NBA Finals Game Two: Celtics Display Can-(Ron-)Do Attitude, Square Up Series

[Erick Blasco]

Doc Rivers made several slight adjustments to help the Boston Celtics defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 103-94 in the second game of the NBA Finals, squaring up the series at a game a piece.

 

• Instead of trusting frontcourt defenders to either outright double Kobe, or provide timely help at the rim, he sent doubles to Kobe from the top, and pinched off screen/rolls from the wings and corners. This accomplished three things.
• It helped Boston’s frontcourt be in better position to box out and rebound.
• With Boston’s defenders staying on their original checks, it mitigated Kobe’s ability to draw a defender and dish to Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum for easy assists.
• It forced other players to beat the Lakers from the perimeter, namely Ron Artest, who had a disastrous offensive game—1-10 FG, 1-6 3FG, 3-8 FT, 1 AST, 3 TO, 6 PTS.
• He resisted the urge to make wholesale defensive changes on Bryant, and trusted better execution to hold Bryant to a solid but unspectacular 8-20 FG, 2-7 3FG, 3-3 FT, 6 AST, 5 TO, 21 PTS performance.

The rest of Boston’s positive performances could simply be traced to the residue of holding Bryant in check, to better individual effort level, and to good fortune.

 

…good fortune such as Kevin Garnett saddling himself with early foul trouble. In his place, Rasheed Wallace was always in a good position to defend screens, and did a fantastic job fending Bynum and Gasol off the offensive glass. Whereas Wallace rebounded with force, Garnett was always looking to tip balls around, often times losing them to Lakers players. This is why Wallace wound up with seven rebounds in 18 minutes, to Garnett’s four in 23 minutes.

 

Wallace also hit three of his five jumpers, compared to Garnett making only two of his five shot attempts. KG did redeem himself with a critical jumper over Ron Artest late in the fourth, he set textbook screens, and his passing was its usual exceptional grade.

 

…good fortune such as Ray Allen not being saddled with foul trouble. Allen shed Derek Fisher’s ornery defense, punished Kobe for trying to shoot the gap, and punished the lack of wherewithal of Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. Allen also feasted in transition before the Lakers could scramble to him, and hit several jumpers off the bounce when they closed out too hard.

 

Before the first half smoke ended, Allen had scarred the Lakers by hitting his first seven threes, and scoring 27 first half points.

 

The Lakers had to counter by showing their bigs hard on Allen’s off-ball curls, if not switching altogether. This often led to a rebounding mismatch though, like when Glen Davis shed Sasha Vujacic for a rebound early in the fourth.

 

…good fortune such as Kobe picking up at least one questionable foul forcing him to play more conservatively on offense, when not sitting on the bench outright.

 

…good fortune such as the Lakers not going to Pau Gasol enough, even though nobody could stop his swift assaults on the basket, his lengthy hooks, and his incredible balance to drive, stop, and a turn around to unleash an unstoppable turnaround jump shot.

 

Paul Pierce needed a Sherpa to find the basket, but his defense was championship-caliber. He missed several rotations, but his double teams were strong and timely, and he locked up Ron Artest, even stuffing one of his layups on a one-on-one break, despite being tooted for a bogus foul.

 

More impressively was Pierce’s ability to rotate to Los Angeles’ shooters, recover to his own man, close out hard enough to prevent an open jumper, stay balanced enough to prevent a blow by, be in position to funnel to help, all while displaying active hands to poke away loose dribbles.

 

Kendrick Perkins wasn’t able to pose a problem for Gasol, but he was more aggressive in looking for his offense. If that offense wasn‘t pretty, he did saddle the Lakers frontcourt with some fouls—4-7 FG, 4-6 FT, 12 PTS.

 

Glen Davis was too small to be a presence on defense, and his inability to elevate resulted in an impossible time trying to finish at the rim—4-13 FG, 8 PTS—but he hustled on defense and attacked the offensive glass.

 

Tony Allen played effective defense on Bryant, while Nate Robinson provided a lift with seven important fourth quarter points.

 

Sheldon Williams tried desperately to erase a double digit Celtics lead, by twice throwing the ball right to Kobe Bryant, fouling Ron Artest at the three-point line, having a soft layup attempt swatted, and missing a rotation on defense.

 

But the biggest difference between games one and two was Rajon Rondo. Because Boston’s defense was able to get stops, Rondo was allowed to push the ball in transition, finding Allen repeatedly for spot up threes when he wasn’t simply finishing over the Lakers on the break.

 

Plus, down the stretch, Rondo made several superstar plays to clinch the Celtics victory:

 

• Not giving an inch to Kobe in the post, using his gumby like arms to wrap around him, steal the ball, and stick a foul on Bryant midway through the third.
• Reaching around Kobe to poke the ball away from him behind the three-point line, resulting in a steal late in the fourth.
• Blocking a Derek Fisher three from behind.
• Finishing a nice out-of-bounds set play for one layup, using a great screen from Garnett to pin Bryant for a second layup, and following a blocked shot for a rebound and putback for a third layup that turned a three-point Lakers lead into a one point Celtics margin within two minutes.
• Hitting a backbreaking jumper with under two minutes that extended the Celtics lead to five.

Rondo was seldom blocked out and crashed the boards throughout. His extreme speed allows him to crash the boards and still create quick transition opportunities, whereas other guards would have to wait at halfcourt for an outlet pass to push the ball, while his offensive forays are mitigated by Pierce and Allen being responsible to get back on defense.

 

Rondo was the best player in Game Two, and continues to rewrite the mythology of the Celtics. No longer is there a big three, only a big-time point guard putting up Magic Johnson type numbers—8-18 FG, 1-1 3FG, 2-5 FT, 12 REB, 10 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 3 TO, 19 PTS.

 

Aside from Gasol, who was an afterthought in the Lakers offense; Kobe, who tried to play hero ball far too often; and Andrew Bynum who is playing the best defense of his career; too many Lakers were duds.

 

Ron Artest’s nightmarish offensive performance was previously outlined, but Fisher also couldn’t find the range—2-8 FG, 6 PTS. Why not tweak the triangle so that when the Lakers run a high screen/roll, Fisher is standing in the strong side corner, and not Artest, since Fisher is a much more accurate shooter than Ron-Ron.

 

Rumor is, Lamar Odom actually participated in Game Two—1-3 FG, 5 REB, 5 PF, 3 PTS.

 

Farmar and Brown were out of control on offense, and looked like hapless children trying to defend Allen.

 

Sasha Vujacic hit a three but has a penchant for making mistakes and playing energetic, but ineffective defense.

 

Give credit to Doc Rivers for taking the Lakers’ first punch, and responding with a nice counter blow. Let’s see how the Lakers will respond when the ring shifts to Boston.

[AllenIverson#1fan]

+1 Good read. If the Celtics play like they did in Game 2 with the bench contributing big time and Ray Ray hitting the threes I think they can win Game 3. Pierce and KG need to get more involved on offense though.