Kobe 3 fouls- just pushed Paul right over.
Not looking good for LA, down 12 at the break. They say the regular season doesn’t matter, but i don’t know. Boston handled LA pretty well during the regular season and i’m starting to believe it’s just a bad matchup for them.
The truth 4/4 3 point land, LA down 16 3rd quarter.
LA are playing SHIT defensive, too many uncontested lay ups and open shots for the Cs. Maybe its because Boston have 3 players that need to be doubled.
Boston beat LA during regular season before the Gasol trade. LA is struggling because Kobe is not nailing down shots.
Simple statistics at halftime:
Boston shot 14-19 from the free throw line.
LA shot 2-2.
Powe shot 9 free throws, Kobe Bryant shot 1.
You don’t get this kind of disparity in favor of a time that plays aggressive, physical (read: fouls a lot) defense by accident. Simply bad officiating would be bad in both directions.
There’s an obvious conclusion–the same reason why Lebron James and Cleveland didn’t win the series against Boston.
For sure, LA will stage a comeback in the second half…and the officials will make sure that the “right” result occurs.
BOSTON UP BY 20
Your right, but they did have bynum. It’s just a bad matchup for LA. Bryant didn’t play well against boston during the regular season either. This one will be over in 4 or 5. Vladimir radmanovic is a joke also, the lakers have the lead down to 9 and he has 4 of the most ridiculous possessions ever.
End of third quarter numbers:
Boston up by 22.
Boston shot 26 free throws.
LA shot 4 free throws.
Sure looks rigged to me.
Haha…they say stats don’t lie. IMO, the nba is the most shady league.
its still a series until you lose on ur home court.
Let’s stay away from consipiracy theory’s here, teams get to the foul line a lot more than other teams for numerous reasons- not because “the refs are out to get them”
HOLY SHIT 29-9 run by LA in the 4th quarter. Smart moves by coach Jackson to play 4 3 point shooters. I said earlier that’s the only way the Lakers can win- by great 3 point shooting- Boston hold on for 6 point win.
Yes… the reason Boston is getting to the foul line is because they’re attacking the ring. LA are just shooting 12-17 foot jump shots of course you won’t get to the line like that. Regardless Boston shot the ball at a better % than LA. They’re playing better basketball.
The black mamba will see ur message.
Kobe is soooo pissed! I wonder if hes going to try to do too much now and veer from the offense.
This could be theoretically good for the Celtics. At higher-than-team-average assist to field goal ratios, the Lakers are averaging 118 points per 100 possessions during the regular season and post season combined and at the lower-than-team-average of assist to field goal ratio, the Lakers are averaging 110 points per 100 possessions during the regular season and postseason combined.
Still great offense but the disparity is there. Thus the Lakers score more when the ball is moved, not when one player is scoring off the dribble. Against the Celtics this disparity will only be greater.
Rondo had a great game. Powe obviously too and how about PJ Brown with a +20 +/- score.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the Celtics will win 1 out of 3 in LA, winning Game 4 and end the series in game 6 in Beantown!
The scary thing for the Lakers is that KG hasn’t really shot the ball well yet. He needs to fire on the road plus Ray Allan needs more looks.
Celtics Squash Late Lakers Rally for 2-0 Lead
By TOM WITHERS
Posted Jun 9 2008 1:14AM
Celtics 108, Lakers 102 (F)
Paul Pierce scored 28 points and unknown Leon Powe scored 21 points as the Celtics held off a remarkable Los Angeles rally for a 108-102 win over the Lakers on Sunday.
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
Paul Pierce, bad knee and all, came up big again in Game 2 with 28 points and a key block late to preserve Boston’s victory.
Boston 108, L.A. Lakers 102
BOSTON, June 8 (AP) – Banner No. 17 is halfway to the rafters. The Celtics are two wins from another NBA championship.
And maybe a little lucky to be there.
