Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher celebrate after a game that featured surprising turns and performances from beginning to end. (Source: Yardbarker.com)
Yesterday I wrote how if Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics followed suit with the rest of the series, there would be more drama before the game than during it. How happily wrong I was. The game had surprising twists plus more storylines than a Robert Altman film. If I didn’t know better, I’d've thought this game was shown on cable rather than ABC, ‘cuz TNT Knows Drama (oh wait, didn’t they change their tagline to the even lamer “TNT – Very Funny?”). There also still was some post-game suspense (which I’ll get to in the end). So now, in honor of the Lakers winning their 16th title, we’ll go over the 16 surprising tales this game created, starting out with the 12 stories that played out during the game:
1. The Redemption Of Ron Artest
The 2010 Laker team had one difference from the 2009 team: they swapped Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza. At the beginning of the year Artest stated that if the Lakers didn’t win again this year that the blame should fall on him. It was a bold, perhaps fair statement to make. With his horrendous shooting throughout much of the playoffs and into the Finals, LA fans had the bullseye painted and everything. However, with Kobe and Pau struggling in the first half (okay, hell, the whole game), his scoring kept the team in the game. Add to it that he held Paul Pierce to 5-of-15 shooting and this poor maligned, albeit slightly crazy guy, perhaps can finally move on from his Malice At The Palace rep.
2. Andrew Bynum Pulls A Willis Reed
The Lakers’ injury-prone (and thus currently injured) center came out strong, setting an aggressive tone on the boards. He posted down low and made four shot attempts in the first few minutes. He only made one of ‘em, and that would be it, but his aggressive start gave the Lakers a boost and with the Celtics initially focused on him, Pau was able to crash the offensive boards from the get-go.
3. Kobe Bryant’s Hellacious Night
Kobe-Haters everywhere got their dream to come true: in arguably the biggest game of KB24’s career, and with home court advantage, Kobe shot the ball like a one-armed blind man. He needed a basket in the last few minutes to bring his shooting percentage up to 25%. Yes, you can argue that the Celtics play suffocating defense with double and triple teams that refused to let him get to paint or be the one who beat them. However, considering during the first three quarters he only hit 3-of-6 from the free throw line, which even the Celtics can’t defend, he clearly had some jitters.
4. Kobe Finds Other Ways To Help Bring The Game Home
For Kobe Lovers, they’ve got their own proud moments to defend against allegations that he crumbled when needed most. First, yes, Kobe shot 50% from the line in the first three quarters, but in the fourth he went 8-of-9 from there and that’s when the stakes were highest. Second, there’s the saying that when great players’ shots aren’t falling, they find other ways to contribute. Kobe did that by bringing down 15 boards, or 4 more than the Celtics’ starting front court of Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace combined. Third, he did hit a big shot in the fourth to put the Lakers up by four, cause Staples Center to explode, and force the Celtics to call a timeout to try to stem the tide.
Me, I fall on the he-stunk-the-joint-up side and think he should be ashamed for how awful he was. But I love that he did just enough that die-hard Laker fans won’t let you 100% get away with that claim.
5. Rasheed Wallace and Big Baby Step Up Nicely To Replace Kendrick Perkins
Yes, the Celts still got beat by 13 rebounds in the battle of the boards, but Rasheed, a player not known for being a particularly great rebounder, did grab 8 of ‘em in just 36 minutes. Glen “Big Baby” Davis was even better, getting 9 in just 21 minutes. For those who say Perkins could’ve made the difference in the rebounding battle, Perk only averaged 7.6 rebounds in the regular season, and in the Finals was down to just 5.8. One could argue that perhaps his big body blocks out opposing players, allowing his teammates to grab more boards, but in terms of sheer #s, the bench duo more than matched him. They also were both effective on the offensive side, with Rasheed in particular making some nice baskets in the post.
6. Ray Allen’s Early Vacation
Ever since Ray-Ray’s historic three-point barrage in Game 2 (almost all of which was actually just contained to one half), he and his shot have been awol. When he hit his first shot, a three, Laker fans instantly aged seven years, afraid that Jesus Shuttleworth was here to play. Sadly, he would go a pitiful 2-for-12 the rest of the way.
