Congratulations Celtics

[Reality]

nice Game 4.
Comeback from -24 to beat the Zen Collusionists has got to be a record.

[Reality]

How about Kobsters post game presser:
paraphrase:  "How do you deal with the biggest choke in NBA Finals History and the fact that the silly comparisons that have you as good as Jordan are a joke?"

Kobster exact quote:  "A lot of wine, A lot of beers. a couple of shots... about 20 of them. Then you gotta move on to tomorrow."

[msc]

Ouch.  That was a tough loss. 

Big props to the Celtics for their suffocating defense in the second half.  They knew Kobe would be the focus of our offense in the second half and we played right in to their hands.  Pierce did an excellent job on Kobe defensively and no one on the Lakers stepped up offensively.  As great as Boston's D was, there is no excuse for blowing a 24 pt lead in the second half at home.  We played like scared 9 year old girls in the second half. 

Boston is the better team, at least defensively, which is what wins championships.  I've thought all season long that we're not at that championship level yet, and it's clear in this series.  Hopefully the guys can learn from this experience and come back strong next season. 

[JoMal]

Does this mean we no longer have to call ourselves the Quasi-Laker Dabods Basketball Board?

[Reality]

Big props to the Celtics for their suffocating defense in the second half.  They knew Kobe would be the focus of our offense in the second half and we played right in to their hands.  Pierce did an excellent job on Kobe defensively and no one on the Lakers stepped up offensively. 

Agree and it was obvious.
Why did the Lakers abandon team O with Kobes getting all kinds of assists albeit no points (yet a 20 pt lead) in favor of Kobeball on O in the late 3rd and 4th?  Either Phil got owned or Kobes and the Lakers did not listen to him.

[westkoast]

Ouch.  That was a tough loss. 

Big props to the Celtics for their suffocating defense in the second half.  They knew Kobe would be the focus of our offense in the second half and we played right in to their hands.  Pierce did an excellent job on Kobe defensively and no one on the Lakers stepped up offensively.  As great as Boston's D was, there is no excuse for blowing a 24 pt lead in the second half at home.  We played like scared 9 year old girls in the second half. 

Boston is the better team, at least defensively, which is what wins championships.  I've thought all season long that we're not at that championship level yet, and it's clear in this series.  Hopefully the guys can learn from this experience and come back strong next season. 

Defense wins championships.  It amazing that Fantasy is cheering for the Boston Celtics but faililng to realize in doing so it makes him look like an idiot for always talking about offense.

Boston deserves to hoist the trophy and the Lakers do not.  There are three reasons for this outside of defense:

1) The Ghost of Red - He sure as hell did not want Phil Jackson to pass him.  He also was not going to let the Lakers continue to beat the Celtics.  I saw a number of plays where Lakers missed wide open jump shots and lay ups.  I can only say I think Red was running at players to mess with their shot.

2) The refs - Since the ref scandal came out the refs knew they couldn't cheat for the Lakers.  I was waiting and waiting for the refs to cheat for them but it just never happened.  I expect after the bomb shell that was dropped the Lakers will go 0-82 next season since they cannot win games with out cheating.

3) Voodoo / Wicka / Witch Craft  - Did you guys notice Bird hadn't been around the finals much?  He shoot that commercial with Magic but no pictures of him at the game right?  Why?  Well he was caught in the deep south with some witch doctors right before the finals.  I was told from an inside source that the witch doctor was able to take his spirit and shooting ability and put it into Ray Allen's body.  How else do you explain going from shooting like a crappy college player to being the man in the finals?  Larry Bird's spirit.

There is one thing I do want to say about this.  I LOVE being a Laker fan in times like this.  The reason being is I get to see just how angry people are with the franchise.  You have people who don't really have a team cheering against the Lakers.  People from Nebraska who are Celtics fans.  We have people among us who always root against the Lakers no matter what.  The amount of hate is funny and entertaining.  I know we have posters on here that are exicted the Lakers lost but are not even Celtics fans.  If the Jazz or Kings lost the finals, I wouldn't be cheering that is for sure....but hay to each their own!

