Chapter 18: The Green Shirts Again
The Celtics standing in front of the Lakers, after winning the championship in 2008, last year because of Garnett's injury, which led to the team losing to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals, this year, they are full of personnel and strong, five games in the first round solved Wade's Heat, six games in the second round overturned James's Cavaliers, the Eastern Conference Finals, in the face of the Orlando Magic who defeated them last year, the Celtics sent Howard home in only six games, the Celtics are still the championship team the year before last, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett's Big Three plus a decent role player, plus the signing of the stellar Nate Robinson and Rashid Wallace this year.
This series is also the most watched series in the United States, (excluding the seven battles of the Lakers Rockets in the 2008-2009 playoffs, this round is the highest-rated series on CCTV, and it has not been broken until now, for needless to say, but the United States is not interested in this series) The last time the league finals were able to tie seven was five years ago, not to mention that there were still two NBA giants on the stage of the finals.
In the finals matchup between the Lakers and the Celtics the year before last, who was the most injured person was undoubtedly Pau Gasol, his soft style of play in the outside world was completely suppressed by the tough Kevin Garnett, so the hat of "soft egg" was deducted on Gasol's head after the finals that year, and Gasol also had a lot of complaints about this, after all, no one wants to have the nickname of a soft egg, and this time against Garnett, Gasol's chance to take revenge has come!
In the first game, Gasol repeatedly refused Phil Jackson's arrangement to rest, and finally he played a full 47 minutes in the first game of the finals, scoring 23 points, 3 assists and 3 blocks on 8-of-14 shooting, and grabbed 8 of the 14 rebounds in the frontcourt! As many rebounds as the Celtics' entire frontcourt! Garnett, on the other hand, scored 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting and only grabbed a pitiful 4 rebounds.
In the first game, the Lakers defeated the Celtics 102-89, and only 20 seconds into the first quarter of the game, Paul Pierce and Artest's arms were entangled together, two people eye to eye, mouth to mouth, chest against chest, saber rattling, no one refused to show weakness, among which Pierce's headband was also knocked down by Atai and slipped to the eye, and the two of them did not speak, fighting for toughness and momentum! In the end, Pierce scored 24 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks on 6-of-13 shooting, while Artay scored 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals on 5-of-10 shooting, without a single turnover, Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-of-22 shooting, leading the team to the first victory!
In the second game, Ray Allen made history by shooting 11-of-20, including 8-of-11 three-pointers, and scored 32 points, hitting eight three-pointers to break the Finals' personal single-game three-point record! At the same time, he led the Celtics to a 103-94 victory at the Staples Center, the home court of the Lakers! Rondo played a triple-double, 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, although Pierce did not play well, scoring 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists on 2-of-11 shooting, but don't forget that the Celtics have a group of excellent benches, Glenn Davis, Rasheed Wallace, Nate Robinson all have a good performance, the Lakers' side, Gasol got 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks, Bynum got 21 points, 6 rebounds and 7 blocks, Kobe Bryant got 21 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, but the others did not score double-doubles, Artay played sluggishly, hitting only 1 of 10 shots to get 6 points and 5 rebounds.
The third game was played at the North Shore Garden Arena, the home of the Celtics, the first half ended, the Lakers led the Celtics by 12 points at 52:40, the situation was very good, Kobe Bryant scored 16 points against Garnett's 15 points, in the third quarter, the Lakers' offense suddenly short-circuited, the whole team only Kobe, Gasol and Fisher were scoring, and the Boston people were more flowering, the Lakers only scored 15 points in a single quarter, the Celtics scored 21 points, and after three quarters, the Lakers led by 67:61 by 6 points!
In the early part of the fourth quarter, the Celtics' backup power forward Glenn Davis suddenly exploded, he relied on his extraordinary weight to frequently run into the interior, and he scored 8 points in less than 5 minutes! Fisher, who has a big heart on the Lakers' side, stepped up, and he scored four key goals in a row in the face of Rondo's defense to help the team stop the bleeding! With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Lakers only led by two points at 78:76 with Paul Pierce's long-range three-point shot! Odom forced Davis to score 2 points, after Ray Allen and Kobe Bryant missed shots one after another, Garnett forced Gasol and used a trick that is not usually used to turn around and hook the ball into the basket, the Lakers led by 2 points at 80:78, as I said before, Gasol is going to "harden up" in this round of the series, Garnett singled his own shot, Gasol immediately backed Davis in the left waist position to hold the ball and score a strong attack! Garnett is not a fuel-efficient lamp, after returning from a timeout, he continued to single Gasol, and threw the ball into the basket with a stop-and-go jumper that broke through with the ball! The Lakers lead by 2 points at 82:80! At the critical moment, Kobe Bryant stood up, he singled Ray Allen dribbling and hit a back-to-back jumper to hit 2 points, and then, Kobe and Odom sandwiched Garnett, Kobe made a shot and slapped the ball in Garnett's hand out of bounds, and the referee began to think that it was the Celtics who had the ball, but after watching the video replay, it was found that Kobe did not hit the ball, but Garnett shot again and did not catch the ball, so the referee changed the judgment that the Lakers won the ball, and the stadium was suddenly full of boos! With a minute and a half left in the clock, the Lakers lead by four points! The Celtics are starting to press all over the court!
