Wave Bliss

I remember so well how the Boston Celtics routed the Lakers. So try read to the excerpt I got from Yahoo. Will Celtics be the 2008 NBA Champion this time? Oh well, no doubt!

Suddenly, the series was shaping into a Showtime revival that everyone had been so sure would ultimately run Boston out of the building, away from a 17th banner.

And still, somehow, these Celtics rose out of the rubble together. They did it without flash, without trickery, without excuse.

Pierce had gone to Doc Rivers at halftime, and declared, “I want to guard Kobe.” This has been Allen’s responsibility, but he took no offense. Pierce could stop Bryant’s posting up near the basket. He had fouls to give, and a childhood hometown to take back for himself. Allen hadn’t considered this directive an insult to his work, but a scene of sheer inspiration.

“I would’ve suggested it a long time ago, but it took for Paul to say it,” Allen said.

Across those hellacious third and fourth quarters, when the Lakers’ lead evaporated, when Pierce stunned the Staples sellout with a fabulous block on Bryant, with a bulldozing bodying of Bryant trip after trip down the floor, Pierce had validated everything these Celtics stars had vowed together.

And still eventually, Pierce had gone as far as he could blanketing Bryant. He made him miss five of his seven shots in the third quarter, and with the game, the series, and perhaps the championship on the line, those final, furious minutes moved Pierce to the brink of exhaustion. The Lakers were unsettled, unsure, on offense. They were counting on Kobe, waiting for him to push past Pierce, past that dogged Celtics defense and it wasn’t happening.

“It just looks like they wanted to get the ball to Kobe and him sort of finish it off,” Garnett said.

From the beginning of these Finals, this promised to be Kobe’s coronation. It was Kobe against Jordan, Kobe against the Celtics, and that hasn’t worked out so well.