After Sunday night, and the Celtics win over the Lakers, 92-86, it should be interesting to read the opposing fans' view of the game. Dexter Fishmore of SB Nation's Lakers blog, Silver Screen and Roll, gives the perspective of a fan wearing purple and gold, beginning with Kobe Bryant and how he stood alone in last night's game.
The Celtic defense put the Lakers on lockdown tonight. They were incredibly sound in their positioning and rotations. They hardly ever blew an assignment and were almost always in the right spots. The Lakers didn't miss a lot of open shots because there weren't a lot of open shots to miss. Except for Kobe, no one was good enough to beat their man one-on-one. The screening wasn't forceful, and the cutting wasn't quick. Had it not been for Kobe's one-man heroics, this would've been a blowout.
But it wasn't just Kobe's jaw-dropping third quarter that kept the game close and the Lakers within striking distance in the final minutes. In fact, there were a number of things L.A. did better than Boston in Game 5.
They committed fewer turnovers, they got to the line more, they shot better on threes, and despite occasional weak spots they won the overall rebounding battle. The problem is that the one, most crucial thing they did worse than the Celtics - namely, make their two point shots- they did way, way worse. The Celtics converted 63% of their twos, compared to an abysmal 41% for the Lakers. That's on the Laker bigs. They didn't guard the paint well, they didn't protect the rim, and when they got the ball themselves in the post, they got shut down by the Celtic frontline.
Their free-throw shooting was pretty bad as well. The Lakers missed nine of their 26 freebies. Artest, Gasol, Odom and Bynum combined to honk six of 10 attempts. If they miss, say, only three of 10, it's a very different game down the stretch. Basically, the Laker frontline couldn't have been owned any worse unless Bill Simmons hooked up with Khloe Kardashian and then made a Karate Kid joke about it in his column tomorrow.
Read more reaction and analysis at Silver Screen and Roll.