Boston looked impressive in game 3 though they lost. I was expecting them to get blown out after watching them play like garbage on the road the first two rounds of the playoffs. I guess they have gotten better on the road as the playoffs have gone deeper. They really had a chance to win this one and put the series away. You go 3-0 up in the NBA, it's over. You can dribble the ball only with your left hand the rest of the series and you will still win a game to close out the series. This after an impressive blow-out win at home where they lead by 20+ points most of the game. Of course it got all the way down to 2 points and it was surreal. The Celtics could have actually lost that game after leading by 20 in the fourth! I can't imagine the pain that would have caused to those chowder-heads.
Luckily that collapse didn't happen, but they actually played real well in the third quarter and half of the fourth quarter in game 3. Then they started making too many mistakes. Paul Pierce turned the ball over and so did the other guys and Sasha hit a huge 3 for the Lakers. This three forced Doc Rivers to choke and make a crucial mistake. For some inexplicable reason, he decided he had to single-cover Kobe in the last 2 mins of the game with Ray Allen on him. I have no idea why and Kobe sank 2 straight jumpers to close the deal. Too many mistakes down the stretch in the 4-Th quarter on the road. That was the story of this game for Boston. But Boston should be happy with their performance. They did pretty well to almost win the game. But then again, one more loss, this is a 3 game series with the other team featuring a guy called Kobe Bryant. Of course thats what the NBA wants and it might do something to get a game 6 and/or 7. Bennett Salvatore apparently is the league's favorite guy when it comes to extending playoff series!
Speaking of the NBA and the refs, Tim Donaghy is releasing some uncomfortable statements about the NBA. He is saying the NBA fixed game 6 of the Lakers-Kings series in 2002 through the refs. NBA definitely screwed that game up and forced a game 7. We all know that. No IFs or buts about that. A lot of people like yours truly have spoken about the officiating in that game repeatedly even years after the game. It was one of the worst officiated games ever. The refs were definitely part of that game 6 in more ways than one. The Kings were the better team in that series and were good enough to wrap it up in 6 games even after losing game 1 at home (if I remember right). But Donaghy's statement doesn't prove any of these suspicions. After all, Donaghy knows these games and the associated controversies too well. So this game is an easy target for him if he wants to throw some dirt on the NBA. His lawyers know that this game will strike a chord with the fans. The officiating was so bad that even Ralph Nader got involved. So I wouldn't put too much into what Donaghy is saying. Part of me wants Donaghy to be right and expose even more scandals. I want the NBA to once and for all cleanup it's act - get rid of makeup calls, superstar calls, home court calls, rookie calls etc. etc.
Just call the damn game as per the book or go to jail!
No comments:
Post a Comment