A tough call last Sunday night – stay up late and catch the Canadian Grand Prix or sleep early and wake up for Game 2 of the NBA finals. You might be able to guess what I went for in the end. If you guessed the later…yup, you’re right.
It was already tough not being able to catch the Lakers take out the Spurs on the way to the finals, so now that I have the luxury of viewing what I consider an epic match-up, there’s no way I’m going to miss another televised game. And with so much to say after watching, you can also guess what I’ll be blogging about in the near future. (Oh, and don’t forget that you can catch all the highlights on Score Tonight, 9:30 pm)
If I caught Game 1 on the couch, I caught Game 2 by being a bit more productive – on a treadmill in the gym, which in the end might not have been the best idea. I’ll tell you why in a bit.
The Lakers had a good first quarter, but in spite of this strong start I remember telling someone that I wasn’t feeling like they were going to win this game. Gut feel. But still as a fan, you hope for the contrary.
Pierce who’s been fighting off his sprained knee showed no signs of it. He was deadly at long range, he had a huge advantage against Vladimir Radmanovic, and he eventually racked up 28 points. A lot of people (including me) thought it was going to be Kobe who’d be the best player in this match-up, but so far it’s been Pierce.
In the fourth they were down 24 points. That’s it, I thought. It’s a done deal.
This, until all of a sudden it seemed like the Cs got a bit complacent and let their guard down a bit for LA to take advantage.
The Lakers went on a long-range frenzy – Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic and Kobe getting into the act. They drained 7 three’s in the 4th – tying an NBA Finals record. The Celtics gave up 41 points. And from 24 points down, the Lakers cut the lead down to 2.
That ignited my last glimmer of hope leading me to believe that this was going to be one ENORMOUS turnaround.
I was on this treadmill with my earphones getting carried away so much so that I was shouting my reactions – something that I wasn’t aware I was doing until the people around me started giving me funny looks.
At that point, everything depended on the last play. Let’s not get into that. To say the least, it didn’t go as planned. The Celtics take Game 2, 108-102.
Tim Legler of ESPN couldn’t have said it better: "The Lakers inefficient. The Celtics dominant."
They head west for the NBA finals now, and I’ll admit it’s not looking good for LA.
They have an uphill battle now trying to overturn a 2-0 deficit.
Here’s a daunting fact: 90% of the time, teams down 2-0 end up loosing it all in the end.
Only three teams in the Finals history have done so in the last 40 finals (’69 Celtics,’77 Blazers, and ’06 Heat).
But as a Lakers fans, here’s what I’ll take solace in:
– Kobe doesn’t think it’s the end of the world, he says he’s come too far not to fight. They plan to go home and handle the business.
– The Lakers are UNBEATEN at home this postseason.
– They may not have won this game, but they found their offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter and found a way to penetrate the Cs strong D. They’ll be looking to bring that into the second game.
– The Lakers are fighters. They showed it in Game 2. Being down 24 points is nothing. They’re still going to fight for it until the very end. Down 2-0 in the series will be no different.
I know that this home game will make the difference. I’m already calling it. I have a good feeling about this.
And that’s why I’ll be watching this at home, where I can cheer as loud as I want!