The Killer Crossover 06.20.08: Looking Back - Boston-LA Finals

Posted by Todd Spehr on 06.20.2008

With the Celtics and Lakers meeting in the 2008 NBA Finals, it capped one of the best seasons in memory. As 411's Todd Spehr explains, the Finals were loaded with subplots which, in the end, decided the series.

As hard as this is to grasp, the 2008 NBA season is over. A season that gave us so much for eight straight months fittingly ended in a Celtics-Lakers Finals matchup. Just what exactly did we do to deserve it? Anyway, it was the perfect way to end an ultra-competitive season, and what better way to take a final look at the Boston-LA series than to look at the notable story lines.

THE… vaunted Celtics defense

I was wracking my brain to think of a comparable team defensive performance. It was hard. The Celtics' defense, at times, in this series – check that, in these playoffs – were every bit as good as anything you or I have seen from the Spurs in the Duncan Era. To turn Kobe Bryant, the world's best offensive player, into strictly a jump-shooter (with a high degree of difficultly, and usually over two guys) was a thing of beauty. This is the same defense that held LeBron James to 35% over a seven-game series, and one that boasted the Defensive Player of the Year, in Kevin Garnett. But when you see Paul Pierce demanding to guard Bryant, Ray Allen holding Kobe to a field-goal-less first half in Game 4, and you see James Posey EVERYWHERE, well, you know it's special. It's the first, second, eighth, and seventy-eighth reason they won the title this year. Even Jeff Van Gundy, a one-time coach and now full-time comedian as part of ABC's Finals coverage, admitted that watching Boston play was "inspiring."

THE… disappearance of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom

Is there anyone out there who closely follows the NBA, lives boxscore-to-boxscore, knows all the players, watches all the games, studies it all, who wasn't surprised that both Gasol and Odom were no-shows? I mean, is it that hard to believe? With Gasol, few people realize, the difference between "mediocre Gasol" and "All-Star Gasol" is about four inches. If his arms were just a little shorter, he would be nothing more than an average player. I truly believe this. Time and time again during this series he showed just how easy it is to push him around. He did nothing to dispel the theory that he is soft. Heck, in Game 6 KG forced a jump-ball with Gasol, and Garnett only had ONE hand on the ball. Gasol was always on the deck, always waving his arms after contact, always being bullied around the hoop. As for Odom, it has to be psychological. He just disappears in big games, and at one point I had in my series notes, "Is he (Odom) even out there?"

THE… benches

Funny thing these benches, hey? Coming in, everyone felt LA's bench (the Farmar-Vujacic-Turiaf-Walton combo) would be far better than Boston's bench (Brown-House-Posey-Powe-Cassell). Reason being, LA's bench proved critical in series' against teams that had either poor benches (Denver and San Antonio) or moderate benches (Utah). They stood out. They looked good. Phil Jackson went to them for excruciatingly long stretches at times (even in this series), and sometimes they helped win games, sometimes they didn't. The reason Boston's bench was key here was based on one simple factor: They were tougher. It would take all of five minutes to realize that 1) They played harder, 2) They wanted it more, and 3) They were far more willing to do the little things it took to win. LA's bench, on the other hand, hardly ever got going. With the exception of Vujacic's 20-point game in Game 3, not one Laker reserve did anything that warranted praise. Boston? Sometimes it felt like there were three Posey's out there, Eddie House hit huge shots in Game's 4 and 6, PJ Brown was worth his weight in gold for his interior defense and hard-nosed work around the basket, Sammy Cassell led the Game 5 fourth-quarter revival, and Leon Powe is the reason Game 2 will forever be known as The Leon Powe Game. Advantage: Celtics.

THE… defying of usual NBA logic

Usually you have to build championship teams - they take time. Usually you can't throw three superstars, who have each been The Man on their teams for their entire careers, and make them sacrifice. Usually you can't go from 24 wins in a season to NBA title team in just one year. Usually you can't have an organization that has tasted both the delirious highs of being the greatest franchise in the history of this sport have some of its legend tainted by horrible on-court performances, and then revive it all in the course of 82 games. Usually you can't have a questionable coach turn into a championship coach. Usually you can't do all these things. The Boston Celtics did, and the question begs, has there ever been a more improbable turnaround in hoops history?

