Write On Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers blew a golden opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals by allowing a 33-point performance by Kobe Bryant and a 21-point performance by Pau Gasol to be outdone by a 30-point performance by two Celtic bench players. Glen Davis and Nate Robinson, whose only trip to the Hall of Fame will be to see other players get inducted in, scored 18 and 12 points, respectively, to defeat the defending champion Lakers, 96-89.

While we must give Davis and Robinson credit for their offensive games, the Lakers must also be criticized for their poor defensive performance in this contest, often allowing Robinson to float freely to the basket as if he were a 7-footer. And the Laker defense made Glen Davis look like Michael Jordan at times, being “unstoppable”. The Lakers’ defense was sub-par, and they can have this series slip away from them if they are not careful.

The Lakers were out-rebounded 16-8 on the offensive board and 41-34 altogether. When the Celtics were not shooting well, the Lakers often allowed them to stay close with half-hearted rebounding and turnovers. So they lost this game as much as the Celtics won it. They must have a better performance in Game 5 if they want to repeat as champions.

Game 5 will be Sunday, 3 pm ET, in the TD Garden in Boston. Somebody’s going to be up 3-2 when the series resumes in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The title, this year, will be decided at the Staples Center.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

This entry was posted on Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 4:25 am and is filed under NBA Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.