It’s been a long time since a winning team of an NBA Final’s game looked like a team destined to lose the series.
That game Tuesday night was atrocious. Dancers at Jumbo’s Clown Room look better than that game. The Celtics shot 35 percent from the field and the Lakers not named Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic shot 28 percent. And to top it all off, the Lakers obviously weren’t used to getting foul calls going 21-for-34 at the charity stripe. For the mathematically challenged that’s 13 missed free throws at 62 percent. Hopefully someone saved all those bricks to help rebuild New Orleans.
One of the biggest duds for the Lakers is Lamar Odom. The Finals is not the stage for fading stars, and fading is exactly what Lamar is doing. In game one Lamar scored 14 points. Game two: 10 points. Game three: four points. If Lamar’s testicles don’t re-descend for this series, the Lakers are going to lose.
Naturally Lamar can’t do this on his own. He needs the help of the perimeter shooters to knock down open look shots when they get them. This will force the Celtics to start guarding the perimeter rather than clog up the paint. And maybe, just maybe the Lakers front court can get some production.
On the other side, the Celtics had a prime opportunity to steal game three but made some very odd decisions down the stretch.
Who told Doc Rivers that Ray Allen could guard Kobe Bryant by himself? Once Kobe realized no one was coming over to double him, he smiled and made the Celtics pay. Thinking the Celtics would realize the problem with the matchup, it became even more perplexing that they continued to go with single coverage for the rest of the game.
Also, why did Kevin Garnett back down and settled as a jump shooter? Garnett shot an abysmal 6-for-21 from the field only taking five shots in the paint. The entire world knows the Lakers are soft up front, yet one of the most dominating players in the game decides he wants to back down.
To reiterate, that was an awful game.
Tonight if the Lakers want to win Lamar has to have a good game. Period. Vujacic isn't going to have a repeat performance, Jordan Farmar doesn't have the strength to go at the Celtics defenders and Luke Walton... Is he still playing?
I'm not going to give any predictions since I can't be trusted with them anymore. All I'm hoping for is we get a halfway decent game to watch.
AP Photo by Mark J. Terrill
