Kelly Dwyer, at Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie, is neck-and-neck with Britt Robson for my favorite writer when it comes to game recaps, and I think KD hit it out of the park again.
Look, I've come to love Pierce, and he was a key to last night's win. But I agree with Dwyer here.... Pierce coming back is NOT why the Celtics won. It was a piece of the whole.
Here it is for you.The meat and potatoes:
What did kill the Lakers was the 62-58 advantage that turned into a 65-62 disadvantage with Pierce off the court. What killed the Lakers was missing 11 of 14 three-pointers, seven free throws, while getting trounced 46-33 on the boards. Los Angeles was actually even with the Celtics during Pierce's post-injury stretch in the third quarter, in spite of the two three-pointers Pierce nailed in succession. Of course, nobody will bring that up today, or Saturday, or Sunday morning, or before Game 2 on the 8th.
Because it's all about ma-gic!
Forget the magic. Here's what killed the Lakers - Boston worked its [butt] off. They dove into the middle defensively and did away with Kobe flashing to the ball around the paint, the same style of kill that took down the Spurs late in Game 5. The glass was theirs, the ball was moving (20 assists on 32 made shots), and they did well in turning the Lakers into an isolation-heavy, driving team in the second half. 14 first half assists for Los Angeles, just seven in the second half.
Topic: Kelly Dwyer's Game 1 Recap (Read 1291 times)