Paul Pierce lead his team with 27. But It was his hustle that impressed me the most.

Written by

Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista

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Nate Robinson and Big Baby Davis is Shrek and Donkey

Shrek and Donkey didn’t get as much playing time but the Big Three came out to play in Game five as the Celtics take a 3-2 series lead  with a final score of 92-86. After their big game four victory, Nate Robinson called Big Baby Davis Shrek and himself as Donkey. The press couldn’t help but laugh. Paul Pierce led the Celtics in game 5 with 27 pts but it was a true team effort. By the 3^rd quarter, Kobe was unstoppable. He had 3 consecutive 3pointers, while being defended well by Ray Allen. They weren’t open looks. Kobe had a total of 19 points in the third quarter alone. There was a two minute stretch where he scored 10 points.

Dwyane Wade was shaking his head sitting on the 3^rd row with his son, as if in disbelief at how Kobe was sinking those seemingly impossible shots. I appreciate the fact that Wade was there, it shows he’s a true student of the game and he really wants to be a champion again. His son however was busy playing with a PSP unit. I understand the feeling from the kid, if you’ve ever played NBA Live or 2K10, the games allow you to experience being a GM, coach and a player. There’s even Street basketball challenge for the cell phone from zed. I’m wary of being addicted to it myself.

In the fourth quarter, the Celtic offense slowed down and yet they were still able to eke out a win. It became a grind out affair. Not everyone was able to score for the Celtics but everyone was hustling, playing defense, going for loose balls, saving the ball from out of bounds. The whole team was working so hard and showing a lot of effort. As in my previous blog about the UFC, the Celtics showed heart. That to me was the difference which gave them the win. No one could stop Kobe but everyone else in the Lakers seemed to fade. Jeff Van Gundy noticed that Andrew Bynum had 31 minutes playing time but came out zip in defensive rebounds.

Pau Gasol may have gotten tired from the gang defense the Celts were playing on him. KG got a couple of blocks. Early in the 4^th quarter, Tony Allen came flying out of nowhere to block Pau’s lay up. Allen is almost a foot shorter than Gasol. Rondo on the other hand came from behind jumping over the 7 ft Spaniard to tip in a missed shot. Rondo hadn’t scored more than a few points the whole game. The tip in however, pushed the lead to 12 with 4 minutes remaining.

What really impressed me from Pierce’ performance was not the consistent jumpers that he made. He had to save the ball from going out of bounds from mid court in the last 43 seconds and made a picture perfect pass. Rondo caught it in mid air as he was cutting to the basket and made the lay up. Krypto-Nate or Donkey gave up a three and found Allen underneath the basket for a lay up. It is this selflessness that makes the Celtics a team that works together. Coach Doc Rivers also has to do a lot with the team work and success. he believed in them when everyone else said they were too old and not a good enough team to win the championship.

the legends from left, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

The Celts have the momentum, but the L.A. Lakers are a very strong home court team. They’ve only lost twice at the Staples arena from the playoffs and, once was to the Celts in this series. As I’ve written before, Boston has already overachieved just by getting to the Finals. Now all they need to do is one more game to win it all. They’ve already proven a lot of critics (including myself) wrong.

Mike Breen gave a wonderful trivia about the “Beat L.A.” phrase that has become so popular in the league. In the 1982 series the Boston fans saw the eventual elimination of their team by the Philadelphia 76ers. Since they didn’t want to cheer on L.A. in the finals they chanted “Beat L.A.” to the Sixers. That was the team with Julius ‘The Dr.’ Erving, Moses Malone, Andrew Toney and Mo Cheeks. The Lakers had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Bob McAdoo. And they DID beat L.A. to win the championship.