Celtics - Lakers Game Four: Rock Beats Rock

According to MediaPost, the ratings for this year's Finals were up 14% for Game 3 last year, which I suspect is entirely based around the fact that Boston is not Orlando. Also, there is the fun of hearing Boston Fan turn on Tom Brady, or reading how angry Boston Fan is about the officiating, even before the game starts. Fun!

First possession for the Lakers is Kobe Bryant on the block, turning and making over Ray Allen; tough make, all cotton. If he's getting that, long night for the Cs. Paul Pierce gets to the line on an Andrew Bynum foul, and if they can get him in early foul trouble, it might help. Pierce makes just the second. Bynum gets blocked by Kevin Garnett, leading to an Allen field goal, one more than he had in Game Three. Ron Artest is wild to cup and misses, and Derek Fisher fouls Allen at the arc. Pierce with an ungainly drive and make, and it's 5-2 Celtics. Rajon Rondo turns Fisher, and the Lakers look off so far. Allen with an open three from a Rondo screen, but it stays out. Pau Gasol makes in the key. Garnett misses, boards, and misses, but the team board stays with the Celtics. Perkins is a black hole and misses a hook. Gasol makes a deep one, and the Lakers have the lead again. Allen misses a drive, and Kobe feeds Fisher at the arc for a miss and Celtic team board. Pierce ends the rock throwing with an inside make. Gasol misses from 18, and Garnett feeds Pierce for a nice make on a secondary break; great pass from the big man. Bynum with a bank shot make. Garnett makes from 18 as my kids get antsy; this will end soon. Kobe nearly turns it, but Fisher saves and feeds Gasol for a paint make. Gasol looks very active so far. Allen misses again, and Bynum boards. Kobe makes a hard bank over Allen, and the Lakers go back ahead, 12-11. Pierce is blocked and Rondo misses from straight on. Artest misses horribly, but so do the Cs on the break. The Lakers turn on an offensive three second call, and that's my break. Big rock fight so far; not minding that I've got to miss the next quarter or more.

I get back to the game halfway through the second, just in time for Big Baby Davis to rattle in a shot to give the Cs a 29-28 lead. Gasol gets Rasheed Wallace's third foul, leading to Sheed's Home Alone look and stomp off. Such good officiating that these aren't technical fouls anymore! And the current pace of this game would lead to a 77-76 final. But these are the teams that America wanted to see, and are 14% more likely to watch than last year!

Gasol makes just the second, and it's tied again. Rondo draws Kobe's first on an ungainly drive, and goes to the line. He misses both, and is now just 4 for 15 from the stripe in the Finals. Lamar Odom misses from distance, and Pierce misses from the cup in transition. Bryant makes a three, and a basketball moment happens. Woo! Pierce with a one-handed bank over Testy that was also nice. Kobe answers with a herky three that doesn't get a call as the teams heat up; Rondo answers with a make. Kobe goes for three in a row off a screen. Garnett and Bryant trade turns, a Celtic miss, and then Odom and Gasol play give and finish for the old school three. Ray Allen with the foul, but the free throw stays out. Six point Laker lead.

Very quiet crowd as Garnett misses, but Perkins board and puts it back. Gasol goes to the line off a drive as commerce happens, but not before the Mark Jackson Basso Fellato. To think, we might only have two more games of Mark Jackson Basso Fellato!

Gasol rattles in two, and the lead is six. The Cs go deep in the clock off good Laker D, and the possession ends with a Pierce travel. Very dead crowd, very dull game, and Testy drives and scores for the Lakers' biggest lead. Garnett makes an old school three on Gasol, and that's a momentum changer. Bryant misses, but Pierce gets an offensive foul on a charge, as Bryant gets the call. Probably not a good call, really. Rondo turns Kobe and pulls in the long pass for the layup. Fisher misses, but Odom gets the board as Garnett can't snare it. Gasol gets the Cs jumping and leans through for the foul draw. Two makes pushes it to five. Which Celtic will hold the ball and miss at the end of the quarter? They actually do something different, with Pierce to Allen at the arc. It's blocked, but Garnett gets the garbage and a make at the buzzer, and that's the first half. Lakers 45, Celtics 42, and you will be forgiven for thinking this is a Tuesday night game in February.

