5:01 left in 4th : He set a great screen on Gasol and Kobe taking them both out and letting Rondo get to the rim cutting the lakers lead to 89-90
3:53 left in 4th : KG grabs defensive rebound in traffic between Gasol and Bynum, Rondo ended up getting a layup on that possesion giving the c's the lead 91-90
2:38 left in the 4th : KG hits 9 ft jumper, increasing the C's lead to 93-90
1:21left in the 4th : KG finds Perk for the easy layup putting the C's up 97-90
Those were all huge crucial plays down the stretch that helped win game 2. He ended up with 6 asts in about 23 mins, which was also big. He might not be healthy, but he is going to do everything he can to win a championship.
You have to love this guys heart and the little things he does to win!
TP for a post that I thought about making. It goes along with the "KG non-boxscore effect" posts I've made in the past. It's amazing how often, if you go back through, you'll find that when Allen makes a big crunchtime shot KG was the one that set the springing screen or else he was posting and drawing attention that allowed Rondo to get to the rim. Or that the "hot scorer" torched the team with KG on the bench, but just didn't do much when KG was guarding him.
Which leads to the other thing that got a bit lost about Garnett's performance last night...he did much, much, MUCH better against Gasol in game 2 than in game 1. It got kind of obscured by the fact that Gasol went nuts when KG was on the bench in foul trouble (scoring 21 points on only 8 shots in the 25 minutes he played when KG wasn't on him), but if you really look at it, when Gasol and Bynum are in the game KG is on Gasol and when Odom is in there KG is on Odom.
In game 1, KG and Gasol spent a bit more than 23 minutes on the floor together when they'd have been guarding each other. And Gasol torched him, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting while grabbing 8 boards and dishing an assist. KG actually did decent offensively, scoring 12 points of his own in those 23+ minutes on 5-of-9 shooting and dishing an assist. But where he got smashed was on the glass, where he didn't get a single rebound to counter Gasol's 8. And many of Gasol's boards were offensive, which is what helped the Lakers control the paint. In those 23+ minutes, the Lakers were +15. To me, that 1-on-1 matchup is entirely where the Cs lost game 1.
Game 2 was a different story. KG spent a bunch of time on the bench, but they still played more than 17 minutes when they would have been guarding each other. And in game 2 KG played him to a standstill. In those 17 minutes, Gasol scored 4 points with 6 boards and 2 assists while KG scored 4 points with 3 boards and 4 assists. Most of these times were to start the 1st and 3rd quarter, then in the last 6 minutes of the 4th. In other words, the key points in the game. And this time, in the 17+ minutes the Celtics were +2. While Ray and Rondo won this one for us, I thought KG offsetting Pau during these key stretches were a hidden aspect for why the Cs were able to close this one out where they came up short in game 1.
That said, if all we see from KG this series are either getting smoked or else barely offsetting Gasol when they're on the floor together, I would be nervous about our team results. At some point KG's going to need to win this match-up, and if he's not injured I'm expecting that to happen in the very near future.
Topic: As bad as KG has been, he still made clutch plays in game 2 (Read 4079 times)