Someone has to win, right?

Friday, June 11, 2010

Mike Parente, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Though it took a caffeine-pill overdose strong enough to make Jessie Spano blush, this past-his-prime sportswriter managed to survive all two hours and 37 minutes of Game 4 last night without crashing head-first into his Hewlett Packard.

NBA

final

This could be the NoDoz and Red Bull talking, but this might just be the most unpredictable, erratic NBA Finals of all time. The league should throw in the towel after four games and just call it a tie, because I’ve yet to see anything from either team that leads me to believe they’re on the brink of winning a title.

Three nights ago, I watched the Celtics get beat at home on a series of layups by a 35-year-old point guard while the same player who set a record for playoff accuracy in the previous game (Ray Allen) suddenly couldn’t buy a basket.

Last night, despite what the score indicated, the Lakers controlled Game 4 through three quarters and threatened to put the Celtics in a three-games-to-one hole before unraveling in epic fashion at the expense of Boston’s bench. Nate Robinson and Glen Davis dropped 15 on the Lakers in the fourth quarter to turn an otherwise close game into a laugher – or a snoozer, depending on which side of 30 you fall. Boston held on for the 96-89 win to even the series at two games apiece.

Can anyone win back-to-back games here? Can the Celtics honestly win two of the next three, including at least one in Los Angeles, with only one member of the “Big Three” showing up on a nightly basis? Are the Lakers still the favorites after getting run off the court last night by Boston’s ninth best player? Where’s Kobe Bryant hiding his jump shot?

Too many questions, not enough time – and not nearly enough sleep. Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh by overlooking the fact these are two-evenly matched teams, which, at times, should understandably yield the sloppiness and inconsistent play we’ve grown accustomed to through four games.

Or maybe neither team is that good.

For all the talk of Los Angeles’ improved toughness this year in comparison to the 2008 team that lost to Boston in the Finals, the Lakers looked softer than Charmin down the stretch last night. Led by Davis’ fourth-quarter surge, the Celtics out-worked and out-hustled Los Angeles when it mattered most. Doc Rivers didn’t even need to put his starters back on the floor until the closing minutes. Quite frankly, the Lakers should be embarrassed for losing to the junior varsity team with a chance to put Boston in a rear-naked choke.

Likewise, the Celtics should consider themselves fortunate after another no-show last night by Kevin Garnett (5-for-13 from the field in 26 minutes), Rajon Rondo (5-for-15) and Allen (0-for-4 from 3-point range), who has inexplicably missed 12 consecutive threes after popping seven in a row in Game 2. You’d think this Jekyll-and-Hyde act would be the Celtics’ downfall, yet here they are even at two games apiece with the pivotal fifth game in their own backyard Sunday afternoon. While Celtics’ fans would’ve gladly signed up for this arrangement at the beginning of the series, it’s doubtful they’d accept such a deal under these circumstances.

The Celtics need Garnett and Pierce to carry the team on their backs for more than one night. Signs of age might be creeping in at this point, but there’s no excuse for not emptying the tank with only three games remaining. You can rest all summer.

On the flipside, the Lakers need Bryant to play without his head stuck up his rear-end. They’ve gotten all they can ask for from Gasol and, to some extent, Fisher. Now it’s time for the best player in the league (and the supposed heir to Michael Jordan’s throne) to grab one of these next three games by the throat and choke the life out of Boston’s title hopes. We know he has it in him, but his shooting numbers in this series have been horrendous – 10-for-22, 8-for-20, 10-for-29 and 10-for-22 in Games 1 through 4, respectively.

With the Lakers trailing by six in the closing minutes last night, Bryant drove baseline and tried to kick it back out to the top of the key, but Rondo stole his ill-advised pass and went coast-to-coast to put the game out of reach. Such mistakes are uncharacteristic of a player of Bryant’s caliber and are also completely unacceptable with the game on the line. This was almost as uncomfortable as watching Peyton Manning throw an interception for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of last year’s Super Bowl –- an out-of-character moment by an otherwise great player.

Should the Lakers lose, Bryant will eat the biggest slice of the blame pie. The Celtics could divide theirs up among several players. What a weird, wild series. I’m not convinced either team possesses that championship pedigree, but someone has to win. Hopefully, we’re all awake to see it.