Drive for 5....

....Let's do this! Hey Ya'll it's your fav SportsGal89 In the Building.. Welcome back to another grand slam edition of the blog. Tonight/this morning, I'm gonna be covering my NBA Finals Game 5 Recap. If you don't know, and I don't know how you couldn't: the 2010 NBA Finals are being battled out on the court by two of the greatest teams, and in my opinion the two best teams that NEEDED to be at the top! The series is now tied (unfortunately) with a loss tonight by the Lakers in Boston. The series is tied 2-2 so it's any body's game. You might be wondering why I am so calm cool and collected going into Game 5, well I plan on explaining that to you in a minute. But let's get back to the finer things in life, the GAME!! duh!
If the Lakers thought that the Celtics were gonna let them take the championship they were definitely mistaken. And if I thought that I was gonna be able to watch the game and not have to deal with the FAILtics fan noise than I was also sadly mistaken. It seems as if Doc Rivers was not only able to pep up his squad but he must have pepped up his fans too, because as obnoxious as they were tonight they were on point. SO ANNOYING, and I mean ANNOYING both at TD and on TWITTER- ahh you like that ;) I'm so slick!
Anyways already going into the opening drive, the Celtics were a different team. I could tell out the gate that we weren't going to play the same team we beat in Game 3. And surely we didn't Pierce was driving and taking it to the basket right off the tipoff. He was being much more aggressive than he was in Game 3. But my thing is Pierce to me is a bit inconsistent, but to be honest they all are, that's how Doc like it. Let the boys play, give them their time and they will surprise you. Just as a ball fan, they have the makings of a great, great team. And each chance I see them evolve a little more. I'm just giving you morsels right now..
I said it all the way through the game at different points, that if the Lakers were gonna take this, then they needed to settle down and not get flustered by the fan noise and the hype. As much as people say all this stuff about how the Lakers are always the favored team blah, blah, blah- it is so one-sided. People through so much shade on the Lakers it's not even funny. From the commentators who are announcing the game who get all kinds of excited when the Celtics are scoring and basically sticking it to the Lakers- they make it perfectly clear where they stand, to the wannabe about the Green and White all of a sudden, just because they despise one person- KOBE! and this is coming off of my Twitter feeds: boy if I could show you the Twitter feeds. No one said jack ish about the Celtics when it was the 2nd round, but the minute we get to the finals EVERYONE is riding the Celtic jock. EVERYONE! People who I ain't never heard speak a lick about BBall all of a sudden are geniuses on the subject. Celebrities who aren't even from Boston, slanging shade on the Lakers. And they want to call the Celtics the Underdog. FINE! I'll take the heat, we must be doing something right to keep the spotlight on us. Bad publicity is still publicity. So I'll take it, make us the big bad wolf, hate on us. We aren't the team with 17 Rings tho ;) And just a side bar, the real reason there is so much shade thrown on the Lakers is because there is a conspiracy against West Coast love! Yeah I said it. Sports fans love East Coast or Midwest teams, but when you get out West and when you get to Cali and specifically LA, you can forget about it. But whatevs, I'll take it again. Because when it push comes to shove, we still produce. LET'S GO! Now back to the game..
At the half the Lakers led 45-42. This game was already intense. Both teams were being aggressive, putting it all up against each other. And going into the Half the Lakers were playing strong they had the Celtics at only 40% shooting.



As always,come the third quarter I am excited- the Lakers are strong during the third we have a chance to rally and tip the game. And for the greater part of the half TD Garden was quiet- hallelu-yer! (in that Medea voice). It must be said tho that we would have had a 4pt lead going into the second quarter but Garnett was able to pull off a sweet buzzer shot to close the gap and give the fans and the team a little momentum.Let's take a look now, this video brought to you by nba.com:



I had this pledge to my FB that I wouldn't go crazy with the posts this game, and I said I would only post twice at the beginning and then at the end. Well I posted I think the total during the game might have been 7. But it was so hard not to go in.. Anyways I decided at the half to post a little prediction:
I want to see the 3rd quarter domination by the Lakers and taking from my dad I want to see the 4th quarter "DAGGERS!"