Paul Pierce, darting around the parquet floor with ease, scored 28 points, Boston’s defense mobbed Kobe Bryant long enough and unknown Leon Powe scored 21 points as the Celtics held off a remarkable Los Angeles rally for a 108-102 win over the Lakers on Sunday night. The Celtics have a 2-0 lead in these trip-down-memory-lane NBA finals.
The Celtics had to work every second to get the win.
The Lakers trailed by 24 with less than 8 minutes to go, but pulled to 104-102 on two free throws by Bryant with 38.4 seconds left. But Pierce made two free throws, then blocked a jumper by Sasha Vujacic, and James Posey made two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to ice it for Boston.
"I think we got kind of complacent with the lead,’’ Pierce said. "We weren’t staying aggressive. We let them pick up their pressure. We stopped guarding. We got to take a lesson from this fourth quarter to keep playing regardless of the score and finish the game.’’
Boston was 27-for-38 from the line, while the Lakers were 10-for-10.
Pierce wasn’t slowed by a sprained right knee suffered in the series opener, when he was carried from the court and plopped into a wheelchair. The Boston captain paced the Celtics, who are back in the finals for the first since 1987, when Larry Bird was the main man and gasoline cost 91 cents per gallon.
As usual, Boston’s Big Three – Pierce, Ray Allen (17 points) and Kevin Garnett (17) – were the ringleaders but Powe, a second-year reserve had the game of his career, adding his 21 points in 15 minutes that may make him a Celtics fan-favorite for life.
Powe, who played a total of 68 seconds during one stretch of 13 games during the season, scored six points to close a 15-2 run ending the third quarter that gave the Celtics a 22-point lead, a burst had the Lakers California dreaming. At one point in the fourth quarter, Boston fans discarded the familiar chants of "Beat L.A.’’ for cries of "Le-on Powe!’’
Rajon Rondo had 16 assists and Garnett added 14 rebounds for the Celtics, back in the finals for the first time since 1987.
Game 3 is Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the Lakers are 8-0 in the postseason and have won 14 in a row at home since March 28. Bryant had better hope the rims there are a little kinder than the ones in TD Banknorth Garden.
"We knew we had to get this win this was a big win going out West,’’ Pierce said. "Our mind-set is to get Game 3 and try take away their confidence and win this series in L.A… We knew it was going to be tough, but nobody said it was going to be easy.’’
Bryant, who pledged to bounce back from a sub-par Game 1, scored 30 points – 13 in the fourth – on 11-of-23 shooting. In four losses to Boston this season, Bryant is just 35-of-93 from the field and can’t seem to get the same easy looks he enjoys against every other team.
Pau Gasol had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who were down 95-71 with 7:55 when they mounted a comeback that fell just short.
Bryant’s 3-pointer made it 102-91 and then the self-proclaimed "Black Mamba’’ slithered down the lane for two quick baskets that got the Lakers, who scored 41 points in the final 12 minutes, within 104-95. The Celtics, meanwhile, began to stand around on offense, thinking the game was in hand.
It was anything but.
After Vujacic hit a 3-pointer, Vladimir Radmanovic made a steal and dunk to make it 104-100 and Celtics fans, who had been dancing moments earlier, began to panic. None of Boston’s players seemed to want the ball as it moved around like a hot potato before Rondo missed a jumper with 44 seconds left.
Bryant’s free throws brought Los Angeles to 104-102 before Pierce slashed down the lane and got fouled by Derek Fisher. As a few of his teammates locked arms on the bench like a college team trying to advance in March, Pierce knocked down both foul shots. Then, on defense, he got just enough of Vujacic’s shot from the left wing with 14 seconds left.
Posey was fouled on the play and calmly made his two free throws. The Lakers rushed the ball down but missed on a couple jumpers, and when the final horn sounded, a collective sigh of relief rushed through the exits as the Celtics and their fans left the building confident, if not shaken.
Called "unstoppable’’ by Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Bryant got off to another slow start. He missed his first two shots, one an uncontested layup underneath and was unable to get the looks he wanted as the Celtics followed the MVP around like a pack of hungry wolves on the hunt.
