NBA Finals: Boston Celtics Are Poised For 17th Championship

We can go back to our gardening, swimming, and backyard barbeques now, the NBA playoffs are over and summer's officially here.

After overcoming a 20-point second half deficit, the Boston Celtics put a fork in the Los Angeles Lakers and their championship dreams before a stunned Staples Center crowd last night.

What happened to the Lakers? The Boston Celtics is what happened. Boston exerted their will upon the series, the Lakers, and NBA history last night with comeback for the ages.

The devastating defeat puts the Lakers down 3-1 and gives Boston three games to close out their 17th NBA championship.

The way things look, it ain't gonna take that long. Even if the Celts spot the Lakers a game and a half, the outcome seems academic now.

The Lakers can't match the Celts' defensive intensity, their bench, their coach—hell, anything.

They're getting sporadic play at best from their "big three" and last night they were exposed as frauds all around. They played like a frightened and intimidated team, with no one wanting to step up and take control, Kobe included.

During a critical stretch late in the fourth quarter, Eddie House and James Posey came off the bench and hit big three-point shots for Boston.

During the same stretch for LA, Sasha Vujacic got worked by Ray Allen, mishandled a pass, threw up a brick, and called an ill-advised time out.

I hate to pick solely on Sasha, because every Laker sucked from the third quarter on, but no one else did anything of note. Besides Kobe, no one else even wanted the ball.

Everyone on Boston is contributing. Big or small, starter or bench, everyone does their job. It has become the most glaring difference in this series.

Doc Rivers and his team deserve to be commended; they came in with a plan and carried it out. They played with heart and soul, like they knew they were the better team.

Their fabulous regular season looks for all the world like it will end with another championship for the storied Celtics franchise, and Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen will go down in Celtic lore as the new big three.

They, along with all the rest of their teammates, deserve all the credit and accolades that are coming their way.

This was a great win for what is clearly the better team.