Sooo happy for Leon Powe to have such a breakout game on a big stage. Been following him ever since he was a monster at Cal and he was simply exceptional tonight. Lakers went on their big fourth quarter run when Powe went to the bench, so Boston needs to give him more minutes!

Refs were disgusting that game. Stern should crack down on this shit with the whole betting scandal that came out weeks ago. That was appalling to watch but the Lakers somehow grinded through it with that 4th quarter come back. Hopefully they can turn it into a series in LA.

The only thing that concerns me after this game is not the fact that the Celtics almost blew a 24 point lead. They got comfortable and let the lead slip away. It happens. What concerns me is that they almost blew an 11 point lead with about 95 seconds left. You knew that LA was capable of one run in the fourth, but once the lead got down to 11, the Celtics seem to scramble more than anything else. But when they absolutely needed to, they got the block (thank you Pierce), hit their free throws (once again, thank you Pierce), and closed out the game.

As for the free throw situation, I am of course biased. That saying, who's the jump shooting team again? And since when has Kenny Mauer ever been biased for the Celtics? Anyways, there were a couple of plays here and there where I think the Celtics got away with some things, but that's what you get for being both the home team and the more aggressive team. If you thought the free throw situation was bad, just wait for Game 3. I think it'll be slightly closer than it was in this game though simply because the Celtics will take it inside, but the Lakers are going to get more calls though simply because they're the home team. On the bright side though, I still think the Celtics can win despite the possible advantage there, simply because of their defense. Although Bryant scored 30 tonight, you can tell he's slightly off (that and the Lakers triangle offense) because the Celtics are disrupting him. That and as I said earlier, the Celtics have been the more aggressive team both offensively and defensively. Hopefully that will continue out on the road.

Edit: I just looked at the total of fouls committed. The Lakers committed 28 fouls. The Celtics committed 21 fouls. Now since the Lakers will have an advantage at home, flip the numbers around for Game 3. Unless the Lakers start to take the ball inside and on the defensive end force the Celtics to shoot jump shots, even though the Celtics won't have an advantage, the free throw numbers might end up being relatively closer than I originally thought.

At one point the free throw attempts were Boston 23 LA 2 (LA started getting a little more calls when they were getting blown out)

That is pretty nuts

That's what happens when......

A. You only take the ball inside every so often.
B. Your team doesn't have the best defense.
C. See "B" and when Leon Pow-e can dominate you under the glass and you're reduced to slapping him.
D. See "A" and when you rely heavily on the jump shot.
E. Are on the road.

With that in mind, the Lakers should (if they don't, they're screwed) have the advantage in the fouls tomorrow night. I think it'll be closer than some people might think for the reasons I gave above, but if it's a close game they might have the advantage. Then again, they're not exactly the best defensive team so who knows?

Besides Powe inside, the Celts got plenty of calls outside and the Lakers got no calls inside - include Kobe getting his jersey pulled - and then they gave Pierce a questionable one inside at the end of the game.

Plus the refs aren't calling jump shot fouls - they even said a player has to get back to the floor - and if you watch closely the Celts are hitting Kobe's hand on the jumper - which is a foul - but it doesn't get called.

Uh huh

In 2002, only series going to 7 games was Lakers - Sacremento, you know that one, when Bibby kicked Bryant's elbow with his nose. And rightfully called for a foul!

The Lakers shot 27 free throws in the 4th quarter of Game 6 that year. 16 in the last 3 minutes (4 of them intentional, 12 not).



No but seriously, that sucks hard for Sacramento fans, considering they were one of those "almost over the hump" franchises who were great for a couple years but never won. I'd have killed some kittens during that series.

It wouldn't surprise me if we heard in a couple years some more details about this Gasol thing too

I mean the Garnett deal is one thing... Jefferson is a great young big man to build around, they got their top 5 pick back, they got some potential like Gomes and Telfair

Gasol for Kwame Brown? With Jerry West holding an ownership position in Memphis? To the franchise that has the most TV playability and the rivarly with the Celtics, obvious picks to go the finals, and the most marketable player in the league? Ummmmmmmmmmm

This is the NHL's chance to pounce on the market!!!

