Slam Dunk Central Columnist Kyle Stack Analysis Of NBA Finals Game Two

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA PLAYOFFS, SDC COMMENTARY

The first half boiled down to the Celtics doing a lot of things right (shooting, hustle plays) and the Lakers doing a lot of things wrong (lack of confidence, letting refs get inside their head, poor shooting).

Even though the Lakers out rebounded the Celtics by two, 19-17, the Celtics drew fouls on the Lakers (17) shot lights out (17-33 FG, 6-9 3PT, 14-19 FT), played with more confidence and once again used the crowd to their advantage. Ray Allen hit two timely threes and drew two defensive fouls on Kobe running him through screens.

Paul Pierce scored 16 points, including three crowd-raising threes, dished five assists and looked fluid on the floor. Remember, Pierce isn’t a fast or quick player anyway. He’s always made his moves efficiently, so a knee injury doesn’t affect him in the same way it would a faster or quicker player.

The Lakers looked completely flummoxed as Kobe made just four of 10 field goals and couldn’t find any sort of rhythm in the first half. Kobe, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol missed five or six layups, by my estimation, and stopped attacking the basket for most of the second period. It wasn’t until Kobe left the game with his third foul deep into the second quarter that the Lakers went back to Gasol in the post, hitting him twice in a row. The Lakers’ ploy of posting up Kobe more just didn’t work, as the Celtics successfully rotated double-teams over, making the Bryant pass out or force difficult shots. His only two drives to the basket came early in the first quarter.

Overall, the Lakers are letting the referees affect their play. Although I’m the first to admit that the refs were getting far too whistle-happy, especially toward the end of the first quarter, the Lakers rotated poorly on defense and played without any semblance of confidence in the second quarter.

The second half was a collapse for the Lakers. A collapse in intensity, a collapse in competitiveness and a collapse in interior defense. I really could write the same things regarding the second half as I did with the first half. In fact, the Lakers looked downright competitive in the first half compared to the way they played toward the end of the game, especially on the defensive end.

Leon Powe had that aberration game that Bill Simmons wrote about in a recent column. Simmons noted that there were several Celtics who could bust out at any time and have dominant games, without any warning. Truth be told, there is an Aberration Guy in nearly every basketball game. Powe held the stage on Sunday night, scoring 21 points on a flurry of layups, dunks and free throws. Who could have predicted Powe would shoot 13 free throws in a game?

The Celtics defense didn’t clamp down as much as one would think. Sure, Kobe struggled, didn’t get his teammates involved in the offense and didn’t get to the free throw line, but the Lakers shot 49 percent from the field.

The problem was that the Celtics ran their offense as smooth as a Ray Allen jumper and the Lakers had zero intensity of defense in the second half. The Celtics had 30 assists, so it now seems silly that the Lakers were considered the better passing team heading into this game.

Funny, I wrote those previous few paragraphs with the Lakers juggling 20-24 point deficits. Just like that, they were down by four points after Phil Jackson’s favorite Martian traveled on his way to a runaway dunk.

I actually missed a bit of the initial surge since I was trying to figure out what to write for this piece. The Lakers made an inspiring comeback, but it’s tough to make up 24 points in a little more than seven minutes. There isn’t anything special about the Lakers’ final run than what you’ll see in any other comeback. The leading team grows complacent, its defense softens and the losing team starts finding easier baskets.

It’ll be a popular topic even after this series concludes to wonder how much a difference Andrew Bynum could make for the Lakers. Many people feel that the NBA is a guards’ league now, but I think big men still make the difference in games in this league. Rajon Rondo feels comfortable attacking the interior defense because he doesn’t have to worry about a shot blocker protecting the basket. Leon Powe dominated around the basket, scoring and drawing fouls, because the Lakers don’t have a competent, tough big guy to body up on physical bigs such as Powe.

The Lakers can’t expect Powe to score 21 on them again, or for Rondo to hand out 16 assists, but who knows who the next Celtic bench player will rise up.

Greg Anthony just made a great point that the Celtics’ collapse at the end of the game gave the Lakers an idea of what works against that normally-tough Boston defense. Excellent observation. The Lakers had the pick-and-roll working for most of the night and they should benefit from more foul calls in their favor as they head back to their home turf. Lamar Odom managed to play worse in Game 2 than in Game 1, so I suppose he’s due for a big game. Who really knows with this mystifying player?

The big battle is still Pierce vs. Bryant. Kobe can “get off” whenever he wants, as he stated in the San Antonio series, so he might be able to close out a game eventually this series. The Celtics need Pierce to be able to bounce back now that both teams play every other day for the next two games.

It’s a lopsided series so far, but the Lakers can absolutely win the next two games in Staples Center. I can’t wait until Tuesday.

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