THE… King

What does LeBron James have to do with the 2008 Finals, you ask? Just spare a thought for him, that's all, because it was he who not only took these world champion Celtics to seven games in the East semis, but also bought them to their knees with a 45-point performance in Game 7 at Boston. After shooting 20-78 (.256 FG%) through the first four games, LeBron made the adjustment Kobe never did: He put up 37.3 per, refused to shy away from the Celtics' gang-tackling defense, and got to the line 47 times over the final three games. Bryant, especially over the last two games, decided attacking Boston's swarming help-defense was no longer a choice, opting instead to turn jack-happy with the outside shot and fadeaway with two guys in his grill. Consider this: From Game 1 of the Spurs series onwards, Kobe shot more than seven free throws in a game just once - Game 3 of the Celtics series. Sound like an aggressive guy to you?

THE… Zen Master

Phil Jackson, a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach, never found a way to get the Laker offense into any sort of fluidity against Boston's defense. Phil Jackson, a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach, stubbornly persisted with his bench at crucial times during the series (fourth quarter of Game 4 being the obvious one - Fisher and Radmanovic were two keys to getting the lead, but he stuck with Farmar and Vujacic). Phil Jackson, a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach, never once (not in public view anyway) verbally demanded more from Odom and Gasol, who were pillow-soft during this series. Phil Jackson, a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach, was thoroughly out-coached in this series by Doc Rivers, yet arrogance still dripped from his lips during every interview. Phil Jackson, a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach, is still tied for first place as the coach with the most titles… with Boston's Red Auerbach. One final note: Was anyone watching Boston's fabulous stretches at various times and wondering when Phil Jackson (a nine-time NBA championship winner as a coach) was going to make some sort of adjustment but instead were left consistently disappointed? I mean, the best he came up with was shifting Bryant onto Rajon Rondo before Game 3, basically to screw with Little Fat's (Rondo) head. It worked in the Pacific Time zone, but not the eastern.

THE… worst matchup of the series

Hands down, the Paul Pierce-Vladimir Radmanovic matchup. And shame on Phil Jackson for letting this fester, I mean, look at Vlad-Rad's foul count – 5 in 17 minutes in Game 1, 4 in 13 minutes in Game 3, 5 in 22 minutes in Game 6. If you were to microcosm the matchup, look no further than Pierce's four-point-play in Game 1: Pierce scored, Vlad-Rad fouled him; Pierce was the hero, Vlad-Rad looked, well, embarrassed. Speaking of defense, kudos to PP for DEMANDING he get Kobe for the second-half of Game 4; that basically was the backbone for that comeback, and showed just how much Pierce was willing to go to get his ring. But what was Kobe doing? Shouldn't he have craved Pierce as he was being craved? Instead, he was playing 57-feet off Rondo and living in passing lanes. I hate to say this, but you think MJ would've sat by and watched a teammate get abused – game after game – by the same guy and NOT demand that he guard him? You figure it out.

THE… brutal honesty of JVG-Mark Jackson

Two things we know for certain after watching these Finals: 1) It's not out of the realm of possibility to believe Jeff Van Gundy would have developed an ulcer in his stomach had he been subjected to watch another Lakers game and their horrible defense. They were traces of vomit around his mouth during the second and third quarters of Game 6, I swear. And 2) If Mark Jackson had just one opportunity to fight Pau Gasol, he would go all out. I actually lost count of how many times during this series that Jackson questioned Gasol's toughness, strength, passion, willingness, or determination. It was brutal, but strangely entertaining. By the way, pairing JVG and Mark Jackson together was a stroke of genius, and one can only wonder what throwing Marv Albert into the mix would've done.

