Tag Archives: Kobe Bryant

January 31, 2011 · 7:13 AM

Too Bad It Wasn’t Game Seven

So yesterday there was a little game between the Celtics and Lakers. It was really the only relevant game on Sunday. Far better than the Pro Bowl and the NHL All Star game. Before touching on the Celtics I want to say that it was great to see Phil Kessel as the last player chosen in the players draft Friday night. Very suitable for a selfish jerk. The AFC lost the Pro-Bowl, hopefully that’s not a precursor to the AFC winning the Super Bowl.

But back to the Celtics.

Well, I think we’re all in agreement that if Kendrick Perkins had played in last year’s game seven it would’ve had a different result. Pao Gasol (AIDS Bird) pulled down rebound and rebound as the Celtics had no one there to get anything. Well, Perkins was back yesterday. Sure he didn’t start but he ended up playing 15 more minutes than Shaq (scoreless in 13 minutes of play) and racked up five defensive rebounds. The Celtics as a team outrebounded the Lakers and also outassisted the Lakers.

Kobe led all scorers dropping 41 points on the Celtics but had little help from his supporting cast. Ron Artest had a very cold 1-10 from the field (three points) while Derek Fisher had only five points in a 1-6 night and managed only two assists.

On the other side of the ball the Celtics were tearing up the stat book. Paul Pierce led the way for scoring with 32 (3-5 from thee point land) while Ray Allen added 21 in a 3-7 shooting performance from behind the arc. Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo both had double doubles. Garnett had 18 points with 13 rebounds, 12 of which were defensive rebounds. A far cry from last year when the Lakers seemed to get plenty of offensive rebounds. Rondo had 16 assists and 10 points, 15 of those assists were in the second half.

The Celtics looked like the 2008 Celtics as they crushed the Lakers in the third quarter outscoring the Lakers 27-18. They continued that into the fourth where they outscored them 32-24 to end up beating L.A. by 13 points 109-96. A great win that improved the C’s to 36-11 after they had their 11th loss of the season in a jet-lagged loss to the Suns Friday night.

Many folks were saying this was a preview of this year’s Finals but let’s not forget that the Spurs are still the front runners in the West with the best record in the NBA. Either way, I like the Celtics.

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June 16, 2010 · 5:25 AM

Down 22, Good Night

That’s how I signed off of Facebook last night. What an absolute embarrassment the Celtics first half was. Missing shots after shot, not rebounding, turning the ball over. They just sucked. Combine their off the charts sucktitude and a 60% or so first half shooting performance from the Lakers add in Kobe playing like a man possessed and it was a recipe for disaster for the Celtics.

And it’s a good thing I went to bed. Apparently the second half was more of the same with the Celtics.

Pile onto the misery that Perkins knee “doesn’t look great” according to Doc Rivers and all of a sudden game seven looks very scary.

Even more scary if the Celtics as a team come out as cold as they did Tuesday. They shot 33% from the field and guys that you need big numbers from were ice cold. Ray Allen was 7 of 14 including 2 of 5 from three point land. Garnett and Pierce were both 6 of 14 but it only got worse from there. Rondo was 5 of 15, Rasheed Wallace filling in for Perkins was 0-7 but the frustrating part is that six of those shots were three pointers.

So the Celtics, in this series, have been able to bounce back after a loss and really step up the defensive pressure. That’s what Los Angeles was able to do last night with their defense. Even with Fisher getting into early foul trouble, it seemed to only help the Lakers as their bench was playing out of their minds.

So it sets up a game seven on Thursday night. A game I’m sure to watch. But if the Celtics go down 22 again in the second quarter, I’ll be in bed nice and early and will crown the Lakers the NBA Champions. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen and it’s more like game six of the 2008 Finals, a 40 point Celtics blow out win.

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June 14, 2010 · 5:42 AM

Progressing As Planned

On the heals of an 80′s battle at the box office over the weekend, the Celtics and Lakers wrapped up their series in Boston. I mention the box office because the A-Team movie came out this weekend and like Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together.

Watching the Celtics has been a little frustrating this season. For all the first half leads that they’d build, they’d sit on them in the third and fourth quarters many times seeing the leads slip away. I’m sure that’s what Phil Jackson (Lurch) had in mind when he told his team in the huddle with just minutes left in the game, “No team has lost more games in the fourth quarter than them.”

Well Lurch, not last night.

