Last Minute Debacle

[PosImpos]

Let me make this clear: the Lakers absolutely, 100% defeated the Celtics tonight.  The Lakers earned their win.  But right now I'm sitting here feeling sick and disgusted.  If the Celtics had been down by double digits going into the last minute, and had lost by double digits, I wouldn't feel this way.  I'd be disappointed, but that's it.  Yet I'm deeply disturbed because the last minute from the Celtics was downright awful. 

In particular was the fast break And-1 from Derek Fisher coming off a bricked 3 by Ray Allen.  Fisher got the ball, pushed it up court, and nobody managed to even come close to getting in front of him.  KG bothered him a bit then allowed him to blow past him - didn't even make an effort to look as if he wanted to foul him and stop an easy basket.  None of the faster Celtics players on the court could manage to get to the hoop before Fisher got there.  Just to make things worse, they all hacked him just as he was laying the ball in, without coming close to stopping him from scoring.  It looked to me as if the Celtics saw Ray's shot bounce off the rim and they collectively gave up. 

Meanwhile, Paul Pierce can't even pretend to drive the lane unless the other team has basically already won.

Gah.

[vinnie]

Along the same line, did you see how many times Rondo or one other Celtic got a rebound and were running up the court trying to fastbreak and none of the Celtics big men were in sight? I saw it at least 4-5 times tonight and the announcers made note of the fact that the Celtics were not running even when they had the opportunity to run.

[ibby]

I agree, that Fisher play was awful.  

The one thing I noticed tonight was that we had no closer.  We had the ball at least six times with a chance to tie or take the lead and we could just never do it.  Ray was cold.  Artest has Pierce's number.  Rondo can't hit a jumper.  And even though KG had a big night he still fades away in the clutch.  The only person I saw really step up in the fourth was Big Baby.  I'm also wondering if there will ever be a game when all three of the Big 3 have a good game.

[PosImpos]

The one thing I noticed tonight was that we had no closer.  We had the ball at least six times with a chance to tie or take the lead and we could just never do it. 

Yeah, Kobe looked like MJ tonight and Fisher looked like Pippen, in part because they played really freaking well, and in part because nobody on the Celtics could score hardly at all other than KG.

[FreeGreen]

Kobe was terrible tonight -- hoisting more shots than points ... unfortunately Ray couldn't find the rim with a compass and a map.

[Who]

It looked like they were expecting Fisher to dribble into the frontcourt and then call a timeout ... and they just tuned out and didn't pay enough attention to him and seized advantage.

A very bad sequence.

[PosImpos]

I'm gonna quote Steve Weinman, who said it best:

"That "defensive possession" culminating in the Fisher and-one? Unacceptable in the preseason, much less the Finals."

[LB3533]

The debacle here is we didn't execute down the stretch on both sides of the ball.

We didn't stop Derek Fisher and we didn't convert key offensive baskets to get the tie or lead.

[Ethan]

I am very disappointed