THE… Bynum theory

Contrary to desperate-Laker-fan belief, Andrew Bynum wouldn't have made that much of a difference to this series. Before we anoint him the savior, just understand that he's played just eight weeks of good ball in the three years he's been in the league. And also know that, with a rebounding differential of 48-29 in Game 6, do you think he's making that dead-even? I'll be the first to acknowledge that the Lakers have a lot to look forward to by adding Bynum to a team that just went to the Finals, but the problems LA had in this series – dumb defensive mistakes, repeated softness, poor decision making – have little to do with the return of Andrew Bynum.

THE… post-game interview

Anyone who saw Michele Tafoya's interview with KG just moments after the final seconds ticked off the clock to end Game 6 actually saw, I'm assuming, the real Garnett. The one that pounds his chest on the court as often as he draws breath. The one that slaps the floor on darn-near every defensive possession. The one who screams as loud and as long as his kidneys permit after something great happens. Wow… what a great interview. KG was buzzing. And the best thing about it, some of his last words were, "I'm certified now… I'm certified." Indeed he is.

THE… official burial of the Mike and Kobe comparison

Write it down.

"Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at halftime of Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, the mythological and never-should-have-been comparison of Michael Jeffrey Jordan and Kobe Bean Bryant as near-equals at the game of basketball was officially discontinued due to unmistakable realization that Bryant, or anyone else for that matter, will ever come even close to Jordan."

I said, write it down.

(And while I'm at it, I actually fell into the trap while watching Game 6 of pondering "I wonder how Mike would've approached a game like this?" and then quickly realized "He NEVER would have let his team get in this position in the first place!" Shame on me.)

THE… superstars finally get their ring

You can't understate the hard road that each Pierce, Allen, and Garnett took to win this ring. Heck, as I realized shortly before Game 6, if someone had told me, twelve months ago to the day, that Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett would be one win from an NBA title, I would be speechless. I would be without speech. It's truly amazing, and honestly, if you were to make a shortlist of about five guys who had never won a ring, but you'd love to get ‘em one, they'd be on it (along with Iverson and Nash). And they all did it together… amazing.

THE… Lakers in elimination games

Boy, these guys sure now how to throw in the towel don't they? The clincher in Game 5 of the 2004 Finals in Detroit was the culmination of the Shaq vs. Kobe battle for the spotlight, and that was bad. And believe me, I saw Game 7 of the '06 first-round at Phoenix when Kobe went into shot-withdrawal mode in the second-half as a defiant way of showing how bad his teammates were (Smush Parker had that covered, anyway)… and I never thought I'd see anything worse in an elimination game. But Game 6 of the 2008 Finals officially took the prize as The Worst Performance By The Lakers In An Elimination Game In The Kobe Era. I mean, when Eddie House is throwing oops to Tony Allen, then you know something ain't right. But it was over well before that. A 26-6 Boston run over the final six minutes of the second quarter was unbelievable and borderline obscene.

THE… legacy

Coming into the series, we had Kobe, KG, Pierce and Allen as guys who were, for lack of a better term, "fighting" for their legacy. Could Kobe lead his own team to a title? Ditto for KG. Could Paul Pierce finally gain something – a ring – that was the only thing separating him from the legends of his franchise? Would Ray Allen be just another All-Star who put in his cameo Finals appearance while leaving title-less? Having watched all six games, I can honestly say that is was Pierce who upped his legacy the most. He joined names like Russell, Havlicek, Bird and DJ as Celtics who stood up in the biggest of circumstances and came through. He proved he's a top-ten player in the NBA (there is NO doubt now), played both ends of the floor, he played hurt, and he led. Exactly what more do you want from your top guy?

THE… final stat

17. The greatest franchise in the history of professional basketball just added another chapter to their legend, and with the Celtics at the top again, the NBA almost feels like it's supposed to.

You can read Todd Spehr's NBA column every Wednesday at 411mania.com. To read more of his stuff, check out his blog "Runnin' The Point," the only blog devoted exclusively to NBA point guards.