The Suns are by far the best team this game... So they better hope Kobe cools off.

Not sure if I've ever seen a bench take OVER a game. I mean... good god.

This is awesome. The Suns zone is still leading to "bad" d, it's just not as bad as their regular d. Which is all the Suns need!

Watch the same bench stink it up in LA on Thursday

The Suns bench scored 54... FIFTY FOUR.

Lakers had 20 from their bench.

This is why a bench is crucial in a seven game series...

Lakers Starters Combined Minutes: 174
Suns Starters Combined Minutes: 125

Kobe had 43 minutes in Game 3 and 45 in Game 4.

He's not young anymore. If you think it's not going to effect him, you're insane.

Yeah, Game 6 is now pretty much a must win for the Celtics. You just knew the Celtics were fucked after Perkins was "ejected" thanks to those "technical fouls". The second one, I could see how the ref thought Perkins was showing him up, but the first one called was absolute horseshit. And now with the concussion to Davis, Daniels (non-factor), and whatever happened to Walllace, the Celtics really need Perkins back for a shot at winning Game 6. I'll be shocked though if the NBA doesn't take back one of those technical fouls.

I want to see a game 7 as Boston can't blow two 3-0 playoff leads.

And I like how some are calling Howard dirty. Isn't that the calling cards of Garnett and other Celtic players.

No? Whiny about calls, yes, but not really dirty.

OK. Not really dirty but overly physical which luckily the refs don't call.

Weird, but I think Magic is now the favorite to win the series. With all the injuries to Celtics they won't be able to play as aggressive if they are even able to play. Game 7 will be epic if it gets there.

So as expected NBA takes away one tech foul. The only thing that bothers me that the NBA never let's anyone criticize the refs or their calls. And here they basically say, the ref was wrong.

And did they even get a report from the ref finding out why the tech was called. Don't think so.

Wonder if he will get this break again, if he gets another one this year.

Phew...

The lead never felt comfortable last night.

I have been converted... Kobe is the best player in the league. All hail Kobe.

Who did you think was the best player before?

Nash had a 50/50 shot. He picked wrong.

hmm, Lakers vs. Celtics. What else is new.

I've been wrong picking against Boston every single series including the Miami one, so might as well pick against them against LA again. I think the key is they lost Posey, House, Powe who were all key components of the 2008 team in winning games against Lakers. Meanwhile, this year's time has a lot of nagging injurys and the big 3 all deteriorated. Rondo has emerged as a future superstar, but it won't be enough unless he pulls a MVP-caliber performance that overshadow even Kobe (like he did against Lebron). So Lakers in 6.

Kobe won't choke like Lebron did.

He'll just get beaten...like Lebron.

I also can't see Boston dominating in LA like they did in Orlando and Cleveland and the Celtics are a poor home team.

LA does not match up with Boston at ALL. Garnett > Gasol (Gasol can't defend him, Garnett won't stop Gasol, but can slow him down) Kobe is going to have to guard either Allen or Rondo, the other will be watched by Fisher. And I assume Artest will attempt to slow down Pierce, but I doubt it.

Unless Kobe goes off each & every game I doubt the Lakers win.

Gasol showed up, Garnett didn't. That's the biggest reason the Celtics lost. They were absolutely dominated by the Lakers on the glass. They also did a pretty good job of shutting out Rondo and Allen. After Allen got in the early foul trouble, he pretty much was taken right out of the game. And I could be wrong, but I don't think he made a three.

On the bright side the Celtics started to play well in fourth quarter. It was too little too late, but maybe that'll carry over into Game 2. Oh, and Pierce was pretty much the bright spot on the Celtics. He had a good game. But the Lakers will be absolutely fine with him having great games while they shut the others down, just like how the Celtics will be fine with Kobe going off while they shut down the others. And they're going to need a better effort there because I think all five of the Lakers starters scored in double digits.

So, Game 2 is pretty much the must-win game of the year for the Celtics. The Lakers are too good to lose three in a row in Boston and if the Celtics go down 2-0, they'd need to win all three. They don't want to be in the situation where they'd have to win Games 6 and 7 in LA. But that's far down the road. If the Celtics play like this in Game 2, it might be a short series.

Such a great detailed analysis that is completely wrong or backwards.