bostondave	Male 36 years old DANVERS, MA
Subscribe to this Blog Add as Friend Start a SlugFest Send a Message

The Celts win a tough game one of the Finals, 98-88.

The game started off rather slow for both sides. The jitters were a bit on the Celts. They missed some open shots early on and the Laker defense was pretty good. But the game remained close. The game seemed to move pretty fast.

KG showed up to play and got some early buckets.

The Celts built up a small lead towards the end of the first quarter but no lead is ever safe.

The bench was pretty good. Good to see Cassell come off the bench and score.

The Lakers were able to make some threes and that kept them in the game. Kobe tried to get other players into the game. He was ok from the field early. Gasol got far too many layups.

The game remained pretty close but the Celts kept a small lead. The refs certainly were giving more calls in favor of the Celts. Talk about a new development. Though Pierce did get into early foul trouble with three fouls in the second quarter.

The Celts did get a bit sloppy towards the end of the first half. Too many turnovers. However, Rondo kept them in with his scoring. The Lakers were still able to get too many open shots and were playing good defense. The Celts were down 51-46. The biggest problem was that Pierce was out of the game.

The third quarter was crazy. The game would remain close and physical. Pierce went down hard and it looked like he might of been seriously injured in the knees. He was carried off from the court. The Garden went very quiet. The worst part was that Pierce had been having a monster third quarter.

Thankfully, Pierce soon came back and the place went nuts. It was great to see Pierce running and jumping just fine. He continued his monster quarter and extended the Celts lead to eight.. The whole team seemed to be picked up when he returned.

Perk also went out with an ankle sprain and did not return to play.

The fourth quarter was a series of runs. The Lakers went on a run for a little bit and chipped away at the lead. But the Celts would stop them. However, in the final minutes, the Lakers couldn't make any of their shots. Kobe wasn't able to make too many shots either. He had been pretty quiet for most of the game. He did make some defensive plays and assists though. His teammates did make up for his loss though. Fisher and Gasol were able to score; too easily at times. The Lakers played some good defensive plays down the stretch. Thats something to look for later in the series.

PJ Brown was huge in getting rebounds. Rondo held his own against Fisher.

The Celts were able to hold off the Lakers in the final minutes with big shots and rebounds. Loved the slam by KG off a miss by Posey. KG would lead the scoring with 24pts. Paul had 22 and Ray would have 19pts. Great showing by the three.

Solid first game by the Celts though there were a lot of things that needed to improve especially on the road. The Celts have to figure out how to stop Laker runs through the game. Also the Celts have to hope and pray that Paul can continue to play well if at all.... Lets hope he returns on Sunday.