The Boston Celtics used huge games from Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 on Sunday. Rondo had a triple double and Allen hit a NBA Finals record 8 three pointers. After Tuesday nights performance, Game 2 feels like it happened in a different season.
In Game 3 on Tuesday night, Rondo was less aggressive and Allen had an ice cold shooting night. The result was a win for the Lakers and a tough loss for the Celtics. Thoughts from the game:
-Kevin Garnett put up great numbers despite the way that he still looked like he had no "bounce" in his step.
-Paul Pierce attempted three free throws. 3. He must be more aggressive in getting to the free throw line.
-Rajon Rondo had 0 turnovers. Normally this is a good thing. However, I think that this stat is a result of the fact that Rondo failed to be aggressive enough for the Celtics to win. Too often he caught the ball with his defender 6 feet off of him and just waited for other people to cut or post up. Rondo must drive the lane to create for himself and his teammates.
-The Celtics failed to push the ball enough in transition. Again, pushing the ball may lead to more turnovers but the reward is far greater than the risk.
-Pau Gasol is a great offensive post player. He has incredible touch and is often the Lakers best option on offense. However, his defense on KG in Game 3 was miserable. Every time that Garnett posted up, Gasol had his hands all over him. Again, the inconsistency by the referees (on both sides) was maddening.
-Rasheed Wallace was in regular season form (not a good thing) on Tuesday night. He made one shot in 20 minutes.
-Game 3 was laced with questionable calls all game long. There were good calls followed instantly by make-up calls after a complaint from a star.There were instant replay reviews and flops aplenty; the result was a choppy fourth quarter in which the game seemed to just fizzle out.
-No one other than Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher had more than 2 fouls for the Lakers. Five Celtics had more than 2. Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo were all limited at some point in the game by foul trouble.
-Kobe Bryant shot as many times as Gasol, Odom, Bynum, and Artest combined. He made about 1/3 of his shots.
-Kobe Bryant just said in his post game press conference that Derek Fisher is the only teammate that he will listen to. He smiled slightly, but you could tell that he meant it. Who wouldn't want to play with this guy?!?
-I'm really struggling to find anything positive to say about the Lakers.
No comments:
Post a Comment