Foil in the Oven: You're Being Very Undude

I'm sorry there aren't many pictures. Blogger has been very tempermental today. I didn't even think I was going to be able to get this thing posted.


I'll be honest; I wanted the Celtics to stick it to Phil Jackson in a big way last night. I understand that the greatest timeout caller of all time is well known for making very directed comments (which have often been referred to by media people as "Jedi mind tricks") post-game comments with the intention of sending a message, but his comments about Paul Pierce after game 1 were out of line. Now, I completely understand that the Willis Reed comments were wearing thin on Jackson, and I can't blame him. But, with his comments about Oral Roberts being in the Celtics locker room, he was clearly insinuating that Paul Pierce was faking being hurt.

Clearly, Phil has earned the right to speak his mind on all NBA-related matters, but that's not what he was doing. This was a blatant shot at Pierce, and in my mind this was just the kind of comment that players and coaches should avoid. Today's sports media will take any angle necessary to make a story, and in this case that meant attempting to legitimize the idea that Paul Pierce faked his knee injury so that he could go into the locker room and then return to give his team a momentum boost. As Bobby Knight once said, journalism is "one or two steps above prostitution." Jackson knows what kind of player Pierce is. He knows that Pierce had been on fire in the second half, and the Celtics had the momentum at the time of the injury. So, it wouldn't have made sense for Pierce to pull a stunt like this. He knows that after returning, Pierce did all of his damage shooting from the outside rather than driving to the hoop as he normally would have. I just don't see how you can doubt that Pierce was in real pain when you look at him down on the court grabbing his knee.

Knee injuries can be devastating, and they are always handled very cautiously. Luckily in this case, it was not as bad as we all may have feared. But, the notion that Pierce staged this is absurd, and I'm sick of hearing about it. The people making this argument know nothing about basketball, which is why I know Jackson doesn't believe it. Perhaps we give him a pass on these comments because we know this is what he does, but I was furious and I'm sure these comments did not sit well in the Celtics locker room.


Here's Jeanie Buss (girlfriend of Phil, daughter of Jerry) lying naked with basketballs on her chest for all of you to enjoy.

Next, let's move to Jackson's post-game 2 press conference, in which he mispronounced Leon Powe's last name and laid blame on the officials for the loss. I'm not upset that he mispronounced Powe's name (although you'd think he'd have it down after hearing it so many times over the Garden PA system last night). In fact, in a way his doing so symbolizes to me the fact that the experts everywhere (Phil included) were really sleeping on this Celtics bench. Depth has been one of the Celtics' strengths all year long, and I haven't been able to figure out why everyone was so convinced that the Lakers' bench had the edge in this matchup. Perhaps it's because the Celtics have had great depth all year, and the Lakers' bench really asserted themselves more in the post-season.

What does bother me is the fact that Jackson wasted no time pointing to the free throw discrepancy. Again, not explicitly stating that the officials cost his team the game, but again clearly insinuating it. Look, 38-10 is a lopsided margin, no question. But, given the way each team played, it should have been lopsided. The Celtics were extremely aggressive on offense. They attacked the rim all night long, which is why they got to the line. The Lakers settled for jumpers during the first three quarters of the game. When you settle for jumpers, you don't get to the line. You have to earn your free throws. Let's think back to game 6 against the Cavaliers. On offense, the Celtics looked like the Lakers did last night. They weren't being aggressive, and they shot jumpers for the entire game. Here is the boxscore from that game 6, and you can see that LeBron James shot more free throws than the entire Celtics team.

I'm not saying the game was well officiated. Very few have been during this post-season. And, certainly Kobe's early foul trouble reminded me of Ray Allen's early foul trouble in Game 2 of the Detroit series. Two of the fouls called against Kobe in the first half were very weak. But, Phil knows the game. When you shoot jumpers for the first three quarters, and the other team is playing its most aggressive offensive basketball of the entire post-season, the free-throw count is going to be lopsided. A call here or there, sure. But, the free throws should not have been anywhere near even.

