1. James Tillman said

    The Boston Celtics were riding a wave of momentum coming into game three of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only had the Celtics stolen the home-court advantage from the favored Lakers, they had also were the first team to beat the Lakers in the on their court during the playoffs. On top of that, the victory came when two of the team’s biggest stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce had less than stellar performances. The remaining question coming into this game was which Celtic team would show up; the group that was manhandled in game one or the team that played inspired basketball in game two?

    The Los Angeles Lakers would answer the bell early as they staked out to 17-point lead in the first half and lead by twelve points at halftime (52-40) behind Kobe Bryant’s 16 points on 5-13 shooting. The Celtics play would improve somewhat in the third quarter as they closed the deficit to six points heading into the final period. Similar to game 2, the teams would exchange baskets early on the period as the Celtics repeatedly closed within a basket on several occasions. However, it would be Los Angeles making all the big plays this in the fourth quarter in this game as the Lakers would re-claim the home-court advantage with 91-84 victory.

    One of the biggest keys for the Lakers was that they didn’t allow the Celtic guards to get easy points in the lane as they had done in game 2. Another reason why the Lakers were victorious was because of the poor shooting of Ray Allen who was 0 for 13 for the field including 0 for 8 from three point range. While the Celtics were fortunate to win game 2 of this series without all of their star players in top form, they will need consistent play from everyone from their big four here on out if they hope to bring the franchise its 18th championship.

    Sources:

    ESPN Sports

    Chicago Sun-Times Newspaper

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