Crucifido’s Corner: Lakers vs. Celtics (The Finals Game 2 6/8/08)

Game 2 – No Better

This game started like Game 1, with the Lakers having good ball movement and a spring in their step off the ball. That more crisp movement had the Celtics scrambling to keep up with everyone off of screens and moving through the key. When the Lakers began to get the Cetics in more of a backpedaling mode on defense, they had a much easier time with any shot that came their way.

And where did that come from? From off ball movement and not watching everyone else play the game. Then came the rest of the game. The Lakers went right back to playing into the Celtics’ hands by standing around and letting the Celtics play an almost zone defense on them. The Lakers did nothing to force their game back to the inside like they did early in the game. Did they just expect the Celtics to stand back and crumble? I hope not, but it certainly looked that way.

The Celtics were giving lanes for drives and the Lakers did a good job of getting into those lanes and staying aggressive with it. When their concentration waned on a couple easy put backs and lay-ups they didn’t begin to settle for other shots. They took the shots that were given to them.

One good thing came early on in this game off of Radmanovic’s quick 2 fouls – the insertion of Ariza back into the rotation. I honestly think that with his athleticism and size, despite being a touch out of game shape, he should be the starter at the small forward. His closing out of Pierce’s drives as soon as he came in the game was vital for the Lakers to have.

Once Trevor got into the game there was an immediate change in Pierce’s approach on offense. Ariza has a better ability to space and recover from that space on defense than Radmanovic and that ability to get in and then back off of Pierce had Pierce pushing the ball off to someone else along the arc instead of being able to pretty much take it into the paint whenever he wanted to. Even though it wsas a short-live stint in the 1st quarter, Trevor did a good job in taking Pierce out of rhythm. When Luke came in Pierce was still stuttering a bit, trying to find his lane.

To that effect, Luke did well in coming in and being physical with Pierce, giving him another element to contend with. This is simply good defensive strategy against a scorer. Give them different looks and never let the get into a groove against your defense. However a team does need the tools to carry this off, and carry it off is what Ariza and Walton did fairly well.

That hyper aggressive take and even more aggressive finish that Pau had in the 1st quarter was exactly what he needs to show more of on the offensive end. There can be no backing down even with Garnett’s shot blocking and defensive ability. It happened again in the 2nd quarter with Gasol completely taking advantage of Pierce guarding him in the low post. Its good to see, but the main key with it is Pau using that drop step and turning speed on the post more often and with strength every single time. No, Pau is not a low post player by nature, but he’s in that position right now and it is working for him when he gets angry. So, get angry.

Lamar did well in keeping after missed shots. When everyone else ran away from boards and the paint, Odom did real well in sticking with the ball. He got a couple good put backs through persistency alone.

Letting the Celtics have someone outside of their main scorers get off on you the way Powe did tonight is criminal. Coast to coast possession for Powe – are you kidding me?! This was a ridiculously juvenile defensive “performance” against an absolute scrub. The Lakers have a hard enough time keeping up with the primary Celtics scorers, now by letting someone with a limited skill set get their game going as easily as they did, they give themselves another player in rhythm to stay with. Its one thing if you’re containing the Celtics primary guys, but the Lakers weren’t keeping many players in check (sans moments with Pierce being team defended) consistently.

One thing is apparent; the Lakers have no need to double team as frantically and quickly as they do. There is nobody on the Celtics, outside of Garnett getting into his post move that needs to be double. Despite that the Lakers saw fit to further crimp their defense by doubling way to early and in turn having to run around in scramble mode for 3 quarters of the game.

The infamous, can’t defend the 3-profile came to fore – again as well. There’s no need to go into it other than wondering once again why the Lakers refuse to make shooters put the ball on the floor.

Did you see the fire in Kobe in the timeout during the 3rd quarter? If you listened closely he said something to the effect of “You may only get one shot at this now COME ON!” That kind of attitude shouldn’t have to be instilled in these guys at this point of the playoffs. This is for everything, there’s no reason you should ever need someone to get your head in the game.

WTFs Of The Game: This is patently ridiculous. Any idiot that says the Lakers get all the calls is an out and out moron. If you believe this, you are a complete buffoon who does not watch games. The entire first half with Lamar getting people jumping on his back, 2 hands in Pau’s back the whole half, Kobe getting called for tiny hand contact that normally goes unnoticed, No Celtic getting whistled for traveling, all resulting in the Lakers no being afraid to play defense. And who cam blame them? How do you play defense when you have no idea what is and what isn’t a foul. From possession to possession the rules change. There is no way for any team to be able to play up to the level they have to get this far if they can’t breathe on opposing players.

I have NEVER blamed a game on the refs, but this series is already ridiculous. With the jersey grabbing of Game 1, the traveling and swipes on the arm on shots of Game 2, there’s no way anyone can say that the refs are not having an adverse effect on every game. How in the world can any team play defense when game-by-game you have no idea what a foul is. It was even down to the last seconds when Posey fell out of bounds with the rebound and Derek got called for the foul becuase Posey fell down. It is impossible for any basketball team to play the game when they have no idea of the parameters of the rules.

2 free throws in a half (1 tech and 1 off of a made shot)? So what you’re saying is this the best and cleanest defensive team of all time! Please…

Apparently I can’t let this Pierce “heroism” junk go. I’m sorry, but during the 1st quarter did I hear Mark Jackson say, “Give the Celtics credit, they held the fort until Pierce came back.” It was 1.45 off the actual game clock that Pierce was out. If that’s holding the fort, maybe now I understand why the press thinks why getting the vast majority of their 66 wins against the lowly Eastern Conference is something special. That knee sure looked hurt today didn’t it? You crybaby.

One more thing as long as I’m whining. If it’s a foul on one guy, then it’s a foul on another. When Ronny got called for his foul from momentum, Garnett got away with the exact same kind of play on the other end. Calls will be missed; it’s no big deal. What gets everyone’s ire up is when the officials decide to change their calls depending on the situation of the game or the players it involves. How many problems need to come off of the officials calling an entirely inconsistent game before something is done?

On the positive side, now that I’ve been able to calm down a touch (but not much) all the Celtics did is what they’re supposed to do. Now its time for this Laker team to wake up and realize they need to play basketball to win a basketball game, fight the biased refs, keep their head up and show themselves and us why we should still believe that this team can do it this year.

The comeback was nice, that’s for sure. It showed to me why this Celtic team is undeserved of the championship. They are Arrogant and play accordingly without any reason to be that way. Anyway, it was good for the team’s confidence to get that comeback rolling, but how about not waiting until you’re down by big double digits late in the game to play smart, hustle D?

When all is said and done – this was embarrassment with a slight twinge of positivity here and ere. Now its time for you – Lakers – play like you belong in the Finals. This isn’t a scrimmage kids, it’s what you play basketball for. Now show yourselves and us that you want it!