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

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.

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.