Fox Sports: Because teams, players, coaches and referees all reveal themselves in various ways, every play of every game is fraught with meaningful revelations. And the pressure inherent in a championship series certainly ups the ante.
So then, here are some nuggets of transcendent meaning that can be gleaned from the latest Lakers-Celtics set-to.
- While Doc Rivers did a superb job, he was way off-base in deriding Phil Jackson for “whining” about the refs after the lopsided 38-10 foul situation in Game 2. Since he’s been there before, Jackson knew that the public airing of his grievance would work to his team’s benefit — and it did. In fact, it always does. In other words, loudly complaining about being short-changed by the refs in a playoff series is as much a part of a coach’s job description as formulating a game plan. Besides which, Jackson’s protestations were entirely justified.
- With all due respect, the only plausible reason for Lamar Odom’s lack of on-court awareness is that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder.
In any case, Odom is imminently dispensable and must be dealt for someone like Ron Artest, Udonis Haslem or Shane Battier.
- Sometimes how a team plays is more significant than whether they’ve won or lost a specific game. Which was the case with the Lakers’ sloppy, error-filled victory in Game 5 that certainly pointed to the probability of their getting swamped in Game 6.
Continue reading ‘What we learned in the NBA Finals’
I guess one sinking ship was enough for the actor and fellow Lakers fan…
Boston Herald: Lakers’ superfan Leonardo DiCaprio couldn’t stand the sight of his team taking the worst beating in NBA Finals history the other night - so the “Ashecliffe” star Departed the Garden halfway through the third quarter.
DiCaprio was in his usual perch - inside the Celtics [team stats] ESPN Message Boards - with Red Sox [team stats] GM Theo Epstein and his bride, Marie; Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey; uberchef Todd English and PR prince Keith Gainsboro.
But Leo’s misery didn’t end there. We hear the sweet staff at Honey’s Cafe & Bakery in Medfield whipped up a Celtics cake at the request of the Hollywood hunk’s driver yesterday.
Apparently, the wheel man wanted to have the cake on the seat when Leo got in the car.
“I guess he wanted to rub his nose in it,” said our spy.
In a season where our own team configuration was hanging in the balance, I feel the Lakers shocked the world getting to the NBA Finals. This was a season where tweaks were made to improve the team and a season where a young superstar named Andrew Bynum started to emerge. We started off, establishing ourselves around the league. Then Bynum went down, Gasol came in.
As Lakers Nation, we should feel proud of this team and how far they have come. But at the same time, sit down, and remember how you feel right now. Now is the time to focus on this summer. Now is the time we wait for young Andrew Bynum to come back to us and get ready to prepare for a war.
You see, while we were embarrassed in front of the entire world, there is a more important goal now. This is the time to start preparing to derail the Celtics of their pursuit of their 2nd straight NBA championship. This has just began… Give credit to the Celtics and their amazing, historical defensive performance. Remember how you feel right now. Congrats to the Boston Celtics. they were the better team and they played like it. We congratulate them… and at the same time, we here at TLN say we will see you next June, with Bynum and gang, ready to get revenge… ready to derail you.
Congratulations to the 2008 NBA World Champion Boston Celtics.
This is funny stuff. Matt Damon yelling court side, Phil turns around and says something…
ESPN: A friend of mine sat courtside with Matt Damon in seats to the left of the Lakers’ bench. During the third quarter, with Damon cheering on the Celtics in a green Celtics cap — great job by him, by the way — Phil Jackson barked at Damon, according to my friend, “Sit down and shut the f— up.”
A few nights ago, we posted an entry about Ray’s daughter being diagnosed with diabetes (multiple radio stations in the L.A. area were reporting this). Well, it turns out that story was inaccurate due to the limited amount of information regarding the situation. However, either way, we here at TheLakersNation.com still send out our best to Ray Allen and his family whatever the circumstances are. Here is a small update…
Boston.com: According to a team official, Allen was at the hospital all day yesterday with his son and was scheduled to fly home late last night or early today. According to the official, Allen’s son went to the hospital for treatment prior to Game 5 Sunday night and has recovered well.
The official said Allen was disappointed after hearing about erroneous reports suggesting his oldest daughter was being treated at the hospital.
Here is an update about Perkins. He is “expected” to play tonight. Here is what Perkins had to say about his shoulder:
Boston: “If feels good,” said Perkins. I’m going to give it a shot tonight and see how it goes. I plan on playing tonight and I’ll see how it goes.” Perkins admitted his shoulder probably won’t be 100 percent until after the season, but that right now he feels well enough to play.
These are the kinds of comments I want to hear. From one of our leaders, on being the first team to come back from a 1-3 series deficit, here is D-Fish…
PressTelegram: “It has to happen at some point, so why not us?” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said late Sunday night. “Why not make history? Whatever it takes to become a champion you have to be willing to do it. This opportunity does not come around every season.
“Things change, different players, contract, free agents. So we have to figure out a way to get it done.”
Also here is Farmar on the same subject…
L.A. Times: “We have a great belief in this locker room that we can get it done and be the world champs,” guard Jordan Farmar said. “That’s been our goal all year long and we are holding on to it.”We have a great belief in this locker room that we can get it done and be the world champs,” guard Jordan Farmar said. “That’s been our goal all year long and we are holding on to it.”
The refs for tonight have been released from NBA.com:
- J. Crawford
- E. Rush
- B. Salvatore
Also, for those wondering. The free throw disparity is 167-120 Celtics. We must take it to the hole tonight and get to the line… regardless, these are the refs for tonight’s game 6 of the NBA Finals.
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