Boston’s Team Ball
Bleacher Talk
June 15, 2008
Boston’s Team Ball
The NBA Finals is pleasantly turning out to surprise basketball fans and experts alike, hasn’t it? Who would’ve thought that the Celtics would be up 3-1 when the Lakers were favorites going into Game 1? Who would’ve thought that the 30-year old ++ veterans of the Celtics would overcome the youth of Kobe and his band of Lakers?
If Boston can maintain its momentum and LA continue to sleep at crucial stages of the game (and series), we could be seeing a Boston championship as early as tomorrow (Sunday in the U.S). The factors behind this are obvious and this corner can’t help but compare the ongoing series to the classic Laker-Celtic battles of the 80’s and why Boston is in the driver’s seat.
When one looks at those classic battles of the 80s, it was clear that both the Lakers and Celtics relied on team ball to get the job done. And current NBA Finals is also showing us that the team that has been playing team ball is in the driver’s seat.
If you look closely at how Boston has won its three games, you can’t help but notice how Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and their support crew of role players have done a great job of meshing together and stepping up at the right time. On the other hand, the Lakers have shown us only glimpses or flashes of brilliance of team play, and haven’t been able to maintain this team play for 48 minutes a game.
Allen has been averaging 20 points a game, followed by Pierce’s 19.7 and Garnett’s 17.5. That’s a consistent 57 points a game from Boston’s Big 3. A look at the other side will show that they might be relying too much on Kobe. Bryant is good for 26.8 points a game, but his next support is coming from Pau Gasol’s 14.5 points a game. We must take note that Gasol was good for 19 points a game in the regular season. Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher are good 11.8 and 10.8 points, respectively. Odom was good for 14 in the regular season. Could this then be a case of Kobe taking away scoring opportunities for Gasol and Odom? Hmmm.
In terms of who takes the shots, the Celtics have spread their options on offense with Allen taking 48 attempts from the field in four games, Pierce 53 and Garnett 76. Of the three, only KG isn’t shooting that well with a 38% field goal percentage. Allen has been consistent at 52% while Pierce isn’t far behind at 45%. For the Lakers, Bryant has made 88 attempts by himself, doubling that of Gasol’s 45 and Odom’s 42. The sad part is that Kobe is shooting a low 43% while Gasol and Odom are making at least 50% of their attempts. This leads us to think that maybe Gasol and Odom should be taking more shots. The sadder part is that they actually have many touches and are getting many good looks, but did you notice that these are mostly in the first half of the game? And yes, someone else is getting all these touches in the payoff period.
We can thus compare the Celtics of today to the Celtics of the 80’s when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish and Cedric Maxwell all played cohesively in winning three titles. The down side is that today’s Lakers are nowhere near the level of team play that Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, Kurt Rambis, AC Green and Mychal Thompson displayed when the Lakers won their five championships in the 80s.
The other significant component has been the stepping up of Boston’s role players when their stars aren’t shining. We’ve seen how Eddie House, James Posey, Leon Powe, Sam Cassell and even Kendrick Perkins have provided quality minutes of play in the mold of an the 80’s version of M.L. Carr, Bill Walton, Gerald Henderson, Scott Wedman and current Boston GM Danny Ainge. For the Lakers, I’m afraid none of the current role players can step up in the same way that Thompsom, Rambis, Green, Cooper played support roles to Magic and Jabbar.
The bottom line is that basketball will always be about team ball. As coaches will always preach, there’s no letter “I” in the word team, is there? And the best of brand of team ball was displayed by the teams of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
If Kobe can do a Magic and turn things around “magically,” the Lakers still have a shot. But that’s if Boston’s Big 3 will suddenly abandon the great team play they’ve been displaying as if they were in the 80’s.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Bebot Licuanan! >>> To all members of ASMS Batch 1983: The three-day 25th Anniversary Reunion is on from June 27-29. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
June 15, 2008
Boston’s Team Ball
The NBA Finals is pleasantly turning out to surprise basketball fans and experts alike, hasn’t it? Who would’ve thought that the Celtics would be up 3-1 when the Lakers were favorites going into Game 1? Who would’ve thought that the 30-year old ++ veterans of the Celtics would overcome the youth of Kobe and his band of Lakers?
If Boston can maintain its momentum and LA continue to sleep at crucial stages of the game (and series), we could be seeing a Boston championship as early as tomorrow (Sunday in the U.S). The factors behind this are obvious and this corner can’t help but compare the ongoing series to the classic Laker-Celtic battles of the 80’s and why Boston is in the driver’s seat.
When one looks at those classic battles of the 80s, it was clear that both the Lakers and Celtics relied on team ball to get the job done. And current NBA Finals is also showing us that the team that has been playing team ball is in the driver’s seat.
If you look closely at how Boston has won its three games, you can’t help but notice how Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and their support crew of role players have done a great job of meshing together and stepping up at the right time. On the other hand, the Lakers have shown us only glimpses or flashes of brilliance of team play, and haven’t been able to maintain this team play for 48 minutes a game.
Allen has been averaging 20 points a game, followed by Pierce’s 19.7 and Garnett’s 17.5. That’s a consistent 57 points a game from Boston’s Big 3. A look at the other side will show that they might be relying too much on Kobe. Bryant is good for 26.8 points a game, but his next support is coming from Pau Gasol’s 14.5 points a game. We must take note that Gasol was good for 19 points a game in the regular season. Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher are good 11.8 and 10.8 points, respectively. Odom was good for 14 in the regular season. Could this then be a case of Kobe taking away scoring opportunities for Gasol and Odom? Hmmm.
In terms of who takes the shots, the Celtics have spread their options on offense with Allen taking 48 attempts from the field in four games, Pierce 53 and Garnett 76. Of the three, only KG isn’t shooting that well with a 38% field goal percentage. Allen has been consistent at 52% while Pierce isn’t far behind at 45%. For the Lakers, Bryant has made 88 attempts by himself, doubling that of Gasol’s 45 and Odom’s 42. The sad part is that Kobe is shooting a low 43% while Gasol and Odom are making at least 50% of their attempts. This leads us to think that maybe Gasol and Odom should be taking more shots. The sadder part is that they actually have many touches and are getting many good looks, but did you notice that these are mostly in the first half of the game? And yes, someone else is getting all these touches in the payoff period.
We can thus compare the Celtics of today to the Celtics of the 80’s when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish and Cedric Maxwell all played cohesively in winning three titles. The down side is that today’s Lakers are nowhere near the level of team play that Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, Kurt Rambis, AC Green and Mychal Thompson displayed when the Lakers won their five championships in the 80s.
The other significant component has been the stepping up of Boston’s role players when their stars aren’t shining. We’ve seen how Eddie House, James Posey, Leon Powe, Sam Cassell and even Kendrick Perkins have provided quality minutes of play in the mold of an the 80’s version of M.L. Carr, Bill Walton, Gerald Henderson, Scott Wedman and current Boston GM Danny Ainge. For the Lakers, I’m afraid none of the current role players can step up in the same way that Thompsom, Rambis, Green, Cooper played support roles to Magic and Jabbar.
The bottom line is that basketball will always be about team ball. As coaches will always preach, there’s no letter “I” in the word team, is there? And the best of brand of team ball was displayed by the teams of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
If Kobe can do a Magic and turn things around “magically,” the Lakers still have a shot. But that’s if Boston’s Big 3 will suddenly abandon the great team play they’ve been displaying as if they were in the 80’s.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Bebot Licuanan! >>> To all members of ASMS Batch 1983: The three-day 25th Anniversary Reunion is on from June 27-29. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
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