Ok, here is my short but sweet observation about NBA Basketball.
In game two the Celtics were up by 20 plus late in the third quarter. The Lakers came all the way back to make it a close game in the fourth quarter.
Last night the Lakers were up 35-14 at one point and up big in the third quarter. The Celts worked and worked, played some D while the Lakers were shooting a little bit cooler and losing aggressiveness from Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.
The Celtics came all the way back to win 97-91. And they came back from 21 or something at halftime.
I know this is the NBA Finals and things should be played more crisply and efficiently than the regular season...
but has everyone forgotten?! Basketball is a game of runs, a game of spurts. Hello!? Any game in the regular season with a team down 20 in the third to win would be a big deal story! Here, because it's the NBA Finals it's the greatest collapse or comeback in history.
Now, since I want the Celtics to win I don't want to discount their comeback but do we not remember that it's basketball!? I go on a 10-2 run and suddenly the lead that was "big" at 16-18 is down to 8-10. And an 8-10 point lead in a basketball game is not that large. Hypothetically, you would, could, should make up a 10 point deficit in just a few minutes of game play.
It seems that analyst and commentators alike are so stunned when something like this happens. Have they not watched basketball? It's completely, fully a game of runs and spurts-like I said before. When was the last game you saw that both teams "traded" baskets and it wasn't until a great defensive stand where the game was won by a late bucket after one defensive stop.
To me, was it an impressive comeback? Yes.
Should it have happened to the Lakers? No. (with plenty more coaching, motivation and strategy talk could happen after that answer.)
Did it completely surprise me that a team with KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce come back with key role players help? Not really!
The key is when will key analysts and commentators realize that basketball is not a game of trading buckets, it's a game of runs and spurts.
1 comment:
Joel,
David and I watched the whole game and what a great game it was, especially after the first half! As good as it would be to win in Boston, it would feel good to rub the Laker's fans noses in a win for us on their home court. They just all seem so cocky!! Especially those movie stars.
Donna
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