Of course I am upset about the finals loss but it is not the end of the world as this Lakers squad still has a few runs left in them.  I think clearly the Celtics are the better team.  They showed that in both game 2 and game 4.  All in all, as a basketball fan, seeing KG being able to hoist a trophy is cool.  Very deserving of it. 

[JoMal]

Condolescencs on this loss, Laker fans, but it is not over yet.

Question. In the post game studio analysis, a big deal was made about Phil Jackson failing to put Odom and Fisher back in the game when it became clear his players on the floor were not shooting all that well. Fisher and Odom had big first halves, but apparently sat for key stretches in the fourth quarter.

Did any of you Laker fans perceive this as odd as well, or was it just Jackson's philosophy in how he utilizes his players? Sure is easy to second guess his decision-making after his team surrendered a 24 point lead, isn't it?

And, well, it certainly is strange to be talking about the Lakers losing a 24 point lead right after we were discussing how the Kings surrendered a 26 point lead in that 2002 game six fiasco. But this time, it would seem, the Lakers have no recourse but to blame themselves rather then the officiating. 

[msc]

Condolescencs on this loss, Laker fans, but it is not over yet.

Question. In the post game studio analysis, a big deal was made about Phil Jackson failing to put Odom and Fisher back in the game when it became clear his players on the floor were not shooting all that well. Fisher and Odom had big first halves, but apparently sat for key stretches in the fourth quarter.

Did any of you Laker fans perceive this as odd as well, or was it just Jackson's philosophy in how he utilizes his players? Sure is easy to second guess his decision-making after his team surrendered a 24 point lead, isn't it?

And, well, it certainly is strange to be talking about the Lakers losing a 24 point lead right after we were discussing how the Kings surrendered a 26 point lead in that 2002 game six fiasco. But this time, it would seem, the Lakers have no recourse but to blame themselves rather then the officiating. 

First, definitely no one to blame but ourselves.  (Please note, as I'm sure you alread have, I will use "we" and "us" and "ourselves" like I'm on the freaking team.  Yes, I am that guy) 

It's funny JoMal, because I posted yesterday that I could easily see the Lakers blowing a 20+ lead.  They do it all the time.  In fact, I watched the game with a buddy of mine who's a Celtics fan and when we went way up early I said don't worry they'll blow this lead.  Now, I didn't think we'd necessarily lose the game, but I new the Lakers couldn't sustain that level of play and more importantly the Celtics wouldn't play that bad for the entire game. 

I was a little surprised that Phil kept Odom and Fish out so long.  Fish, I somewhat understand because I think Phil wanted Farmar's speed out there to pressure House and be able to recover more quickly. 

Odom had a great start and then dissappeared in the second. It's easy to second guess Phil, but IMO regardless of who's on the floor, losing that game was inexcusable.  Everyone tightened up.  Kudos to the Celtics defense which was probably the best D I've seen played in a long, long time.  But still, the players on the court, Kobe included, tried to force things and didn't execute their offense.  On top of it, they let down defensively.  It was a complete meltdown and very embarassing.   

[JoMal]

Love the hindsight bit, but it is very revealing:

Combined bench play by the Lakers (Vujacic, Farmer, Turiaf, Ariza, Walton} - Almost 67 minutes played, resulting in a total of 21 shots taken, 5 made, and a total of 15 points.

Combined play of Odom and Fisher - 64 minutes played, 16 shots taken, made 12 and scored 32 points.

Their primary subs, Vujacic and Farmer, each made only one field goal and scored three points each, but each played almost as many minutes as Fisher. Are not Fisher and Odom just a tad more playoff savvy then the five who Jackson had on the court in a most important playoff game? He never did that with his old Laker team, but maybe he felt with such a big lead he could season his young guys to the playoff life. But the failure of that move could be devastating.

ESPN kept showing a distraught Vujacic on the bench late in this game. A soothing hand appears on his shoulder. Sasha angrily shrugs the hand away so violently he actually swings his fist at the person and hits the back of the next chair so hard the people sitting behind him jump out of the way.

