Liveblogging: 2008 NBA Finals Game One
by Chris 11 comments Leave a comment June 5th, 2008Welcome to my liveblogging – that no one will read – of the NBA Finals game one. Boston hosts Los Angeles for the first chapter of one of the most highly anticipated finals in the history of the world. God is surely watching.
Q1 9:00 6-2
Good shooting start for LA, but they have to be concerned about how well Boston is rebounding. Boston needs to take care of the ball better.
Q1 5:58 10-10
Rondo is taking advantage of the Lakers understandably lax defense on him. It’ll be interesting to see if Rondo forces the Lakers to actually guard him. Bryant seems intent on taking tough fadeaway jumpers from the right side of the court. If he starts hitting those, the Lakers will be unstoppable.
Q1 3:07 14-19
Competitive game so far and the officiating has been good. I hate games where it’s constantly stopped by ticky tack fouls. Bryant keeps taking tough shots… and missing. Ray Allen has come to play; not a good sign for the Lakers.
End of Q1 21-23
Clint says the ‘Lakers were outplayed and Kobe (2 for 8 so far) needs to drive and look to dish to teammates’
I agree. Oh, and that missed alleyoop dunk by KG was embarrassing 
Q2 8:46 24-29
Lakers really need to crash the boards better. And it’s pretty damn surprising to see Sam Cassell hit shots. And is anyone else watching Turiaf fall down after every shot he takes?
Q2 5:49 35-40
Garnett is pwning Gasol. And wtf Sam Cassell? How is he still scoring?
Q2 3:03 45-42
Three fouls on Paul Pierce. ‘That’s not huge,’ says Clint.
We both agree that the Lakers aren’t getting their normal good movement on offense. Although these pick and rolls are looking decent. They’re probably the reason the Lakers are up now.
End of First Half Lakers up by 5
That was entertaining. Lakers definitely did better after Bryant decided not to take every shot. Rondo is kicking ass for Boston, but if I’m the Lakers I’m happy with him taking a lot of shots.
Now it’s Red Hook ESB time and thus my blogging may be more intermittent… Btw, Bill Russell and Dr. J’s gray afros look awesome.
Q3 6:40 62-58
Paul Pierce in a wheel chair is definitely not good for Boston or basketball fans everywhere… Let’s hope he’s okay.
Q3 6:19 62-59
Now Perkins is limping…
Q3 5:04 62-62
Pierce hops and skips back out from the locker room and Doc immediately puts him in the game. But he still looks a little limpy to me. Breh.
End of Q3
With Pierce coming back out, the Celtics got a huge emotional boost. That was definitely danger time for the Lakers, but they weathered it well. Perfect shooting for Pierce despite the injury.
And wasn’t that Fisher to Bryant alleyoop awesome?
The pace and flow of the game is definitely suffering now that both teams are fouling/getting called for more fouls.
Q4 8:42 78-86
The Lakers D is definitely suffering right now, and their offense is totally out of whack. Clint is already predicting a 5 point Celtics win. With Kobe on the floor I have trouble betting against the Lakers with so much time left.
Q4 4:40 82-88
Lakers are just missing open shots. Rebounding is still hurting the Lakers. Boston fans rejoice.
Q4 1:54 85-91
Clint: ‘[Lakers] just can’t score’
Q4 1:21 86-94
Too much fouling. Too little scoring for the Lakers. And why was no one covering Boston’s best player for that awesome put back dunk?
Q4 :16 88-96
Game over. The Lakers struggled to make any shots during the 4th, but at least it was a competitive game nonetheless. See you next game?
Goodnight.
IM READING!
I think Rondo needs to chill out a little. He’s trying to do too much. Mimi laughed and said, “That was cute,” when he tried to dunk. Boston needs to feed Allen the ball more, he hates Kobe and wants to destroy him. With Bryant as bad as he is right now, Boston sure isn’t taking advantage.
Yeah… you can see that killer instinct in Allen’s eyes. Gotta love it if you’re a Boston fan.
I think Rondo is actually sucking. Yeah he’s shooting well, but his turnovers have been bad. Boston should really be capitalizing on Kobe playing this poorly, but they aren’t. Cassell shouldn’t be on the court, ever, period. I don’t care if he’s making his shots. You see how selfish he’s being with the ball? He’s not really the kind of guy you want coming down the court, not passing and just tossing it up.
And yeah that KG alley-oop miss was funny
Well, that ought to be the end of the series unless Pierce is just faking it or something.
Can’t be that bad if he’s hopping and skipping around.
I don’t know. He isn’t 100%, but he is still killing it and the crowd is loving it. Great emotional lift for his team.
Doc Rivers is trying to up the entertainment value for all the fans by leaving in Sam Cassell so the Lakers can catch up without having Kobe in. He is so incredibly awful at decision making its astounding.
Haha… yes… Doc does not deserve a Championship
ESPN’s Daily Dime actually claimed Doc won the coaching battle in Game 1. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know what game they were watching.
In the words of Bill Simmons:
“There was one excruciating stretch with Boston leading 86-78 when Sam Cassell decided to remind us why he shouldn’t be playing in this series, taking a couple of truly horrific shots and prompting a chorus of “Ronnnnnnn-do!” yells while a standing Doc Rivers flatlined on the sidelines for about two minutes. This has been a Doc staple over the past four years — a Celtics player submitting an absolutely catastrophic stretch of play as Rivers leaves him in for about 90 seconds too long, then suddenly realizes, “Wait, I’m the coach, I have the power to remove this guy from the game!” By the time Sam finally got pulled, we were up only four points with six minutes to go.
(Note: The good news was that Rondo — playing a solid game before he departed — was able to rest for three and a half hours in the second half. So we had that going for us.)
(Follow-up note: When the home crowd is cheering because you just made a substitution, it’s probably a sign you should have made the sub a little sooner. I’m just thinking out loud here.)”