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LOS ANGELES: Fans can only wonder which Boston Celtics have arrived
in Hollywood for the National Basketball Association finals - the
ones who built a 24-point lead in game two or the ones who nearly
threw it away.
The Celtics own a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles
Lakers in the best-of-7 championship showdown as the series shifts
from Boston for Game 3 Tuesday at Staples Center, where the Lakers
have won eight home playoff games in a row.
“I’m not worried about which Celtics team
shows up,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “I’m worried about
what Lakers team shows up. That’s the one that moves the ball and
does the things we do well on the offensive end.”
Only three times in 30 chances has a team won
the NBA finals after losing the first two games, the Lakers going
0-5 in prior chances, while no team has ever rallied from losing the
first three to win the crown.
“They took care of business at home. We’ve
got to try to do the same thing,” Laker star Kobe Bryant said.
“It’s not the end of the world. We’ve come too far to sweat
being down 2-0. We’re going to go home and handle our business.”
The Lakers, who have not trailed before in a
playoff series this year, must now make a major momentum change for
the first time in the post-season.
“It’s all about momentum and basketball is
about playing those momentum swings the best you can,” Jackson
said. “We want to get the first game we can get, the first quarter
that we can get, the first momentum turn we can get.”
The Lakers fell behind 95-71 with 7:40 remaining
Sunday at Boston, but went on a 31-9 run when the Celtics collapsed
and just missed making the biggest last-quarter game-winning
comeback in NBA finals history before a 108-102 loss.
“The fourth quarter was awful,” Celtics
coach Doc Rivers said. “We got cute when we got the lead. We
started trying to make sensational plays instead of keeping it
simple.
“We tried to run the clock out instead of
playing through the game. If you miss shots when you do that and
they start making shots, it’s very difficult to then turn it
on.”
The Celtics went winless on the road in their
first two playoff series, needing the full seven games to subdue
Atlanta and Cleveland before winning twice at Detroit in the Eastern
Conference finals.
“We haven’t done anything,” Celtics big
man Kevin Garnett said. “We defended home, which is what we’re
supposed to do. Now it’s time to take the show on the road and
apply what we’ve learned.”
-- AFP
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