That’s Right, Iceman…The Celtics Are Dangerous
By Matt Richardson
Some further reflections on Game 2 of the Finals…
Shades of Game 5 in the Eastern Conference Finals, anyone? With the Celtics up by twenty-something with 7 minutes left to go, I was already counting the “W” and looking at the 2-0 lead heading to LA. My mind wandered to thoughts about what would change when the series moved out west. I concluded that Kobe would find his stroke at home. That Boston’s bench (America, meet Leon Powe; Leon Powe, America) wouldn’t play as well. That the Kobettes would play with more confidence. That there would not be a +28 disparity in free throw attempts.
The problem was that the Celtics players apparently were sharing some of the same thoughts, hence the complete breakdown in the final seven minutes. In the aftermath of that ugly stretch, we’re going to hear a lot about how champions make runs like the Lakers did, not surrender such runs. And we’re going to hear about how the Celtics provided the Lakers with confidence, and perhaps mentally allowed them back into this series. Don’t believe any of it. That celebrated Lakers team that made the dramatic fourth quarter run was the same team that got tuned by the Celtics for the other forty minutes of the game. Did the Lakers’ intrinsic talent suddenly show up with 8 minutes to play? Or, more likely, did the Celtics get up by a gaudy 24, consider the game over, and basically stop playing hard? I believe the latter, and while that is not entirely good, it’s eminently more curable than the former scenario. And, as noted in this space yesterday, there are no moral victories in the playoffs. The Celtics are up 2-0 in a best of 4 series. Boston needs to win 2 of 5 remaining games, while the Lakers need to win 4 of those 5 remaining games. Call me crazy but I like those odds. Besides, if the Celtics go on to win the title, nobody is going to remember that they nearly coughed up a 24 point lead in 8 minutes. It will simply be remembered that they won Game 2.
Also, expanding on this notion that allowing the fourth quarter run gave the Lakers players confidence: It might have. I won’t argue that. At this point, the Lakers will assuredly take whatever rallying point they can find. But what do you think the Celtics’ players are thinking? To a man, I’d guess, they feel they were kicking the crap out of the Lakers until they stopped trying, and then the Lakers got back in it. This is not intimidating to the Celtics. Rather, it’s a lesson learned: namely, that the Lakers, above anything else, are a team that can get hot and score points in bunches. Take your foot off their neck at your own peril. It’s a useful lesson for sure. Just don’t read too much more into it. If the Lakers’ players choose to believe the run was something they accomplished rather than something the Celtics allowed, they are deluding themselves.
As has been discussed in this forum and elsewhere, the Celtics don’t fit the conventional “champion” template. Their best player does not necessarily step up when they need him. They can be inconsistent and downright ugly at times on offense, and Paul Pierce frequently has to bails them out. They’re at their best when playing great defense, which in turn feeds their offense. On their really good nights, they get big contributions from random bench players. In Boston, by now we’re accustomed to this identity and recognize it as our own. The Celtics’ trademark wins are close affairs where they make one or two more plays than the other guys, plays that usually involve James Posey flying out of bounds, Kevin Garnett swatting a layup attempt or Ray Allen taking a charge. Remember in Top Gun when Goose described Iceman’s style, concluding with: “Eventually you get bored, frustrated, make a mistake, and then he’s got you…” That’s basically how the Celtics play. Nationally, I think fans and experts alike who are unfamiliar with the Celtics are struggling to reconcile their evident flaws with their more subtle strengths. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for this excessive national wave of Lakers love.
Other thoughts:
The Lakers don’t play great defense, they don’t rebound particularly well and they are not very physical. Oh, and they float in and out of the vaunted Triangle Offense apparently based on whimsy. Other than that, they are damned scary.
I don’t ever remember Paul Pierce ever playing this calmly on offense. He seems to be in complete control at all times, knowing exactly where he is going. His 5 footer in the lane with 2 minutes left was a perfect example. Oh by the way, Pierce and Posey scored Boston’s last 9 points, including going 4-4 on the game clinching free throws.
My wife and mother in law guessed that the Garden held 35,000 and 40,000 people respectively. I think the place looks bigger in HD.
Early in the first both Van Gundy and Jackson object to the fouls being called on Kobe, feeling they were too soft for playoff basketball. Imagine that, two former Knicks objecting to fouls being called. Clearly Ray Allen’s sternum was not cracked on that elbow, so no way is it a foul.
In the third quarter as the Lakers were falling further and further behind, they came out of a time out during which Jackson evidently told them to be more aggressive. Lamar Odom immediately took the ball at the top of the key and went barreling towards the hoop, getting whistled for a charge. You could see that one coming a mile away. In related news, I’ve been waiting to see this new and improved Odom I keep hearing about. So far he looks like the same old “not nearly as good as he thinks he is or people think he should be” guy that he’s always been.
Good to see old friend Antoine Walker in the crowd looking relaxed and relatively fit. And sporting a plain white tee shirt complemented by a $40,000 wristwatch. Gunpoint hold ups will apparently not convince him that five figure timepieces are excessive.
Mandatory anti-jinx prediction: The Celtics will come back to Boston down 3-2 and Kobe will have scored approximately 200 points in 3 games.
