Besides being on the brink of elimination, the Los Angeles Lakers have some other things to worry about. Despite the superb performance from Kobe Bryant scoring 38 points, his supporting cast was nowhere to be found. The next leading scorer was Pau Gasol with a mere 12 points. Fisher, Artest, and Odom were nonexistent throughout. The Lakers combined scored only 10 more points than Kobe which is completely unacceptable. The Boston Celtics tried their best to contain Kobe who was forcing and making tough shots all night from around the perimeter. If Kobe is to score this much attempting 27 shots, can the Lakers even have a chance of winning?
Game 5 was the best game that the Boston Celtics starters played together throughout the NBA Finals. Garnett filled up the box score in all categories, Rondo was penetrating and dishing, and Paul Pierce played like vintage Pierce from the 2008 Finals. Although it wasn’t Ray Allen’s best game, he finished in double digits and it’s a good finish compared to his horrific performance in Game 3 (0-13 to be exact). The Celtics are definitely in the driver seat being up by 1 game, but they’re going to the Staples center which isn’t the easiest arena to close out a NBA finals let alone win a game.
Phil Jackson’s record of being undefeated when winning the 1st game of a playoff game will be put to the true test as over 70% of the teams winning Game 5 go on to win the series. In addition to that, the Celtics are 11-0 all-time when up 3-2. I don’t know if Game 6 will be a repeat of 2008 when the Lakers were blown out, but I’m sure that Kobe will have his team ready to play on Thursday, not just him!
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