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BOSTON—The
Los Angeles Lakers can’t view it as some final frantic
act from a desperate team or a momentary rush that
produced a scare in a sleepwalking opponent. For them,
that improbable, seven-minute run in which they nearly
erased the Boston Celtics’ 24-point lead in the fourth
quarter of Game Two of the National Basketball
Association (NBA) Finals has to serve as some hope that
the situation will be different as the series shifts to
Staples Center on Tuesday for Game Three.
Trailing, 0-2, in this best-of-seven series, the Lakers
have to do more than think being at home will be enough.
Maybe Kobe Bryant has finally found some cracks in that
vaunted defense. Maybe with a little ball movement and
some aggressive defense, they can give the Celtics 48
minutes of fear. After all, they didn’t just chip away
at that huge deficit; they stuck a piece of dynamite
into it.
“Yeah,
we noticed some things in the fourth quarter that we can
do that we’ll look at and see if we can’t use them at
Staples,” Bryant said. “It’s something that we can take
from, absolutely.”
“I think
they learned a lot, because we are a young team and I
think that shows you’re never really out of a game,”
Bryant added. “I think being down 24, if you find
yourself down eight or 10, that’s not something that
should discourage you.”
The
Lakers don’t really need another example of their
resilience, considering what they accomplished entering
this series. They already overcame a 20-point
third-quarter deficit to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in
Game One of the Western Conference finals and a 17-point
first-half deficit in Game Five. The difference in those
situations was that the Lakers won those games.
To
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, it’s more important to either
not find yourself in that situation—or to get out of it.
Nothing—besides maybe a renewed sense of confidence—can
come as a result of almost erasing a 24-point deficit.
When
asked if his team could carry the momentum of that run
back with them to Los Angeles, Jackson said: “No, no.
It’s 2,500 miles away. It’s too far to carry it.”
After
his team missed defensive assignments, took questionable
shots and let the Celtics have their way while building
a 95-71 lead about eight minutes left, Jackson said he
told his team: “We played as poorly as we could play for
two-and-a-half quarters. We just can’t play any worse
than this.”
The
worst, they hope, is behind them. The Lakers proved they
can dig themselves out of a hole against the Celtics,
but they couldn’t get all the way out. The challenge is
much greater now that they must win four out of the next
five games to take this series.
Three
teams have come back from a 0-2 deficit in the NBA
Finals, most recently the Miami Heat, which was
dismantled in two road games against the Dallas
Mavericks but rallied to win the next four behind an
extraterrestrial performance by Dwyane Wade.
The
Lakers certainly have a player who is capable of taking
control of this series in Bryant, who is considered by
many to be the best overall player in the game, a player
Jackson referred to as an “unstoppable force” on Saturday.
Bryant
was fuming throughout most of Game Two, glaring at the
officials who refused to call fouls on drives to the
basket and at his young teammates who appeared
overwhelmed by the stage for the second consecutive
game.
His
unfit-for-print round of expletives before the fourth
quarter sparked what eventually proved to be a futile
offensive onslaught. The run removed any doubt that
Bryant couldn’t get going offensively against a defense
that has held him in check in the regular season and
most of this series.
Bryant
sicced nuisance Sasha Vujacic on Ray Allen, with Vujacic
providing the same tenacious, annoying defense he
applied to the San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili in the
conference finals. Allen had scored 15 points on 10
field-goal attempts in the first three quarters, but
Vujacic held him to just one shot in the fourth.
Free
from having to chase around Allen, Bryant focused most
of his energy on the offensive end, where he played his
best quarter this season against Boston. He scored 13
points on four-of-seven shooting, handed out five
assists and even made four free throws—which doubled his
team’s attempts through the first three quarters.
Bryant
started the run with an 18-foot jumper, then he assisted
Vladimir Radmanovic and Derek Fisher for three-pointers
and hit another three-pointer himself. Once he found
some comfort in his jump shot, Bryant attacked the rim
with two difficult running jumpers just inside of 10
feet to cut the lead to nine.
The
Celtics may have stopped playing with the proper
intensity in the fourth—they seemed to implement a
prevent offense—but that never kept Bryant and his
teammates from attacking them on both ends. The Lakers
also forced four turnovers, the last being a steal by
Radmanovic that resulted in a breakaway dunk to bring
his team within four points. Bryant then added two free
throws to make the score 104-102 and silence 18,624
fans.
“We
fought and we didn’t want to give up. We were there,”
Vujacic said.
If that
seven-minute run wasn’t enough for the Lakers, then the
confidence of their leader may be the difference. “It’s
not the end of the world. We’ve come too far to really
sweat being down 2-0,” Bryant said. “We’re going to go
home and handle our business.” |
