Lakers-Celtics: News, Notes, and Observations from Game Three

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a series just yet. That won't happen until we're guaranteed a Game Six. I would be saying the same thing if the Lakers were up 2-1.

That was one ugly basketball game.

As always, here are my News, Notes, and Observations:

1) Kobe on Rondo to start the game.

I thought this was a very smart move by Phil Jackson. It caught Rondo off-guard. He hadn't been the same player on the road in the playoffs as he had been at home. I'm interested to see what happens in Game Four. I'm sure the Celtics will scheme to make the Lakers pay by finding Ray Allen, and exploiting his match-up with Derek Fisher.

I've never been an advocate for changing one's starting lineup in the playoffs, but I wouldn't be that surprised if the Lakers came out in Game Four with Sasha Vujacic at the two and Kobe at the three.

2) The Third Quarter

The Celtics still own the third quarter. Tonight, they outscored the Lakers  25-17. In five games against the Lakers this year, the Celtics have outscored them 145-110 in the third quarter.

3) The Fourth Quarter

As dominant as the Celtics have been in the third frame, unfortunately for them, this isn't hockey. In the past two games, they've been outscored in the fourth quarter by a margin of 68-44.

4) Different Perspectives

It's funny how fans of both teams are looking at the game. Celtics fans are saying the team played horribly, and yet they only lost by six. Lakers fans are saying their team played horribly, and yet they still won the game.

Both schools of thought are correct. The Celtics got 19 points on 8-for-35 shooting from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. The Lakers got 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting from Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

If I told you before the game that Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic would count for 63% of their points, I doubt you'd think the Lakers would win.

5) The free throw disparity.

Nobody is surprised that the Lakers shot 12 more free throws after the Celtics outshot them by 28 in Game Two. A bigger surprise came from the fact that the Lakers missed 13 of their 34 free throws, including seven misses by Kobe Bryant and five by Pau Gasol.

Despite the disparity in attempts, the Lakers only had six more points off of free throws than the Celtics did.

It was interesting to hear Doc call out Phil Jackson for "whining" about the free throws in his post-game news conference. He might have done more harm than good by eliminating his right to complain later in the series.

6) The box score.

It's pretty crazy how close the teams were in the box score. They were within one turnover, two blocks, four steals, four rebounds, and two assists of one another. Also, the difference in shooting from behind the arc was 1.5%.

7) I counted three.

Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, and Jordan Farmar. Those were the only guys that showed up for the Lakers tonight.

Trevor Ariza definitely looked better than he did in Game Two. He knocked down a couple of shots, and shook off a little rust. The more he plays, the less we'll see Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton.

8) Kwame Gasol

Pau Gasol had nine points, 12 rebounds, and zero blocks in tonight's game. In his only Game Three of last year's playoffs, Kwame Brown had 19 points, six rebounds, and two blocks against the Suns.

...I'm just saying.

9) The Injury Report

The Celtics have now had three players go to the locker room with injuries in three games. We don't really know how Kendrick Perkins's ankle is because he hasn't stayed out of foul trouble long enough to get a read on him.

Rajon Rondo's ankle looked fine, although I was surprised Doc Rivers left him on the bench for that long when Rondo returned from the locker room. He played the last eight minutes of the game, hit one jumper, grabbed one offensive board, and committed two fouls.

The bigger question, though, is Pierce's knee. You can count the number of times he drove to the basket in Games Two and Three on one hand. He had two days off between Games One and Two, and only one day off, and an airplane ride between Games Two and Three. Kobe did a good job of guarding him. I doubt he'll be in foul trouble as early in Game Four as he was tonight. I'm interested to get a read on the knee with three games in five days.

10) The longer the series goes, the more I think the Lakers will benefit.

Tonight's game was the Celtics' 23rd playoff game. It was the Lakers' 18th. Kevin Garnett had looked tired in the fourth quarter of every game in the series, and the Celtics had three starters forced to leave the court to get medical attention.

The pressure is still squarely on the Lakers. But if they win the next two games, they'll ride a ton of momentum against a team that is older and more banged-up heading back to Boston.

If the Lakers can win Game Four on Thursday, I think we're in store for one hell of a Game Five on Sunday.

Bonus note: Jeff Van Gundy's rant on how barbers should charge less for cutting bald guys was priceless. Unless Mark Jackson takes an assistant job, we're blessed to have this crew for another season. Props to Jackson for being the first announcer to call out Boston's illegal picks in these playoffs. I'm surprised Phil Jackson hasn't complained about those yet. Maybe he's saving that rant for Game Five, Six, or Seven.