7. The Lakers Pull A Celtics
If you hadn’t seen the game and were told that the win was due to great defense and reliance on a team as a whole rather than a superstar, you would’ve thought the Celtics won. Yes, of course, everyone will talk about the Celtics phenomenal defense which limited LA to a pathetic 32.5% shooting. However, the Lakers were pretty good on the defensive side too, holding Boston to just 40.8% while turning the ball over 14 times (compared to the Lakers 11 miscues). Plus, as the saying goes, defense isn’t over until you secure the rebound. The Celtics may’ve forced the Lakers to miss the basket on an astonishing 56 field-goal attempts, but the Men In Green only secured those misses 32 times, or just 57% of ‘em. Of the Celtics 42 spoiled tries, the Lakers scooped up 30, a far more palatable 71%.
8. Both Teams Pull A Mid-90s Knicks/Heat Game
Coming in, no one had this confused for a Sun/Golden State Warriors game. We knew it would take a near-miracle for either team to reach triple digits, but low 90s for the winner seemed about right. With the final score being 79-83, somewhere Pat Riley, Charles Oakley and Alonzo Mourning were smiling. This was the type of bball those guys knew. The Celtics lead at the half by six points even though they only had 40 points. The sad thing was that it ended up being their high scoring half. When the Lakers went into intermission with just 34 points, viewers all over must’ve been groaning, but this Knicks fan was loving the slugfest.
9. If The Celtics Won, Who Would’ve Been MVP?
ESPN analyst John Hollinger had floated the idea after Game 5 that even if the Celtics won the championship, perhaps Kobe Bryant should win the MVP trophy. Kobe had been the only consistently decent performer throughout the series on both teams, so it almost made sense. However, as Game 7 went on with the Celtics seeming in control during the first three quarters despite no one Boston player distinguishing themselves, me and my friend Greg couldn’t figure out who deserved to get MVP. Even Kobe had melted in the white-hot spotlight, so we couldn’t justify making him only the second Finals loser ever to win MVP anyway.
Had it been a playoffs MVP, Rondo would’ve been the clear answer, but he wasn’t as big a factor as he’d been throughout the Celts stomping of the Eastern Conference. Paul Pierce had a couple of good games. Kevin Garnett was a no-show in the first two games in LA, but then he not only had a couple of decent scoring outbursts, but his physical defense seemed to knock Pau Gasol’s offense into the gutter. Even Ray Allen, despite only having one good scoring game, at least could claim that he played great lock-down defense on Kobe throughout the series.
I still have no idea who would have got the award had they won. If you look purely at the stats, Rondo actually almost had a triple double in Game 7 with 14 points, 8 boards, and 10 assists, but it was the quietest near-trip-dub ya ever saw. Or didn’t see. Honestly, probably the one who most deserved it was coach Doc Rivers.
10. Pau Gasol Avoids Being Tagged Mister Softy For Life
While Pau still was clearly bothered by Boston’s defense and shot a miserable 6 of 16, he was a monster on the boards, topping Kobe, with 18. Also, until the last few minutes, he was even more pathetic than Kobe from the line, hitting only 2 of 7. However, he came up big in the fourth, hitting 5 of 6 freebies, making a key basket with a minute and a half to go, then following it with a spectacular offensive rebound (he set a pick for Kobe at the three-point line, yet somehow managed to hustle to the basket for Kobe’s miss) which pretty much sealed the game. It had to feel particularly good for him to avenge the emasculation he suffered at Boston’s hands two years ago, and possibly it was made even sweeter for him considering he limited KG, the one who bullied him the most, to 3 paltry rebounds.
