The singe marks on the Staples Center nets were still smoking from Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen’s eight 3-pointers when Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson began his postgame remarks late Sunday night.
“There’s no doubt it’s a blow to us to lose the home court,” said Jackson, whose Lakers visit Boston tonight for Game 3 of the NBA finals, the best-of-seven series now tied after the Celtics’ 103-94 win. “But we anticipated this might happen.”
Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. Only Coach Zen knows for sure. But despite Boston’s stunning road victory, his message is clear: The Lakers aren’t yet worried about repeating as NBA champs.
Nor should they be.
It isn’t just that Jackson is 47-0 when winning the opening game of a postseason series, as the Lakers did last Thursday night. Nor is it that they were seven games better than Big Green during the regular season, despite splitting their head-to-head contests, each winning on the other’s home court. (To be fair to the Lakers, Kobe Bryant sat out the Celtics’ win in L.A.)
No, what probably has Jackson feeling good is that big man Pau Gasol scored 25 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked six shots, despite the Celtics knowing they needed to stop him to win.
Beyond that, Bryant was on the bench in foul trouble for almost 10 minutes, an anomaly all but certain not to be repeated tonight.
Even Bryant said of the series’ best player being sidelined by the officials, “I don’t expect to be picking up five fouls in the next game.”
You can argue about whether there should be different rules for superstars. You just can’t argue the truth in Bryant’s words. Ever since Michael Jordan took over the sport, the game’s best — Shaq, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, LeBron — have tended to be protected.
And with the game on the line, nobody is better than Kobe, which means he’ll probably play at least 44 of the tonight’s 48 minutes (barring overtime), hold Allen to at least 10 points fewer than his 32 in Game 2 and score far more than his 21 in that defeat.
But it’s inside, where Gasol and Andrew Bynum roam, where L.A. has an advantage too large for Boston to manage.
The two giants combined for 46 points and 14 rebounds Sunday while Boston bigs Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins were totaling 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Good as Allen’s 32 points and eight 3s were, those aren’t reliable. Post play is. And Gasol’s continued domination of Garnett is unlikely to dramatically change. The Lakers’ defense against Allen should.
For Celtics fans everywhere, there are two X-factors that give them their biggest reasons for hope. One is point guard Rajon Rondo, who had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists Sunday and whom the Lakers generally have struggled against. The other is reserve center Glen Davis, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds off the bench, the kind of numbers that undo some of the damage done by Gasol and Bynum.
But the following two quotes should concern Boston fans and embolden Lakers supporters as this sizzling series — TV ratings for Game 2 were the highest since 2004 — continues:
Said Celtics coach Doc Rivers after his team’s win: “It’s amazing we had a player (Allen) with 27 points in the first half and were only up six.”
Countered the Lakers’ Jackson: “Our big guys played great, we just didn’t get the ball to them enough.”
As the best rivalry in pro basketball continues, expect the Lakers to get the ball to Gasol and Bynum enough to win this series in six games, which is probably just the way Coach Zen anticipated it might happen.