The third quarter starts and Bynum doesn't return with the team. I'm worried that if he's out we will def have a repeat of 2008. We need a strong Center and bum knee or not, he is key. People think Bynum isn't necessary, but he makes a big difference and he is critical to this game. He's only 22, he has a long career ahead of him and he will be GREAT! But I recognized that the team was also very different than they were in 2008, they are prepared to play if Bynum is out.
And the change of the game- GLEN "BABY" DAVIS! He is able to draw an awful (not because it wasn't necessary, or the right call to make. But awful because Gasol shouldn't have allowed himself to get caught in that situation) off of Gasol that set him up for a three point shot and allowed the Celtics to take a 1pt lead. This 1pt lead moved to 8 unanswered points by the Celtics with Davis and Gorilla boy (and I know I am black, I shouldn't play into the stereotypes, but the way he leaps and how stocky he is, you can't help but think of the resemblance. I mean just a little bit- okay yes i am digging a hole. I will stop) Robinson leading the charge. And can I just say something, Big Baby ain't JORDAN, and he ain't sexy like my man LL, so he needs to stop thinking he's cute and keep that tongue in his mouth where it belongs.
Minutes left in the third quarter and the crowd starts getting pumped. They were silent for most of the half and boy did they get loud!All because of a great defensive play by Big Baby and a beautiful pass to Garnett from Rondo brought the crowd to the ceiling and their noise blaring through the tv. I just wanted the fans at TD to be put down and I wanted Kobe to put them to sleep (he would later answer, but would it be enough?)
4minutes left in the 3rd and the Celtics begin to play better than they have the whole game. They are making the first half of the game seem like yesterday's news. Whatever umph my boys had in the first half was slowly fading away. Garnett and Allen who have been fairly quiet the whole game are stepping up, Like I said before and will continue to say anything can happen. No matter what people think the outcome will be, the 4th quarter in both Football and BBall can shift like that. It is really any body's game.
And then came drool.. I have to show you this rather than "talk" about it...
[Please disregard that intro, but I couldn't find anyone else that has just this clip]



But dang could someone get him a napkin or something, that was just nasty. But I like the spirit! (And for you Laker fans reading this blog, come Game 6 when we are in LA rock a bib- to be honest I wish they could just get that shot of him, with the drool and plaster it all over some bibs that we wear. Especially because I know we are taking Game 5 in Beantown and will be winning the whole thing at home in LA)
Two things, I thought there were rules about the celebrating like that. And second he's riding my patience thin, later on in the game he does a little "shimmy shimmy ya" after dropping a foul. That to me should have def caught a technical. But whatever, Davis did what needed to be done to rally his team and get them a win. The Lakers needed to settle down and have fun playing ball. At this point there was maybe 8 minutes left in the game. We were down by I think 9 points, it was going to be fine. Mind you I was still waiting for those DAGGERS! And boy did we get them. Kobe was able to pull some sweet threes and with some fouls able to close up the gap. You have to like his concentration, and for all of you Kobe haters, I just don't get it. Fine, I'll give you the Tahoe incident- BAD FORM; I might even give you the "getting rid of Shaq deal". I don't know what he's like personally, but I don't get how you guys can hate on him. I mean no one has ever been able to give me anything valid about why they can't stand him. HE ISN'T THE ONE SAYING THAT HE'S THE BEST! WE ARE! So why are you gonna throw shade on a guy who plays the game so well. I mean yes at times being caught up in the moment he can be cocky, but what makes what Kobe does any worse than what "Big Baby" did last night, or for that matter what Nate Robinson did. I mean he plays the game, yes he like every other bball player, knows how to draw fouls and get away with slick ish. When you have a series as engulfed as this one can be, sometimes the ugliness does come out. But to get upset because WE compare him to MJ is stupid. To not give the guy credit to be a nobody 18 year old in the Lakers line-up to become the leader of the team getting them a 3peat and then a 4th ring and now on their way to 5, I mean give me a damn break. He has so much focus and determination. He is a coach, and a leader and he is a true genius of the game and I just wish that if you wanted to talk about why you dislike him that you gave me something substantial ABOUT THE GAME that I could stand on. (Sorry, I have just had enough of the Kobe hate and the double standard) And to say something else, people though Jordan was cocky too, they thought Magic was also, even Larry Bird was given the once-over for being so shy and reserved; so in my book he's (Kobe's) in good company.
Now back to the show, Kobe's late 4th quarter drive did some good, but not enough.[Video brought to you by nba.com]



The Celtics bench and Nate Robinson and Big Baby, clearly dominated the 4th quarter.