Bryant was just 1-of-4 from the floor when he was called for pushing off on Allen – his second personal foul – and spent the final 1:59 of the opening period a few seats away from Jackson. Soon, Bryant was joined by Lamar Odom and Jackson was forced to give his reserves extended early minutes.
They weren’t good ones.
The Lakers’ heralded bench bunch struggled, and the Celtics took advantage. Trailing by two after one, Boston opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run, capped by Pierce’s 3-pointer. As bad as Los Angeles was playing, the Lakers hung around and closed within 41-37 on Gasol’s three-point play.
But Pierce knocked down another 3, Allen followed with one of his own and the Celtics closed the half with a 13-5 burst to open a 54-42 halftime lead.
Notes: Jackson, a renowned world traveler who often reviews trips to his destinations, was asked for an overview of his extended stay in Boston, where the weather this week ranged from chilly, October-like conditions to sweltering heat. "It’s very green,’’ Jackson deadpanned, drawing laughter at the reference to the Celtics’ primary colors. "Boston Commons, the Public Gardens. Very green.’’ … Among the celebrities in attendance: Boston Red Sox Curt Schilling – wearing a Larry Bird jersey, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, NFL quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Vince Young and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Lester, a cancer survivor who recently pitched a no-hitter, was honored during a timeout in the second quarter.
As Phil Jackson pointed out, this is likely the most biased officiated game ever seen in the NBA Finals. The way I see it, the Lakers should refuse to play the rest of the series unless the League:
(a) Fires all 3 officials before the announced start of Game 3;
(b) Posts a performance bond to guarantee even-handed officiating for the remainder of the series.
Of course, they won’t because the Lakers are an extremely profitable franchise. But given similar disparities in the past (see the Miami championship season 2 years ago, and not just the finals–I’m talking about the Miami-New Jersey series as well), the NBA official who admitted throwing games for gambling interests last year, the US Congress should take a hard look at the NBA’s antitrust exemption.
The meet officials at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York didn’t tell Usain Bolt that he had to get into the blocks with his right hand tied behind his back, because meet management had decided that Tyson Gay was going to win the race…but it wasn’t an NBA game.
Whistle disparity in Game 2 leaves Lakers feeling foul
AdandeBy J.A. Adande
ESPN.comUpdated: June 9, 2008
Phil Jackson did not enjoy that his entire team shot three fewer free throws than Leon Powe's 13.BOSTON – There are two game stories I hate to write: the almost-comeback and anything to do with the officiating. Game 2 of the NBA Finals was both.
It’s hard not to mention the refs when one team shoots 38 free throws and the other shoots 10, which is what happened with the Celtics and the Lakers. Lakers coach Phil Jackson was itching to talk about it, but knew it could lead only to trouble. So he came out to address the media and said he had no opening statement. Then he used the first question as an excuse to make a statement.
When asked what he was most struck by, the Lakers’ fourth-quarter rally that cut a 24-point deficit down to two, or their inability to do anything in the first three quarters, he replied, “I’m more struck at the fact that Leon Powe gets more foul shots than our whole team does in 14 minutes of play. That’s ridiculous.”
He added: “I’ve never seen a game like that in all these years I’ve coached in the Finals. Unbelievable.”
So that’s a story line. So is the Lakers’ 41-point fourth quarter.
The stories should be the Celtics asserting themselves and taking control of this series, the lack of production from the Lakers’ bench, the way the Celtics’ defense has prevented Kobe Bryant from turning the Finals into the victory lap for his MVP season.
But you’ll notice a certain theme developing when you hear Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic say, “You can’t do anything, because if you do anything they’re going to go to the line. You have to adjust to the calls.”
And Luke Walton saying, “It was a foul every single time down. We never were able to get into that flow, at that pace that we like to play at.”
And even Bryant managed to sneak in a complaint.
“We’ve got to get timely rebounds and we have to stop them in transition knocking down those 3s and we’ll be fine,” he said. “A free throw or two wouldn’t hurt.”
