By Sean Connolly
Kobe says he can take over a game whenever he wants. So why would he wait until his team is down 24 points in the fourth quarter. Kobe and the Lakers nearly mounted the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history but came up short tonight and for the second game in a row, Kobe is to blame.
Throughout this entire game the Celtics had the heart, determination, and sure fire offense that compiles a championship team. An unlikely hero in Leon Powe who put up an astonishing 21 points in just under 15 minutes. Powe looked unstoppable as he dunked his Celtics to what looked like a blowout early in the fourth quarter. I have to say, Powe looks like a huge X-Factor coming off the bench for these Celtics who already have the best threesome in basketball in Garnett, Pierce, and Allen. If Powe could just stay out of foul trouble(he had 4 tonight in his 15 minutes) he is going to be a huge help in this 08 Finals for the Celtics.
Powe was just one of the players for the Celtics who came off the bench to solidify a Celtic win. Both P.J. Brown and James Posey put in quality minutes for the Celtics who are now up 2-0 on the Lakers. Coming into the finals, the Lakers bench was considered its most crucial facet. The Lakers’ bench was outscored by the Celtics’ bench 35-23. The Celtics’ bench also played extremely smart. No one coming off the bench for them turned the ball over and shot 68.7% from the field. Not only has getting to the line affected Kobe and the Lakers’ starting lineup but the trend has gotten to the bench as well. No one had a free throw from the Lakers bench while the Celtics bench piled up 15 free throw attempts, more than the entire Lakers team with 10.
If you’re a Lakers fan you can blame the bench for not putting up numbers or poor defense from Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, but the blame in games like these will always rest on Kobe’s shoulders. It’s a little unfair but it’s true. Kobe waited too long and took too many outside shots early in the game and allowed the Celtics to run away with the game. He got into foul trouble early, leaving him on the bench where he becomes absolutely useless. He turned into the Kobe of the past couple years in the 3rd and 4th quarter, forcing shots and trying to make the superstar play. Whenever there was a scoring run by the Lakers, it was fueled by excellent passing and smart decisions by Kobe. But he quickly got away from that when the Celtics countered with a run of their own causing the Lakers to fall in too deep of a hole.
If Kobe completed the fourth quarter comeback, in which the Lakers were down 24 and brought in down to two, I probably would be singing Kobe’s praises and I would have forgotten all the mistakes he and the Lakers made. But they didn’t come back.
