Lakers-Celtics Game 5: That's why you kick a team when it's down

The Beginning:

I hope the members of the Los Angeles Lakers failed to get a good night's sleep last night. I hope their dreams were haunted by the ghosts of opportunities past. Opportunities that they could have capitalized on, but failed to do so because, well, because that requires too much work.

Game 5 wasn't a lost opportunity. Game 5 was an expected result. Not expected in the sense that it was how we thought the game would play out beforehand (because I sure as hell could have found a better use of my time if I expected that to happen). But, it's expected that, over the course of a 7 game series, there will be a game in which one team plays well and the other team plays poorly. It's how the Lakers won game 1. That's just generally how basketball works. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't. If you don't, and your opponent does, tough cookies.

There's just one problem: The Celtics didn't have it in Game 4, and they still won. If, at some point over the next week, the Celtics raise the Larry O'Brien in Staples Center as the Southland collectively vommits, the Lakers will not look upon last night's game with a ton of regret. They will look at game 4 ... and they will look at game 2, because those are the games the Lakers could have won. Those are the games the Lakers should have won. Those were the games the Lakers failed to win, because, despite actually winning a championship, they still have failed to learn what the phrase "championship effort" really means

The Rest:

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2010/6/14/1517270/lakers-celtics-game-5-thats-why?ref=yahoo

The Ending:

But therein lies the problem. Yes, the Lakers have two home games, and yes, this is what's supposed to happen in a 7 game series. The problem is that the NBA Finals script doesn't actually come pre-written. The Celitcs can smell a championship. It looks as if they have played the Rope-A-Dope strategy to perfection, all that's needed is one final knockout blow. They have two chances to have another game like last night's, two chances to have everything click in their favor. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but these guys are champions for a reason, and have a decent chance to pull off the feat.

The Lakers now have a very simple equation put in front of them: Win or fail. There are no more 2nd chances, no more respites. They no longer have a fall back. I have no idea whether that will help or hurt them. Over the past two years, they've always won when they needed to, but they've never needed to like this. We don't know how they'll respond to the pressure, because this pressure is brand new, even to the defending champions. Pressure can make diamonds, but it can also make lungs collapse. We know Kobe Bryant is made of diamonds, but his teammates will remain a mystery until the deed is done, one way or another. All there is to do now is watch the pressure gauge rise, and see what happens.