I’ve heard lots of people calling last night’s 92-86 Laker victory over the Celtics a “big win”, “signature win”, etc… but I’m not really seeing why. Aside from the fact that people will use terms like those every time a good team beats another good team, what makes this game important? I’m not taking anything away from the Lakers, they played really well and earned the victory, I’m just not seeing what this win does for them. I suppose it’s probably a nice confidence builder for the time being as the they haven’t won many games against top teams in either conference this year, but do you really think anyone is going to be thinking about this midseason game when the playoffs roll around? Both the Celtics and Lakers feel that they can beat each other, as well as any of the league’s other 28 teams, as they should. Don’t get me wrong here, I was excited to watch last night’s game because I thought it had the potential to be a really good one (it turned out ok… decent game). All I’m saying is that I don’t think anyone should read too much into LA’s win or Boston’s loss here. I think the fact that the season series is tied at 1-1 is the better thing to look at. Either of these teams are capable of winning a championship, and I hate to say it, but I don’t really care who wins the regular season game in February. I understand that fans want to care, and I know it’s more fun to act like it’s a “big game”… but unless the Lakers earn home-court advantage over the Cs by one game and they end up meeting in the finals… I don’t see this game (or any other regular season game) having any impact on what happens this spring. For those of you who are reading this thinking I’m a damn lunatic: if the Lakers suddenly run off like 10 straight wins and start playing like that machine of a team that we all know they can be on a given night… then I’ll eat this entire paragraph and admit that this was a BIG game. I don’t see that happening, though. The Lakers aren’t some newly assembled or unproven team… they are what they are, and they will continue to play how they play, “big” win over the Celtics or not.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap, Ray Allen Breaks A Record Edition: A lot of people were really excited about this. I’m talking counting down since the season began excited. I think it’s cool for Ray and I’m happy for the guy, but it didn’t really do much for me. That being said:
- Highlight Recap, Non-Historical Edition: Here’s the top five, that’s all I’ve got. What’s with the new background music? It sounds like some African Safari Discovery Channel sh!t or something. I was ready for the video to cut to a scene of a lion hunting a zebra by the time it reached play number four. Oh, and ROFLMAO @ number three. That would happen to Kendrick Perkins. F@ckin’ scrub.
- So… you know the Lakers won, and you’ve read my thoughts on the “big” game aspect of it. My thoughts on how it actually went down? Well, the Celtics got off to a quick start, but they were pretty bad in the second half. I thought Kevin Garnett could’ve helped Boston by being more assertive down the stretch. He had a losuy game from the start, though (4-13), which is likely why he passed up some looks. Ray Allen got into some foul trouble, which hurt the Cs because it forced them to play Von Wafer, who had no chance to guard Kobe Bryant. That’s nothing against Von Wafer, by the way. When you’re an end-of-the-bench guy trying to stop Kobe, the officials are going to destroy whatever prayer you had of doing a half-decent job. Von picked up five fouls in 20 minutes, and I felt bad for the guy on one play. He had a beautiful block on a Pau Gasol dunk attempt, but was called for a foul, of course. I guess that’s enough yapping about the losing team. The Lakers won this game because Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom played big. Those three alone nearly beat the entire Celtics team on the glass, combining for 31 boards. Six of Odom’s twelve were offensive, which is huge. He also swatted three shots and knocked down a three-pointer that helped the Lakers to build their fourth quarter lead. Gasol and Bynum combined for 26 points on 14-23 from the field. LA outscored Boston 50-32 in the paint. Kobe Bryant was in “get the teammates involved mode”, and as you can see, they stepped up and got the job done. Even though he played a relatively passive game, Kobe was effective scoring the ball when he wanted to. He made 9 of 17 shots on his way to 23 points. Eight of his 23 came in the final five minutes of the fourth as the Lakers extended their lead from three to as many as nine. I think the Lakers played exactly how they should play every game: they got the ball to the bigs early and often, used their size to their advantage on both ends, and Kobe came through and finished it off at the end. Unfortunately for them, this LA team only seems to show up from time to time. We’re all aware of the great debate: does Kobe enter hero mode because his teammates have a habit of not showing up on a nightly basis, or do Kobe’s teammates struggle because he occasionally feels the need to be a hero? As usual, I’m steering clear of that arguement, but I expect little to change. The Lakers are gonna be the same ol’ Lakers… we’ll see which of their two personalities shows up in The Big Apple tonight.
- I feel like I just hit you with the Great Wall of Text… so here’s a nice visual from the Dallas @ Denver game:
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Not only was it a thrilling ending (for which I had dozed off)… this one was quite a game. The Nuggets jumped out to an early lead behind 18 first quarter points from Chauncey Billups (30 in the game), who was drilling three after three (four of ‘em in the quarter). Down 33-19 entering the second, Dallas was within one point at the half. The Mavs utilized a zone defense (which they often use so that Berea/Terry/Kidd can all be on the floor), and it really disrupted the Nuggets. Denver turned the ball over five times in the period, resulting in a bunch of easy Dallas buckets on run outs. The Nuggets had cooled off a bit and given up the lead within the first two minutes of the third, but were kept afloat by 11 points from Carmelo Anthony in the period. They trailed by four entering the fourth, but failed to score a single point in the first three minutes of the final period, resulting in an 11-point defecit. They hadn’t really closed the gap at the 2:10 mark, still trailing by nine. After that point, though, the Nuggets went on an 11-1 run to finish the game. The Mavs missed all three of the shots they were able to get off during that stretch while Denver made four of five, including two three-pointers. The fourth make was obviously Afflolo’s game winner that you saw in the video. Why was Afflolo the one to take the big shot? Notice that Melo (42 points on the night) wasn’t even on the court for the final possession. He fouled out with 19 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki, who clunked a freethrow at the 19 second mark, had this to say: ”Afflalo was basically a non-factor for three quarters and all of a sudden he throws everything in that he got.” As mad as Dirk sounds, he’s right. Afflolo scored 19 of his 24 in the fourth. Talk about clutch.
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Golden State at Phoenix wasn’t such a good game. Aside from 2-0, the Warriors never led all night long, and they trailed by 23 at the break. The second half was basically 24 minutes of garbage time as the Dubs never made a run. Phoenix had a 12 percent edge in field goal percentage and doubled the Warriors’ three-point total (12-6). Twenty-three players saw the court in this game, and every single one of them scored at least one bucket. Said David Lee: “It was bad from start to finish, similar to the last game we played them. I feel like we got outplayed at all five positions from the start of the game to the end.”
Quote of the Day: Ray Allen on his record…
“I almost felt a little embarrassed because there was so much attention surrounding this 3-point record. It was so overwhelming, but it was a great moment. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
Photo of the Day: Consolation prize for Celtics fans…