11. The Refs Help LA Out In The Fourth Quarter
Game 7 even had a little something for the Conspiracy Theorists out there. For the most part, the refs did a good job, letting the players play, allowing them to be physical. But in the fourth quarter it seemed like they started calling some fouls that they hadn’t called earlier on, and oddly almost all those calls went the Lakers’ way. Now Theorists can argue that the NBA instructed the refs to ensure the Lakers won. Likewise, the NBA-Refs-Suck Posse can complain that the men in stripes were swayed by the home crowd.
12. Derek Fisher’s Redemption
We started with redemption and we’ll end with redemption. Before Ron Artest came along, and okay, even since Ron-Ron’s been in town, Laker fans have railed against Derek Fisher. Yes, they all think he’s a quality guy, but from 2008 through this year’s regular season, he was considered the weakest link. He had gotten too slow to stop opposing point guards, and his show was Missing In Action more often than not. He slightly redeemed himself by hitting some big shots during the 2009 Finals, but even that didn’t stop the longing for him to be limited to 10-15 minutes off the bench because he’d been so bad during the regular season and the majority of the playoffs.
During the regular season this year he did nothing to convince the fans that they were wrong. However, throughout this year’s playoffs he has been perhaps the most clutch shooter on the team. Not just during the Finals. His shot has been on since the second season began. Still, even though he won Game 3 for the Lakers, he’d been a non-factor on offense since. In Game 7, he didn’t score a ton (10 pts), but he was the only Laker to shoot over 50%, and he hit arguably the game’s biggest (& probably toughest) shot:
His team, after much struggling, had finally managed to barely tie the game up in the fourth, however the momentum quickly swung back the other way. Garnett blocked a Pau shot, followed by Gasol missing both free throws after a foul, allowing Boston to regain a three-point lead. The Staples crowd wondered if they’d just missed their golden opportunity. Pau got the ball down low again, and as the double-team came, things didn’t look good. Gasol passed it out to Fish, who stood a few feet past the three-point line. Rondo came charging out so Fish had to put so much arc on his shot that it scraped the ceiling. But it hit all net. Move over Robert Horry, Big Shot Derek has firmly taken over your role.
And now…
Post-Game Suspense
With these Finals featuring more suspense between games than during them, it only makes sense to quickly cover what suspense remains now that the games are done. Here are 3:
1. The Legacy Of Kobe Bryant
Had Kobe suffered a third empty trip to the Finals (remember not only did Kobe lose to the Celts in 2008, but the Shaq-Kobe-Malone-Payton Lakers lost to the Pistons in, what, 2004?), he would’ve irrevocably damaged his legacy. After a mediocre to downright-bad Game 7 though, he probably hasn’t improved upon it much either. He still can’t shine a light to Jordan, and the debate as to the greatest Laker of all time (him or Magic) is no clearer. A definitive performance could’ve perhaps placed him in the lead. Where does he stand amidst the pantheon? It seemed like we’d know based on whether the Lakers kept the trophy, but the questions remain wide open.
2. Will Phil Jackson Return To Try For His Fourth Three-Peat?
Even if owner Jerry Buss tries to force Jackson to take a major pay cut as has been reported, can Phil really leave now with this tantalizing unique opportunity in sight?
3. Has Ray Allen Killed His Shot At The Hall Of Fame?
He had many years where he scored a ton on mediocre squads, but in terms of winning, he’s only notched one ring, and that was as a team’s third option. Heck, even Adam Morrison now has more rings than him.
And finally, I leave you with a post-game tale that didn’t leave me with any more questions, but rather an ending that impressed me…
4. The Honesty Of Kobe Bryant
Most athletes, like Bryant, have been so coached in media-savvy, that all they ever offer to the press are bland platitudes and company lines. For the last two weeks, Kobe has claimed that it didn’t matter to him that he was playing the Celtics, all he cared about was winning and it didn’t matter who their foe was. After the game, he confessed the truth:
“I was just lying to you guys. When you’re in the moment, you have to suppress that … but you guys know what a student I am of the game. I know every series the Lakers have played in, and I know every Celtics series. I know every statistic. It meant the world to me, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had to focus on playing.” He even owned up to having played an awful game and that it was his team who saved him: “I wanted it so bad, and sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My guys picked me up.”
