NBA Finals 2008 - Lakers vs. Celtics

[Dave Gray]

Soft or not, it still does not equate to that big a disparity of called fouls.

Sure it does.

Heat fans (of which I am one of) used to bitch about foul discrepancy in some of their series.  This was before Shaq.  It's because we didn't have an inside presence.  Last night consisted of Kobi pulling up for jumpers over and over again.  There was inside play, but not much taking it to the hole.  On the other hand, the Celtics played inside.  Powe was hitting it hard, and those are the kinds of plays that get fouls.

It's all about the type of basketball that the teams play.  When you settle for mid-range jumpers, you aren't going to get fouled a lot.  When you play inside, you are.  That was the story of last night.  Granted, there were a few incidences where Boston was smart enough to intentionally foul before the shot, to cause an inbound, and there was one Gasol dunk that looked like he got hacked.  ...but it was only one or two little things.  The vast majority of it was due to style of play.

[Thundergod]

Looks like the votes for the Celts are slowly piling on.  ha!

[Pats2006]

How about Powe last night!! He was on fire!

[stinkfish]

Why do the lakers now, in the Finals, decide to not crash the board and take it to the hole? They've done this all season long, and now for some reason, they aren't driving to the hoop.

[MaineDolFan]

^It's because they are outsized and out muscled.  Boston is a very physical team that also shoots the ball well from 18+ feet.  LA isn't crashing the boards because they can't.  The east is, generally, a more physical league than the west.  Cleveland and Detroit would have both been able to push around Utah, Denver, San Antonio and L.A.

The Lakers are REALLY missing Andrew Bynum.  Bynum is a huge physical presence for the Lakers and would be able to match Perkins and Powe to an extent.  Even then, Garnett and Pierce are very physical players that take it to the body and rim where guys like Odom and Gasol are not.

[stinkfish]

I wish that Odom were about 3-4 inches taller, and that Gasol would hit the weight room.

[gocowboys31]

^It's because they are outsized and out muscled.  Boston is a very physical team that also shoots the ball well from 18+ feet.  LA isn't crashing the boards because they can't.  The east is, generally, a more physical league than the west.  Cleveland and Detroit would have both been able to push around Utah, Denver, San Antonio and L.A.

I kept trying to drive that point home to the celtic detractors. Atlanta, cleveland, and Detroit are more physical than anyone the lakers have played with the exception of the spurs. They also play better defense. Cleveland and the pistons are always among the league leaders in defense.

The Denver series was basically a layup line. Utah tried to be physical, but didnt have the individual defenders to slow down kobe. The spurs offense abandoned  them to many times in critical streches and Ginobilli wasn't 100 percent.

Boston was the best defense all season and they have bangers on the frontline. Rajon Rondo is trying to dunk the ball from the baseline, meanwhile Odom is going up soft from 3 feet away. How does Leon Powe dribble 3/4 down the court and dunk the ball without paying the price.

If James Posey were wearing a laker uniform powe would've recieved a hard foul. That's the difference in the teams. The celtics have guys who are willing to do the dirty work, the lakers have guys who are shying away from it.

Tonight's officials are Joey Crawford, Marc Wundelic, and you guessed it..........Bennett Salvatore. Should be a very intresting night.

[simeon]

Congrats to the Lakers on winning game 3

[Thundergod]

Holy crap, the home team won!? Shocking!

[Dave Gray]

Holy crap, the home team won!? Shocking!

I want the Celtics to win, but I'm not going to blame the refs.  The Lakers attacked the basket and were aggressive on the dribble, so they got calls.  It's the way it goes.

[SportsChick]

It was a complete reversal of game 2 - the Lakers were playing good defense while the Celtics were settling for mid-range jumpers instead of driving to the basket.

[MaineDolFan]

Thank God some calls went the Lakers way.  Now, maybe, we won't hear the national Laker apologists whining non-stop about the job the officials are doing in this series.

The Lakers took their game to the next level, physically, and got the calls. 

All that said - if I am Laker fan...I'm nervous.  You just lost games 1 & 2 on the road and finally get home.  You ramp up your game, the crowd is behind you and, yet, Boston holds you to 87 points. 

[SportsChick]

Like I said, I think that if Boston takes 1 of the next 2 games, they have the series in hand. They'll just need to win 1 of 2 at home (where they've only lost once all playoffs)

[gocowboys31]

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN !!!


What a missed opportunity. The lakers were dead and we couldn't pour dirt over the grave. I can't count on odom and gasol both having those kind of games. This is what im saying about kobe, you can't have the game hanging in the balance when you had a chance to bury them late in the third/ early 4th. The guy is the best closer since MJ.

Once again Garnett fading away from the basket shotting jumpers. Get on the block, post up and go to the basket. It's so frustrating wacthing this guy bail out the opponent with jump shots.

The only  solace i take from the game was that the games are still being played at our pace. Hopefully Pierce comes back in game 4 and Garnett stays in the post and please no more Sam Cassell on the road. He took at least 3 ill- advised shots last night. Hats off to the lakers, Boston didnt want the game so the lakers took it from them.

We need game 4. No more life needs to be given to the lakers and especially KOBE!!!

[stinkfish]

Lousy game. The Lakers should have smashed them by 20. I'll be happy with the win, but not with the quality play. Odom and Gasol still are cold. There were WAY too many missed free throws by the Lakers. But, I get the feeling that if the lakers and Kobe had played aggressive games like this in Boston, the series would be tied at 2, with LA in position to wrap it up at Staples. But they got the win, got back into the series, and have to take it back here to win. Baby steps,  boys.