NBA Finals (Game 5) Highlight, After-thought

The Lakers adds aggressiveness to their game ... bringing to the basket and scoring down low. In the first-half they come out firing and play with desperation. But in the second, their play are more conservative and scrappy at times. Pau Gasol is in attacking mode throughout. He and Lamar Odom plays mostly under the basket.

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With Kendrick Perkins out and Kevin Garnett in early foul trouble, the Celtics has lost their edge in the paint. Towards the end of fourth quarter, Garnett, PJ Brown and Pierce are playing with 5 fouls. But the C's is still in the game with one minute left, partly help by the scrappy defence by the Lakers.

With Rondo mostly on the bench, Lakers takes advantage of the lack of quickness in the PG position, repeatly attacking before the C's can setup their defence.

Pierce, who has played the whole game, has 38 points and 8 assists.

While it's now obvious that Celtics is the better team in this series, their window of winning it is actually closing gradually with their physical condition. For Perkins, even if he could play the next game, it will be tough for him to be effective with his strain shoulder which is the same one being operated previously. Rondo's bruise ankle has already taken away his aggressiveness since. The biggest fear is Pierce and his bum knee and twisted ankle. He will be irreplacable if he goes down.

NBA Finals (Game 4) Highlight

This game shows that Celtics has stronger will and the Lakers cannot match.

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Yes, the C's play perhaps the best second-half in this series. But entering the second quarter, when nothing is going for them and trailing by 21 points, they focus to compete instead of worrying about the deficit. And after they fight hard to cut the margin to 12 midway, and then later losing the momentum to end the quarter when L's brings the lead back to 18, the C's comes out and still determines to compete.

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In the fourth, the Big Three are taking turn to make play ... Ray Allen's dribble-driving or distributing to open shooter, Pierce's defending Kobe and penetrating on the other end, Garnett's posting and rebounding. Together with Eddie House and James Posey on the floor, they play in unity and trusting each other ... something that is missing from their opponents.

Ray Allen, who plays all 48 minutes, has 19 points and 9 rebounds.

NBA Finals (Game 3) Highlight

When Boston Garden is filled with died-heart fans, the Staples Center has their LA stars.

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

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As expected, the Lakers play with agressiveness. By getting to the paint, Kobe who scores 36 points is able to either making play or drawing foul. By doing so, they are getting high-pecentage shots. Had not been the poor free-throw shooting, the L's could have pulled away much early.

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Lakers have made adjustment by switching Kobe and Fisher to defend their counterparts. It creates a few mismatch opportunity early for their transition offence. It also enables Kobe to serve as help defence when he can temporary leave his man.

Kobe has done a better job in penetrating Celtics' defence scheme, by continue dribbing past the C's help defence into the gap and paint area.

Lakers' bench, Sasha Vujacic in particular, outscores Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce combined.

The Celtics, other than Ray Allen, has a poor shooting game. But their defence and Ray Allen's offence has kept it within striking distance. As poor as their shooting, they are still in the game with a minute left.

Pierce doesn't seem to have his quickness throughout the game, most possibly because of his knee still hurting. C's also misses Rajon Rondo down the stretch, bordered by sprain ankle.

NBA Finals (Game 1) Highlight

Every basketball individual is paying attention to this.

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The scene of NBA Finals on the parquet floor is almost surreal.

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In the third quarter, Doc Rivers pulls his team together during timeout and said, "when adversity comes, we get through it together as a team." This is after Paul Pierce injuries his knee, being carried off the court in extreme pain and taken to the locker room in a wheelchair. It takes the air out of the team and everyone else in the Garden. Lakers have a 4 points lead.

The C's gathers their thought after the timeout. For the next one plus minutes, we all witness Celtics' ubuntu. They steps up their defence and offence, stopping Kobe's shot and scores the next 6 points. This is beautiful basketball.

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Pierce's heroic return definitely gives the team a boost, not to mention his consecutive 3 pointers later on.

Other than Kobe, Fisher and Gasol, the rest of Lakers look nervous. On the contrary, the C's are much more composed. Garnett has 24 points and 13 rebounds, Pierce has 22, Ray Allen has 19, and Rondo has 15 points and 7 assists.

Eastern Conf Finals (Game 3) Highlight

The Celtics has rejuvenated from previous home lost. Their energy level in the first-half are impressive.

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The Big Three scores as much as the supporting cast. Kevin Garnett (22), Ray Allen (14) and Pierce (11) combined for 47 points to match the rest of the team. Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo and James Posey each scored 12 for the Celtics.