Kobe Bryant ran out of 24 seconds and missed, Odom and Rondo's hands intertwined in the air, touching the ball out of the boundary, the referee determined that the ball was scrum, but when watching the video replay, it was found that Odom's fingertips touched the ball out of the boundary, so the referee on duty Salvador admitted in an interview many years later that this game was the most difficult game in his refereeing career, every time the whistle sounded, he must be cautious, watch the replay several times, his whistle sounded, Pierce's eyes widened and he said, will you blow it, it's obviously ......! Garnett's eyes widened and he said, "Do you want to blow it, it's obviously ......!" Kobe's eyes widened and he said, will you blow it, it's obviously ......! Atai clenched his fists together and said, "Give you a chance, blow again......
Well, back to business, there is 1 minute and 10 seconds left before the end of the game, the Lakers lead by 4 points, the Celtics have the ball, Ray Allen is under the multiple blocks and dismantles of his teammates, goes around to the bottom right corner, receives Rondo's pass and shoots three-pointers, but unfortunately misses, Derrick Fisher grabs the rebound and slowly advances to the frontcourt, Fisher is old, and there is no one around him to defend him when he advances! Fisher ran all the way after halftime and rushed into the Celtics penalty area, Fisher had already reached the free throw line and the Celtics players found that there was a big hole in the defense, but it was too late! Celtics Ray Allen, Garnett and Davis surrounded Fisher's layup, but Fisher deserved to be an old fritter, leaning towards Glen Davis, shaking his wrist and rubbing the high board with his low hand, accompanied by a scream!
"Toot toot!"
Davis defensive foul! What's even more tragic for the Celtics is that the layup is still up! After the goal, the Celtics head coach was full of confusion, and Fisher was not fast, how did he come in and throw the ball into the basket?
Kobe Bryant watched Fisher hit a three-pointer in the backcourt, smiled and closed his mouth, half-bent his knees and clenched his hands into fists in celebration!
Fisher smiled slightly, hiding his merit and fame, who the always said that I was the weakest starter, come out, I promise not to kill you! Fisher scored a three-pointer and the game was decided! Then the Lakers began to be fouled and made free throws, while the Celtics were Garnett who had an offensive cover foul and a passing error, which made the game lose suspense.
In this game, Kobe Bryant was not very efficient under Ray Allen's defense, scoring only 29 points on 29 shots, Derrick Fisher, who made great contributions to the team, scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, Gasol scored 13 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists on 5-of-11 shooting, although Odom scored 12 points and 5 rebounds on 5-of-5 shooting on the offensive end, but he actually didn't play well in this game, wandered, and made many unnecessary mistakes on the defensive end.
Celtics Garnett was extremely efficient on the offensive end of the game, scoring 25 points and 6 rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting, but his two consecutive turnovers in the final moments of the game buried the victory of the game, Pierce scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, starting center Kendrick Perkins scored 5 points and 11 rebounds, Glen Davis scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, the saddest player in this game is undoubtedly Ray Allen, his hot hand stayed in the last game, Ray Allen shot 0 of 13 in this game, He made 0 of 8 three-pointers and scored 2 points from the free throw line......
In the fourth game, the Lakers lost the game 89-96, Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and 6 rebounds on 10-of-22 shooting, Aisor scored 21 points and 6 rebounds on 6-of-13 shooting, Odom scored 10 points and 7 rebounds, and the bench players on the Celtics' side decided the trend of the game, Glenn Davis and Nate Robinson, nicknamed the "Hulk and Mule Combination", combined to score 30 points! Pierce had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, Garnett had 13 points and six rebounds on 5-of-13 shooting, and Ray Allen had 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
In the first four games, both teams played extremely anxiously, with a big score of 2:2 draw! The crucial fifth battle of Tennoyama officially started on June 13, 2010, and in the long history of the previous history, the team that can win the battle of Tennoyama has an 80% probability of winning the final series, so the importance of this game is undeniable!
In the first quarter of the game, Celtics Pierce, Rondo and Garnett all showed ferocious firepower, and the three of them combined to score 20 of the team's 22 points in the first quarter, while the Lakers were caused by Fisher's continuous rushing inside to cause free throws, Fisher scored 9 points in a single quarter, and the Lakers fell behind by 2 points at 20:22. In the second quarter, Kobe Bryant began to attack, but the efficiency was not high, scoring 7 points on 3-of-8 shooting in a single quarter, Artay scored 6 points on 2 three-pointers, and the Lakers only scored 19 points in the second quarter, while the Celtics were more and more courageous under the leadership of Pierce, scoring 23 points again in a single quarter, and at halftime, the Lakers fell behind 39:45.
In the third quarter of the game, Kobe Bryant completely broke out, he shot 7 of 9 in a single quarter, including 3 of 3 three-pointers and scored 19 points! The Lakers scored 26 points in a single quarter, and Pierce of the Celtics was not ambiguous, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in a single quarter, Garnett and Ray Allen combined to score 13 points, and the Celtics scored 28 points in the third quarter! In the fourth quarter, the Lakers struggled to catch up, but the hole dug in front of them was too big, and finally lost the game 86-92.
Kobe Bryant scored 38 points on 13-of-27 shooting, Gasol scored 12 points and 12 rebounds, and was the only two Lakers players to score in double figures, while the Celtics scored four players in double figures, Pierce scored 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting, Rondo scored 18 points, 8 assists and 7 turnovers on 9-of-12 shooting, Garnett scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals, and Ray Allen scored 12 points.