Kick the NBA while it's down!!!

Seems to be a lot of talk of Detroit/Denver talking a deal. Melo maybe being traded to Detroit, biggest rumor is Anthony, Atkins, Camby, KMart's ass contract for Billups (who's from Denver), Prince, Sheed. Or Billups alone to Denver for a lesser package.

I don't know how the hell it's tied right now. The celtics look absolutely anemic on offense, and the Lakers already have more free throws then they did the last game.

Still a joke that no matter how Much lakers get hit refs won't call the foul inside.

I think the Lakers can win out at home and that will probably mean a seven game series at least I hope it goes 7.

After tonight's game, I really like the Celtics chances in Game 4. We held the Lakers to 87 points on the road. I'll take that every game. But Pierce and Garnett need to both show up in the next game. The foul trouble for Pierce was explainable, but his 6 points isn't. The Lakers played well against him, but he missed some wide open shots early on that were easily makeable. I have no doubt he'll play better in the next game. And if the Celtics give the same kind of effort on defense, I like our chances to take Game 4.

And after seeing tonight's game, Gasol and Odom are really being thrown off by the Celtics defense, especially Perkins. Although Gasol had a couple of tip-in's (thanks to Odom), he is completely intimidated by Perkins right now. There were countless occasions where he could've gone inside on Perkins and he just refused to do it. As long as that continues, the Celtics will be fine. That and Pierce actually has to show up.

I said it before and I'll say it again - the Celtics were the most aggressive team. That's why the calls went their way.

In Boston, the Lakers played one-dimensionally. They barely took the ball inside. They weren't aggressive. If the Lakers were more aggressive, that would've given the refs a reason to blow the whistle while they were shooting their outside jump shots. They didn't do that. The Celtics might have gotten away with a couple of calls here or there, but that's what you get for being both the home team and the more aggressive team.

Guess why the Lakers got the foul advantage (28-23) and went to the line 12 more times than the Celtics did tonight.

I missed the first quarter and that is why I was complaining about the lack of Laker calls - so I researched it this moring.

>>>> The consensus was the referees would make it up to the Lakers at home, and sure enough the home team shot 20 of the first 22 free throws.

so after that point and in the important crunch time, the Celts got the advantage what 20 - 12. That is what 2 fouls a quarter for the last 3 quarters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why did it change? The Lakers were at home, The Lakers were going inside?

I know I saw the Lakers again got cheap fouls away from the ball and getting little calls inside.

So in the long run, again the Celts got the benefit of the refs. The refs just don't seem like they want to send the Lakers to the line.

PS. Like that foul of Ray Allen's 3 pointer > like I said yesterday, Kobe gets hit like that on most shot.

I saw a reply of a Garnett block > there was so much body and arm contact but no call.

..... and I could list more examples but it is pretty pointless. But I know in the last 2 minutes my friends were going crazy as the refs were calling fouls on touch plays > crazy..

Yeah, that non call on PJ Brown's armbarring Gasol in the last minute was pretty bad. But I don't think the fouls had as much effect this game.

Celts should be wary that Kobe finally looked like Kobe in the 4th, for the first couple games he looked a little daze, he might come on strong now.

I think Games 4 and 5 will decide the series. Celtics win 1, they win. Lakers win both and go up 3-2 with all that momentum, I think it's theirs, it's that damn 2-3-2 system where the road team gets the crucial game 5, like Miami.

But they didn't. See, I could just as easily say "And if Pierce had scored 13 just like Garnett did (who also struggled) we wouldn't be having this discussion right now." But he didn't.



