Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals: Boston Completes Record Comeback For Game Four Win

At halftime, I started writing a story about tonight's Game Four of the NBA Finals.  I hit the save button and titled the article what I thought was appropriate—"Game Four Disaster."  

I was ready to give up.  Thankfully, the Celtics never stopped playing and defeated the Lakers 97-91 for a 3-1 series lead in what will go down as one of the most memorable games in the long Celtics-Lakers history.

The Celtics trailed by 24 points at one time, 18 at the half, 20 in the third quarter.  Those leads were not enough as Boston pulled off the greatest second-half comeback in NBA Finals history.

Boston is now one win away from capturing title 17.

The way the game began, I was wishing I was playing Playstation and could just hit the reset button.  At one point in the second quarter, the Lakers led 45-21.  After a Jordan Farmar three at the buzzer, L.A. led 58-40 at the half.

Boston cut the deficit to 12 early in the third, but the Lakers immediately went on an 8-0 run to lead 68-48 with 7:07 left in the third.

That is when I gave up.  Game over, 20 point lead.  The Celtics had a few chances to get it to 10.  Every time, the Lakers responded with a run.  I thought with the lead back at 20, that was the end of the game; series tied 2-2.

From that point on, however, the Celtics outscored the Lakers 49-23.

So many Celtics were responsible for the victory.  Ray Allen played the entire game.  He had 19 points, nine rebounds, three steals, and maybe the biggest hoop of the game.  Leading by three with 40 seconds to play, the Celtics ran the shot clock down.  All L.A. needed was one stop.  Allen dribbled the shot clock down, went past Sasha Vujacic, and all the way to the hoop for the lay-up.

James Posey was absolutely huge with his playoff-best 18 points. He hit two three-pointers in the fourth quarter.  The first three cut a Laker four-point lead to one, and the second, with 1:13 left, gave the Celtics a 92-87 lead.

Paul Pierce had 20 points but his impact was felt more on the defensive end.  At half time, he went to Doc Rivers and said he wanted to guard Kobe Bryant.  It was a team effort on Bryant (17 points, 6-19 from the floor), but Pierce’s defense took away Bryant’s post-up game, making it easier for the team to defend him.

Eddie House (11 points), who missed a jumper that could have tied Game Three late in the fourth quarter, hit a jumper with 4:07 left to give Boston its first lead of the game, 84-83.  Allen and Kevin Garnett (16 points, 11 rebounds) followed with jumpers, and suddenly the Celtics led by five.

In Game Two, the Celtics nearly blew a 20-point lead.  The Lakers got close, but couldn't finish the job.  Tonight it was Boston's turn to make the comeback, and they had the defense and scoring to pull it off.

For the Lakers, it was their first loss at home in the postseason (9-1). 

Lamar Odom got off to a fast start with 13 first quarter points.  But like most of the Lakers, he disappeared in the second half, finishing with only 19.  Similar to Odom, Pau Gasol was a non-factor in the second half.

The Lakers built their lead without Bryant scoring.  He did not make a field goal in the first half, but the Lakers offense still looked unstoppable.  In the second half, the Lakers offense bogged down, and Kobe was unable to put the offense on his back.

Entering the Finals, the greatness of the Laker offense received a lot of attention from the so-called experts.  L.A.'s offense has had its moments, in particular the first half of Games One and Four.  It is interesting however, that in both of those halves, the Lakers racked up all those points without needing Kobe Bryant to be a major part of the scoring.   

In Game One, L.A. scored 51 first-half points despite Bryant shooting 3-9 and only contributing eight points.  He did have three assists. He finished that game 9-26 for 24 points.  Last night in Game Four, L.A. scored 58 first-half points, with Bryant shooting 0-4 from the field with only three points.  He did have six first-half assists. 

Bryant's series-high 36 points came in a game where the Laker's only scored 87 points (Game Three).

Boston now needs one more win to wrap up the series.  I hope Paul Pierce reminds his team of Game Three against the Nets from the 2002 Eastern Conference. 

In that game, the Celtics had the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in playoff history.  But after that game, Boston didn’t win another game, watching the Nets win three straight to clinch that series and advance to the finals.

Tonight's win was amazing, but it was just one win. The Celtics can’t be too happy with themselves, and if anything has been learned from this series, it is things can change quickly.

No team has ever come back from trailing 3-1 in the NBA Finals to win.  But prior to tonight, no team had ever won a finals game when trailing by 24.  Boston must play with the urgency it showed in the second half, and not take anything for granted.

Don’t give the Lakers life.  Let’s wrap this up on Sunday.