Lakers in 6 (but 5 wouldn't surprise me either).
Lakers in 6 (but 5 wouldn't surprise me either).
Celtics aren't 'stealing' the first one.
The difference is the Gasol/KG matchup, which is just embarrassing. Artest can not be counted on for that offensive output for the rest of the series. Needless to say he was very good tonight.
Gasol's 8 offensive boards were the difference in the game.
No. The difference is Bynum and Artest. Having Bynum keeps the more physical Perkins off of Gasol. Gasol will get his against KG at this point in his career.
And please, Artest was nailing open shots tonight. If teams are going to give Ron Ron open looks, he will hit them. He's not a horrible offensive player, and Pierce, who killed us two years ago, was contained tonight.
Having the bigger body of Artest forces Allen to guard Kobe, and clearly that got Ray into foul trouble tonight.
Celtics had zero chance anyway. The Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the NBA this year.
The Celtics entire defensive strategy is based on their physicalness. They didn't even play very physical tonight and got called for 28 fouls. They aren't going to be able to defend effectively if they can't by physical, especially with Gasol.
Officiating tonight was terrible, and I think the C's even got the benefit of the calls. Some of those Artest and Fisher fouls were straight garbage. The Odom call under the hoop was awful. The Allen foul on the Kobe elbow jumper was the worst call of the game. It's not going to be a fun series if there are going to be 52 fouls called, especially in a game where one team isn't fouling to catch up in the end.
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