As time ran down in the second quarter of last night’s NBA Finals game, and the Boston Celtics walked in to the locker room with a 23 point lead over the Los Angeles Lakers and you could pretty much tell the game was over. Kobe Bryant may have started out hot but it was the Celtics that finished on fire as they totally blew the Lakers out of the water winning the game 131-92, and locked up the franchises 17th NBA championship. As a Celtic fan I made myself suffer through the second half of this game knowing that the Lakers get progressively worse throughout the course of a game but it was almost worth it just because for some reason it’s really fun watching Kobe Bryant lose.
Kobe Bryant didn’t just lose last night, he got run. He only made something like 3 baskets in the last three quarters of the basketball game. I almost felt bad for him as Celtics fans poured on to the court to celebrate the big win because in typical Kobe fashion, tears started to roll from his eyes. You never want to see a grown man cry, but watching Kobe’s eyes swell up with tears brought some joy to our cold little hearts. His team may not have shown up but neither did Kobe really which will hopefully put the Kobe, Jordan comparisons to an end. Not saying Kobe isn’t great, he’s just not Mike.
Unlike the Lakers the Celtics definitely did show up last night. Ray Allen tied a finals record sinking 7 threes, Garnett had 26 and 14. Even Rajon Rondo stepped up to put up 21 points, 7 and 8. Then there was the MVP of the finals, Paul Pierce, who managed to put up 17 points and 10 assists and averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds in the Finals. It was only fitting that Pierce, the captain of the team he’s played for his entire 10 year career was named MVP. It was a journey to get to the finals but I’m sure it was well worth the wait for Pierce, Garnet, Allen and company.
In a finals that was supposed to be incredible with so many historical ties, it was kind of a dud. I’m still unsure how the best team in the league came in to the finals as the underdog but I know that it’s evident who the better team is. Boston played with more precision and heart than the Lakers could have ever imagined. As good as the Celtics were offensively, it was definitely their defense that won this championship for them. You always hear the saying “defense wins championships” but I never thought it was true until last night.
