NBA Goes Green

That was an awful long flight to make across the country just to get yourself embarassed. I guess I'm not as surpised by the outcome of the game and the series as I am that this Lakers team was actually the Western Conference's representative. This Lakers team looks soft and gutless and I'm shocked they were able to beat Golden State, Utah and San Antonio. Is that the best the West has?

I said after the game five loss that I was even more confident about the Celtics winning game six than I would have been had they won game five (and yes, I still realize that makes no sense). My point is that this Lakers team was totally exposed in every facet of the game throughout the series. Don't all of those predictions by national experts look pretty silly now?

Here are some thoughts on World Championship number 17 for the Boston Celtics and the sixth championship that Boston has celebrated this decade.

· The Lakers were simply destroyed in this game. Their first offensive rebound didn't come until the fouth quarter, which is nearly impossible to do when you only shoot 42 percent for the game. They missed 19 shots in the first quarter alone and never got one second chance. You're not winning when you play like that.

· I was sort of disappointed that Kevin Garnett didn't spontaneously combust at some point during this game. I actually can't blame the Lakers players for not wanting to drive to the hoop with Garnett around. I just wish he could take over games like this more often. For some reason, I have a feeling that he's still out partying somewhere.

· Can someone check Phil Jackson's pulse to make sure he's alive? I know he's the Zen master and everything but it might help your team to act like you care. And has he ever heard of in-game adjustments? Did he watch any film in between games to try to mix things up and come up with a new way to stop the Celtics? I realize that I have no coaching experience so take this for what it's worth: it might be a good idea to have someone cover Ray Allen on all of those three pointers that he's knocking down. Seriously, was Jackson's strategy to give Allen as much room as possible in the hopes that it would freak him out or something and cause him to miss? I actually love the fact that the Celtics prevented Jackson from breaking Red Auerbach's record of NBA Championships by a coach.

· I owe a huge apology to Kobe Bryant. He is an unbelievable talent and quite possibly could be under rated because of his fierce tenacity on the defensive end and his ability to score from anywhere on the court at any time. . . in the first quarter. He pretty much sucks after that.

· The in game interviews with Michelle Tafoya are stupid. The players and coaches don't look like they want anything to do with her and no one reveals anything of relevance. And her postgame interview with Kevin Garnett was ridiculous and they should have cut away from it. Overall, ABC/ESPN did a horrible job with this series. There were few too replays shown of good plays and controversial calls. I did think it was funny that they showed Danny Ainge in the stands for about thirty seconds while we missed the play on the court last night, though. At one point, I thought Ainge was actually going to suggest they film the game instead of him.

· The technical foul on Doc Rivers was a good move by him. Prior to that point, the refs were calling some pretty cheap stuff on the Celtics and letting the Lakers get away with a lot of grabbing. After the T, the game was called pretty evenly.

· Doc probably should have been called for another technical foul for running up the score. With the celebration well underway, the Celtics were still launching threes and driving to the hoop. And I loved every minute of it.

· I sort of wish that Eddie House had just handed the ball to one of the Lakers as the 24 second clock expired just before the game ended.

· I loved Doc putting in Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. The guy hadn't played a minute in the Finals and here he is coming in to guard Paul Gaso and Gaso still can't score. One of my favorite plays was of Gaso backing down and bumping into Davis so Davis simply steps aside as Gaso is about to bump him and Gaso falls to the floor and turns the ball over.

· Did Sasha Vujacic make the flight across the counrty or did he decide to fly straight home after being embarassed for the first five games?

· On the way to their 17th Championship Banner, the Celtics' 18 steals were a Finals record, Ray Allen tied a Finals record by making seven 3-pointers (and 22 in the series, also a Finals record), and the 17th Banner was won in Boston's 26th postseason game, another NBA record. They also had the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. And before all of this happened, the Celtics also made the biggest single-season turnaround ever, going from 24 victories a year ago to 66 this season.

· I'm going to bed at eight o'clock tonight.



And somewhere, Red's smiling down on Boston today.



And just in case you forgot, I predicted Celtics in six.