Pierce, KG, Allen power the home team, game two is Sunday

SCOTT JACOBS

Paul Pierce had waited 10 years for his shot to play in the Finals.

So when he went down midway through the third with what appeared to be a gruesome knee injury, it was hard not to think the worst. The Celtics simply cannot keep up with the Lakers if Pierce is out of this game.

When Pierce’s fellow teammates helped carry him off the court, and he was put in a wheelchair, it had the appearance of a devastating blow that Boston was not going to recover from. But just about 3 minutes later, Pierce gently walked through the tunnel in the middle of the game to a standing ovation that sent the Celtic fans into oblivion.

And just a minute later he was back. In the game!

Pierce scored 15 huge third quarter points, Ray Allen and KG had very good games, and the Boston Celtics just overpowered the Lakers (46-33 rebounding disparity) to win a hotly contested game one, inside the gawwwwwwwden.

The Lakers played sloppy in the second half, failed to find a rhythm, and had a lackadaisical look where they looked a little lost late in the game. Trailing by eight late in the game and forced to foul to keep their fading hopes alive, they instead let the Celts eat up the 24 second clock, and by then time had just about run out on LA’s nearly 1 1/2 month of not trailing in a post-season series.

“I thought that was it,” said Pierce. “I couldn’t move it at first.”

Celtic fans probably thought that was it too for a dream season that looked like a nightmarish finish.

But Pierce came back, the Celtics confidence never seemed to waver, and the leprechauns were able to hold Kobe and the Lakers outside the paint.

“We’ll see,” said Pierce, when asked whether he was going to play in game two.

At least for Boston’s sake they have that cushion. Well sort of. With the 2-3-3 format, games 3-5 shift to LA after game 2 on Sunday, and the Celts can’t be too comfortable that getting one at home is enough. They need two, to put the young and energetic Lakers in a must win position for game three.

But we’ll touch on that after game 2.

As for game one, how about P.J. Brown? Did you see him dive to the ground to grab a loose ball, and find the open man. And there was KG somehow avoiding midcourt and a over and back violation, as Sam Cassel calmy knocked down a big jump shot. Garnett had a pretty sweet slammer jammer to seal the deal as he rose above Pau Gasol.

And that was it.

Kobe’s numbers look pretty good from a distance, but he looked frustrated all game. Unable to really penetrate Boston’s renowned team defense, number 24 struggled to consistently get off quality shots. Gasol was okay. No one on LA really played a great game, and that’s encouraging for game two.

After a relatively eh game one, LA still had a late chance to steal game one.

They didn’t, but they also didn’t have their A game either. Barely a B- if you ask me.

Tonight the Celts were the better team. Their big three all had 20 plus. They had a rhythm going all night.

Will they have that on Sunday? Good question.

“We got a little stagnant. But we played well enough to almost steal a game,” said Bryant.

Almost won’t win a championship.

Perfect will. That was Pierce in the second half. He didn’t miss a shot.

The Celtics didn’t miss a beat.

They lead this series one to none.

SCOTT JACOBS

There are two days until the Celts and Lakers tip off from the TD BankNorth Garden to commence the 2008 NBA Finals.

With the dead time in between I figured I’d get something off my chest that has been bothering me for some time.

This match up.  This dream flash back to the past, glory days of the league matchup, that TV analysts and writers have been pulling for is not what everyone wanted.

I know I didn’t.

I hate the Lakers.

I’m a Suns fan.  Hearing analysts and sports fans exclaim that the Lakers now have the best and most dynamic offense in the league kills a small piece of me inside everytime I hear it.  The Suns may not have won a title, but over their exciting four year run, no one ever questioned the potency of their offense.

The Lakers have the best offense? I’m not really disagreeing at this point.  Right now they seemingly do.  But for people to tell me which team I want to see, I think is brutally ridiculous. Suns fans hate the Lakers.  Beating them down in the first round two years in a row was an enjoyable ride.  The Suns never even made the Finals those years. The Lakers hit the jackpot with a still hard to believe trade that went through for Gasol, and Bam!, they’re in the Finals, not to mention the favorites even though they’re starting out on the road!

