Game 6 Recap

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All series the problem for the Lakers was that no one besides Kobe Bryant was stepping up. Lamar Odom still hasn't scored above 12 points this series. Andrew Bynum looked alright in games 1 and 2, but since then he hasn't done anything Darko Milicic couldn't have done (it might be the injury, hard to say, but 6 points and 1 rebound in 32 minutes on Game 5... ugh... why is he on the court?). Ron Artest looked like he was point shaving out there, the guy is below 50% from the free throw line this series. Finally, tonight, the whole Laker team stepped up and delivered a beating to the Celtics.

The Celtics came out, it appeared, to try to run the Lakers. It worked alright for Oklahoma City... when they were in Oklahoma City (hence the 4-2 Laker win). I don't know why the Celtics thought they could do it. Not in Los Angeles. Not Game 6 of the Finals. Boston is not a running team. I know I heard Mark Jackson saying this at some point this series "you are what you are at this point in the year, it's not time to try anything new." And dammit Mark Jackson, you were right. The plan backfired on the Celtics as the Lakers took a 28-18 lead by the end of the 1st quarter.

And the Lakers never looked back.

Jumping ahead, what does Boston have to do to win Game 7? For one, keep the game at their pace. Clearly they were playing the speed the Lakers wanted to play. Controlling the tempo is huge. Second, they need to hit some 3's. Ray Allen had that amazing game of 7 3's in the 1st half, 8 3's total. Then he missed 18 straight. He hit 2/5 tonight, but no one else did any damage from there. The Celtics were 5/23, that's 21.7% from deep. Rasheed's 0/6 didn't help. When you shoot that poorly from 3 it allows the Lakers to clog the lane and make shots at the rim much more difficult. That's why the Celtics shot 33.3% from the floor. You won't win a lot of games attacking the hoop on every play. And finally, bench Rasheed if he's having a bad game. Rasheed is completely washed up and in love with 3's. 0/7 shooting. As a fan from Portland, Rasheed, I know you have a good back to the basket game. I haven't seen you use it since about 2005. What is up with that? You're not a good 3 point shooter, you never were. You shot 28% this year! The Lakers LIKE it when you shoot 3's.

My prediction: Lakers take Game 7. I definitely see it as a closer game. Probably within 10 points the whole way. In the end the home court will win it for the Lakers. Bryant gets MVP. I know a lot of you think Artest deserves it, but no, I'm going to take the gutsy choice here.