MVP Poll How To: If you remember the drill, great. If not, just wing it. .
After 40 minutes of play this one had the Celtics faithful grinning like the butcher's dog. Is there anything sweeter than laying a whipping on the Lakers. L.A. was being stripped down and exposed for the softies they are. Leon Powe took an out of bounds pass, and dribbled the length of the court, while the Lakers laid down a red carpet for him and invited him to dunk it on their faces incontested. I've never seen anything like it.
The Celts were up 24 and all was right in the world. Pierce is chuckling and commending the ref for a right call on yet another possible 4 point play (how on earth is he hitting those). What happened late, that gave the Lakers wind in their sales? Freedom I say. Down big late, the pressure was released and they were forced into shooting 3's as soon as the opportunity surfaced. A desperate plan, but once a few started falling the wind was whipping through the sails, and it became a race against the clock. Thankfully the Celts had a big enough pad, and, to their credit, made some huge plays when the game was on the line.
I prefer to focus on the positives in this one, and chalk the Lakers comeback up to a freaky shooting spree that would have mad Paul Westhead proud.
What can we say about Leon Powe? A monster night. He totally took what the Lakers were giving and punished them with a barrage of dunks and trips to the line.
The Captain gets my MVP vote in this one again though. When the game was on the line he calmly swished his free throws, then made a big defensive play on the other end. He was 4-4 from 3 point land, and played with complete calm, cool, collectiveness throughout (was Mike Brady speaking to him from TV Land?).
Any wins a good win in the Finals. Celts are up 2-to-zippo and have made the Lakers change their game. Does anyone really think the 41 point 4th quarter, 3-point hurling, team will show up in Game 3? Two more for paydirt!
My votes for Game 2: Pierce 3,Powe 2, Rondo 1
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