CELTICS, LAKERS ON ROAD TO FINALS
The 2010 NBA playoffs had entered the latter stages. Only two teams were left standing in both the East and West. At stake over the course of a seven game series for all of them was a chance to be mentioned in basketball history as a team(and group of players) that have taken part in the NBA Finals. Yet a playoff series is still just a playoff series. The team that has homecourt advantage still has to win Game 1 to have a realistic chance of winning the series. Game 1 was upcoming. In both cases the series looked relatively straightforward on paper. However what has happened before doesn't always count for much so it's back to square 1 for everyone.
In the East, the Magic faced the Celtics in Orlando. Well what can I say about the Magic's early display? They couldn't shoot, they couldn't pass and they couldn't defend particularly well either. In short, the Celtics got out their knives and forks. Stan van Gundy was not a happy coach. Things went from bad to worse for the Magic in the 2nd quarter, they couldn't hit a bucket for the first four minutes of that period - it was like they'd been Monstarred. Eventually the Magic started getting their act together but there was no way they were going to turn the game around before half time. Celtics led 41-32 with Ray Allen leading the charge with 12 points.
Early in the third quarter and the Magic finally started finding their range from three point land. Suddenly we had a game again. "Fine by us" said the Celtics who proceded to blow the Magic to bits once again. The Celtics lead hit 20 before the end of the period but by the time the third buzzer sounded, the Magic didn't look quite dead yet. In the early stages of the 4th quarter, the Magic took another bite into the Celtic deficit but the clock was ticking...then suddenly they appeared to throw the lid off their coffin and it looked to be going down to the wire. Eight seconds left and they'd cut the gap to two. It was the men in green who found the dagger though and won 92-88 with Allen finishing on 25 points backed up by Paul Pierce on 22. Suddenly, the Magic have their work cut out.
Out West the Lakers faced the Suns in LA. Well the Suns opened up hot going 7-0 with 10:10 left in the 1st and the Lakers didn't have an effective way of countering that for a while. The home side latched on to their opponents eventually though and turned the game round before the end of the opener. In the 2nd quarter it was the Suns that needed to respond but they didn't look to do much more than treading water as the Lakers were in familiar territory. The Suns took a nibble out of the gap before halftime but still, the Lakers led 62-55 with Lamar Odom topping the scoring charts for them on 15 points. Game not over yet though.
However the Lakers started to step it up early in the third quarter and the Suns barely had the ability to restrain them. The Lakers just cruised their way through the latter stages of the period - the Suns were going to need a big effort in the 4th. What they got was anhiliation. It wasn't long into the final period that the Lakers lead hit 20 and the Suns never looked like coming up with the sort of run needed to come back from that. The reigning NBA champions have once again shown people how it's done. Kobe Bryant was able to sit most of the 4th on the bench after grabbing 40 points. The final score was 128-107. Can the Suns step it up?
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