Game of the day: Celtics at Lakers
By MARC LAWRENCE
The NBA Finals tips Tuesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Lakers host the Boston Celtics meet in a Game 6 elimination scenario for the home side. Let’s take a look at tonight’s matchup:
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Despite finishing with a game-high 38 points, including 23 in a row at one point in the contest, Kobe Bryant’s brilliant effort was not enough Sunday with Boston winning 92-86 to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
Not enough when only one other Laker reached double figures. That was Pau Gasol with 12 points.
Ron Artest, the big-ticket free agent bust signed last summer, had seven points and missed two critical free throws with 43.3 seconds remaining that could have brought the Lakers to within three points. Moments later Artest let Rajon Rondo go unguarded on an inbounds pass for a back-breaking layup in the final seconds.
Lamar Odom had eight points, Derek Fisher nine and Andrew Bynum six.
As great as Bryant is, he can't single-handedly carry the Lakers to a championship.
It was all Kobe Sunday night and nobody else, with the rest of the Lakers standing around and watching Bryant do all the heavy lifting.
"You know, other than (Kobe), you look at the assists, we had 12 and (the Celtics) had 21," pointed out Lakers head coach Phil Jackson.
"It's basically home court, home court," Jackson said. "Now we're going back home to win it. That's the way it's supposed to be, right?”
Piercing blow
When asked before Game 5 of how Boston could get him more involved in the series, Paul Pierce said simply, "Just get me the ball. Like Keyshawn Johnson."
His words proved prophetic when Pierce scored 27 points, his best performance of this year's Finals.
Leading by as many as 13 points in the third quarter and looking poised for a blowout, the Celtics were paced by Pierce’s 13 points in the stanza.
Pierce was the MVP of the 2008 Finals when the Celtics beat the Lakers to raise an NBA-record 17th banner to the rafters at Boston's the Garden in Boston.
In Sunday’s contest, Boston shot 56.3 percent, its highest percentage in the playoffs.
"I know they were shooting a high percentage, but it gets that way when you shoot layups in this game," barked Jackson.
Mic me up
Jackson was wearing a microphone for Sunday’s Game 5 TV broadcast when he told his team during a late timeout, "This team loses more games in the fourth quarter than any team in the league. They know how to lose games, and they're showing us that now."
The Lakers got within six points several times, but never any closer.
Flirting with history
The Zen Master’s 47-0 record in a NBA playoff series after winning the first game of a series is on the line tonight.
NBA history is not on the Lakers' side as they try to become only the seventh team to win the Finals after returning home trailing 3-2.
L.A.’s history is a little more favorable, however; they rallied to beat Detroit by winning games six and seven in 1988.
In addition, of the 25 Finals that have been tied at two-apiece, the winner of Game 5 has won 19 of them.
The last time a team rallied to win Games 6 and 7 was Houston in 1994 against New York.
"We have a challenge, obviously, down, 3-2… but it is what it is," said Bryant, the Finals MVP last year when the Lakers beat Orlando.
"Now you go home. You've got two games at home that you need to win and you pull your boots up and get to work."
Dial 666
Game 6 Super Stats:
• The Lakers are 10-6 straight up (SU) and 5-10-1 against the spread (ATS) in Game 6’s since 1991, including 4-3 SU and 0-7 ATS off a loss.
• The Celtics are 7-6 SU and 9-4 ATS in Game 5’s, including 2-4 SU and 3-3 ATS off a win.
• Home teams in Game 6 of the Finals are 7-4 SU and 3-8 ATS since 1991.
Celtics at Lakers, Game 6
By Brian Edwards
The Lakers will face elimination for the first time in these playoffs Tuesday night when Boston (65-39 straight up, 44-56-3 against the spread) invades Staples Center in hopes of winning its NBA-record 18th league championship. The Celtics took a 3-2 series lead by virtue of Sunday’s 92-86 win as two-point home favorites.
The 178 combined points stayed ‘under’ the 187-point total. Therefore, the ‘under’ improved to 3-1-1 for the series.
Doc Rivers’ team allowed a double-digit lead to slip away late in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers would get no closer than five. Paul Pierce led Boston with a team-high 27 points, while Kevin Garnett produced 18 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Rajon Rondo tallied 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds. His break-out lay-up with 36 seconds remaining extended the C’s lead back to seven and basically put the game on ice.
