Lakers vs. Celtics, Game 3: Los Angeles Tells Boston To Go Fish

Throughout the second half of Los Angeles’ 91-84 Game 2 victory over the Boston Celtics, the Lakers offense struggled to work.

Ray Allen played Kobe Bryant looser before Kobe initiated his attacks, allowing Bryant to take and miss many contested jumpers.

Ray Allen was still able to crowd Kobe on his drives, but because of Kobe’s superior athleticism, still sank several contested, but not super-contested shots.

Tony Allen, however, was able to crowd Kobe, and force him to designated help spots. Plus, with his strength, length, and quickness, Kobe had no daylight to drive and pull.

Kobe didn’t help his cause by unleashing numerous bad shots.

When the Lakers tried initiating their triangle, too many players were timid with the resulting mismatches that took place.

Luke Walton failed to post guards with aggression. Ron Artest turned down wide open corner threes, Lamar Odom failed to penetrate when a lane opened up for him.

As a result, too many Lakers had to make something out of nothing with the shot clock expiring.

Sure, Odom had some success isolating the smaller Glen Davis, and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum had some marginal success in the post, but the quality of the Lakers’ shot attempts was atrocious.

Naturally, Boston had a lot to do with this. Kendrick Perkins was able to defend Gasol and Bynum without much help, and Rasheed Wallace’s denial and post defense was nothing short of marvelous.

Indeed, the past two rounds have seen Wallace play his best basketball since his 2004 Pistons days. No doubt, a lesser role on the team has relieved Wallace of the pressure of being “the guy,” and his play has piqued accordingly.

Glen Davis gave up too much length, but he moved his feet well enough to affect several shots.

With the Celtics punishing L.A.’s Batman, and too many Lakers standing around like helpless citizens, Robin was able to come to the rescue.

The Lakers pulled a page out of Boston’s playbook, and ran 1-2 wing screens and handoffs involving Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant that Boston couldn’t answer.

Fisher missed his first shot, but got a good look. Rondo got picked off by Bryant as Kobe handed off to Fisher. Paul Pierce snuffed it out and rotated to the paint, but Fisher calmly pulled up and shot over him. The shot simply rimmed out.

Pierce sniffed it out the second time and rotated hard to Fisher. Fisher simply pulled up again and shot over him, this time making the hoop.

The third time, the Celtics defended it well with Ray Allen stepping out far enough to allow Rondo to recover to Fisher. The Lakers swung the ball and Artest missed a three.

The fourth time, Fisher turned the corner on Rondo who tried to swipe at the ball from behind. His gambles worked in Game 2 when he ripped Kobe, but Fisher punished him in Game 3 by sinking a short jumper.

The fifth time, the Celtics finally decided to switch the screen, but Lamar Odom was able to isolate Davis for a drive and a layup.

Fisher also displayed his toughness by sinking three short baskets in heavy traffic, including a late-game icer when he got clobbered by three defenders, and still sank a plus-one basket.

It was a smart tweak by Phil Jackson to call the 1-2 screen, and a valiant leap of faith by Kobe and Phil to put their trust in Fisher to create offense.

It’s easy to praise Kobe for his four well-deserved rings, but it’s also easy to forget that despite Fisher getting up there in age and having zero athleticism, all he’s done over his career is make important shots during important moments of important games.

With the stakes at their greatest, he proved that he’s still capable of coming through to win a Finals game.

Fisher is still a winner of the highest magnitude, and Jackson is still an elite coach of the highest magnitude. As much as Kobe was responsible for the Lakers’ victory in Game 1, the other Laker champions were responsible for their second victory in the series.

Meanwhile the Celtics had their share of goats.

Not Garnett, who had a prime-time game, though he’s still too soft on the boards.

Not Tony Allen, whose quick-footed defense forced Kobe into terrible shot attempts, and whose timely cuts punished the Lakers when they forgot about him.

Not Kendrick Perkins, who played as well as can reasonably be expected—1-4 FG, 11 REB, plus solid overall defense.

Not Rasheed Wallace, who couldn’t find the range, but moved the ball and played excellent individual defense (though his help defense was late or non-existent far too often).

Not Glen Davis, whose offensive activity made up for his defensive mismatches.

No, the Celtics guards wear the goat horns.

Rondo does for resorting to gambles on defense, and for not pushing the ball on offense. With Boston playing a halfcourt pace, the Lakers could set their defense and allow their length to swallow what the Celtics tried to achieve.

Pierce does for a third straight offensive no-show. Even with Ron Artest saddled with early foul trouble, Pierce couldn’t dominate Luke Walton when the two were pitted against each other.

Finally, Allen does for channeling his inner John Starks, a game after channeling his inner Michael Jordan—0-13 FG, 0-8 3FG, 2 PTS.

When nearly all the stars had subpar performances, Fisher was able to steal a game that hung in the balance. The Celtics will remember that if the Lakers are able to win the series and send Boston fishing.