[Ted]

Vujacic's beatdown on that helpless chair happened after the play where Ray Allen just blew by Vujacic for the easy lay-in. What the heck was that play? I mean, it's not like Ray is "faster" than Sasha. That was just terrible terrible. We should also note that Pau was VERY late in rotating to help, but Sasha didn't even change Ray's approach to the rim. It was like swinging door D when you need a stop the most. Kobe must have been so pissed. He was working his arse off on both ends of the court, and that kind of breakdown has to hurt.

[Derek Bodner]

That was quite possibly some of the worst D I've ever seen in my life.  It's like Sasha thought the Lakers were up 3 and was like "ok, an easy 2 is ok, just don't give up the 3", and didn't even try.  Is his defense always that bad?

[Skandery]

I'm kind of confused with the congratulations.  I was under the impression Boston needed 4 wins to clinch the NBA championship. 

Call me crazy, I'm not discounting LA.  Last I checked they're still the most potent offense in the Finals, and when their defense starts feeding from the offense, its usually lights out for whoever is playing them.  I didn't watch the entire 2nd half but from hearing what happened, it sounded like LA just gave the ball to Kobe the entire time and played not to lose instead of playing to win.  I don't think they make that mistake again.  I think Boston has to TAKE the 4th game and its not going to be easy. 

I'm also going to agree with Westkoast on fickleness/lack of insight of some of these national sportswriters.  Some guy was actually dense enough to write, "guess Kobe wants a refund on that Gasol trade, heh, heh".  Ummmm, NO!, I'll keep the guy that's integral to my championship level club, thank you very much.  Even Phil went a little overboard saying ". . .maybe this is why we got Gasol at a discount" and .."not being a tough enough Center".  I mean when you think Phil, you don't ever think classy, but still, even he can't believe that malarky. 

[westkoast]

Skandery I felt the same way you did about the comment.  What do chalk it up to?  Trying to be a shock jock writer to rile up people?  Or just being an idiot?  Pau Gasol is an awesome player and Kwame is the worst? Wow.  Moronic.

Why not break down how good the Celtics defense is when they play together?  Maybe Pau isn't on the 99 cent menu and maybe the Celtics defense is just damn impressive (at times) ?  I think PJs comment was dumb as well.

My problem is and continues to be the fact these guys don't really get into the guts of the game. 

Does anyone think van gundy and marc jackson have done a good job calling the games?  I've really enjoyed them.  The fact they admit they make mistakes about things they say (like comparing Powe to Dr J) crack me up.

[Laker Fan]

Does anyone think van gundy and marc jackson have done a good job calling the games?  I've really enjoyed them.  The fact they admit they make mistakes about things they say (like comparing Powe to Dr J) crack me up.

No 'Koast, you can't be that dumb.

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE the sound of Van Gundy's stupid, idiotic, foot in mouth disease, moronic mouth! What a complete and utter idiot he is, and that is saying something considering my attitude towards Bill Walton, whom I would take him over Van Gundy 1,000 times a day.

Mark Jackson is tolerable, but Van gundy is painful beyond belief.

[westkoast]

Does anyone think van gundy and marc jackson have done a good job calling the games?  I've really enjoyed them.  The fact they admit they make mistakes about things they say (like comparing Powe to Dr J) crack me up.

No 'Koast, you can't be that dumb.

I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE the sound of Van Gundy's stupid, idiotic, foot in mouth disease, moronic mouth! What a complete and utter idiot he is, and that is saying something considering my attitude towards Bill Walton, whom I would take him over Van Gundy 1,000 times a day.

Mark Jackson is tolerable, but Van gundy is painful beyond belief.

Why am I dumb because I like the back and forth of MJ/Van Gundy?  I also like Van Gundy talking about different defenses.  Or how an NBA coach would call a certain play.  I wouldn't call it dumb.  I call it difference of opinion.  Those two are better then Marv Albert and Doug Collins.