Lakers-Celtics Game One: Paul Pierce, Celtics Win Name Game

With so many big-time players participating in this year’s NBA Finals, one of the most anticipated subplots was finding which player would step his game up the most.

The surprising (but not completely unexpected) fact was that Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Kevin Garnett were all duds, ranging from pillow soft, to maddeningly inconsistent, to spectacularly unclutch.

No, the lone superstar in Game One was definitely Paul Pierce (7-10 FG, 3-4 3FG, 4 REB, 2 AST, 3 TO, 22 PTS), particularly in the second half.

Paul Pierce

After letting Garnett and Allen run the show in the first half, Pierce used a cross-screen to post up Vladimir Radmanovic to start the second for an easy layup. One possession later, Pierce capitalized on a horrendous close out by Radmanovic by pump faking and inducing contact on a three-ball—off the glass, count it, and a foul!

And despite suffering a nasty sprain that relegated him to being wheelchaired to the locker room, Pierce returned a few minutes later to nail two back-breaking threes to give the Celtics a comfortable margin.

Pierce also played terrific defense on Kobe Bryant, and kept a hand up on all but one of Kobe’s jumpers. Though Kobe did shoot 3-of-5 in his encounters versus Pierce, PP crowded and stayed down on a series of fakes, forcing Kobe into a crucial miss late in the game.

Pierce also came up with a key defensive rebound late in the game over Lamar Odom.

Credit Pierce with a complete, prolific, and heroic performance.

Kevin Garnett

Pierce’s performance was necessary because Kevin Garnett pulled out one of his classic choke jobs in the second half, missing nine shots in a row by taking timid fadeaways and floaters against opponents he would have eaten for lunch in the first half.

Besides the lack of scoring, Garnett failed to box out Pau Gasol on the defensive glass twice in the fourth quarter, allowing the Lakers two extra possessions (though Garnett returned the favor by slamming home a missed James Posey three with Gasol watching).

To Garnett’s credit, he made Pau Gasol a non-factor when Gasol would initiate the offense, played excellent screen/roll defense, and did solid work on the boards (13 REB). Garnett’s performance proves that he can be (and is) a perfect Robin to a better player’s Batman. But is Robin regarded as one of the top 10 superheroes of all time?

Ray Allen

Ray Allen played well, knocking down the majority of his open looks (5-13 FG, 19 PTS) by losing Kobe, and toying with Sasha Vujacic around screens. Throw in exemplary defense on Kobe to go with eight boards and five assists, subtract from his two missed layups, four turnovers, and several poor decisions to make jump passes along the baseline, and the result is a productive supporting role.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant was hardly extraordinary and was too willing to settle for difficult fadeaway jumpers. Kobe shot only 9-of-26 overall for 24 points, and was only dominant when reading screen/rolls and making beautiful passes to Pau Gasol when the big man would slip screens and roll hoopward.

The Celtics often crowded Kobe while having a second defender come in late to contest his jumpers. Every Celtic was disciplined on Kobe’s series of pump fakes, and each was quick enough and strong enough to defend without fouling. Ray Allen was a particular surprise.

For the duration, Kobe was 3-of-5 for 8 points against Pierce, 0-of-1 against Rajon Rondo, 2-of-10 for 6 points against Ray Allen, 3-of-9 for 8 points against James Posey, with a spare basket coming on an open-court dunk.

Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol was a wimp. He was too timid to fight for post position, too soft to prevent Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, and P.J. Brown from carving their names in the paint, and too fragile to box out Garnett on the put-back slam that essentially iced the game.

Lamar Odom

Lamar Odom was inconsistent. He had a handful of nifty drives against Kendrick Perkins, but was repeatedly chumped in the paint on offense (two missed layups) and on the glass. Plus, Odom botched three of his five free throw attempts.

The Bit Players

Rajon Rondo made precious few poor decisions with the ball (two turnovers) and hit a handful of midrange jumpers. His defense was suspect at best, but Rondo was able to keep the Celtics offense moving.

Kendrick Perkins was far too aggressive in screen/roll defense allowing Pau Gasol numerous unimpeded lanes to cut to the basket.

James Posey worked hard on defense and hit a meaningful three in the fourth.

P.J. Brown played terrific defense and grabbed several loose balls that should’ve wound up in Lakers hands.

Sam Cassell rediscovered the game he‘s always had (8 PTS, including two nifty post fadeaways), but sadly retained the brain he’s always had (multiple quick shots, especially in the second half).

Leon Powe broke bones in the paint with his physical play—seven minutes, four points, four rebounds.

Vladimir Radmanovic made abhorrent decisions on defense, and couldn’t make up for it with his shooting—2-5 FG, 1-4 3FG.

Derek Fisher was smart, setting up Rondo and Cassell with screens and then reading the defense. Credit Fisher with 15 points, six assists, four steals, and only two turnovers in a heady performance.

Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar ran away from screens on defense and contributed little on offense.

Luke Walton was slow, soft, defenseless, and had a rebound taken out of his hands by P.J. Brown late in the game where Brown didn’t even jump.

Ronnie Turiaf was too energetic and was plagued with early foul trouble.

As a whole, the Celtics played terrific team defense, especially on Kobe Bryant. Like other Lakers playoff opponents, Boston attacked the Lakers' soft underbelly around the basket. Unlike other Lakers' opponents, the Celtics had multiple explosive wing scorers preventing the Lakers from sagging down to help out in the paint.

The Celtics also played with more passion, attacking more, diving for loose balls, and challenging every rebound.

It should be noted that aside from playing Cassell too long, Doc Rivers coached a very solid game. He rode Garnett’s hot hand early, he got Ray Allen involved, he astutely abandoned having Paul Pierce post along the baseline where doubles would trouble him and countered in the second half with a quick hitting cross-screen.

Rivers also gave Powe the right minutes, played P.J. Brown most of the second half, and attacked Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, Vladimir Radmanovic, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant perfectly.

Not bad for a first time.

Still, you can bet both coaches are already tweaking their game plans in advance for Game Two.

With two days of preparation in between games, expect a lot of the unexpected for a completely different Game Two.