And I think this season has taught us a lesson that never fails to repeat itself and shows the fickle notion of most sports writers and analysts: winning changes everything.  Kobe is still the same guy, only now he has an MVP, passes the ball a little, and the assumption is that everyone now loves the guy.

If everyone loves him, why haven’t you seen him reappear on TV commercials.  And no that 50 million pounds challenge commercial doesn’t count.

Here’s another thing that may get people riled up, but I’m okay with that.  Derek Fisher’s return to the Lakers has been huge.  But his addition was a total blow to the Utah Jazz, who kindly allowed him to find a team closer to his family in the offseason.  I know, I know about Fisher’s family.  But nine teams out of ten don’t get that crazy type of break.  Everyone and their mother knows that the Jazz would never have let the vet go unless a health issue created a conflict.

And I’m not attacking him or his family.  Merely the fact that the Lakers have gotten some very fortunate things to fall their way.  Gason, Fisher, just to name a few.

But I will say that the Lakers are an exciting team to watch.  They pass, they play rugged defense, and they really have a knack for hitting that backbreaking three.  Who needs Robert Horry?  He’s at home, the Lakers are in Boston to begin their last conquest to a title.

Boston is, well, what’s the best way I can put this?  O, I know… boring 

For a Celtics fan, KG falling in Boston’s lap for seven players was a godsend. For the rest of us, we had to hear all about how great it was that the Celtics were back all season.  I know Bostonians and New Englanders are loyal fans, but there are 29 other NBA cities with great fans too.  Just because Boston is a big city, doesn’t mean everyone wants to see them win.  Just because they have history some what 21 years ago, doesn’t mean they’re relevent like they once were.

Until Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, and Kevin McHale walk through the door, this Celtics team will just be another good team that did just enough to get to the finals because of a gift wrapped deal that got them over the hump over the mediocre East.

The Big Three?  More like the Three revolving doors.  Seriously, when was the last time you watched a Celtics game and all three of Boston’s so called superstars were all playing great?  Boston is good.  I’m not making a claim they don’t deserve to be where they are.  But I think we all jumped the gun a bit when the Celtics got Ray Allen, KG, and Pierce together on one team.  They’re all good players, but Allen has been unbelievably awful at points this post-season, Garnett seems to disappear in stretches of games and never seems to want to take the clutch shot, and Pierce is either great or just okay.

Whether he’s a Hall of Famer or not, I personally don’t think so.

Finally there’s this.  Most Celtics games are painful… to watch.

Great defense doesn’t always mean exciting.  Games against Cleveland that they had in round number two, such as the epically bad game one, were perfectly good examples that three stars doesn’t mean big scores.

I remember when the Celtics got off to a 20-3 start early in the year and were putting up crazy numbers on a nightly basis.  Then the NBA figured them out, they got old and got vets P.J. Brown and Sam “I am” Cassel, and all of a sudden he playoffs come around and they’re struggling to score against the likes of Atlanta and Cleveland.

Whatever.

This is the hand we got dealt, so I’ll live with it.

But it is hard to watch these big publications and writers claim this is the matchup everybody wanted to see.

Well, I’m not everybody.

I watched my Suns see their glorious run come to a screeching halt. And now I have to put up with this Laker-Celtic crap?

Not exactly my vision of “had to see.”

But I’ll watch.  O I’ll watch.  Because I love sports, and I can put up with the almost unbearable bias that our friends over at ESPN and ABC put on us on a weekly basis.

But if they even mention Joba Chamberlain during the pregame show, I’m done.

I can only take so much big city bias.

That said it’ll be Lakers in six, because they’re the better team.

SCOTT JACOBS

“The buzzer couldn’t come any sooner,” said an elated Paul Pierce. “We finally made it.”

“We’re in the Finals!” he screamed, smiling like a 10 year old.

