The Lakers managed to stay alive for another two days with their 103-98 victory on Sunday night. The Celtics set an NBA Playoff record with their ninth road loss of these playoffs.
Here are some news, notes and observations from Game Five.
1) The Third Quarter
For the first time in seven meetings against the Celtics this year, the Lakers outscored the Celtics in the third quarter. This was especially big considering the Celtics outscored the Lakers 30-16 in the second quarter to cut their seventeen-point first quarter deficit to three by halftime.
2) Jordan Farmar
The team that has had the highest-scoring reserve has won each game of the series thus far. Even though the Celtics bench outscored their Lakers counterparts, the highest scoring reserve for the game was Jordan Farmar with eleven points off the bench.
Farmar came up huge for the Lakers. At a time when it seemed that nobody could knock down an outside shot, Farmar was the only player who had success taking the ball to the basket. Part of that was due to Kevin Garnett's foul trouble but Farmar deserves credit nonetheless for coming up with big baskets to save the Lakers season.
3) He's still in the league?
Phil Jackson put Chris Mihm in the game for some inexplicable reason. In just three minutes of play Mihm committed one turnover and two fouls. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we won't be seeing Mihm in Game Six.
I'm curious as to why Jackson hasn't used Ira Newble in the series. After spending the first three games in street clothes, Jackson activated Newble for the last two games in place of DJ Mbenga.
With Kobe Bryant in foul trouble in the third quarter and Paul Pierce having his way with every Laker who tried to defend him, I'm surprised that he didn't give Newble at least a couple of minutes to see what he could do.
Newble spent the past seven years in the Eastern Conference and is definitely accustomed to the more physical style of play that's played in the east. I have a feeling we'll be seeing Newble on Tuesday night.
4) Where was Trevor Ariza?
In Thursday's game, Trevor Ariza scored six points, had five rebounds, one block and one steal in just nine minutes. So Phil Jackson rewards him on Sunday by giving him just one minute of action.
5) Fisher and Farmar in the same backcourt.
I can't recall another time this season when I saw Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar in the game at the same time. I still haven't figured out why it happened last night. It's not as if either of them were playing great defense.
Farmar's defense was downright pathetic. You can see the eyes of their opponents light up when they see him on the court. If he doesn't improve his defense he'll never be the future point-guard the Lakers envision him to be. He's certainly not going to learn how to play better defense in the forty-eight hours before the next game.
Today's Must Reads
That reminds me...
I don't think I've seen the Lakers take a charge in this entire series. I've seen them flop but I haven't seen them take a charge. You can't underestimate the value of a charge. Not only is it a turnover but it's also swings momentum and spreads through a team like a contagious disease.
6) One day versus two days.
Paul Pierce has definitely been the MVP of the series up to this point. But it must be pointed out, in light of Pierce's sprained knee, how different he plays when he has two days off between games as opposed to one day off.
In Game One, Pierce had 22 points with five days off between the end of the Conference Finals and the Finals.
In Game Two, he had 28 points with two days off between games.
In Game Three, he had six points with one day off and an airplane ride between games. Sure he was in foul trouble but he still played 32 minutes.
In Game Four, he had 20 points but a lot of that was because he only played 32 minutes in the previous game.
In Game Five, he had 38 points but he played all but just a few seconds of the entire game.
I'm anxious to see how Pierce plays tomorrow night after just one day off and another plane ride between games.
With Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo disappearing, Kendrick Perkins ailing, and Ray Allen now having the additional burden of his daughter's sudden illness, it seems like there's even more of a burden now on Pierce to carry the offensive load.
Kobe Bryant will make much more of a concerted effort to stay out of foul trouble so that he can spend more time guarding Pierce in the second half.
7) The Celtics inability to close.
The Celtics are now 3-3 in these playoffs when they have an opportunity to close out a series. The good news for them is that they are 2-0 at home and they have two chances to close out the series in Boston.
8) Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom
Gasol and Odom combined for 39 points and 24 rebounds on an impressive 70% shooting between them. If those two guys, along with Kobe Bryant, score 65 points like they did on Sunday, then the rest of the team need only score 35 points to put them in a position to win.
9) It's all about the defense.
When the Lakers play intense defense, as they did in the fourth quarter of Game Two, the first half of Game Four and the first quarter of Game Five, they are able to play their style of offense.
When they play matador defense, like they did in every other quarter of the series, then the Celtics have the ability to set up their brilliant half-court defense while the ball is falling through the net and the Lakers are in-bounding the ball.
There is a direct correlation in the series between bad offensive quarters by the Celtics and good offensive quarters by the Lakers, and it's not merely a coincidence.
If the Lakers play with the same defensive intensity as they did in the first half of Game Four and the first quarter of Game Five, then they'll have a chance to win on Tuesday night. If they have to play come-from-behind basketball at the end of the first quarter, then the game will be over after just twelve minutes.
10) Age and experience
The Celtics have dictated tempo throughout the series. It's not difficult to figure out which team has only one player over thirty and which one has nine players over thirty.
Despite their youth, lack of experience, and in-ability to dictate tempo, the Lakers are one horrible half of basketball away from being up 3-2 in the series.
This Lakers team has a five-year window considering how young they are. Their ability to bounce back after such a devastating loss was huge as far as the big picture is concerned.
Despite the Celtics ability to come back after falling down by big amounts, having to constantly play come-from-behind basketball still takes it's toll on a team.
