Sports Highlights: Lakers have the Edge Against Arch Enemy Celtics

December 26, 2008

The anguish that the Lakers had of loosing in the Finals against the Celtics is over.  Final score 92-83 with the Celtics coming up short.

This is a new season.  The Lakers are a different team.

Its not that the Big Three did not play well for the Boston Celtics.  Quite the opposite.  Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen played well.  Even Rajon Rondo had 12 asssits for the night.  For most of the game the score was close.  Boston had a slight edge in the momentum at the half.  The Lakers took the momentum back in the second half.

But it was the bench that made the difference.  Boston bench point: 13.  Lakers bench points: 22.

This game really showed how close these teams are.  They are neck and neck.  While no team in the NBA is perfect both the Boston Celtics and Las Angelas Lakers have very few flaws in their game.  Boston has a slight advantage in the defensive catagory but the Lakers have a slight advantage in the offensive catagory.

Garnett shot the lights out leading the Celtics with 22 points on 11-14 shooting.  It seemed that he made every shot he took, some of them from almost at the three point line.

Pierce had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Ray Allen had 14 points starting out hot but ending cold.  Part of the reason can be attributed to wearing himself out having to guard Kobe Bryant for long stretches of the game.

On the other end Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant worked togthers marveously.  Kobe hit Gasol with nice passes and at least 3/5 of Gasols assists were to Kobe.  Pau Gasol is such a perfect fit for Phil Jaskson’s system and its a beaty to watch a 7 footer make sharp cuts to the basket time and time again and be rewarded with an easy basket time and time again.

Trevor Ariza made his mark on the game by his exceptional defense which included two potential game changing plays.KegWorks.com (Dot Com Holdings of Buffalo, Inc)

I cant wait until these two teams meet again in Boston.  While the Lakers won, and it appears they have an edge over Boston, its still up in the air as to which team is better.  If a couple of balls would have went the other way the Celtics would have won.

But for now the Lakers can bask in their short lived revenge.  They have come a long way.  It seems like its the 80s all over again.  History really does repeat itself.  When these two teams meet in the Finals, and they will, it will be a battle to the finish.

Boston
Starters Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
R. Allen G 42:17 5-14 3-11 1-2 -2 0 1 3 3 1 0 2 4 14
R. Rondo G 33:50 3-11 0-1 0-0 -3 1 3 12 2 1 0 3 5 6
K. Perkins C 34:03 4-5 0-0 0-0 -1 2 7 0 2 0 2 1 3 8
P. Pierce F 38:17 7-13 2-4 4-4 -6 2 10 3 5 1 0 1 4 20
K. Garnett F 37:14 11-14 0-1 0-0 -3 0 9 2 0 1 1 0 2 22
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
T. Allen 16:24 3-9 0-2 0-0 -11 1 2 0 3 1 0 2 3 6
E. House 14:08 1-5 0-3 0-0 -7 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 2
G. Davis 13:13 2-6 0-0 0-0 -6 1 4 1 0 1 0 0 2 4
L. Powe 10:17 0-0 0-0 1-2 -6 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
B. Scalabrine 0:13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
P. O'Bryant DNP - Coach's Decision
G. Pruitt DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 36-77 5-22 6-8 7 40 22 17 8 3 9 25 83
Percentages: .468 .227 .750 Team Rebounds: 6
LA Lakers
Starters Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
K. Bryant G 43:04 13-23 1-3 0-0 +2 2 9 5 4 1 0 0 2 27
D. Fisher G 35:25 2-10 2-6 0-2 +10 0 2 7 0 0 0 0 4 6
A. Bynum C 35:37 4-7 0-0 1-2 0 1 7 0 1 0 2 0 2 9
P. Gasol F 35:53 7-14 0-0 6-6 +1 1 3 5 3 1 3 3 0 20
L. Walton F 27:47 3-6 2-3 0-0 -2 3 4 5 0 1 2 0 3 8
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
L. Odom 24:02 3-6 2-3 2-2 +17 0 7 2 2 2 2 0 3 10
S. Vujacic 19:15 3-9 1-5 3-3 +8 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 10
T. Ariza 18:14 1-3 0-0 0-0 +9 0 1 3 1 1 0 0 1 2
V. Radmanovic 0:41 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
C. Mihm DNP - Coach's Decision
J. Powell DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 36-78 8-20 12-15 7 35 27 11 6 9 3 18 92
Percentages: .462 .400 .800 Team Rebounds: 7

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