How am I supposed to survive? I had to watch Butler get beat by Duke and now LA beats Boston?? For 3 and a half quarters tonight and for all but seconds in the Butler game I was feeling good. I mean we had both games! Can someone tell me when the team that tries the hardest will win? Will the underdog ever do it again on the bigtime stage?
Talking about the Lakers Boston series as a coverage piece would not do it justice. It was ugly and the stats are ugly. But what was beautiful was seeing two teams going after it like never before. It was effort, defense, loose balls and bad TV. I absolutely loved it! I really have no complaints but I just happen to favor Boston as I think they truly are a team where I feel LA is Kobe and the other guys.
The Lakers are great and certainly no one can take anything away from them. They out rebounded Boston when it counted most, Game 7, by a 53-40 count. That actually turned out to be the stat that meant something, the team who won the total rebound count won each game and LA snuck out one more game.
Depth, size and lack of offense killed Boston in the series and especially Game 7. Having to rely on Rasheed Wallace without Perkins and making someone watch Wallace play could have been the most torture of the whole deal. Is anyone worse than that guy? Big Baby played one great game in the series, but not tonight. Ray Allen was horrific all series except oddly enough Game 2 in LA. Pierce and KG were average for them all series long. Offensively the Celts are just bad. KG on the block would have been nice as it seemed Gasol could not guard him all series, but considering they rarely went to that I have to guess that KG was too tired to have that called that often. Rondo seemed reluctant to try to make a play and true to form could not hit the open shot. Heck the whole Celtics team had open shots all series, they just couldn't hit 'em!
From the Lakers standpoint I give the credit to Gasol. That is why objectivity is a reach for me because I just have a hard time talking about how great Kobe is. He is great, and a great competitor, but still he is someone I see as selfish and very hard for me to watch. Gasol with his length and skill is so long and tough to match up with. When the tide turned tonight with about 7 minutes to go Kobe couldn't hit anything. It was Gasol either scoring low or getting to the line and he finally started making his freebies. Artest played better tonight than he did all series on both ends of the floor. It was a weird combination of events.
It was a sad deal for me because I felt and still feel that Boston deserved it. They are more of a team and played their tails off all series. They should be rewarded. They got almost every loose ball every game throughout the series. That to me means determination and desire. That still counts!
When all is done, I just want the guy who fights hardest to win. Can anyone deny that Boston and Butler fought harder? I suppose there are plenty of Duke and LA fans out there so I guess so. It especially burns because I was so close to being able to refer to my previous story about the Celts winning and why it would happen. Now VC is ahead 1-0 and I get to listen to him and everyone else talk about the Lakers.
I am worn out from grinding and waiting for best man to win. Sports imitate life and the Top 1 percent wins again! It has made me sick of my favorite sport and need a break. I am sure I will be back rooting for bracket busters and other underdogs of all kinds. It sure would be nice to see Kobe get what he really deserves. I guess I can keep hope alive as I am rooting for the kid with the 3 heart transplants at the US Open. You know what would really top it off? Tiger missing the cut at Pebble Beach!!!
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