Lakers Dominate Game Six

Wow! Who saw that coming?!? I knew the Lakers would come out like a defending champion should and lay it all on the line, but a 22 point blow-out, a game that was all but over in the first half? I think game six can be summed up pretty easily in two short phrases: The Lakers played tremendously as a team and; The Celtics played awful pretty much to a man.

I thought the Celtics could pull out the series in six with Andrew Bynum dragging one leg up and down the court, but that would not be the case when the rest of the Lakers finally joined Kobe Bryant in defending their title. Bynum was a non-factor once again (2 points, 4 rebounds in 16 minutes) but the rest of the Lakers’ frontcourt more than picked up the slack. Check out the rest of these stat lines:

Pau Gasol: 41 minutes, 17 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks;
Lamar Odom: 28 minutes, 8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks;
Ron Artest: 32 minutes, 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3-6 3pt FGS, no craziness.

Including Bynum, that is 42 points, 33 rebounds, and 7 blocks from the Lakers frontcourt, their best output since game three. Throw in Kobe’s 26, 11, 3 and 4 steals and their best defensive effort since game three and this was by far the Lakers best play of the series so far. Sure Boston lent a hand in helping the Lakers look so dominant with too much one-on-one play and at least a half a dozen missed lay-ups and dunks. But the tone was set early in this one as the Lakers turned a 12-12 tie into a 28-18 end of first of first quarter lead, and they never looked back.

To add injury to insult, the Celtics also lost their starting center in Kendrick Perkins, who left with a severely sprained knee and is most likely out for game seven tomorrow night. The Celtics have probably played better in the series with Perkins off the floor, but his absence certainly hurts the depth and toughness of the Celtics frontcourt. Boston is going to need big-time performances from Rasheed Wallace and/or Big Baby in game seven to have a shot.

Well we all got what we wished for in the beginning of this series….game seven between two champions and the two greatest franchises in NBA history. We have not seen any ESPN classic games yet, but it has been a classic series as a whole. It should only be fitting that we have a game seven between these two teams. We will find out tomorrow who rises to the occasion.