NBA Finals, Lakers Celtics: How Boston blew the championship

Jun 18, 2010, 2:31 AM EDT

It was the type of the game the Celtics wanted. It was an ugly game, dominated by defense and sloppy play. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol combined to shoot 12-40 from the floor, and the Lakers shot 32.5%/20%/67.6% as a team. The Celtics had their game plan, and they executed it to a T. Kobe looked mortal, even downright bad. The crowd was dead. Boston was all set to grind its way to its 18th championship. And then the Lakers were the ones pouring champagne on each other as the Celtics were left to wonder where it all went wrong.

So how did it all go wrong for the Celtics in game 7? First of all, the Celtics had an absolutely disastrous game on the glass. The Celtics got 32 defensive rebounds; the Lakers had 23 offensive rebounds. That means that when the Lakers missed a shot, the Celtics got the ball 58% of the time. That’s absolutely abysmal — Golden State had the worst defensive rebounding rate in the NBA this season, and they managed to snag 68% of their defensive rebound chances. Just so we’re clear here, the Warriors often used Corey Maggette at the four.

Early in the game, Boston’s inability to cleanly grab any rebound or loose ball kept them from building a substantial 1st-quarter lead. They led by nine points after the first quarter, but the Lakers’ 5 second-chance points and 10-0 advantage on the offensive glass kept Boston from really breaking the game open early.

Overall, the Lakers had 17 second-chance points, which accounted for a full 20% of their offensive production. The Celtics, meanwhile, only managed to get five second-chance points, and all five of them were scored by Rajon Rondo, the smallest Celtic starter. Whether it was Perkins being out, Bynum, Gasol, and Kobe wanting it more, or the ball just bouncing the Lakers’ way, the Celtics’ inability to secure the basketball consistently was a big reason they lost game 7 and the NBA championship.

Even though the Celtics were getting killed on the glass, they still had a chance to secure the game in the third quarter. Four minutes into the third, the Lakers’ only points in the quarter had come from a free throw and a Ron Artest tip-in, Boston was up by 12 points, and the Lakers’ season was on the brink. What the Lakers knew, and what Boston had failed to recognize up until that point, is that the Lakers had too much talent not to make a run at some point in the game.

While Boston had the lead, they blew their opportunity to do what they did in the deciding game of the 2008 Finals and what the Lakers did to them in game six; demoralize their opponents so completely that they had no hopes of making any sort of legitimate comeback.

The Lakers were down and playing as badly as they were capable of playing, but they still had Kobe, they still had Pau, they still had experience, and they still had a crowd behind them. 12 points was nowhere near enough, and the lead could have been a lot bigger. Kobe curled off a Pau Gasol screen, caught Rasheed Wallace standing at the free throw line, and drained his easiest look of the night. Pau Gasol posted up Rasheed Wallace and drained a nasty left-handed hook after spinning baseline. On the next Laker possession, Derek Fisher got a double-screen and drained a mid-range jumper off a curl. A possession later, Odom cleaned up an Artest miss.

All it took was four players doing what they do best — Kobe on the perimeter, Gasol in the post, Fisher on a catch-and-shoot, Odom doing the dirty work — to cut the lead to six points, get the crowd involved, and put Boston their heels. Paul Pierce hit a big three to stop the bleeding, but that run was the beginning of the end for the Celtics, whose only chance of victory was to continue playing defense at an insanely high level. Before Kobe’s jumper, the Lakers had scored 37 points in 28 minutes — after it, the Lakers scored 44 points in the final 20 minutes of play.

The Celtics had a chance to cling to the lead in the fourth, but a critical mistake by Ray Allen (getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar by Kobe, leading to three free throws), and an absolutely massive game-tying three gave the Lakers all the confidence they needed to take it at the Celtics, got the Celtics panicked and committing fouls left and right, and all but sealed the game and the championship for the Lakers.

Boston briefly threatened the Los Angeles lead during the insane three-point fest that ended the game, but the majority of the quarter was devoted to the Lakers methodically marching to the free throw line and the championship while the Celtics melted down around them.

