1st Quarter
The first few minutes of the opening quarter was full of championship jitters for both team. Pressure and nervousness all combined. The offense was not playing very well but I can't probably say that it's because of smooth defense. Kobe is playing decoy as he was passing more often than shooting and on the other hand, Ray Allen was stroking it well as he finished the quarter with 10 points. Both KG and Pierce was not a factor in this opening quarter. On the Lakers side, I love the aggressiveness shown by L.O. Boston leads by 4 heading into the second quarter.
2nd Quarter
It's time to rest some of the starters for my team except Lamar Odom to keep the intensity on his knees. Boston also did the same with KG and Pierce. Boston offense is all Ray Allen basketball. 12 points for him in this quarter alone making his points total to 22 at the end of the half. Boston lead went up to 12 points until I let Kobe in before the last two minutes of the first half and luckily, his offense was well flowing ending the half to a tie ballgame.
3rd Quarter
This is more playing time for my 1-2 punch of Kobe and Pau and a deadly match-up against the Big 3 of Boston. Both KG and Pau is making their presence felt on this quarter exchanging baskets from one side to the other. One thing noticeable here is the offensive absence of Paul Pierce. KG obviously dominated this quarter as well as Ray Allen but Paul Pierce only has 4 points after 3 quarters. On the Lakers side, bench scoring kept them in the game. Kobe and Pau has a combined 24 points after three Q's. I expected a brawl in the final Q.
4th Quarter
Allen and KG continued their offensive dominance. Celtics led by as many as 12 points in the final two minutes. Farmar started this quarter for L.A. to let D-Fish rest for the first few minutes. I let Kobe dictate the Lakers offense this time and cut down the lead to only 7 heading into the final minute of the ballgame.
Celtics up 76-69 and with 1 minute left in the final quarter. Boston Fans already rejoicing until I let all my starters on the floor. Kobe scored on a jumper cuttind down the lead by 5 and a steal by Fisher lets Kobe got open in transition which scored a basket and draws a foul to cut the lead by only 3 and hits the charity basket to cut the lead by only 2. It's 76-74 Celtics lead heading into the final 40 seconds.
There is still no need to foul this time. I let the team played a Half Court press and a 1-3-1 Zone to put pressure on the Celtics Basketball. They let Rajon Rondo man the PG position so I knew that the ball wouldn't stay in his hand for long. My clairvoyance was right as he passed it immediately to R.A who was well guarded by My Black Mamba KB24 which led to an Allen missed jumper and a Gasol rebound and transition offense for the Lakers. I did not call a timeout and instead let Kobe bring down the ball to the other side and attempts a penetration which makes the Celtics defense played double team on Kobe which led to a Derek Fisher open in the sideline 3-point area. Kobe passed the ball to Fish and well, the veteran point guard hits the 3-ball putting the team up 79-78 with 20 seconds remaining. Celtics still has a chance to tie or win the ballgame but Allen missed a jumper which led to Boston giving an intentional foul. Lakers Win this game 81-78.
No comments:
Post a Comment