Despite a night that saw Kobe take over the game for his team defensively and offensively in the third quarter, it seems he peaked a little to early. I’m sure if he didn’t take over guarding Pierce in the third the Lakers would have been completely out of it by the fourth becasue the defensive switch proved very effective. Don’t be fooled by his final shooting line, he started cold but he was white hot in the third after picking it up in the second quarter. If he wasn’t throwing up impossible threes at the end of the game he shoots over 50% on the night.

The rest of his team? Um, was there a rest of the team?

Sure AIDS Bird (He looks like a bird…with AIDS) Gasol ended up in double digits but that didn’t come until the game was all but over. In fact he was Kobe’s only teammate to break into double digits. Add to that the double digits rebounding and he did get a double double, but to offset that, so did Garnett.

But the story for the Celtics was Pierce. He led the way with 27 for the Celtics including two of four from downtown. Ray Allen added 12 but hasn’t hit a three since his record breaking game two performance.

So that leads us (the royal we, the editorial we) to ask the question; will it go six or seven?

We all know that David Stern wants it to go seven. After all what’s better than another game with more ad revenue. But a funny thing happened last night. The officials just let the boys play. And it was glorious. Enough whining and everything else The better team played harder, shot better and despite 16 turnovers, won the game.

So Hannibal likes it when a plan comes together and so do I. I predicted the series in six for the Celtics and despite what David Stern wants, I’m sticking by my guns. The Celtics ride the momentum of the last two games into LA, and Pierce wills his team to another Championship. Think game six two years ago.

We’ll have to wait till Tuesday.

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June 3, 2010 · 5:33 AM

Beat L.A. (Again)

Tonight they tip off at nine o’clock. Of course that means I’ll see the first half of the game and will be sound asleep as the game wraps up. Somehow the alarm goes off at 5:30 regardless of the end time of a sporting event. Be it a west coast Sox game, west coast Bruins game or even the NBA Finals, the alarm clock doesn’t care.

But what can we expect as Celtics fans?

The way I’m looking at this series as a whole is that the Lakers haven’t played against a team with super defense like the Celtics. They played run and gun with the Suns where there’s no defense involved. In fact the Lakers have held an opponent under 100 points just four times in 16 games this playoffs. Two were against Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City, twice against the Jazz in their sweep and zero times against the Celtics.

In the off-season the Celtics went out and convinced ‘Sheed to come to Boston. He was supposed to be their sixth man off the bench that would stretch the floor against opponents with his ability to hit from outside and play the post. Well the regular season came and went without the fan base seeing much of that post presence or defense. But come playoff time it’s been night and day. He’s been a huge difference maker defensively.

On the west coast, the Lakers traded for Ron Artest. Artest is a great defender but isn’t the scorer he was earlier in his career. He had a better regular season that Rasheed Wallace, but in the post season he hasn’t been the difference maker that Wallace has been. He’s been overshadowed by the great play of Kobe and Aids Face Gasol.

The “X” factor for the Celtics I think will be Kendrick Perkins ability to stay in the games. He’s one technical away from being suspended from a game. I don’t think with Perk on the sidelines it helps the Celtics chances when the Lakers can put three 6′ 11″ guys out there at the same time.

I guess the good news for the Celtics in that match-up is that they went small a few times in 2008 with Posey on the floor and it seemed that the Lakers didn’t have an answer for it. Let’s hope with the emergence of Nate Robinson in the last series, if the team tries to go small, they can repeat the 2008 success.

I called the Celtics in six in my previous column this week and I’m sticking by my guns. I say a split in LA to start and then the Lakers steal one in Boston (possibly on the aforementioned possible Perkins suspension) but the Celtics head out west and win game six.

Back tomorrow with a recap.

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June 18, 2008 · 9:11 AM

Welcome To Titletown!!!

I thought I wrote somewhere on this blog that I thought the C’s would whoop Los Angeles like they beat Atlanta at home in Game Seven of the first round. Apparently I didn’t because I couldn’t find anything corroborating my story.

But it doesn’t matter because banner 17 is getting raised to the rafters.

What an absolute blowout. The Lakers lived up to their name so beloved in Boston; The Fakers. Kobe, Phil, Sasha, Walton, fuck them all! Go home and cry, or rape whatever your prerogative happens to be.

Pierce is the NBA Finals MVP which is great given his years of hardship with the team. More importantly the Big Three all have rings!

NOW ROLL THE TAPE!

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