It wasn't pretty, but SuperKobe (36 pts.), young gun Vujacic (20 pts.), and a tougher Gasol (only 9 pts., but 5 down the stretch, and 12 rebounds)  produced an 87-81 Lakers victory over the visiting Celtics. The Lakers were only 21-34 at the charity stripe, or the winning margin would have been greater.

Odom-eter reads: early foul trouble, broodingly M.I.A., and lacking the subtle touch even when he did manage to drive well to the hole. Finish, Lamar!

And Radmanovic had similar woes, re foul trouble and scoring.

D-Fish had a few key moments, but only scored 6.

Ray Allen was the Celtics offense, while Pierce and Garnett struggled, but there's little doubt they'll produce more in Game 4 -- ditto Odom, D-Fish, Radmanovic for the home boyz, though.

Look for the Lakers to tie the series 2-2 Thursday.

Continue reading "Lakers Pull Out Ragged Game 3 of Finals"

Odom-eter: Aggressive to the hoop, excellent passes, rebounds, even jumpers. Welcome back, Lamar!

Kobe facilitating like crazy, grinning early.

35-14 lead after 1st quarter is biggest early Finals lead ever.

Trevor Arriza big off the bench, offensive and defensive effort.

58-40 Lakers over Celtics, halftime.

Then Lamar and the home boyz went home but left their golem bodies on the floor to host a surreal debacle.

I don't specifically remember the floor crumbling to the center of the earth, or effort per se ceasing, but some sort of timequake resulted in Phil Jackson talking to Ms. Tacoya re L.A.'s lead being trimmed to 2 to start the 4th quarter, sayin' dry-jokingly that he's not sure what happened either. Then he said they'd get their groove back. Well, not really. And I'm starting to wonder if Phil's vaunted Zen equanimity has turned to senility.

Continue reading "Wealthy Attention-Deficit-Disordered Jocks Blow Biggest Early Lead in NBA Finals History"

I didn't tune in Game 5 till midway through the 3rd quarter, in fan protest of schizoid nature of Game 4 loss.

It was 62-62, when I tuned in. When I found out the Lakers had been ahead by 19 pts., and had again blown a big early lead, I was doubly glad I tuned in when I did.

Home boyz survived this time though. Finally won a 3rd quarter to lead by 9 going into 4th.

Pushing back when they were caught by Celtics, and balanced scoring was the key. That, and a huge Kobe Bryant steal with time running out.

103-98 Lakers, at the buzzer.

Now, still trailing 3-2 in series, L.A. still faces a history-defying challenge in Boston to win Game 6, then 7.

Phil Jackson says his team is "young and dumb enough" to beat the odds.

Tune in Tuesday to see how it plays out.

Continue reading "Oddly Redundant Lakers Survive Game 5"