Boston Celtics @ Los Angeles Lakers -- 2/22/05

<font color="RoyalBlue"><font size="3"><div align="center">Boston Celtics (27-26) @ Los Angeles Lakers (26-24) Tuesday February 22nd, 2005 - 10:30PM ET Tipoff (on FoxW)</div></font></font>

Projected Lakers Starters
<font color="Indigo">PG - Chucky Atkins
SG - Kobe Bryant
SF - Jumaine Jones (Caron is questionable with a stomach virus)
PF - Lamar Odom
C - Chris Mihm</font>

Projected Celtic Starters
PG - Gary Payton
SG - Tony Allen
SF - Paul Pierce
PF - Raef LaFrentz
C - Mark Blount

The season series 0-0

Key Stat
Celtics have lost 3 straight to the Lakers

Key Match-Up
Lamar Odom vs. Raef LaFrentz

This is a match-up the Lakers must dominate. Lamar Odom has to take advantage of LaFrentz by taking him off the dribble. LaFrentz is a great weakside defender and likes to camp inside looking for the block shot. Odom needs to take LaFrentz on the perimeter and create the mis-match and create easy baskets for himself and for his teammates. Odom needs to score 20+ on the Celtics tonight and I'd also like to see 4 or 5 assists from him. The Lakers must win all of their remaining home games to stay ahead of the pack in the West, and to hopefully climb out of the 8th spot. The Lakers only have 13 games left at Staples, and each game there is just as big as the next. I expect Paul Pierce to have the edge at the 3 spot, especially if Butler misses the game with his stomach virus. Odom has to at least match Pierce's impact, by dominating the 4.

Lakers' Keys to the Game
- Laker starters must outplay the Celtic starters
- Turn up the defensive intensity
- Get the crowd involved early
- Hold the Celtics to under 100 points

Celtics' Keys to the Game
- Take advantage of LA's inconsistent shooting by playing some zone
- Pressure Atkins with Payton all night long
- Attack the post with Pierce and Payton

Prediction
Welcome back from the All-Star game, and hopefully you aren't emotionally drained from the swirling Laker rumors over the 3 day weekend. Getting back to reality, the Lakers find themselves fighting for their playoff hopes, and it starts with one of the few remaining home games left against their All-Time rivals in green.

This will be a tough match-up for the Lakers. The Celtics have a deep bench, to go along with a solid starting 5. The Lakers' bench has been outplayed in almost every game, and I expect the same tonight. Ricky Davis alone, will outscore the Laker bench, plus the Celtics get nice minutes from rookies Al Jefferson and Delonte West, along with Jiri Welsch, and journeyman Tom Guggliotta. The Celtics bench could easilty outscore the Lakers 42-20 in this game, putting the pressure on ALL the Laker starters to show up in this game. With only 32 games left, the Lakers need to turn up the intensity and start playing playoff basketball. Laker fans are notorious for not yelling and cheering all game long, but they do appreciate consistent effort, and when the Lakers are playing at their best, Staples can rival the loudest arenas in the NBA. The Lakers have to get the attention of the crowd early. It's tough to do, when most fans are scouring the stadium for Hollywood stars and celebrity couples. It's not out of the ordinary for a Laker fan to miss an exciting dunk, instead trying to see who Pam Anderson is sitting with. Only in LA can you include Pam Anderson and Laker basketball in the same sentence.

The Lakers cannot sleep walk in the first three quarters of the game. The Celtics are, too good of a team to relinquish a lead, and Gary Payton will be hell bent on showing the Lakers up tonight. He has a personal vandetta against the Lakers for trading him in the off-season and I expect Mr. Mouth to fire up the rest of the Celtics tonight. The Lakers have to protect the rock tonight, because the Celtics will gamble on the perimeter and in the passing lanes to get a deflection or a steal. The Lakers have the worst assist/turnover ratio in the league, and get beat every night in the points off turnover category. The magic number will be 10 turnovers max for the Lakers tonight, for the entire game, instead of the normal 15 turnovers by halftime. One area the Celtics are not strong in is rebounding. The Celtics rank near the bottom in opponent's offensive rebounds. The Lakers are ranked number 3 in team rebounding and they have to create extra looks by crashing the boards and getting easy put backs.

