Much to the dismay of the ESPN-Brain Trust the Celtics won game 1 of the NBA finals. Steven A. Smith must have been chokin' on his Cheetos, because down the stretch it was the Celtics that controlled the game and asserted themselves.
Most surprising was that the "Air-Penis" never got his grove on. Kobe's M.O. this playoffs has been deferring to his teammates until the game gets close. By picking his spots, Kobe boosts his team's confidence, while at the same time taking the focus off him. Then, when the game is on the line, Kobe takes over knowing late in the game teams will have no time to adjust. What Phil and Kobe didn't account for was that the Celtics play defense better than any team in the West. When Kobe went into atack-mode in the 3rd quarter, he found James Posey all up in his face. He had KG, Leon Powe, and P.J. Brown waiting for him in paint all night. The only shot he could get was fade-aways. The Lakers have not seen a defense like the Celtics this playoffs. The Celtics on the other hand had a Kobe-warm up when they faced Joe Johnson in the first round and LeBron in the second round. They spent 7 games trying to stop LeBron dfrom bull-dozing his way to the basket on every position of every quarter. When Kobe started the game passing the ball and defering to his teamates, the Celtics must have been snickering. They were expecting LeBron II and instead got the PG-13 version of Kobe. When Kobe tried to switch gears in the second half, he couldn't because the Celtics know how to guard a player of his caliber.
This was a crucial victory for the Celtics in terms of setting the tone for this series. Phil has never won a game won and lost a series, and the Lakers have never trailed in the playoffs this year. They are a flashy finess team that is unstoppable when they are on top. Now that the Celtics have dragged them into a 7-game, Easter Conference-style dogfight, there's a good chance they will crumble. Foreign players are soft and Kobe has PMS. The Celtics can handle adversity, Im not so sure the Lakers can. Advantage CELTICS.Source URL: https://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2008/06/celtics-wiz-on-lakers-in-game-1-victory.html
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