The Lemur at the half thinks that Celtic offense is horrible, and that the Lakers are intense. Um, whatever. The first minute of the third is more rock throwing, ended by Allen getting Fisher's third foul and two makes at the line. Bryant to Gasol down low gets a hard foul from Garnett, and the Spaniard makes his ninth and tenth free throws as Jeff van Gundy tells us that we can't call him soft anymore. Duly noted, you soft headed moron...

Perkins gets it down low and Gasol wraps him up as the teams start jawing at each other. Remember, since Perkins has a bunch of technicals now, he can't get any more, and the Lemur thinks this is Good Officiating. Bynum back from the locker room as Fisher makes a high floater for the five point lead. Rondo's reverse misses, but Perkins gets a slow rolling tip. Kobe misses in traffic, leading to a Rondo make and words between Fisher and Allen; some hard bodying going on. A Garnett steal is turned back, and Fisher makes a wild looking heave as he oversells a tap from Allen that didn't happen. A three second offensive violation call on the Celtics is fishy, and Gasol makes a mid-range jumper. Rivers calls time so that he can continue to not get a technical foul from debating the three second call on Garnett. That's good officating!

Garnett misses as the Lemur throws the refs under the bus with replay. The teams trade misses and eye rapes. Artest off a screen leaves some paint on the rim. Rondo on the other end shakes it all off. Kobe takes too much time and doesn't shoot on a drive for a clock violation. There are the teams America wanted to see!

Garnett off a near turn feeds Perkins for what van Gundy correctly claims is offense by accident. Another long and bad Laker possession is an Odom miss, and the Cs get early offense on a long pas to Garnett for a lay up. One point game as Celtic Fan wakes up. Gasol misses, and it's a loose ball foul on the Lakers. The home team with a chance for the lead here, and Allen gets Fisher's fourth foul on running the gauntlet of screens. I'm sorry I'm watching this, it's so ugly. Garnett with a make over Odom for the lead.

Bryant off a Gasol pass for the three, and Kobe goes Full Heel with a Shh noise to the crowd. Allen makes a jump shot to tie it as we get Allen's mom. To think, we won't have her in another week. I'll miss her so. Perkins and Gasol banging each other even on prelude to commerce. I think I need to switch to UFC to see some actual movement and grace. Seriously, Pistons-Spurs got a bad rap compared to this.

Bynum back in despite a limp, and Kobe misses from distance late in the clock. Rondo goes hard at Vujacic, but misses, and the Lakers gets the team board. Bryant turns, but Garnett misses another open jumper. Gasol misses at the cup. Allen misses at the arc, Rondo misses the follow. Testy misses at the end of yet another clock, and Rondo steals the board from Gasol, leading to Allen drawing a foul at the rim. Two makes gives the Celtics their first lead in forever, and it's 58-56. Eighty points might win this game. That, and a strong stomach.

Odom on a drive gets stripped, but the Lakers keep the ball. Bryant has to go late in the clock, but he makes a baseline three to retake the lead. Pretty great shot. Moving screen called on Sheed, his fourth foul in ten minutes, and he's earned them. Bryant makes another three, and he's now 5 of 6 from distance. Sheed's heave misses by a mile, but Davis seizes the ball and barrels his way to a make. The Lakers overpass and turn it. Sheed misses in the paint, and I guess he's gassed for the year or something. Kobe misses a three, but Gasol gets the board to save the possession. The final shot of the third is Hero Kobe getting turned, but the Cs can't control for the final shot, and we're three quarters done. Lakers 62, Celtics 60, and I suppose the game is good because it's close. Or, um, not.

Doc Rivers loves his team's shots. I suppose we have to applaud his ability to love beyond appearance. Odom misses to start the third as the Cs go to benchies with Ray Allen. Gasol gets whistled for a flop as he gets into it with Sheed. Davis reverses on Odom, nice play, but the Lemur oversells it. Tie game. Gasol works Sheed and makes a bank for the lead; he's just all kinds of good in the low post. Allen gets to the cup and makes a reverse as the teams commit acts of basketball. Nate Robinson with a hustle steal and timeout call, and Shannon Brown got outworked by the little man there. The Lemur goes to commerce. I guess I'll be able to stay awake for the rest of this one, but it's not going to be easy, really.

