NBA Finals - Celtics vs. Lakers

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espn.com

Lakers come up short, leaving questions about long-term success

By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
(Archive)

Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Kobe's 22 points in Game 6 weren't nearly enough as the Celtics put a damper on Mamba's MVP season.

BOSTON -- The stunning thing about these NBA Finals is what the Lakers didn't produce.
No memorable performance from Kobe Bryant.
No critical adjustments from Phil Jackson.
No candidate for the Tyronn Lue Award for best unexpected performance that lands a lucrative new contract.
And, in the end, no resistance as the Celtics closed in on their 17th championship.
Their submissive, 131-92 defeat didn't just bring the Finals to its conclusion. It made you wonder if this Laker season was a mirage instead of the dawn of a new dynasty.

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si.com

Growing season for Celtics' Pierce

Kevin Garnett moved from Minnesota to Boston. Ray Allen moved from Seattle to Boston. Paul Pierce stayed put.
That is the geographical story of the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, at least according to Garmin.
What gets neglected in that version, though, is how far Pierce has moved in so many other ways. Strategically, stylistically, emotionally, professionally and thus metaphorically, the Celtics' longtime anchor has traveled miles and miles to get to where he's at right now, without once contacting the cable company or forwarding his mail.
This is not to be confused with running in place, the treadmill existence that Pierce lived for his first nine years with the Celtics. While Garnett, Allen, James Posey, Eddie House, P.J. Brown, Sam Cassell, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau and a few others literally took planes, trains and automobiles to get here, relocating to New England for this memorable season, Pierce made his journeys on the court and inside his own skin.
That sort of travel can easily be missed -- as overlooked as the "b'' in subtle -- by those in close proximity to a person. To fans at the TD Banknorth Garden, to folks watching Pierce for so long in pubs and from their recliners, he might appear to be nearly the same player, the same guy, as always.

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si.com

Celtics' Rondo responds in clincher

BOSTON -- The Celtics' Rajon Rondo had every reason to get down on himself.
In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, he submitted a three-point, two-assist, two-turnover clunker. That performance came on the heels of a marginally better five-point, two-assist effort in Game 4.
His coach was starting to get down on him -- "[Rondo] is not playing well right now," Doc Rivers said after Game 5. "He's got to look to make more plays and be aggressive to the basket" -- and his competition in the Celtics' backcourt, namely Eddie House and Sam Cassell, was starting to distinguish itself. House chipped in 11 points in 25 minutes off the bench in Game 4, while Cassell contributed nine points in 18 minutes in Game 5. The critics, many of whom suggested Boston could never win a championship with a non-shooting, second-year point guard, returned in full force.
Good news, Boston. Rondo didn't listen.

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si.com

A championship unlike any other

BOSTON -- Rajon Rondo was sitting in the laps of the baseline photographers with his feet up like he was in a swimming pool, having careened there amid the long, bottomless run of Celtics drives to the basket. The happiness of his surroundings was deafening. It had been such a long time coming for everybody, and yet the five Celtics on the floor looked oblivious of the work they were finishing and what it would mean.
Read the scoreboard overhead: Celtics 70, Lakers 44.
The ghostly family of 16 banners was certain to grow by one. The audience of legends -- Bill Russell and John Havlicek and Tom Heinsohn and Jo Jo White -- was expanding with each sequence of achievement. This was the seminal, culminating moment of one of the most amazing teams the NBA has ever seen.
But there was no celebrating on the court to mirror the party raging around them. No hugging. No smiling. The Celtics continued to play. There were 20 minutes, 48 seconds remaining in this long, outrageous season, and the Celtics were going to play them out.

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