It was a close Game 5, but the Lakers played well enough to force a Game 6 as they beat the Celtics 103-98, and be down 3-2 going back to Boston. The Celtics had their chances to finish off the Western Conference Champions, but the Lakers showed some pride and heart last night when they could have thrown in the towel after their embarrassing loss in Game 4.Boston played a good game with Paul Pierce's impressive 38 points and Ray Allen's 16, but they needed the third player of the Boston PGA (Pierce, Garnett, Allen) Tour to play well to win the World Championship last night. Although Garnett did score 13 points and got 14 rebounds, he had one of his worst games in the playoffs this year on the defensive end of the court only playing 33 minutes because of foul trouble. He also missed three key free throws at the end of the game that may have helped win Game 5.
Boston really needed Garnett on defense with Kendrick Perkins out of the game because of an injured shoulder, and the Lakers took advantage of the situation getting Garnett five fouls in the game. Los Angeles' other two stars took advantage of Perkins' absence getting 20 points and 11 rebounds from Lamar Odom along with 19 points and 13 rebounds from Pau Gasol as they dominated the paint. I believe that Kobe Bryant is probably the best player on the planet, but he can't win a World Championship all by himself and with Gasol and Odom's performance last night, Bryant only needed 25 points to win Game 5.
The thing is, the Lakers know they barely got by with two close wins at home in the series that could have gone in the Celtics favor, and will not win on the road no matter what Bryant does. In the three games that Boston played at Los Angeles in the NBA Finals, Boston fell behind really early in the game and had to have great third-quarters to catch up. If the Celtics can have a lead going into halftime next game at home and continue to have another great third-quarter, Boston will not only win the World Championship but they will blow out the Lakers too.
So now it's off to Boston, where I predicted that the Celtics would beat the Lakers in Game 6 and I'm sticking by it. There is no way that Boston's trio will lose Game 6 because they not only know they are one game from winning the NBA Finals, but they also know they don't want to go to a Game 7 when anything could happen with Bryant in the game. Boston is 12-1 at home in the playoffs and will win a playoff record 13th home game with their excellent defense and an MVP effort from Pierce to become World Champions for the 17th time in franchise history. I'd like to say good luck to Boston, but they don't need it because on Tuesday the Celtics will show the world they are the best team in the NBA this season.
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