And if you're the Zen Master, how do you let yourself get out-coached by Doc Rivers? This series is just further evidence that Phil can't win a championship without the most dominant player in the league on his team (Jordan, Shaq) and he doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Auerbach. (I think it's awesome that Doc Rivers has the opportunity to defend Auerbach's record by preventing the Zen Master of winning another ring. You seriously couldn't have scripted it any better.)
To be fair, most coaches can't win a championship without the best player in the league, or one of the very best. Auerbach had Sam Jones and Bill Russell. Pat Riley had Magic, Worthy and Kareem, then Shaq and Dwyane Wade. Popovich has Tim Duncan. Larry Brown slipped by, and maybe Chuck Daly, but that's about it, and those guys had unusually deep teams.
I'm not sure Jackson has been that badly outcoached-Rivers keeps putting in Sam Cassell, and he basically benched Leon Powe in Game Three after a fantastic Game Two. Meanwhile I thought Jackson's adjustments (Kobe on Rondo) heading into Game Three were solid. But overall neither coach has done very well.
I do like that the Celtics are standing between Phil and breaking Auerbach's record, and it's a record I hope he never breaks.
I LOVE to see Kobe, Phil Jackson, and the Lakers franchise get embarassed in their own house. You know your defense is porous when you can't come up with an answer to either Eddie House or James Posey down the stretch.
I think the ghost of Red Auerbach is definitely standing in the way of this one. How long until we see Kobe's "trade me" postgame news conference agains?
5. The Kobe-MJ thing ... done. Over. Jordan never would have let that happen in the Finals. Ever. Under any circumstances. Nobody is ever allowed to bring this up again.
Great line. I have loved reading him throughout this series.
...the comments about the coaches' speeches were pretty funny too.