Lakers hold off Celtics in game five
By JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star
LOS ANGELES | The West Coast, Sunday heroics all happened at San Diego’s Torrey Pines Golf Course, where Tiger Woods forced a playoff in the U.S. Open with a long birdie putt on the last hole.
Inside LA’s Staples Center, where the Lakers staved off elimination in game five of the NBA finals with a 103-98 victory, there were mostly choking dogs — Celtics and Lakers unable to handle the pressure of the big stage.
Tip your cap to the Lakers, I guess; they accepted the gift given to them by Kevin Garnett, who missed three of four last-minute free throws and scored 13 points for the night. Garnett is on the verge of making sports history. He’ll be the first professional athlete to damage his legacy by winning a championship.
It’s as if Garnett has pledged to let Paul Pierce drag him to a title over his dead body.
What makes it worse is the Lakers apparently don’t want this championship, either. Maybe they’re afraid winning this thing would ensure that Kobe Bryant signs a long-term extension.
Whatever the cause, Los Angeles’ performance was so atrocious that ABC analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy couldn’t avoid making brutal, on-air assessments of the Lakers’ triumph.
“If you (are the Lakers) and want to win it all, you’re disappointed in this game,” Van Gundy complained.
Jackson added: “You’ve got to close out games better. You’re fortunate to go back to Boston.”
The Lakers had no business winning this game despite leading by 19 points in the second quarter. The Celtics, of course, erased that deficit and were in position to wrap up the series in the fourth quarter.
Missed free throws by Garnett and an uncalled foul on Kobe Bryant that turned into a strip, steal and dunk are the only things that prevented Boston from claiming its 17th NBA title. After the first quarter, the Lakers did nothing. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers did less than nothing, shooting seven of 19 from the field, one of seven from three-point range and getting clubbed on the boards 12-8.
Kobe, the alleged heir to Air Jordan, got away with a clear reach-around foul on Pierce, forcing a critical late-game turnover when the Celtics were setting up for a game-tying field goal.
After the game, ABC’s Michelle Tafoya appropriately asked Bryant whether LA’s performance was good enough to win in Boston.
“Probably not,” Bryant acknowledged. “We’ll probably have to play better.”
This series has been a TV-ratings success, but it is not a critical one. This is bad basketball, looking nothing like the classic, Magic-Bird, Celtics-Lakers series that made the NBA must-see TV in the 1980s.
The old-school Celtics and Lakers collided when both teams were playing at a high level. It wasn’t just Magic and Bird.
This series is a one-man show. Paul Pierce is a force of nature. He scored 38 points Sunday night and handed out eight assists. He can’t be stopped in pick-and-roll situations. Kobe can slow him, but defending Pierce is taking a toll on Kobe’s offense. After a 15-point first quarter, Bryant scored just 10 more and hit only two of 12 shots, including the dunk he got after hacking Pierce.
David Stern should step in, call this series a technical knockout and give the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Pierce.
Seriously, calling this series now is what’s best for the league. Stop it before Garnett and Phil Jackson further embarrass themselves. With the Lakers up 17 after the first quarter, Jackson opened the second with Chris Mihm on the court. Mihm hadn’t played since April 15. He hadn’t played in a playoff game.
The Zen Master also had Kobe on the bench for the first 3 minutes of the second quarter.
Forget the refs fixing games. Phil was trying to throw the NBA finals. There was little surprise the Lakers lost their rhythm, went on a long scoring drought and led by just three at halftime.
The Lakers are not a championship-caliber team. And K.G. secretly doesn’t want a championship.
It’s a terrible combination, a mixture that made me wish I was in San Diego watching Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate heroically go after a title.
To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.
