By now you’ve heard that no team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in NBA Finals history. The Lakers now find themselves on the wrong end of that 3-1. It doesn’t look good for Kobe and crew. It would be a monumental task for any team to come back from 3-1, but it would be damn near miraculous for the Lakers to bounce back from the greatest comeback in Finals history. The Celtics have controlled this series from Game 1 with their workhorse defense. The Lakers vaunted offense has been no match for the physicality displayed by Boston throughout this series. Want proof? How about arguably the games best offensive player since MJ going 6 for 19 against the relentless Paul Pierce. Who ever though that would happen? The answer is no one
except the Celtics.
Boston started the game shooting 6-22 in the first quarter. Lamar Odom was 6-6 in the first quarter. Talk about a trend that was bound to reverse itself. How many times do we see a team go up big in the first half, get overconfident, lose focus and let the other team right back in the game? So many times that I fully expected Boston to get back in the game, but to win the thing? No. No one expected that. The Lakers held a 20 point lead in the middle of the third quarter with the games best coach and the games best closer. There was no way the Lakers weren’t tying this thing up. Then
they didn’t.
This was supposed to be Kobe’s Finals. Most of the “experts†had this one going no more than 6 games in the Lakers favor. Instead, it has been a Lakers nightmare with no one playing at an elite level, not even the Kobester. Lamar Odom has showed up to play exactly one quarter. Pau has more scowls at refs than rebounds. Sasha did get the Lakers their one victory, but ‘the machine’ has not been well oiled otherwise and continues to shoot unfathomably bad shots at key moments. Derek Fisher has been a complete non-factor and Kobe has not been the MVP he was all season. Add to this the fact Phil Jackson finds himself on even footing with Doc Rivers (totally inexplicable) and it all adds up to being down 3-1.
So who’s to blame in all this? Most people want to place the onus on Phil and Kobe
and its tempting, but the blame has to go to Boston. Rather, the credit has to go to Boston. They are simply the better team in just about every way. Now, barring a Lakers miracle in 7 games, Kobe’s legacy will undoubtedly take a substantial hit. Did MJ ever lose a Finals he participated in? Doesd anyone remember MJ going 6 for 19? The Lakers have to give a full 48 minute effort on Sunday night, otherwise they are going to find themselves hosting a Boston C’s party.
1 response so far ↓
1 Angelo // Jun 14, 2008 at 9:12 am
How do you say? HA HA HA HA HA to all the Laker’s Flags fans?
They (and LA) deserve to lose so horribly. It’s amazing/pathetic that a basketball game can make the top story of all the evening news in LA!
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