The Pistons, on the other hand, are not as balance as in game 2. Tayshaun Prince scores 4 points and Chauncey Billups has 6, combining to shoot 3-for-17.

Eastern Conf Finals (Game 2) Highlight

The Pistons show that they are the best team in the East.

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The P's are resilient and mentally strong. They keep hitting tough shots through Celtics' defence, and making key stops in the final minutes. The C's have staged several comeback attempts, but each time the P's answer. And it is not just one or two players, everybody from starters to the bench (Rodney Stuckey) have stepped up.

The Big Three combines 75 points in a losing effort.

The problem now is how the Celtics can win at least a game in Detroit, with the Big Three have already played at near peak efficiency and still comes up short. Doc Rivers have blamed it on C's defence. Sure, the C's fails to switch to Richard Hamilton and leaves Kevin Garnett in a mis-match, and no one is guarding Chauncey Billups when he catches the in-bound pass for a layup under the basket in the final minute.



So it remains to be seen if the C's has to play a perfect road game in order to get a win.

Celtics-Cavaliers Playoff (Game 7) Highlight

This is a thriller. The shoot-out between Paul Pierce and Lebron James will be remembered as one of the NBA Classics, next to another Game 7 Classics 20 years ago between Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins.

Paul Pierce and Lebron James combine for 86 points.

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But it isn't just Pierce, the rest of C's make crucial play towards the end: PJ Brown's plays on both end of the court, Eddie House's interception and James Posey forcing jump ball.

One of Pierce's biggest play does not reflect in stats sheet. With one-minute to play and a 3 points lead, he steals the jump-ball intended for LeBron and calling time-out.

Celtics-Cavaliers Playoff (Game 6) Highlight

The Cavs have forced Game 7.

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Both teams play hard, even though neither team have shot well. The Celtics have fought their way back, from 16 points deficit in the third, to 3 points margin with 16 seconds remaining in the clock. The fact that the C's haven't quit is a good sign.

But Celtics have given too many fouls and the Cavs capitalise. Lebron James alone scores 13 of his 32 points from the foul line. He also has 6 of the team's 10 assists, 12 rebounds and 2 steals.

Doc Rivers have inserted Eddie House and Glen Davis into rotation, instead of Sam Casssell and Leon Powe. The result is mixed. While House has contributed some quick buckets, Davis has lot of trouble around the rim.

With the experience of previous round, the C's should be more mentally prepared to handle the intensity of another game 7. Added with the energy of home court, the C's hopefully can continue to clamp on Lebron James, as they have done a good job so far, but without giving up silly foul.

Celtics-Cavaliers Playoff (Game 3) Highlight

The Celtics get blown out. During the regular season the C's are really only blown out once in the regular season (back on March 14 against the Jazz). But so far this postseason, they are 0-4 on the road.

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The Celtics shoots just 40% from the field while allowing 53% shooting from the Cavs. Doc Rivers said, "We got great shots to start the game, but when we started missing them, and instead of being the solid defensive team we've been, we got down because our offense was down."

To me it sounds like the C's still lacks the cohesiveness to fight through adversity, which will be tested again and again before they can reach championship caliber, like the Pistons.

LeBron James has a better-than-solid stats (21 points, eight assists, five rebounds, four steals and three blocks), but again is inconsistent, in missing 11 of 16 attempts. But his newly acquired teammates comes up big, including Delonte West (21 points) and Wally Szczerbiak (16 points), the two ex-Celtics. Joe Smith has 17, Ben Wallace adds 9 points and 9 rebounds.

Celtics-Cavaliers Playoff (Game 1) Highlight

With Ray Allen failing to score and Paul Pierce getting just 4 points, the Celtics find a way to win the game. That's playoff basketball.

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Celtics' team defence crowds LeBron James into shooting 2 for 18 (12 points), while keeping the rest of the Cavs in-check, especially 3 Points FG (22.2%).

Kevin Garnett scores 28 to make up for an off-night for the rest of the Big Threes. Rajon Rondo scores 8 of his 15 points in first quarter, and Sam Cassell scores 8 of his 13 points in the fourth.

Celtics-Hawks Playoff (Game 6) Highlight

The Hawks have forced game 7. They are down by 12 in the second and nine in the third, but play a strong fourth quarter.

The Celtics continue to double teaming Joe Johnson every time, but he is able to set up all his teammates for open looks all game long. That lead to a huge run in the fourth that put Celtics on its heals.

The Hawks continue to enjoy the foul-call advantage (47-25 free throws). Pierce fouls out on a disputed call and spends final 4:44 minutes on the bench.

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