'08 NBA Finals: Game 1

Boston Garden (Oops! make it the TD Banknorth Garden now...) full with joy this night, as the Celtics ran past Lakers in the 3rd quarter and never looked behind to claim a 98-88 victory in Game 1. Kobe-led Lakers came tough through the 2nd quarter when they blew Celtics lead to take over the advantage going through the halftime.

Derek Fisher and Pau Gasol led their team with double digit, while Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo did the same with the opposite in the first half. Kobe Bryant himself shot a dismal 35 percent, with his best came in the 3rd quarter when he scored 12 on 5-for-10 field goals and 2-for-2 free throws. The other BIG 3 beside Garnett also had a terrible first half, scoring a low 3-point for both Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

The momentum for Celtics came at the start of the 3rd quarter when Pierce was fouled by Vladimir Radmanovic and precisely hit the 3-point-field-goal, then followed by a free throw to make it a four-point-play. With their rugged defensive scheme still made difficult for Kobe to easily made shot after shots, meant that Coach Jackson must find other sidekicks to balance the game and gain another lead. When the red hot Pierce accidentally sprained his foot behind teammate Kendrick Perkins, the future seemed bleak and the momentum could turn around. But the Celtics could hold on, even tied the game when Allen came from nowhere to score a wide-open-3pt. It couldn't be better when the fans at the Garden saw Pierce walking into the court once again, proving he wasn't seriously injured. Even worse than before, for the Lakers, Pierce hit back-to-back 3-point-field-goals to make it a lead for good.

Going into the 4th with 4-point-behind, the Lakers were troubled by their players' foul and still couldn't find any solutions to Celtics' defense. Now they're going to have a 2-day break to find out how to dismantle their opponent's spiderweb, before the series shifts to their homeground next tuesday.


Next: Game 2 is Sunday, 8 June 2008, 9:00 PM (ET) at TD Banknorth Garden.

HOME-ROAD 22-3 as NBA welcomes the Conference Finals

Only the third road victories closed the second round saga of the 2008 NBA Playoff starring the mighty SPURS against the bravery HORNETS. In a round that included some of the best stories from 8 best teams in the league so far, home teams won their first 12 games before Billups-less PISTONS showed their experience by beating a more complete but less-experienced MAGIC. Then it went another nine in-a-row before LAKERS' superstars finished off the JAZZ, guardian of the Delta Center.

The closing game at New Orleans this morning summed up that this year NBA title wouldn't go farther than the magnificent 8 that won the last twenty eight titles, starting by Bird's CELTICS in 1981, one of their 3 titles in the 80s. Duncan's SPURS is the defending champion, with Magic's LAKERS won 5, Thomas' PISTONS had 2 consecutive, Shaq's LAKERS went 3 in-a-row, and Billups' PISTONS once in between.

As the series goes to Conference Final, it wouldn't be likely there be another sweep (although I'd like to bet for one), but some may bet that there's another 7-game series battle to the end. Every team will do everything in order to guard their homecourt advantage they desperately had during 82 regular games. Like Coach Rivers said, "We want our homecourt advantage, and we fought (82 regular games) for that!" And so be it! CELTICS has never won a single game outside Boston Garden, and must went through 7 games series twice in their journey to Eastern Conference Final, but they were a perfect 8-0 on home. LAKERS and SPURS, who were also perfect in home games, won 3 and 2 games on the road, respectively. PISTONS who lost in their first playoff games (on HOME!), went to the Eastern Final after 5-1 home record and 3-2 record on the road.

So... what does it take to advance to the Final? A road win, i guess. Just one.