I was a little worried about last night’s game, right up until the moment where Kobe started the game with two ticky tack fouls that never should have been called, and Pierce hit a clutch three. At that point, I started feeling better.
Unfortunately, I’m 105 years old, so I couldn’t make it through the whole game.
Some quick thoughts:
- Terrible, terrible officiating. And yes, it was in Boston’s favor. Big time. That said, other than Gasol, the whole Lakers team was settling for jump shots. That’s not how you draw fouls.
- Rondo was terrific, 16 assist, 2 turnovers? That’s good stuff from any pg, never mind a 22 year old one. His aggressive, ball-hawking defense prevented the Lakers from getting into their offense for long stretches of the game.
- Leon. Powe. This game was only a surprise to people who didn’t watch the second half of the Celtics season. Powe can’t really create his own shot, but he is very aggressive, and will take advantage of the other teams mistakes. In last night’s case, he took advantage of some incredibly lazy defense by Odom and Gasol. (Turiaf wasn’t lazy, he just didn’t play very well.)
- Up by twenty at points, and the Lakers came back to within two? Well, a win’s a win, but let’s just say I’m glad I was asleep at that point.
Thoughts for Game three? I think we see the Lakers team we were all expecting to see. This is absolutely and obviously a must-win for the Lakers, they’ll have to do a lot of things differently. Like, make some shots for one. Drive to the hoop for two. Play defense for three. Other than that, they’ve played great.
Filed under: basketball, sports
While the officiating wasn’t perfect I didn’t think it was that one sided. Yes, the Celtics got many more foul shots but after the game I thought that it was more because the Lakers were settling for jump shots.
Did you happen to read Hollinger’s piece in the Daily Dime? I’m curious to hear if it changes your mind on the officiating from last game.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080610
Also, I heard Bill Walton (naturally a pro-Celtic opinion) on ESPN radio saying that ranks 2 of the 3 refs from Game 2 in the top 5 officials the NBA has to offer.
Nope. The officials took the Lakers out of the game with those ticky tack fouls on Kobe to start off the game. Still, the game may have been officiated closer than most Lakers fans think it was.
Are you sure Rondo is that old? By the looks of him, I could have sworn he just graduated from Kennedy Middle School last year and is the only freshman in high school to play in the NBA.