If they were 0-9 on the road coming into this series I would agree with you. The fact though is that they beat the Pistons 2 out of 3 on the road in the last series, and had a chance to steal last night's game despite Pierce having one of his worst games in recent memory, Rondo going down with an ankle injury, and Garnett only chipping in down the stretch. The fact is, the Lakers were a desperate team last night. They knew if they went down 0-3 they were fucked. What did they do? They missed their free throws, they let the Celtics hang around when they really should've been out of the game, and relied mostly on Kobe to save their ass.

Now if Garnett and Pierce have a repeat of what happened last night, then the Lakers are in good shape. But seeing as how that's likely not going to happen, the Lakers are going to need a much better effort tomorrow night, especially from Gasol and Odom. If they stop playing soft the Lakers are in good shape. After the way they've played in these three games though, I'm not sure how much you can count on them.

I'm not saying the Celtics are going to close this thing out in LA, but I'll be shocked if they don't win once out there.



First off - [sarcasm]My god that advantage.....it's staggering.[/sarcasm]

Overall the Lakers had the free throw advantage by 12. That's seven more than the Celtics had in Game 1. Would you like a blatant repeat of Game 2? Would you like more of a debate that the NBA is fixed.

What happened was the foul calls evened out because the Celtics have continued to take the ball inside more than the Lakers have. If it weren't for Kobe, the Lakers wouldn't have had that 12 advantage. He alone got to the line with 18 attempts. Guess who came in second? Gasol with 8. 8!!



34-22 in favor of the Lakers. Clearly the Celtics got the advantage. I don't care if 20 of them came in the first half. That's what happens when only one player is willing to take it inside.



So do most players. The one on Allen was blatant though.



Even though he got all ball, that's pointless to debate because we both think the exact opposite happened. That saying, you're going to get the benefit of the doubt if you are as good a shot blocker as he is.



Agreed.



I'll take 36 from Kobe and 87 overall from the Lakers at home, in a desperation game, any day of the week.

Don't expect Garnett to start scoring in the stretch. I'd be more confident in Big Baby Davis delivering the goods (if he was playing) when it matters most at this point. I love me some Garnett, but damn, he has to be one of the least clutch megastars I've seen.

If he takes the ball inside (which he noted he didn't and said he plans on changing it) then yes he will. Remember, he did last night in the 3rd when the Celtics went on their run? Who on the Lakers is going to stop him? If Gasol could play defense he probably could, but that'd be a first for him. Odom? Fine by me.

Pierce is the one who needs to get going again though. He admitted that he was nervous (he said the entire team was nervous) about coming back to LA since that's where he grew up. I expect Game 4 to be different for him and for the rest of the team (except for Allen).

And the funny thing about all this is that the Celtics had the lead and could've won. But they didn't. What does that say about the Lakers overall effort though?

Ray Allen is clearly benefiting from this Western Conference defense, if Pierce had
1.hit more then 2 shots or
2.didn't spend so much time in foul trouble

and the Lakers had to respect Pierce as more of a threat, Allen could have gone off for even more.

who knows, I would love for it to go back to Boston at 3-2 Lakers to see if Boston wins 2 or Kobe and the Lakers can steal one at the Boston Garden.

Hopefully Kobe and the Lakers just win out in the next 2.

but still the ref'ing scares me.

The Celtics will not win in LA. The Pistons are, and have been, known for letting up and pretty much just not showing up every other game. I wouldn't give the Celtics much credit there.

The Lakers played pretty damn consistent with Game 2... Hmm... and look at the calls! Weird! The NBA is so fixed that it's not even funny! It's quite disgusting.

True. A win is a win. But as I said, it was a desperation game for the Lakers. Kobe and Sasha showed up. Who else on the Lakers did? Once again, a win is a win, but can you count on Sasha coming up big again in Game 4? And will Pierce and Garnett struggle as much again? If Gasol or Odom step up, that problem pretty much goes away. But if they haven't shown up for the first three games of the NBA Finals, they're probably not showing up.



But they're good enough to stop everyone else. If Kobe scores 50, that means no one else is getting the opportunity to score. As it is, outside of Kobe and Sasha last night, not one other Laker got to double digits.