Lackluster game 6 a stunning sight from a veteran Celtics team

SCOTT JACOBS

What was that?  Seriously, what in the world was that?

An exhibition game in October?  It certainly didn’t look like an NBA Finals game in May.  Nevermind the game that could have clinched the Celtics another NBA banner.

After shooting the lights out in game 5, the Celtics, confident and ready, came into L.A. and barely shot 33% from the field.  Huh?  It’s like the wrong Boston team boarded the plane.  That couldn’t have been an NBA team that close to an NBA title.  No way, no how.  I don’t care how good L.A. was on this night.  67 points in the NBA Finals?  It’s a joke.  An embarrassment.  A concession that if the Lakers weren’t going to hand the Celts the trophy Boston was going to wait till game 7 to bring their A game.  Or maybe just a game for that matter.

Kendrick Perkins getting injured early certainly didn’t help, but lets not put this loss on his husky shoulders.  The Celtics were just flat out beat today.  Like a kid in his first day of karate versus Jackie Chan.  And no, those weren’t stunt doubles.  Though that would make more sense then what Boston showcased on Tuesday.

The Celtics who almost made the Lakers bigs look normal on Sunday, came back promptly to the Staples Center and were pummeled on the boards by 13.

By the end of a brutal 22 point loss that shifts all the momentum back into the Lakers’ corner, the Celtics looked, well, old again.  Ah the fine line between veteran team and washed up has beens!

The Lakers pummeled Boston despite just getting three players in double figures.  That Suns series sure seems like a distant memory with every passing day. Not only did L.A. not come close to breaking 100, they didn’t even make it to 90.

So we get a game 7.  But it’s on uncomfortable terms.  Perkins injury.  Boston’s pitiful performance in game 6.  Is it that hard to inspire a team on the verge of an NBA title?  28 other teams would have killed to be in Boston’s position on Tuesday night.

Maybe I’m short changing the Lakers here.  Maybe they just suffocated the life out of Boston’s offensive attack (can we still call it that?) with their stifling D, and effective O.  Maybe the Lakers played like they had more to lose, because quite frankly, they’ve run out of games that they can lose.  Maybe L.A. is just better.  Maybe making logic of a game that made no sense is an exercise in futility.

But this game 7 we get on Thursday is no longer the final chapter to an epic series.  This was a clunker of epic proportions.  With an aging team that may never get back here given all the tread on their tires, and the fact that KG can no longer jump anymore, the last thing I would have ever expected was for Boston to take a listless beating at the hands of their nemesis.

But that’s what happened. That’s exactly what happened.

So on Thursday the NBA plays its final game of the 2010 season.

Pray it be competitive.

Photo: Reuters

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