I'm interested to see how the Lakers respond in this game, because of all the trade rumors circulating around them. Jerry Buss is on the record saying he is adament on the Lakers making the playoffs this season. Mitch Kupchak has put the players "on notice." The pressure is entirely on the players, so will they step it up or crack under it? I predict they step it up, especially #8. Kobe Bryant strives under pressure and with the support of his teammates, he will rally the Lakers in the second half to make their playoff push. It starts tonight with a 100-91 victory by the Lakers. The Lakers are around 22-3 when they keep their opponents under 100 points, that's an .880 winning percentage. So the key from here on out has to be keeping opponents under the 100 point mark.

<font color="Indigo"><u>Laker Team Notes</u></font>
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant missed practice to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Joseph Bryant. Jumaine Jones was not at practice because of flight problems returning to Los Angeles and Butler was absent because of a stomach virus?. Former Lakers Kurt Rambis and Brian Shaw had their first practices as assistant coaches under Hamblen.</div> Source

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CeltsMan54:</div><div class="quote_post">Is Kobe definately playing? I read that he had to fly to Philly right after the All-Star game for his grandfather's funeral and there was a question about whether he was going to be able to be back in time.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like it from the team notes.

But, this will put some of those Laker rumors to rest, because if they really plan to deal some of these guys they'll try and keep them from getting hurt. Someone not in the lineup should tell you something.</div>
I doubt it, being it's the Lakers, the rumors will persist even after the deadline period. The Celtics have a lot of rumors surrounding Payton, Welsch, Banks and Guggs. Even if a player is going to be traded I would imagine they still play tonight, because this is a big game with playoff implications for both the Lakers and Celtics.

 

The Lakers should win this one. They have 32 games left, 19 on the road, every home game is critical for them, if they can't beat the Celtics it will be sad. I take L.A. 105-100.

 

*Luke Walton gets the start tonight for Caron Butler. He gets the fun job of guarding P Squared.

 

No Caron tonight, either he is being shipped somewhere and the Lakers don't want to risk the chance of him getting hurt...or...he really is sick.

 

The Lakers look terrible on offense tonight. No one knows where to be in the triangle offense and they are only shooting 29% early on 6 for 23 versus the Celtics at 53%. Lakers are lucky to be only down by 5 after the first quarter. Both Odom and Atkins are also in foul trouble with 2 a piece.

 

Kobe has only taken two 3's, one was because the Lakers ahve been sloppy with the ball and Kobe had to force it up from 30 ft. out.

We look like crap right now...Banks just burned Kobe and got Lamar for foul #3.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheNextJordan8:</div><div class="quote_post">All Kobe is doing is shooting 3's. Pathetic.</div>
Yeah Kobe isn't doing much tonight. He's had to take some difficult shots against the shot clock, but he needs to be more aggressive with the ball and driving it in. He's more deadly when he drives because of his ability to get to the line or create an open look like he did for Cook on the no-look pass. The team is shooting terrible. They missed at least 4 or 5 gimme baskets.

Damn Lamar and Atkins just picked up their 3rd fouls.

Still only down by 3....surprisingly.

 

Kobe has an excuse to be playing kinda bad though...he has had..what, 4 flights in the past 5 days? To denver, to philly, back to L.A....3...the death of his grandfather, the possibility of his best friend on the team (Caron, they bonded right away), being traded..he looks bummed out there, and then you add to the fact that the rest of the team is playing like crap...

 

Lamar is the reason we won...Great game man, Kobe looked depressed all night though

 

Great win tonight by the Lakers. What an effort on the boards tonight, outrebounding the C's 54 to 32! Chris Mihm was huge for us tonight getting a double-double, the blocks, and getting to the line 10 times. The Laker bench played well, and didn't let the team down when Odom and Atkins both got into foul trouble.

The only negative tonight was the foul shooting 28 out of 41, but the Lakers are great shooting team from the line so they should be fine.

The Lakers continue to win keeping their opponent UNDER the century mark.

Play of the night was Kobe's no look pass to Chris Mihm. He completely froze the Celtic defense and made a perfect pass to Mihm for the jam.