The Lakers dominated in the paint, and from there, they controlled the first half. They never trailed in the ball game and held on to their slight lead in the first half courtesy a terrific performance by Paul Gasol. He just took the game in his hands shooting from inside the D.
Kobe Bryant improved as the game went on and had at least two absolute genius plays – one from point 59 – 61 field goal and the other when he blocked later in the game. The Lakers kept on the pressure throughout and Boston finally relented in the third quarter giving in a lead of 20. Ray Allen having 5 personal fouls didn’t help.
I am not a huge fan of Kobe Bryant but his discipline and focus is some thing to be admired. That shot of Chris Rock speaking to Kobe and Kobe not reacting at all looking straight heads on was freaky. As Kobe said in the post game interview “all the media hype, all the attention, nothing else matters” where Kobe is concerned. On a completely unrelated note, I am looking forward to watching a fairly recent documentary featuring Chris Rock where he explores African-American hairstyles called Good Hair which should be a lot of fun.
Speaking about the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, personally, I had been positive towards the Lakers till Shaq was a Laker but completely became anti-Lakers since then. I loved Tim Hardaway and Miami Heat has always been my team. Seeing guys like Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett grow up, I have a soft spot for the Celtics. I want them to win this series but I don’t see them doing it.