The Lakers were the team that were just resiliant enough to get a 91-84 win in Game 3 and take a 2-1 series lead.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 27 points, but it was Derek Fisher that stuck the dagger to the Celtics. Fisher completed a three point play by getting a layup and then the free throw afer the contact to take an 87-80 lead. After catching a break on an out-of-bounds replay the Celtics got the ball facing an 87-82 deficit. Garnett then gets called for an illegal screem after a Gasol flop, but the refs made up the call after the replay before showed a missed foul call on Rondo. Afterr a few free-throws the Lakers outlasted the Celtics 91-84.
Some positives for the Celtics- Kevin Garnett went off tonight. He dropped 25 points and grabbed 6 boards. They kept Kobe from being the deciding factor in the game, but couldn't get stops when they needed one most.
Negatives- Ray Allen follows up his Finals record performance in Game 2 with a dreadful night shooting 0 of 13 from the field and getting his only 2 points on free-throws. The defensive effort was not going well for the Celtics tonight. They showed like they were getting it under control during the 3rd quarter but were unable to translate that down the stretch in the 4th just trading baskets with the Lakers. Pierce had another poor shooting performance going 5 of 12 from the field.
Well the refs didn't decide this one, each team got to the line 24 times. The Celtics were once again out-rebounded by a 43-35 total. This team beat themselves tonight, and they can't seem to be all on. I don't know what the deal is, but they have to get it figured out if they want a chance the rest of the way.
Tough one. If Ray even makes two of those attempts it's a different ball game. But it wasn't ours tonight. The Celtics played like shit, so you're right in that the refs didn't necessarily decide the game. But I'm still seeing way too many off-the-ball foul calls during runs of momentum that really need to be done away with in the NBA. A foul should constitute much more contact than it currently does. Agreed?
ReplyDeleteI agree Drob, the refs are just awful overall. It really brings down the momentum and excitement of the game with the off the ball foul calls. And its true, if Ray makes 2 of those threes, especially at the end, we probably win.
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