Celtics-Lakers, Game Four, Second Half: Abort, Retry, Fail

Things open up with Pierce getting to the line and making two; he now has 8 for the game, and needs another 20 or so to make this competitive. Odom finally misses in traffic, and Garnett hits from 20 to make it 14. Hmm. Kobe responds with his first make, and Rondo answers, then gets a hand on a Gasol jumper.

Perkins can't finish, but the Lakers defense is bad right now, and the run is on. KG misses, but Allen outfights Fisher for the o-board, and Garnett finally drives and scores. Odom gets to the line, and Perkins hurts himself on the foul, and he looks to be in more pain than a crippled Paul Pierce. He goes to the locker room as Odom rattles in both free throws, and if you are counting at home, that's the fourth time in four games that a Celtic has needed locker room attention.

Brown continues the playoff-long pattern of role players clanging on the road, and quickly, the lead is back to 18. KG and Allen misfire for a turn. Odom turns, trying to be as fancy as Kobe, and KG is calling for it, but Posey misses. Kobe misses, but it's Odom's night with another board. Fisher fakes Rondo to Inglewood, and his the jumper that makes it 20. This game is another Lakers run away from extensive garbage time.

A computer failure happens, killing my notes for a long amount of game time. It's kind of how the day has gone, and the game for the Lake Show... the notes include a 21-3 run for the Celtics, as the Lake Show refuses to make Green pay for putting Tony Allen on the floor when James Posey collected his fifth foul. The Laker bigs have cooled down, with missed dunks at the rim, and for the fourth straight game, the Celtics demolish the Lakers in the third quarter.

Counting tonight, they are something like +45 for these in the series. I have no idea why a team with a real deficiency at coach can do this for four straight games. I get back live with ten minutes left in the game, and Bryant and Pierce trade fantastic shots to keep the game tied, but the Lakers offense is disjointed now. Odom misses from 22 at the buzzer, and Garnett misses from 15, a better chance. Bryant's two gives them the lead again, and House misses. Right now, only Bryant looks like he wants to shoot, and he misses a scoop. Garnett answers, and Turiaf misses from the baseline, and no, I didn't know why Turiaf was on the floor... but then he makes a big-time defensive play on PJ Brown, and Odom makes on the other end. Green has not taken a lead, despite the comeback.

Turiaf fouls, and Brown's off for Posey, who returns with five fouls and six minutes left. Pierce misses, collapses his ankle, and Bryant slams on the other end to give the Lakers a four point lead. I'd make a wheelchair joke here, but it's too obvious, which is in its very small way, a wheelchair joke...

5:47 left. Allen falls but recovers, and Posey hits the 3, a big shot. 81-80 now. Bryant drives and gets no call, but the board goes to the Lakers with 6 to shoot, and Gasol bails them out nicely. Garnett is aggro in the lane for the first time in the fourth in the series, and gets Gasol's third. He hits both, and it's a one point game again. So far, no one can call out Garnett for his fourth quarter.

No lead changes in the game so far, and Posey pulls the chair on Odom to force a miss. House hits a jumper with severe difficulty, and that is your first Green lead. Gasol turns, and with 3:48 remaining, the road team is on path for one of the greatest comebacks in Finals history, and that sound you heard was the Bad Tooth squealing like a little girl. Give it up to him; this is a game for Classic.

A Pierce 3 misses, but the Lakers let Ray Allen get his ninth rebound -- that's kind of astounding -- and a baseline lay up. Vujacic misses, Odom boards, and they finally get it to Bryant, who feeds Farmer for a 3 pointer miss. Garnett in the paint again, and with 2:10 remaining, it's a five point game, and I don't know how the Lakers are going to score to make this a game again. The Celtics defense is just that good right now, and the Lakers all look like they either don't want to shoot, or can't buy a make (that'd be Bryant). Wow.

A small note: for some reason, the HD telecast of tonight's game keeps losing audio in the commercials, at least where I live. That's a good thing. Keep it up, ABC.

Instant foul coming out of the timeout. Lakers go small and shooty, like the end of Game Two. Kobe makes two on a Pierce foul, and that's a big help, especially with no clock running. Two minutes left. Bryant on Pierce, and the Truth raggedly gets into the lane and draws a Gasol foul, his fourth. They need makes, and he misses the first. 1:44 left. Second one is good, and it's 4. Bryant takes a foul from Pierce, his fourth. If you are Fix Minded, watch for him to pick up two more. Kobe drives and scores, and it's just great; 2 point game. The Posey 3 is a pure dagger at 1:13, but Fisher responds with his foot on the line, and it's still a 3 point game. One minute left.

Bryant bumps Pierce, who sells it well and goes to the line -- Pierce was yelling in pain before the contact. 46.8 seconds left, and amazingly, we don't get commercials in the timeout. The Celtics scored 14 points in the first quarter, and 78 since. Pierce at the line, and he makes it 80. It's desperation time for the Lake Show.

Bryant feeds Gasol for the dunk. Lakers don't foul... and they also don't defend, as Allen waltzes past Vujacic for a layup, and no Laker is behind him to provide help. I think he's had harder makes playing against his kids, and I'm not sure that he's got any. With 15.7 left, it's a 5 point game, and if the Celtics make their free throws, this series is over. There is no way that this Lakers team, with this kind of crunch time defense, can win twice in Boston, especially after gagging up the biggest first quarter lead in Finals history.

Bryant with just 17 tonight, on 6 of 19. Vujacic misses, Bryant misses, and it's all over -- the game, the series, Doc Rivers' reputation as a nincompoop, Kobe Bryant 's reputation as a closer, the Young Lakers Turning Into A Dynasty and maybe Phil Jackson's reputation as a Zen master. Celtics 97, Lakers 91, and whether or not that's the best comeback ever for Green or a display of utter gutlessness by the Lake Show... well, why can't it be both?

Will it go more than five? I don't see why. If the Lakers get close with a big lead at the half and their bigs playing well, it's going to take a lot of referee help and/or a Kobegasm to make this go long. Right now, I'd bet on inertia and gutlessness, depending on how you see the world.