Bryant was hampered by early foul trouble, the first when he tangled with Ray Allen as Allen was coming off a screen away from the ball, the second when he elbowed Allen while posting him up, causing an exasperated Allen to look at official Bob Delaney, who finally blew his whistle. {because he knew what he was paid to do?}
Every little reach and touch by the Lakers seemed to draw a call. Whatever happened to letting 'em play in the playoffs?
It doesn’t necessarily need to be as rough-and-tumble as the Kevin McHale clothesline in '84. That went unpunished beyond an ordinary foul call. If it occurred in this version of the NBA, “I think there might have been some games lost,” NBA commissioner David Stern said Sunday night.
But it’s always better when the officials recede to the background, as was the case in Game 1.
Not even the extended make-up calls throughout the second half evened the balance in the Lakers’ minds. There was an unnecessary foul on Ray Allen, a questionable offensive foul on Rajon Rondo and Lamar Odom rode P.J. Brown out of bounds on a rebound attempt with no call.
Most blatant of all, Vladimir Radmanovic took so many steps he looked like he was training for the Boston Marathon when he went in for the breakaway dunk that cut the Celtics’ lead to four.
The Lakers had their breaks, too, and couldn’t capitalize.
And when they needed a defensive stop that could give them one possession with a chance to tie or win at the end, they couldn’t deliver. Paul Pierce got into the lane – just as he had all night – and drew a foul on Fisher with 22.8 seconds remaining and nine seconds left on the shot clock. Let the record show that Fisher felt this call was legit.
“I fouled him,” Fisher said. “Once he turned the corner and went to the left, I thought he had an open lane, so I wanted to provide some sort of resistance to him.”
He didn’t see Pau Gasol coming over to provide help. If Fisher had seen his teammate, he would have let Pierce try his luck against Gasol.
“But I tried to get my hand in there real quick [to] try to poke [the ball] out and got caught with my hand in the cookie jar.”
Pierce made both free throws and it was a four-point Boston lead in what could have become one of the most memorable games in the history of this rivalry. Instead it’s just another game, one that didn’t thrill either side.
“Of course we’re not happy with how it ended,” Boston’s James Posey said. “But we’ll take the win.”
That’s the sentiment you always hear in this type of game. It wasn’t the wire-to-wire dominance that would have us all genuflecting to the Celtics’ greatness. There wasn’t a complete collapse that would have us wondering if these Celtics are fatally flawed in the fourth quarter.
Just a victory.
The Lakers felt they didn’t do enough things right, and the Celtics outplayed them.
“They deserved to win tonight,” Vujacic said. {obviously trying to avoid being fined by the league}
The Lakers got a better effort from Pau Gasol, who went aggressively to the basket from the get-go and scored six first-quarter points that probably made the 27 Spanish reporters glad they made the trip. Gasol finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
And the Lakers did have that 41-point fourth, which enabled Bryant to get to a that’s-more-like-it total of 30 points.
“We did some things better in terms of executing and spacing down the stretch,” Fisher said. “And I think it freed up Kobe to get some open looks, and we also had some other guys get a chance to get some open looks.”
Still, Jackson said it’s impossible to bring that fourth-quarter momentum back to Game 3 in Los Angeles.
“It’s 2,500 miles away,” Jackson said. “It’s too far to carry it.”
That’s how it is with almost-comebacks. They won’t be talking about this one on Tuesday, let alone 20 years from now.
It’s hard not to mention the refs when one team shoots 38 free throws and the other shoots 10, which is what happened with the Celtics and the Lakers
When you just shoot jump shots you’re not going to be at the foul line. LA kept shooting jump shots !!!
What is Phil Jackson talking about sore loser ? In game 5 of the western conference against the spurs, Barry was clearly fouled whilst shooting the three and yet the foul was not called. You didn’t hear him complain then? When the call went in his favour.
Now I really hope Boston win on LA home court. Too rub salt into the wounds.
Do you understand that shooting jump shots won’t get you to the free throw line. Boston got fouled because they where attacking the ring.
LA defense was pathetic in the 3rd quarter, Powe ran the court and dunked on LA. The Lakers need to start playing better basketball and stop bitching about the refs.