This series is not over. The Celtics have a huge advantage going into Game Six. But should the Lakers manage to steal a win then all of the pressure will be on the Celtics in Game Seven.
The Lakers already have their backs against the wall knowing that one more loss means their season is over. The Celtics have to treat Game Six as if they are in the same position since the Lakers, by contrast, are 3-0 in these playoffs with an opportunity to close teams out.
Bonus note:
If you want to read a really bad article, check out RedSox Maniac's response to my article about Game Three. Rather than just respond to my article in the comments section like everybody else did, he decided to use my name to get people to read the article and wrote a paragraph-by-paragraph response to everything I wrote as his own article.
I've made every attempt throughout the series to analyze things as unbiased as possible. I hope I've done a good job of that. I've given the Celtics credit when it's due and criticized the Lakers when they deserved it.
By writing a biased response to my article, and using my name and words without at least asking for my permission, RedSox Maniac (aka Marquis Hunt) has made it look as if I've been writing from the same biased point of view as someone who refers to himself as RedSox Maniac.
He even has the audacity to write:
"My criticisms are amazing, and will only make you a better writer. Catch up."
It's not up to me to determine who the better writer is. All I know is that if I had a penny for every read that he's had for his collection of so-called articles, I still wouldn't have a dollar.
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2 months ago
You are still heated about that? Wow. I still enjoy your articles. But I only used yours as a dynamic. I'm sorry if I offended you, but its funny that you don't take criticism.
If anything, all of my articles are un-biased. I even wrote an article telling Celtics fans to hold their horses, since they were hollering about having a parade.
But anyways, read my stuff. You're missing out. I have no hard feelings, and I like your writing. But I wouldn't criticize you if I didn't think you were good. If you don't like my opinion, you can ignore it. But you wrote a 3 paragraph note about me, so I guess I got to you. Sorry.
2 months ago
Another great article.
1) Doc Rivers gave Rondo too much time in the third quarter and the Lakers were able to take advantage by sagging into passing lanes on defense, and running in transition on offense. Also, Lamar Odom was able to get down low against James Posey for a number of aggressive layups.
It isn't a coincidence that the Lakers have played their best defense the last few games in quarters Rajon Rondo got heavy minutes in, or that Lamar Odom played great without Kendrick Perkins pushing him around.
2) Farmar was a huge shot in the arm. Very few bench players stepped up for either team. Cassell and Posey did for Boston, Farmar did for Los Angeles, and it was enough.
3) I think Jackson wanted to get more length on the floor that Ronnie Turiaf couldn't provide. Fortunately for the Lakers, Jackson realized his error pretty quickly.
4) Ariza did nothing in the second half of Game 4, and I believe his only play of note in Game 5 was misplaying a screen allowed Paul Pierce to blow by him for a layup.
Then again, Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic did the same thing...
5) I'm sure Jackson put in Farmar because Vujacic had been struggling for a couple of days and wanted to keep a quick sparkplug in with Fisher. Farmar's defense was terrible, but his scoring made up for it.
6) An interesting point I haven't paid attention to. I also wonder how much energy Pierce will have since he was Boston's offense from the end of the first quarter till the final buzzer in Game 5. He's expended a lot of energy and it's impossible to expect another batch of valiant performances.
I'm willing to excuse Allen's poor game because he's been good all series and played good defense, but Garnett's 3 missed free throws late, inability to grab a rebound with less than a minute to go, two missed tips (including a gimme over Farmar) late in the game, his mediocre defense on Gasol, and his inability to stay on the court were epic mistakes on par with his history.
8) Gasol played pretty well, and Odom was great. Props to each for stepping up. I'd be concerned if I were Boston with Perkins out. Boston doesn't have much length on the bench they can go to in his stead. They have strength, but Odom can just shoot over Davis and Powe.
9) Another proponent of the Lakers coming prepared to play every game, and by their ability to force Boston to play four-on-five when Rondo's on the floor. The Lakers definitely know how to blitz early. They eliminated the Jazz partly because they'd jump out to leads the Jazz didn't know how to come back from.
10) The Lakers play with heart and energy but they make a lot of mistakes and don't pay great attention to detail. A lesser team would have been wiped out by Utah and certainly by San Antonio. If Perkins doesn't play, and Pierce's gas tank needs to recharge, then the Lakers certainly have a solid chance of forcing an anything happens Game Seven.
I don't have much confidence in LA's ability to defend in Boston, and I'm not sure about their poise. But then again, I have no confidence in Garnett, and I have to side with Kobe over Pierce. Everything points to Boston being a better team, but then again, the Lakers outplayed the Celtics in Game 3 and half of Game 4, and they made all the right plays to steal Game 5.
Game 6 should be another fun one (they always are).
P.S. Don't be too harsh on the Maniac. I'm jealous my articles aren't good enough for people to "revisit!"
2 months ago
All valid points in the article. Not sure Boston fans can endure another heartbreaking collapse. The Lakers seem to be in "nothing to lose" mode since the media all but declared the end to the series when it was at 3-1.
Pierce is gimpy, Perkins is a question mark, Garnett is losing his mind, Allen is dealing with family life, their plane was delayed with apparent "mechanical issues," and the refs, as always, are completely unreliable.
But I'm far more enamored with the first potential Bleacher Report blogger feud. Seriously though, let's not take any of this too seriously. Consider it a compliment.
about 1 month ago
I looked over this:
You are biased.
See you next year, chump.
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