The Celtics had plenty of chances to put the Lakers away, and they failed to capitalize. They got the stops they needed, then failed to get the rebounds. They held Kobe and Pau at bay, but failed to capitalize by making shots themselves. They played 36 minutes of great defense, then got desperate and foul-happy when the momentum began to turn. The Celtics came out and executed their game plan, but they didn’t go the extra mile and make sure the inevitable Laker run wasn’t going to cripple them. On the flip side of things, once the Lakers made their big push and got the lead, the Celtics were completely unprepared to try and make a comeback of their own. When mattered most, the prohibitive favorites coming into the series were the ones who had to dig deep and believe in themselves, and that’s exactly what they did. Now they get free ugly hats and champagne.

The Celtics had the lead. They had the defense capable of holding it. They had a team of veterans with championship experience. None of that means anything now. When they had the chance to get the big prize, the Celtics played the scoreboard. What they needed to realize was that they were playing the defending, and now still reigning, NBA champions.

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55 Comments (Feed for Comments)

CarpCarpCarp - Jun 18, 2010 at 10:23 PM

* Make that blown fourth quarter leads.

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adi - Jun 21, 2010 at 3:36 AM

about foul shots….have you seen how much more possessions lakers had than boston? more possessions = more attempts and probably more fouls. this also explains the more 3 pointers lakers had which does not point out that lakers also had more drives to the basket because of the extra possessions.

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NormanDale - Jun 21, 2010 at 10:41 AM

adj: That’s all well and good, although I don’t buy that. But it still doesn’t explain how the Celtics with more minutes per game in the finals shot LESS free throws per game and per minute than regular seson; and the Lakers more??? No one has even attempted to tackle this subject, because you can’t!!! Go look at the atats for series & each game. Plus we all know “home team” advantage applies more to the NBA than any league. The Celtics were called for more fouls 2 out 3 in Boston & 6 out of 7 overall???

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Foul Dwimmerlaik - Jun 23, 2010 at 1:06 PM

My dear close friend Otto:
I apologize that I missed your earlier correspondence. I am glad to see you are well. Please do not fret over my employment status though it warms my heart knowing you care.
Hazzah, I say to you Otto, Hazzah!
The horrendous showing by the Lakers fans in causing riot and conflagration does also concern me. But, knowing that you, my dear friend, shares my concern comforts me. I shall mention in great standing to the Hobbits.
Be well, Dear Otto.

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Bobby - Jun 24, 2010 at 6:34 AM

This game was 100% fixed. There is no question about it.
In the 4th Qtr the Celtics were called for 12 fouls, 11 of those resulted in the Lakers shooting 21 free throws. For a 91.7% success rate of fouls leading to free throws. This was not only the RECORD for 1 qtr in the 2008 & 2010 NBA FInals between the Lakers & The Celtics. It was also the RECORD for the entire 2010 NBA Playoffs. No other qtr in the entire 2010 NBA Playoffs had a team being called for 12 fouls.
Pau Gasol alone commited 5 violations that were not called, and got another 3 bailouts from the refs that were the wrong calls also, for 8 CALLS IN THE 4TH QTR that were wrong ALL INVOLVING PAU GASOL.
11:43:Refs call a bogus foul on Glen Davis and bail Gasol out giving him an And-1
11:07:Gasol bailed out again by refs on fake loose ball foul on Glen Davis.
6:54:Gasol has his foot on the ball while out of bounds, refs give ball to Lakers.
4:38:Gasol gets bailed out by the refs giving a foul on Garnett when no foul was commited.
2:47:Gasol travels it isn’t called, then gets bailed out by the refs with a fake foul on Garnett.
2:19:Gasol commits an 8 second violation, check the box score. He grabbed the rebound at 2:28, got fouled at half court at 2:19, yet no 8 second violation was called. 2:28-1:19 is 9 seconds.
1:30:Gasol up and down travel, not called given a basket by the refs.
0:26 Gasol knocks down Rondo, no foul called, gets an offensive rebound.
And that doesn’t include other fixed calls from the game.
1.Rondo’s layup taken away on a fake foul on Garnett.
2.Garnett’s basket not counting after getting fouled by Kobe.
3.Garnett fouled by Gasol, called a block.
4.Pierce getting knocked down, no call.
5.Pierce fake foul on Artest and 1.
12 foul calls with 11 resulting in free throws, more than any other qtr in the 2010 NBA playoffs, more than any other qtr in the 2008 or 2010 NBA Finals.
100% fixed.
Celtics should be awarded the championship by this time next year. When enough information comes out how this game was 100% rigged.

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