Celtics smacked around by Lakers in Game 6 (89-67) 6/15/2010

That was a plain old beat down. It happens.

I think this team understands history and they know that Thursday Night may be the last time they are together as the "Big 3" and may also be the last time they are together in the NBA finals. KG will not allow this team to go out like that. Paul Pierce will not go quietly into the off season without digging down a lot deeper than he did last night. Same with Ray and Rajon.

If the Celtics lose on Thursday, it will be in a very close, very hard fought game. They will not just roll over like they did last night.

If I were a betting man, I would put EVERYTHING I OWN on the Celtics to win on Thursday. They have not had two bad games in a row this entire playoffs - they wont allow it to happen now. Trust.

traveling and working today...it's iffy if i will be able to watch game 7. After all of everything. It's funny how shit works out.

I hate that Perk fell like that. Just AWFUL luck and a smack in the face right in the face from the hoop Gods.

But we still have everything we need to win Thursday. The Lakers will just EXPECT to win and all we have to do is go in and take their lunch money one last time. I think we will.

Not blaming the refs but that was pretty bad. Gasol just got away with 25 fouls. And Artest elbow to Rondo's chin was a flagrant 2. If the nba looks at that and does nothing in a game where a guy got hurt well then it's time for some frontier justice.

Only saw some mop up time in the 4th by the time we got back from Marcus's games. ANd now we have to play about 2 hours away again on Thursday too, sort of sucks a bit but thats the way it is. No AM radio coverage but Marcus kept up with updates via cell phone. Guess we'll have to do the same on Thursday too.

In not seeng virtually any of the game it's impossible for me to make too many observations but as has been pointed out the defense even without Perk held the lakers under 100 and to a relatively low FG% to boot.

With all on the line for one last stand, can't say I really like our chances but we been run over by a bus before and dusted ourselves off and came back and won. We can do it again to with or without Perk.

beat

Speaking of getting smacked, Artest is simply a dirty player. If I was at the bottom of the roster, I would beg Doc to let me go in and show Artest what an elbow to the face really looks like.
He needs to be taught a lesson. It's not acceptable.

I was hoping we'd win this one, but to be honest, I didn't really believe we'd beat LA 3x straight.

I thought the Laker defense in the first and second quarters set the tone. Their energy levels were sky-high, from Kobe down to Sasha. They contested every pass, which resulted in steals and tips. They won just about every 50-50 ball. Our shots were hurried because their defense was taking us down to a few seconds left on the shot clock. For our part, we executed poorly and didn't run plays as well as we have in previous games. A lot of Rondo or somebody up on top with the ball, looking for someone to pop out and help them out. Not enough screen setting to free up a shooter like Ray or Paul. Just "please come out to the 3pt line so I can pass it to you, I'm stuck here". There was no crispness in our game.

1. When Sasha and Artest are 5-10 from 3, the Lakers are very, very difficult to beat. Fortunately that happens once a blue moon. Unfortunately, last night the moon was blue. Still, I'd like to see them try and do that again on Thursday.

2. Remember the 1978 World Series, where Reggie Jackson saw a ball being thrown at him (trying to finish a double play) and he turned his head away so it wouldn't be called "interference" but stuck his ass out so the ball would hit him and carom into the outfield? That's how I feel about Artest's foul on Rondo. He saw Rondo was running at him. He had his arm out in front of him to stop him, he saw the ball go up and turned his head, NOT his body, and then bent his arm but left the elbow sticking out at face level.

3. The news today is that Perk has sprained MCL and PCL ligaments in his right knee. He's getting an MRI today to see if he can play. If he can't, we are in deep doodoo. The irony of our center not playing with sprained ligaments but Bynum playing with torn cartilage isn't lost on me. Granted, ligaments are much more serious than cartilage. It's also ironic that after all the talk about our age as a team and how carefully Doc protected them all season, that one of the youngest players on the team goes down within sight of the Promised Land.

4. A lot was made of how badly we were outrebounded. Well, when you shoot 33% from the field for the game, the other guys are going to get a ton of rebounds. An easy fix for this is to execute your offense, hit your shots and don't blow bunnies.

5. We got 84 fga. That's good, that's the kind of number we want on that. The Lakers only got 79 fga. If our fg% comes back up to the land of the living, we're in much, much better shape. More fga, better fg%. That means more opportunity to score points, more points per opportunity and fewer rebounds for them since they're taking the ball out of the bottom of the net instead of off the rim.

6. The refs didn't go out for dinner after the game, because they were full after eating their whistles. A total of 29 ftas for the game. After seeing games where Cleveland alone got 34 fta in 3 different games, this was very strange to see. Extremely physical game. Their energy level compensated for it, ours didn't.

7. A VERY mediocre game from Rondo. I don't think he ran good offensive sets, I don't think he defended particularly well. He was not aggressive, he did not attack the Laker defense in either the half nor fullcourt. We had 9 fast break points and not too many non-fastbreak-but-transition baskets either. We can't win like that.

One of the announcers got it right, I think. He said "the Lakers are playing like they know they can't lose a game. The Celtics are playing like they know they have a game to lose". In the local parlance, we'd say the Lakers had ganas, and ganas wins games for you. Well, guess what? We lost, and now we don't have a game to lose anymore either. Now, where's our ganas?

Obviously, I wanted the C's to win, but I'm a bit conflicted on the "how". Is it better to get blown out and just shrug it off as being an aberration, or is it better to have it be heartbreakingly close?

The Lakers were in complete control in game 1 and were feeling understandably good about themselves. We won the next game. Will history repeat itself?

I'm going to have to stay away from spicy foods for the next two days. My stomach is already churning.

bob

.

Good analysis, dboss. After each Celtics win, I've allowed myself to celebrate for approximately 8 seconds. Then it's on to the next game. Same goes for losses.

They're in Hollywood, and I bet they're being treated to a feature film that will convert 48 minutes into the length of War & Peace and could well have a similar plot.

Go Celtics in Game 7.

Sam