I wasn't expecting that. At all.
First surprise of the night was the play of Ron Artest. The guy played under control, with the offense, no crazy shots and more importantly play physical defense on Paul Pierce. That not only took Pierce out of the game ( still got 24 points and 9 rebs) but the entire Lakers team fed off of that energy. Kobe doesn't have that effect. Truly a great game by Ron Ron.
The KG- Gasol matchup we were all expecting was like watching bizarro Finals 2008. After halftime that is. Gasol still shit his calzones a little bit when he saw Garnett but after intermission ( I'm guessing Ron Ron or Phil pretty much told him "Stop crying and shivering you puto! He's playing in one leg. Fuck it, Bynum is in better shape!!" or something like that). The final two quarters Gasol just took it to KG, no contest. Gasol 2010 vs one legged KG is not a matchup, is like Lebron posting up Larry King in their little P-I-G game. Too bad Sheed can't be kept under control for entire quaters 'case Gasol looked waaaaay more hesitant against Sheed. He just doesn't like contact.
A lot of thing went wrong for the Celtics in the logic of " they didn't get beat, they lost the game".
Ray Allen foul trouble took him completely out of the game. Rondo didn't seem all there, Lakers are too long for him, we just need to give him some time. The main reason they lost , besides the Gasol schooling KG, was that they didn't play with the same intensity. No sense of urgency. No diving for loose balls. The second half -- minus some 6 solid minutes in the fourth quater where they almost seemed to start kicking it in -- all the Celtics were like expecting some sort of energy explosion from Rondo or Piercer that never happened.
Can't believe I'm saying these but the tougher, meaner team last night were the Lakers. If you think about it makes sense. The Lakers have one the more physical wing defenders in Artest ( which is good as long as he is under control) and the C's have their head "jackal" ( as Phil Jackson referred to Scottie Pippen in the 2000 Conference Finals) KG playing in less than half of what he is (was). This is up to Paul Pierce to pick up the slack not only being the vocal leader KG was supposed to be but also taking his aggressiveness against Artest another notch. He can't not allow Artest to treat him like he was Kevin Durant. You are a big boy PP, step up!
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