HAIL THE BOSTON MIRACLE!

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

The 2008 NBA Finals heralded the 21st century resumption of serious hostilities between the Celtics and the Lakers. The series opened in Boston and the Celtics won Games 1 and 2. At which point the show switched to LA and the Lakers fought back with a win in Game 3. Still though, it was the Celtics series to lose. The Lakers had prevented a sweep. However their next orders of business were to win a second home game to take the series back to Boston and ideally a third game at home to go beat East leading the series. Otherwise, the Celtics would surely complete one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history. Could Phil Jackson do it again?

Game 4 in LA started in spectacular fashion. The Celtics tied the game at 2 early on but after that there really was only one team in it. The Eastern side may well have been a long way from home but that is no excuse for not being able to shoot to save your lives and the Lakers lead at the end of the first quarter was a record breaker! The Celtics got their act together in the second quarter but though Doc Rivers wanted his guys to cut the deficit to single digits before half time, that didn't happen but the Celtics did take a small bite into the Laker lead. Lamar Odom was leading the show with 15 points and the Lakers looked to be crusing with a 58-40 half time lead.

The problem is, the Celtics have made a habit of coming up with killer third quarters and other than Game 3 they've used that to win the game in this series. This was no different. The men in green blitzed both ends of the court and it was all the Lakers could do to just hang on, they still lead 73-71 at the end of the third. The Lakers fans proceded to watch, shocked as the Celtics took the lead for the first time in the fourth quarter but would still have been a Laker win had the Celtics not found a 21-3 run in the last five minutes! Paul Pierce led the comeback and finished the game with 20 points. Celtics won 97-91 and now face the barrel of a green gun!

Game 5 was therefore do or die for the Lakers and they started it the best way they possibly could, be repeating their first quarter surge from Game 4. The result wasn't another record breaker but it did seem it have a slightly better foundation than the effort in the previous game. Slight problem, for the Celtics this has just become a case of 'been there done that', which meant that for Phil Jackson it was "here we are again". The Celtics ripped into the Lakers lead in the second quarter and though they never led in the half, smoothly cut the deficit to single digits. The Lakers held on with Kobe grabbing 15 points to lead 55-52 but now the Celtics had an entire second half to play with.

Well the Lakers may have hit the first bucket of the third quarter but the Celtics replied by tying the game and going on to take the lead. The Lakers fought them for it but the Celtics lead 62-60 only for the Lakers to come back and actually "win" a third quarter for once, OK the lead didn't go to double digits but the Lakers came out of the third looking more comfortable than they did at half time! The double digit lead returned briefly in the fourth quarter only for the Celtics to rally again and tie the game but the Lakers retook the lead and when the final buzzer had sounded they had saved their bacon. Kobe finished with 25 points, Odom backing him up on 20, Paul Gasol grabbing 19. Lakers won 103-98.

That forced a Game 6 back in Boston. The Lakers looked like picking up where they left off to start with, opening by going 4-0 up. The Celtics turned it round but the Lakers came back to show they were still in the game only for the Celts to turn the game back around late on and led at the first buzzer. That was as good as it got for the Lakers. The home side could smell history in the 2nd quarter and went into overdrive, deepfrying their opponents from both two and three point land. The halftime buzzer sounded and the game seemed over already. Kevin Garnett led the scoring with 17 points, making up for a poor individualshowing in LA while the Celtics lead 58-35.

Well being down by 23 was as good as it got for the Lakers. The Celtics didn't blitz the third quarter like they've done earlier this series but then again they didn't have to. By midway in the third the Lakers were stuggling to keep the deficit under 30 and this sort of comeback with only a quarter left definately needed Ethan Hunt on the roster. They didn't even have any decent defenders to call upon in the fourth quarter, the Celtics were just firing off threes at will! The Celtics players were celebrating with four minutes left to play! And why not? Garnett and Ray Allen both grabbed 26 points, leading the Celtics to a 131-92 blowout, an amazing result given the nature of the players beaten - the Lakers just rolled over!

So, the Celtics won the series 4-2 which means that...the Boston Celtics are the 2008 NBA champions and Paul Pierce is the Finals MVP! Well, I've been an NBA fan for over a decade and the Celtics were one team I never expected to see lift the NBA trophy without the aid of a time machine! Did Red's ghost help out? Maybe with that jaw-dropping comeback in Game 4. Still, when KG and Ray Allen arrived in Boston one of the first games they played was a pre-season match in the O2 Arena in London against KG's old team the TWolves. They looked impressive back then and I expected them to make the playoffs only for the next thing I know to be the Green Machine blowing everyone away in the regular season. Even after they got the number 1 seed in the East, I wasn't sure they'd make the Finals, I didn't think they had the experience at the sharp end - it certainly didn't look like it in the early rounds! They have done it though. Could the current team give Larry Bird's side a match? Maybe, maybe not. Right now, Celtics fans aren't going to care!

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