Lakers Waste Strong Post Game, Leprechauns Even series, Damn!!

9 Straight home wins these playoffs, 12 going back to last year’s playoffs, time to start a new streak. Like Orlando the Lakers picked a hell of a time to lose their first home game this post season, now must win a game in Boston to grab home court again, ah the Lakers love making things difficult. All the Lakers had to do was win every home game, now they have allowed the Celtics to gain momentum despite a poor performance from Pierce. So what happened? A number of things went wrong the Champs, first they gave the best shooter on the floor clean looks and he caught fire nailing a record 7 trey in the process, while not being hampered by fouls this time around, Ray had 27 first half points, ‘til LA finally decided to put a body on him. They lost the hustle battle mainly to Rondo who got more rebounds than any of the Lakers big men, are KIDDING me?! The refs suck! Boy they made some bad calls, the worst one being the one involving the replay, how in the hell can you screw up on a replay? My God! 2 bad calls on Kobe, Lamar 3 quick fouls got frustrated, was a non factor, last foul on Artest when he “fouled” Rondo, please, damn refs you blew this one. And the lakers are supposed to get all the calls, HA! Bunch of haters probably have not seen many Lakers games to make a statement like that. The game was not lost to officiating though, the Lakers got out hustled plain and simple, and they missed too many defensive assignments, notably Shannon Brown who for some moronic reason kept giving Ray Allen clean looks. The Lakers wasted a strong offensive game from Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol and again failed to go their strengths late in the game, insisting on going to Kobe to pull his heroics and bail them out instead of riding the hot had with either of the big men. Leprechauns also move the ball better 28 assists on 26 field goals 25 assists by the starters. Most importantly they won the rebounding battle 44-38. Inexcusable for the Lakers, they failed to compete for 48 mins.

Leprechauns.

Candece's Hubby - Yes, that’s how bad the officiating was, Parker’s husband played a career Finals high 4 mins, 1 rebound.

KryptoNate - Never shy to shoot, I remember when Sasha had that mentality 2 years ago, he scored 7 points in 6 minutes, matching the Lakers’ bench high by Farmar who played double the time.

Tony Allen - Only 2 points, but came out with a huge steal in the fourth, another example you don’t have to score to contribute.

Big Baby - 8 pts 7 rebounds, had more points than any Lakers bench warmer, victim of a bad call, good block on Bynum got screwed over.

‘Sheed - Great time to show up you hater. ‘Sheed disrupted the Lakers offense with active hands and strong board work, he finished with 7 and 7 in 18 minutes.

Perk - Grumpy chipped in a dozen pts, 6 rebs, and surprisingly 3 assists, hasn’t been his usual bully self, not as easy to push around Bynum as it was Gasol 2 years ago.

KG - Did not do much scoring but finished with 6 assists, as mentioned before the Celtics moved the ball well most of the game.

Pierce - The Leprechauns best player, had a subpar performance scoring wise 2/11, did get to free throw line 6/6 for 10 total points and 4 assists. I used to think that the “big” three needed to have big games to win, but Pierce and KG did not have a strong offensive game, and the Celtics still pulled it off, this one got away from the Lakers.

Ray Allen - Scorching the first half with 27 pts, cooled down and finished with 32 for the game and several Finals records: Most 3’s (8), Most Consecutive 3s no miss (7), Most 3s in half (7). He made it look way too easy at times.

Rondo - Notched his fifth career triple double, finished with game highs in rebounds and assists, with 2 steals for good measure, no doubt the player of the game.

LAKERS

The Machine - The refurbished Machine scored for the first time in 6 Finals games, he has already contributed 3 more times that he did last year, just 7 mins though, c’mon Phil he shoots better that Brown (theoretically) and at least you know he’s going to at least not give Allen clean looks, on the negative side, that’s a 4 point play waiting to happen.

Farmar - LA top bench scorer for the game with 7 on 3/7, yeah, not very promising.

Brown - No field goals, and continuously missed defensive assignment, c’mon Shannon, you gotta know who the hell you’re guarding or pretending to guard, not using his god giving athleticism at all.

Odom - The X-factor was no factor, 1/3 shooting as many points as Sasha, as many fouls as rebounds, sure you got hit with 3 quick fouls, boo hoo hoo, get over it and play, or make your fouls count, Lakers can’t win if Odom isn’t contributing at least 9 and 9, they escaped the first game thanks to Ron Ron, speaking of which…

Ron Ron - Abyssmal, 1/10 shooting, 1/6 from downtown, 3/8 from the stripe, fouled out in 41 mins, and seemed confused on the offensive end. You drinking Hennessey before the game again Ron? That ‘s the only explanation I can think of for his WTF moment in the winding seconds.

'Drew - What a waste of a good game from your big man 21 pts, 6/10 shooting, 9/12 from the stripe, 6 rebs, and 7 rejections. Makes you wonder what impact he would have had 2 years ago, he sure is contributing more than expected so far, I just hope his knee holds up at this point.

Pau - Another strong game from Pau but no double double, not surprising his team lost, Pau finished with 25 pts, 8 rebs, and joined the block party with 6. The Lakers big men did their job protecting the paint, but failed to secure the ball, you can’t have a diminituve guard outrebound you, tough stat on a great night.

Fisher - The veteran only had 6 pts and had more rebounds than Odom and Bynum, no one ever questions his heart, but going 2/8 on a day Mamba isn’t playing much hurts the team, nice shadowing of Allen in the second half though.

Mamba - 2 bad calls kept Kobe on the bench to watch his team get outworked on the glass, in limited time he still shot 8/20, under 50% not good, 5 rebs, 6 assists, and 4 steals, but his 4^th quarter heroics never arrived.

Player of the Game: Rajon Rondo, triple double and setting Ray Allen for a carreer night.

X-Factor: Perk’s double figures scoring is always a bonus for the Leprechauns

Should Have Been Benched: Shannon Brown, guilty of giving Allen too many clean looks, not aggressive at all on offense.

Laker Hater: Ray Allen, 7 3s in a half, that’s just insane, great shooting display from Allen, sucks he did it against the Lakers

Overtime: Lakers have not been tied in the playoffs since game 2 of the ’09 Conference Finals, they have not trailed in a series since game 1 of the semi-finals vs. Ron Artest and the Rockets also in ‘09, the last team to take a commanding lead on the Champs, the Celtics of ’08. Lakers have some adjusting to do.