And, in response to Phil, I'd like to make my own complaint about the officiating. This video clearly shows Vladimir Radmanovich making a great steal, stopping his dribble before he gets to the free throw line, taking 78 steps with the ball in his hands, and then dunking. This was also a big no-call, as it brought the Lakers to within 4 with one minute left.



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I don't really want to talk about the fourth quarter, because it's like beating a dead horse. The Celtics never make things easy on themselves. We talked about it after game 5 of the Cleveland series, and games 5 of the Detroit series, and last night was the best (or worst) example of it yet. After the game, on ABC, Dana Barros and Mike Dowling were discussing how the near-Lakers comeback might affect the series from here on out. Mike Dowling said that he thought it would be a good change because it would keep the Celtics focused as they head to LA. This may be true, but I can't help but feel like it is just trying to make light of a bad situation. A win is a win, and I don't expect the Lakers to carry any momentum from that near-comeback with them to game 3. But, you have to remember what could have happened. If the Celtics had blown their 24 point lead at home in the fourth quarter, the momentum shift might have been too great to overcome. Really, think about how deflating that would have been. This series may not have made it back to Boston. Now, it didn't happen, and in the big picture this all means nothing. But, if they had simply not gone totally anemic in the last 6-7 minutes, they could have cruised comfortably to the finish. Kobe is capable of bringing his team back to win in these situations. We saw it in game 1 against the Spurs. The Celtics need to stay hungry until the clock reads zeros.

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That being said, the first three quarters of this game were the best basketball that the Celtics have played throughout the entire playoffs. Obviously we all know about Rondo's 16 assists. His performance was phenomenal. He pushed the pace, and facilitated a quick-hitting offense that had the Lakers totally dumbfounded. Rondo penetrating is the key to this offense clicking. When he is kept on the fringe, this team can't be aggressive. He had his way with the Lakers last night, and that was the biggest reason for the Celtics' dominance. All of that being said, 33 percent from the line is rough.

We've said all along that this is going to be Paul Pierce's series. Again last night, we saw that the Lakers have no answer for him. He had everything working last night, and it was great to see that he was still able to defend well despite that knee injury. Pierce is an LA guy, and he has always played well there. Aside from a possible cold streak, I don't see any way that the Lakers can keep him from getting big numbers in this series.

I've tried hard all along not to say that Gasol and Odom are soft. It seems like sort of a stupid "mail it in" kind of comment with no thought behind it. And, how many times have you heard it from the media since Saturday? But, how could I more accurately describe them last night? Up until this point, nobody on this Lakers team has shown me anything to lead me to believe that they can handle the Celtics physical game in the paint.

Perk has to keep out of foul trouble. How many times on here have we talked about the two different types of Perk games? Type A: Perk stays disciplined and makes a huge impact on the game. Type B: Perk gets two fouls in the first five minutes and leaves us high and dry. Now, PJ Brown was great last night. Really, he impresses me more every night. But, we need Perk. Jim at Green Bandwagon states it well when he says "I definitely noticed that it was a lot easier for the Lakers in general (think Ronny Turiaf on lobs) and Kobe Bryant in particular to get to the rim when Perkins is on the bench. As much as I like Powe, Perkins' health is important to Boston's defensive efforts."

Finally, let's hit on Leon. There are so many feel-good stories on this Celtics team, but Leon has to be near the top. And, I'm not even talking about the homeless and hungry in Oakland story that you heard last night (although that is very moving). Any Celtics fan will tell you that last April, in the midst of Tank-a-palooza, there was one Celtic who was really impressing during his increased minutes. This was Leon. Despite the fact that this team sucked, and despite the fact that we "weren't" losing on purpose (not that we needed to try very hard), Leon was an animal on the court. Coming down with tough offensive rebounds, and diving all over the court for loose balls, I think we all thought that great things were going to come from Leon. I was really genuinely disappointed during the first half of the season when it seemed like he was the odd man out. To see him emerge as such a major role player on this team has been great.