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Boston Wins 17th NBA Championship with 131-92 demolishing of Lakers
Was that a fitting ending or what? Boston was the better team in the Finals, and my my did they prove that last night. They scored 131 points for goodness sakes! That hardly happens in the playoffs. Oh, they also set an NBA Finals record with 18 steals, 6 by the sneaky-quick Rajon Rondo. The Lakers were going to need Kobe to take over the game and score about 40+ to have a chance of a Game 7, but he settled for jump shots yet again due to the Celtics defense.
It was really a microcosm of the entire series – Boston’s D shut down the Lakers, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom were dominated inside, and the Boston bench clearly outplayed the Laker bench – except much much worse. It was 32-29 mid 2nd quarter, then went on a 26-6 run sparked by a couple threes. It was over at that point.
It even got laughable in the late 3rd/early 4th quarters. It seemed to be a game of “How many threes can Boston hit?” and Ray Allen, James Posey and Eddie House hit quite a few. Even Big Baby played a lot. Boston dominated the boards, and generally looked like they just wanted it more. They played with much more passion, hustle and effort than it appeared the Lakers did. Boston was the better team, and both teams clearly knew that, and you could tell.
The Lakers are a young team, and they aren’t going anywhere. It’s gonna be hard to get back to the Finals with the West the way it is, but with Andrew Bynum coming back along with Kobe and the main core, they’ll certainly learn from the embarrassment that was last night. Hopefully (for their sake), they will make a much more concerted effort to play championship-level defense.
Speaking of championship-level team defense, Boston used it – steals, deflections, turnovers, rebounding (LA had two offensive rebounds). But it was their offense that was really impressive last night. I know the Lakers were done at halftime, but the crispness and flow of Boston offensively was something to watch. I think it was Mark Jackson who made a very correct statement concerning the Celtics: “Players win games, teams win championships, and the Celtics are the perfect example of a team” Couldn’t have said it better.
As for my own feelings towards Boston’s title, I am certainly glad that Kevin Garnett is finally getting a ring. He’s been a great player, and knows he’s got the top prize. And no, I have no idea what the hell he was doing or yelling last night, but you could just see the happiness he was experiencing. His three-point play late in the 2nd quarter was just amazing, and you knew he wasn’t gonna be denied.
Ray Allen and Paul Pierce have had their fair share of playing on some bad teams. They have also had great careers and now finally have that championship they have worked for their entire careers. Where KG was probably the best player, Pierce was the heart and the soul of the Celtics, even when they were awful (just last year). Allen seems a very classy, humble, down-to-earth individual. Now he’s got a title to go along with all those threes.
I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying Doc Rivers was better than Phil Jackson in this series. Rivers was on the hot seat last year, and yes, while he got two great players like Allen and Garnett (and the old guys in Sam Cassell and PJ Brown), he made the right decisions in this series. In the season, I thought he managed his team well when Garnett was out, and Boston never seemed to blink in the face of trouble, even when they struggled at Atlanta and at Cleveland.
Finally, I gotta give props to my boy James Posey. It’s his second title, following up his championship with the Heat a couple years ago. He defines role player. His role is to play outstanding one-on-one defense and hitting the open three. Did he do that or what? Top that off, with his hustle, basketball smarts, and even his antics, and you see why I enjoyed this guy so much during his tenure with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Unlike, many people, I don’t hate the city of Boston – just the Patriots. I can stand the Celtics winning because of the players finally getting their rings and they don’t have any guys you can just hate (Kobe is a love-him-or-hate-him guy). So with that, congratulations to the Celtics.
Nope, I couldn’t make it last night. That’s what being in summer school does to you – schoolwork gets in the way. I should be able to make it tomorrow night though. I might have to get there an hour before doors open to get in however, as I hear it was standing-room only if that last night. Go Vols Xtra, the Tennessee site of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, has solid coverage – game summaries, stories on each of the games (see below), and even a quality photo gallery. Some notable performances? Tyler Smith had 32, as his team with East Tennessee State stud Courtney Pigram and former Winthrop stud Michael Jenkins beat Ron Slay’s (who scored 28 himself) team by 47 (there wasn’t a story on this). The Hopson-Maze team won handily as well, putting up 140 points in the W (no, there is likely no defense in these games). Brian Williams, whose continued improvement will only help Tennessee inside, had 21 points. If Williams can play big inside, you could see some Tyler at the 3 and Chism at the 4, I guess what you would call going with the “big” lineup. Josh Tabb had 26 for the losing team, and if he can get some offensive consistency to go with that defense, he will be hard-pressed to NOT get his fair share of minutes. And finally, Dane Bradshaw led his team to a 109-101 win with 27 points. Former Vol Rashard Lee and Carson-Newman’s Andy Tipton each added 14 points. Cameron Tatum, another talented player who should make quite an impact in replacing the loss of Chris and JaJuan, led all scorers from last night with 39 points. This was the closest game of the night as well. When/If I go, I’ll try to get some pictures to put on here. It’s just now starting, so I should make it to my fair share of games. Also, click HERE for the complete schedule and HERE for links to each of the team rosters to see where the non-Vols play their ball.
I found a YouTube video of highlights of the first night as well, check it out!
