The better team won. That's the truth.
Fueled by a Boston Garden crowd that has been starving for an NBA title for 22 years, the Boston Celtics slapped a good old fashioned 131-92 whipping on the Lakers in Game 6 and raised their 17th championship banner.
The 2008 Celtics have bridged the gap in their rich basketball history. From Hondo to Rondo. From DJ to Walter Ray. From Kevin McHale to Kevin Garnett. From Larry Legend to the The Truth.
As KG put it, "Top of the world, Ma! Top of the world!"
The Celtics recorded an NBA Finals record 18 steals in Game 6.....18 steals! That's unheard of in the playoffs yet alone in the Finals.
Ray Allen dropped a record seven 3-pointers and I don't think he had a hand in his face on any of those 3-point attempts. All wide-open shots.
And Kevin Garnett repeatedly thumped his chest like a class bully who is about to take your lunch money. He was pumping his fists and scowling even when the Celts were up by 39 points!
It just seemed like the Celtics were playing harder and harder when the lead kept getting bigger and bigger. The Lakers looked weary and beaten. The Celtics applied the submission hold early and not even Big John McCarthy could have saved the Lakers.
Throughout the series, the Celtics were allowed to get their hands on the Lakers and the L.A. dudes coward and folded like a tent. They were thrown off their game and simply could not sustain any kind of flow in the triangle offense.
But the Lakers have no one to blame but themselves. The defining moment of the series points to the blown 24-point lead in Game 4. Sure they were playing without Andrew Bynum, but there is no time for excuses. You simply cannot blow a 24-point in your own building. No excuse for that.
Bottom line was, the Celtics outcoached, outhustled, outmuscled and outplayed the Lakers. They had it in fifth gear while the Lakers were stuck in neutral.
Kobe Bryant looked fatigued. The NBA's reigning MVP was frustrated by Tom Thibodeau's defense and lost the Finals MVP to Paul Pierce.
Lamar Odom left his game somewhere between Utah and San Antonio.
Twelve-year veteran Derek Fisher got outworked by a second-year point guard.
Pau Gasol got outmuscled by Garnett, 38-year-old P.J. Brown and 23-year-old Kendrick Perkins, who started Game 6 despite a bum shoulder.
The Lakers bench, touted by some as the best in the league, was so badly outplayed by James Posey, Eddie House, Leon Powe and Sam Cassell that Phil Jackson was forced to turn to Chris Mihm and Trevor Ariza, two guys who logged a combined 47 games all season.
There is no guarantee that the Lakers will get back to the NBA Finals. If they are lucky enough to get another shot at the Larry O'Brien trophy, they will need a healthy Bynum, a defensive-minded small forward (Ron Artest?) and a renewed mental and physical disposition.
Keywords: Celtics, Lakers, NBA Finals