Davis with a make on a nice entry pass, and the Celtics lead again. It might not be legal to call Gasol soft anymore, but it's not like he blocks a lot of shots, either. Tony Allen with a foul, non-shooting. Kobe can't draw a foul on Tony Allen, who seems to give him trouble. Gasol misses a heave at the end of the clock, and Brown is called for a loose ball foul trying for the o-board. Allen with a make, and the 4-point lead is Boston's largest of the night. Wild sequence of bodies flying and Laker misses ends in Davis finshing with the old-school three, and the crow is roaring. Looks like we're going to have a longer series now, unless Bryant can will some more three point makes, as that's an 8-0 Celtics run. Hooray, more games from these teams!

Davis with a free throw make as the Lemur applauds his drool. No, seriously. Odom beats him to the rim and scores to break the run. Allen feeds Tony Allen, who juggles and makes in the paint. That could have been a travel but isn't, and the free throw make creates and 8-point lead and major props to the Celtic bench. Kobe to the hoop, and Sheed gets called for a shot to Bryant's hand; he also freaks out and finally gets the technical foul call, which Bryant misses. The teams jaw as Celtic Fan tells us what Kobe does -- where do you people get your ideas? -- and two makes gets it back to six with 7:20 left.

Robinson with a driving make, and he's giving them the good spark tonight. Tony Allen whistled on a drive. Odom with a circus drive and make as Rivers thinks about the starters. Sheed kills that idea with a long straight three, his first of the night, and the largest Celtics lead. Ye gads. Gasol gets the roll as the Lakers don't go away. Odom nails Robinson, and Nate taunts Odom after the call for a technical, because he doesn't have so many already that the refs won't give him one. Not exactly a genius moment from the guard there, though I suspect it's just going to make the decision to go back to the starters a little easier... but to be fair, this game is basically playing to the same vibe as Game Four of the Phoenix series, where the Sun bench tied things up.

Fisher misses the technical, and that's two points the Lakers have left on the table. Robinson goes to the line and makes, and the Celtics go back to a nine point lead with 5:39 left. Odom with another tough make, this one over Wallace. Robinson misses a catch and ouch three. Tony Allen eats Kobe, and Robinson weaves and hits in the lane for a big make. Gasol misses, Testy boards but is utterly hopeless on offense in this series, and the loose ball foul goes to the road team. We're about a minute away from over here. Davis gets the roll and makes both as the Lemur applauds Garnett for not pouting when he doesn't get back in the game. No, seriously. Bryant misses, but Testy gets the board as Sheed hits the deck, and Testy scores and gets to the line. A big play, and the made throw cuts it to 8. Perhaps garbage time has been avoided.

Long bad possession saved by Tony Allen for the o-board, but he misses the next shot, which is questionable at best. Kobe draws a foul on the other end, but it's non-shooting. Commerce happens, then Bryant makes two as Rivers goes to the starters with Sheed. Six point game and rested starters; the Cs should win this, but they've been bad in this situation. Ray Allen's three is terrible, but Garnett gets the board. Pierce over Testy, and that's a big make. Eight point game with two minutes left. Kobe with a hard make over Allen. The Cs run clock too much late in gamaes, and a Pierce turn is matched by a Gasol turn. Ouch. Rondo runs clock, and that's the right move now. Pierce drives, scores, gets the foul and basically ties the series as he goes 1 on 4, and it works. Could have been a charge, but Bryant gets the foul, his fourth. This one's over...but Kobe and the refs don't think so, and Kobe goes to the line for three free throws on a dumb play by Ray Allen. He makes the first, the second, and the third, and we still have a game. Pierce misses at the end of the clock. Kobe drives,passes and gets turned by Rondo, who converts on the other end, and that should be the dagger. Fisher makes on the other end, and Garnett calls time rather than inbound it to Rondo. Telling.

With 22.2 left, the Lakers take too long to foul Garnett, who makes both to prevent any further drama. Fisher's three misses, but Vujacic boards and gets it to Bryant, who makes a crazy three. The outlet goes long to Pierce, who is fouled by Bryant with 9.5 seconds left. Two makes and two final Laker misses close it out, and your final score is Celtics 96, Lakers 89.

Well, I can't say I'm very surprised that the series is tied again. Everything pointed to a long series, and it's not as if the Celtics were going to just quit. Especially against a Laker team with a weak bench -- and with the games happening every other game now, that matters -- the hustle plays were going to decide things. The Celtics owned the paint, the second chance points, and the loose balls. They were the better team tonight, and deserved to win. And over a quarter of it was watchable!

We'll return to this nightmare of a series on Saturday, as much because it will keep me from playing poker as anything else. Though if I have to hear more of Davis talking about legends, it might not keep me from the liquor cabinet.