Go ahead Paul. Scream and holler all you want. What seemed unthinkable just a mere year ago is now reality. The Boston Celtics, Eastern Conference Champions? Last May that would have came across as a cruel joke, on par with Billy Buckner chants, but now, well let’s just say it’s the truth.

Celtics players huddled around the East finals trophy, chanting, “beat LA.”

It must be something in the water in Boston. All Bostonian teams do, make it to championships!

The Celtics are just the latest Beantown staple to join the ridiculous title tea party, schmoozing next to the Patriots and the Red Sox.

Celtics-Lakers and no, it’s not 1987. It’s 2008, and you’re not going to wake up and see San Antonio and Detroit vie for the snoozer championship.

“We don’t want the silver ball, we want the gold ball,” said Celts coach Doc Rivers.

In 2007 the Celtics walked off the court in their final regular season game, with the worst record in the East, and the second worst in the league. They were among the top two… in uh losing accomplishments. Now, they’re going to the Finals.

“It’s going to be a spectacular series,” said Jeff Van Gundy.

The Lakers have been there 29 times, the Celtics 20. The Lakers have won it 14 times, the Celtics 16.

Prepare to add another chapter to the history book, and leave space on the Nielsen ratings for some out of this world TV ratings.

Like em or hate em, you’ll be watching.

And you can’t use the excuse that this series lacks star power. This series is loaded with so much star power, it’s blinding.

It’s an incredible turnaround for both teams. Kobe wanted to be traded last off-season. Paul Pierce thought he would get dealt. Now, a year later, the two superstars will face off for an expensive diamond encrusted ring they can fit on their finger.

How?

Um, like the bumper sticker says, “Garnett happens.”

The NBA where “how the F*** did that happen” happens.

Who would have thunk it?

Nostradamus you there?

SCOTT JACOBS

New colors. New look. New spot in the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

And now? New sense of confidence. New sense of we can do this. And if the Atlanta Hawks want to say no one believed in us, but ourselves, then by all means let them. Because the truth is: no one believed in them, but themselves.

This is not cliche, this is merely incredible. The Atlanta Hawks, perennial NBA door-mats for nearly the past decade, snuck into the playoffs by default. They were supposed to be an appetizer en route to a Celtics-Pistons Eastern Conference super final. But look at that. After Atlanta’s spirited win on Monday, not only are the Hawks tied with the mighty Boston Celtics, but so is Philadelphia with the mighty Detroit Pistons.

O dear, all hell has broken loose. Not only did no one give the Hawks any chance to win this series (except their coach… I remember reading his quote about how the Hawks could shock the world), no one thought they could win a game. Literally.

I certainly didn’t. I knw every media outlet out there on the internet didn’t. Truth be told, I’d be surprised if Hawks fans didn’t.

But this Hawks team has come to play. After getting pounded in Boston, they came back to Atlanta and not only played well, they played great. They played unafraid and determined.

The fear that swept through them in their pair of duds at the Bank North Garden, was replaced in Atlanta with an unseen jolt of excitement, and a belief, that, wow, we can play with these guys.

Joe Johnson and Josh Smith played the games of their lives, and Atlanta went 28-32 from the foul line. A young team, built from the ground up, with the exception of the sensational Johnson, who made every shot you could ask and more, are tied with Boston two games to two. It’s a three game series now, and the Hawks have a chance to do the utmost unthinkable.

You thought Dallas losing to Golden State was epic? If the Hawks, who finished EIGHT games below .500 win this series, this may not only go down as the greatest upset in NBA history, but as the greatest upset in the history of human civilization.

Of course that means Atlanta has to win at least one game in Beantown, something they have yet to show they can do. But at least now they know they can beat Boston. They can hang with the Three Amigos, the Boston Three Party, whatever you want to name Boston’s awesome trifecta.

But on this night, it was a duo, Smith and Johnson who propelled Atlanta to the depths of the unknown.

There’s three games left in this scintillating series. The Hawks actually have a chance.

The Atlanta Hawks ACTUALLY have a chance.