Ecstatic Basketball

    The Boston Celtics are one win away from claiming the NBA Championship for the first time in over a decade. All that stands in their way is a Lakers team that collapsed after holding a 24 point lead at halftime during game 4 of the series, which is the largest lead that has ever been given up in Finals history. The second half performance of the Celtics will go down in league lore as one of the most inspired halves of Finals play ever. Chasing a big lead is one thing, but actually finishing off a game after being down so large is truly impressive. The sort of defensive intensity the Celtics displayed during the second was utterly exhaustive, but they somehow had the energy to score enough to put them in the lead, thanks in part to a 21-3 run against the Lakers.

The Lakers came into this as the overwhelming favorites, but now they’ll have to fight just to make this a series. Their bench had been heralded as the best in the league, but it has been the Celtics bench that has really shined. They will need their bench to at least keep up with the Celtics’, but their stars will have to do most of the work. Odom was terrific in the first half, connecting on his first 7 shots, but then he all but disappeared in the second half. Gasol, the biggest mid season steal of the year, needs to step up to the plate and perform to the level of his talent, and start being more aggresive offensively, and stop having such damning lapses on the defensive end. Kobe Bryant cannot do it all at this level. The Celtics send too many bodies his way for him to score all the points down the stretch. Bryant has to feed the rest of the team enough easy looks to keep the Celtics a little more honest when guarding him.