I mean clearly. We(the Lakers) let the game get away from us) Artest took a few long shots that just came off the backboard, there wasn't any direction or intention with these shots. He was a lot more aggressive though which I like. Even with the return of Bynum we weren't really dominating with rebounds on both sides of the ball. Too many turnovers changed the game immensely. Where we had dominated the first half, the Celtics really stuck it to us in the second.

Here are the stats:
***LAKERS***
Starters:
R. Artest 9pts,7reb,3ast
P. Gasol 21pts,6reb,3ast
A. Bynum 2pts,3reb,0ast
K. Bryant 33pts,1reb,2ast
D. Fisher 6pts,1reb,2ast

Bench:
L. Odom 10pts,7reb,1ast
S. Vujacic 2reb,1ast
S. Brown 5pts,0reb,0ast
J. Farmar 3pts,2reb,1ast

***Celtics***
Starters:

P. Pierce 19pts,6reb,5ast
K. Garnett 13pts,6rebs,3ast
K. Perkins 6pts,7reb,0ast
R. Allen 12pts,5rebs,1ast
R. Rondo 10pts,5reb,3ast

Bench:
G. Davis 18pts,5reb,0ast
R. Wallace 3pts,2reb,0ast
T. Allen 3pts,3reb,1ast
N. Robinson 12pts,2reb,2ast

Okay so I am going to set you up with the Game 4 Recap:


And once I get the mini movie I will post...

Now on to why I am still so very cheerie after a Game 4 loss by the Lakers. Here it is and tell me if you can hate me?
So you know how I have told you before that I love the game more than I love teams. I mean don't get it twisted, I will go tooth and nail with anyone who talks bad about my teams, but at the end of the day my love of the game trumps anything. I want to see a something memorable, like Jordan and his unbelievable atheletic ability, or when Shannon Brown is able to catch some air and really fly, or when Boise State beat Oklahoma in the most incredible 4th quarter drive that I have ever seen. I mean watching a player put it all out on the field, court or wherever and just play the game for me as a fan is it. It makes being a fan worth it! So as I watched this game I get excited when I see these little flairs that make me enjoy being a fan of this sport- watch my friends can tell you, I'll be like Ray Allen's momma when I have kids. Oh boy! You think I'm crazy now, ha ha ha. I mean I am already that way and it's just when I am cheering on my friends, (especially football- quick shoutout to my 'Hill boys- you know who you are!). Anyway there was a moment during the 4th quarter when Garnett was waiting to get put in the game and then got called back by Doc, while Davis and Robinson were handling it on the court (Like I said I will give them their credit), anyways so Garnett is on his knees and there was this one shot of him and you could just see the hunger in his eyes, and the excitement of the game just came a live through. I got tingles watching it and I get tingles thinking about it now. I think that those are the moments I live for. I want to know that if I am cheering my butt off that I am going to get a great show! I want to know that even if my team isn't the team that is showing the flair, that at least we get to see some magic happen. Yes, I want the Lakers to win and WE WILL. But I know that I want to see a great game. There is nothing like sitting at home anticipating greatness to see it all fall short. I mean boxing is boxing for a reason, that's the whole point especially with certain heavy hitters, but when you are playing this sort of man to man combat like this I want to see something phenonmenal. And given this moment Garnett wasn't playing, but he just lit something in me that said this "Just got good." I think by the far the two best teams are playing right now. And each game we see a little bit more of their strength. They are two different teams than they were in 2008, and obviously the Celtics are a different team than they were at the start of the season. But irregardless this is where the amazing happens- the 2010 Finals and these two teams will go down to me as the greatest rivalry. I know I watched much of the Magic and Larry Bird days through old recordings and VHS that my dad had, but this time I get to claim this. I get to say that I got to see the Celtics of late and my LA Lakers play their lives out for the world to see and boy have they put on a show!
So with that I know that my Laker fans know this is far from over, but we got this! THE DRIVE FOR 5! Is still in effect. We have Game 5 in Boston, which we will take and then we go home to LA to take it all. I want the Laker fans to tear down the house. WE ARE LA! GET IT!!!

******
GOT THE MINI MOVIE off of NBA.com:


And I love that end by Sasha Vujacic- "We got to come back tomorrow and work hard, we got to come back on Satruday and work hard and we got to come back on Sunday and beat them. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE!" LOVE IT!!!

See ya Sunday!