Los Angeles (71-32 SU, 44-56-3ATS) rallied to threaten an unlikely backdoor cover, only to come up short. Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 38 points, connecting on 13-of-27 shots from the field. He also had five rebounds, four assists and four turnovers. Pau Gasol added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
After being limited to just 12 minutes of playing time in Game 4, Andrew Bynum returned to the lineup and played 31-plus minutes. However, he clearly wasn’t himself with just six points, one rebound and zero blocked shots.
For Game 6, most books are listing the Lakers as 6 ½-point favorites with a total of 188. Bettors can take the Celtics to win outright for a plus-250 return (risk $100 to win $250). L.A. is favored by 3 ½ with a total of 94 for first-half wagers.
Phil Jackson’s club has compiled a 43-8 SU record and a 22-27-2 ATS mark at home this year. During the playoffs, the Lakers are 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS at home.
Boston owns a 32-19 SU record and a 27-23-1 ATS ledger in its road games. During the postseason, the Celtics have posted a 6-4 record both SU and ATS in 10 road outings.
The ‘under’ is 54-46-3 overall for the Lakers, 26-23-2 in their home games. The ‘under’ is 52-50-3 overall for the Celtics, 25-25-2 in their road assignments.
What do you think of the total for Game 6? I’m thinking it’s a pass for me, so let’s look at what noted totals expert Chris David had to say.
“Depending when and where you shopped,” David said. “Some total players caught the ‘over’ in Game 1 and the second installment was a winning ‘over’ ticket at all betting counters thanks to same late free throws. Sticking with free throws, they’ve played a major factor when handicapping the totals in this year’s finals.
“The first two games saw 67 foul shots in both Game 1 and Game 2. As the two clubs traveled back to Boston, they also took their shots at the officiating and it seems to have played a part in the last three games. Now nobody knows if the suits in the NBA front office made the Tim Donaghy phone call, yet the three contests in Boston only saw a combined 48, 45 and 39 free-throw attempts.”
David continued, “And as much as I don’t like to believe in all the conspiracy theories, it’s pretty ironic that Joe Crawford and Derrick Stafford were two of the three referees in Game 1 and Game 5, plus Mike Callahan was an official in Game 2 and Game 5. Numbers usually tell the truth folks and a free throw difference of 28 is eye opening, at least for this gambler. On paper, it certainly seems like a trio of zebras decided to swallow the whistle.”
ABC will have television coverage at 9:05 p.m. Eastern.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
Boston owns a 12-4-1 spread record against the Lakers in their last 17 head-to-head meetings.
The team that has won the rebounding battle has prevailed in all five games of these NBA Finals. The C’s had 35 compared to L.A.’s 34 in Game 5.
The ‘under’ is on an 8-3-1 run in Boston’s last 12 games (regardless of venue).
The ‘over’ is on a 6-1-1 run in the Lakers’ last eight home games.
Only a few books had up prop bets for Game 6 as of early this morning. I see Ray Allen’s total for points scored at 16 ½. Allen has had the following scoring outputs in Games 1-5: 12, 32, 2, 12 and 12. That’s resulted in a 4-1 mark for the ‘under’ on Allen’s points. That total shot up to as high as 21 for Game 3 that followed his 32-point explosion in Game 2.
Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution breaks down the introductory press conference of new Hawks head coach Larry Drew, who was previously an assistant on Mike Woodson’s staff.
