If you were a slightly knowledgeable and objective fan of the Celtics, you had to know in your heart of hearts last night that the Celtics' chances of winning rested somewhere between slim and none.
Give the Celts credit as they somehow hung around and almost stole it (even though they played pretty bad) before falling, 87-81, to the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center in game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Boston leads the series 2-1 with the next two games remaining at the Staples Center.
The C's cut the Lakers' lead to two points late in the fourth quarter but Eddie House missed an open jumper that would have tied it. From there, Kobe Bryant (36 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist) did his thing by making two clutch hoops. The Lakers wouldn't have pulled it out though if Sasha Vujacic hadn't produced the game of his life with 20 points. He hit a 3-pointer late in the fourth that was the shot of the game since it followed House's miss.
Paul Pierce had one of the worst games of his NBA career, six points on 2 of 14 shooting with six boards and three assists. To compound that he had five fouls and thus had to miss significant minutes in the second half. Kevin Garnett struggled to get 13 points (6 of 21 shooting) with 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. The only reason the C's had any hope of winning was Ray Allen, who scored a team-high 25 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Rajon Rondo (8 points, 4 assists in 22 minutes) sprained his ankle at the start of the second half and missed almost the whole final two quarters. Kendrick Perkins had eight points, six boards and three steals. James Posey was great off the bench with nine points and seven steals.
It was a forgone conclusion-right or not-that since the series shifted back to LA and the Lakers didn't get to the line at all in game 2, they would be there all night in game 3. This was true at the start as they had as many attempts (10) in the first quarter as they did in all of game 2.
Boston hung around and eventually it was tied 20-20 at the end of one. The Lakers picked it up in the second quarter and took a 43-37 lead into the extended break.
As has been the case in the previous two games, Boston owned the third quarter (25-17) to take a slim 62-60 lead into the fourth. The Lakers closed the fourth with a 27-19 advantage that felt closer than that.
Lamar Odom (4 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 turnovers) played about as bad as he could ever play and Pau Gasol (9 points, 12 rebounds) wasn't much better. If you were a betting man (or woman), you'd have to guess that collectively Pierce and KG would respond better than Odom and Gasol in game 4.
The Lakers did get to the line a ton (21-34) but didn't really take advantage. The Celtics were 15 of 22 from the line.
Game 4 will be a turning point in the series. Either LA ties it up (which means it's going seven in all likelihood) or Boston wins, meaning it could end at any time. Thoughts of a Celtics sweep were flat-out stupid. The Lakers have looked more vulnerable than you could have expected but they still haven't lost at home (9-0) in the playoffs.
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