Celtics got lucky tonight.

[wdleehi]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

[Cman]

wdleehi, I tend to agree with you.  On the other hand, in sports, sometimes luck happens and is a good thing (depending on the side you root for) -- for me, Tyree's circus catch was bad luck for my Pats, good luck for you and your Giants.  Point being, I will take good luck.

[wdleehi]

wdleehi, I tend to agree with you.  On the other hand, in sports, sometimes luck happens and is a good thing (depending on the side you root for) -- for me, Tyree's circus catch was bad luck for my Pats, good luck for you and your Giants.  Point being, I will take good luck.

I completely agree.  (and said so)

[nickagneta]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

Dude, are you ever going to be happy and enjoy all of this?

Luck had nothing to do with tonight's win. The Celtics played down to the level of LA's competition in the first half and played their game in the second half. There are going to be tough quarters and inconsistent halves.

This is the Finals and the Lakers are a great team. We will probably lose 2-3 games. This is a war and we won the first battle because we were tougher and more determined and had more heart.

That's not luck.

Not even close.

[wdleehi]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

Dude, are you ever going to be happy and enjoy all of this?

Luck had nothing to do with tonight's win. The Celtics played down to the level of LA's competition in the first half and played their game in the second half. There are going to be tough quarters and inconsistent halves.

This is the Finals and the Lakers are a great team. We will probably lose 2-3 games. This is a war and we won the first battle because we were tougher and more determined and had more heart.

That's not luck.

Not even close.

I am happy. 


The Celtics were lucky to be that close going into the half the way the defense played. 

They played great the second half and won the game. 

[biggs]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

This game had nothing to do with luck. (except some of the calls)

If we won the first half and lost the second you would have a point, but we completed controlled the pace of the game in the second half.  

The way that we dominated them has nothing to do with luck, but like you said...."I'll take it".  

[Redz]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it lucky.  They were getting burned pretty badly one basic play over and over again.  They adjusted, then it turned into Kobe-fest and they D'd up great on that.  Offensively I have no problems with what they were doing.  I don't think the Lakers were bothering them much.  If KG doesn't go cold, this game was over much sooner than it was.

When the game was up for grabs. they grabbed it.

[bbc3341]

Luck... hmm - this may have been mentioned but I hated that enormous finals trophy painted on half court. HATED it. But then it factored in 2 plays for the C's - the Gasol to Bryant back court, and then when KG saved the ball from going back court and Cassell hit the jumper (play of the game in my opinion) - you could not tell on either replay if the plays were correctly called or non-called because THERE IS NO HALF COURT LINE!!! Now I love that hideous yellow monstrosity...

[Steve Weinman]

Whether or not 'luck' is the word for it is semantic, but I follow what wdleehi is saying.  Personally, as I've remarked in another thread already, I feel like one of the best things to take out of this victory is that we played far from our best basketball this evening.  The defense in the first half was putrid, and while it was greatly improved in the second half, I still think we were largely aided by the Lakers missing their share of good looks on their own and not capitalizing on opportunities.

Please, don't let me lead you into believing for a second that I'm not happy about this victory -- I loved every second of it, and I'm thrilled to be headed into Sunday with a 1-0 lead.  By no means was it 'all' the Lakers -- our boys did plenty of great work this evening -- too much to enumerate here, in fact.  But I think we got a few breaks (how many of Kobe's toughie looks rimmed out tonight?), and I think there is plenty of room for our fellas to play at a much higher level.  With the win now in hand, that's a great thing in my book.

But again, I'm nothing but thrilled to be sitting where we are at present.

-sw

[Redz]

Luck... hmm - this may have been mentioned but I hated that enormous finals trophy painted on half court. HATED it. But then it factored in 2 plays for the C's - the Gasol to Bryant back court, and then when KG saved the ball from going back court and Cassell hit the jumper (play of the game in my opinion) - you could not tell on either replay if the plays were correctly called or non-called because THERE IS NO HALF COURT LINE!!! Now I love that hideous yellow monstrosity...

Yes.  true and true.  I'd thought about that during the game and forgot to bring it up.  Thanks for doing so.

[nickagneta]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

Dude, are you ever going to be happy and enjoy all of this?

Luck had nothing to do with tonight's win. The Celtics played down to the level of LA's competition in the first half and played their game in the second half. There are going to be tough quarters and inconsistent halves.

This is the Finals and the Lakers are a great team. We will probably lose 2-3 games. This is a war and we won the first battle because we were tougher and more determined and had more heart.

That's not luck.

Not even close.

I am happy. 


The Celtics were lucky to be that close going into the half the way the defense played. 

They played great the second half and won the game. 

But they weren't lucky because of the way the offense played. There will be halves and quarters and games where the defense rules the day. But there will also be times when the defense is quite there and it's up to the offense to carry us through. That's what happened in the first half.

BTW didn't we hold the Lakers to something like 42% shooting in the first half? What is so bad about holding an offense that usually shoots 47.5% to 42%? The defense had some problems with the pick and roll and some interior rotations in the first half but that ws cleaned up after halftime.

[BudweiserCeltic]

What about the Lakers getting lucky to even be in the game at the half when our Celtics lost its beginning of the game focus (defensively)? Else, we would've had quite a comfortable lead going to the half.

See, luck plays both ways.

[ma11l]

Agreed.  Awful fourth by KG until those two monster plays, the save and the tip slam that sealed the deal.  Too many offensive rebounds given up, I know the numbers ended up in our favor pretty big time, but there were still multiple times when they had consecutive possessions of giving up offensive boards.  A few tough turnovers, Ray's Pele impressing sticking out in my head.  However they played good defense coming down the stretch to cover all those things up.

[wdleehi]

Celtics played half a game in the finals and won. 


That's some amazing luck.  (and I will take it)


But from this point on, the Celtics need to play their level of defense all game long. 


1st game jitters in the 1st half caused the defense to break down.  Fine.


just don't let it happen again. 



2nd half showed what this Celtics team can (and did in the regular season) do to this Lakers team. 

Dude, are you ever going to be happy and enjoy all of this?

Luck had nothing to do with tonight's win. The Celtics played down to the level of LA's competition in the first half and played their game in the second half. There are going to be tough quarters and inconsistent halves.

This is the Finals and the Lakers are a great team. We will probably lose 2-3 games. This is a war and we won the first battle because we were tougher and more determined and had more heart.

That's not luck.

Not even close.

I am happy. 


The Celtics were lucky to be that close going into the half the way the defense played. 

They played great the second half and won the game. 

But they weren't lucky because of the way the offense played. There will be halves and quarters and games where the defense rules the day. But there will also be times when the defense is quite there and it's up to the offense to carry us through. That's what happened in the first half.

BTW didn't we hold the Lakers to something like 42% shooting in the first half? What is so bad about holding an offense that usually shoots 47.5% to 42%? The defense had some problems with the pick and roll and some interior rotations in the first half but that ws cleaned up after halftime.

They shot over 50% in the 1st half, under 40% in the second half.


The defense had problem being in the right spot in the 1st half.  They were allowing penetration. 


Celtics didn't play the level of defense they should in the 1st half against one of the top offenses, and was able to beat them in the 2nd half. 

[Big Ticket]

Played half a game?  Weird, I could swear they were only down 5 at the half.

Good thing your wrong, because if KG, for one, didn't play in the 1st half, as you suggest, then this team doesn't stand a chance in the 2nd half.