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NBA RoundUp For 6/15
By Dan Bebe
Celtics @ Lakers - Los Angeles by 6.5 with a total of 188. My heavens! We made it to game 6, so all of you guys that took the advice discussed in the blog and put a unit on "series to go 6" and another on "series to go 7" are sitting pretty right now. It wasn't anything official, so I'm not trying to claim a win on the record, but I just wanted to see if anyone went ahead and made a move on that play we talked about. In any case, tonight, the Lakers' season is on the line, Andrew Bynum is clearly hurt, and the Lakers are going to need that home crowd to really fire up the role players if they have any prayer of not only winning this one, but covering. There isn't really much we can cover in this write-up that hasn't been beaten into the dirt in the previous 5 games, but I would like to take this time to remind folks not to put too much stock in what they saw the night before (or in this case, 2 nights before). It's very easy to bet based on what your eyeballs processed most recently, but I would beg of folks to go back and look at how the Lakers play, at home. I know the Celtics won game 2 with the Lakers sort of taking it easy early in the series (as has been their trademark), but this is a different story. The Lakers have closed out 2 series in a game 6 already, and here they need a home win in game 6 to avoid elimination and the end of the season. I happen to think that the world wants to see a game 7, and the Lakers are going to lay it all on the line, and that's going to mean at least 30 FT's in this one. I think Boston shoots more FT's, too, as the Lakers just didn't contest shots and gave up layup after layup in game 5. Fact of the matter is that Boston's starters can't play a whole lot better than they did in game 5, and the Lakers, outside of Kobe, can't play a great deal worse. Does that mean they'll play better? Not necessarily, but to bet this game based solely on the results of game 5 would be shortsighted. The defense is probably going to remain strong on both sides, though, and I only wonder if the series goes back to being largely free throw shooting, since the venue is back at Staples, again.
Tips and Trends
Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers
Celtics: Boston is 1 win away from winning yet another NBA Championship. Boston is 1 win away from winning another NBA Championship against the Lakers as well. The Celtics are at the finish line, and the veteran players can feel it. F Paul Pierce played arguably his best game of the playoffs in Game 5, as he had a team high 27 PTS. 3 of the 5 Boston starters scored 18 PTS or more, as the Celtics had the scoring balance necessary to win a Finals game. F Kevin Garnett played well yet again, as he had 18 PTS and 10 rebounds during Game 5. PG Rajon Rondo also had 18 PTS, along with 8 assists and 5 rebounds in their latest victory. Boston had 21 assists as a team in Game 5, nine more than their counterparts. Because of their ability to share the ball, the Celtics shot an impressive .56% from the field in Game 5. The Celtics are 65-39 SU and 48-54-2 ATS overall this season. Boston was great on the road all year long, as they were 32-19 SU and 27-23-2 ATS. Boston has hit their ATS stride during the playoffs this year, as they are 15-7 ATS entering tonight's Game 6. Boston is 3-2 ATS as a road underdog between 6.5 and 9 PTS this year.
Celtics are 6-2 ATS last 8 playoff games as an underdog.
Under is 13-3-1 last 17 games against the NBA Pacific.
Key injuries - None.
PROJECTED SCORE: 92 (Side of the Day)
Lakers (-6.5, O/U 188): Los Angeles is down to their final breath, as they trail the Boston Celtics 3-2 in the NBA Finals. Game 5 was hotly contested, as neither team won a quarter by more than 4 PTS. The Lakers only scored 86 PTS in Game 5, 38 of which came from G Kobe Bryant. With the series shifted back to Los Angeles, it's time for the Lakers to get some support from their role players. Besides Bryant, no other Laker scored more than 12 PTS in Game 5. F Pau Gasol had 12 PTS and 12 rebounds to help keep the Lakers competitive. Los Angeles continues to struggle with holding onto the ball, as they had more turnovers than assists in the Game 5 loss. To no surprise, the Lakers shot worse than .40% for the entire game. Los Angeles has never lost a series under Coach Jackson after winning Game 1, so any pressure falls squarely on the defending champions. The Lakers are 71-32 SU and 44-56-3 ATS overall this year. The Lakers are 43-8 SU and 22-28-1 in home games this season. Los Angeles is 6-8 ATS as a home favorite between 6.5 and 9 PTS this season. Tonight marks the 1st time this postseason that the Lakers have trailed in a series.
Lakers are 6-14-1 ATS last 21 NBA Championship games.
Over is 7-1-1 last 9 playoff games as a favorite.
Key injuries - None.
PROJECTED SCORE: 93
NBA News and Notes
Celtics won their first three series this spring in 6-6-5 games, so they've had good killer instinct this spring; Lakers 9-1 at home in playoffs, but if they don't finish 11-1, they'll be disappointed. Artest had just 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists; Lakers other than Bryant/Odom shot 14-45 in last game. Boston is killing the Lakers on loose ball/hustle plays; will switch to Staples Center invigorate hosts? Celtics scored 89-84 points in losses this series; they scored 103-96-92 in wins. Boston has gotten help from its bench. Lakers will need Vujacic to hit shots to hurt defense after they doubleteam Bryant.