sf, Kobe's also taking too many tough shots. He would've been better off shooting from the perimeter, given his current %.

And yeah, KG's got 3 atm.

Fisher can't help himself. They weren't going to call anything, but he had to grab Pierce on the ground. :)

hey everyone..

someone says that kobe's missing FT because of bandages on his finger... must have been minimal finger injury...

:(

well, go boston!!!

And there's a perimeter shot by Kobe. He needs to make more of that.

where's dunkalicious brown, btw? bring him on to spice things up. pu-lease!

This is total Crap Lakers!!!!!!!

tell me about it, am.

Heh, who knew Artest would be the best player of this most crucial game tonite.

Make Artest shoot the ball. Stop fouling him!!

omg.. boston had it...

what an awful pass boston...

boston leads 40-34...

Interesting half. If Boston could rebound, they'd up a ton. As soon as LA starts shooting the second half, Boston will be in trouble .

OK, this is a bad joke. Kobe and Pau need to step up big time in the 2nd half.

np, i hope artest keeps going at it. the others will come along, i'm glad he's leading the charge. 6pt deficit at ht. hmmm... ok, but, we need a spark!

The game lacks the kind of performances one expects in a big game. Just flat..

"Gamesmanship is in the eyes of the beholder I suppose
Regardless how boring and repettive it is."

Yes. And I would say that, by definition, gamesmanship is boring and repetitive. Very few are TRULY creative. It is all basically a tall...not really adult, just tall... version of 'can so/can not; nyah, nyah."

rafa is apparently a lakers fan...

http://cornedbeefhash.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/rafael-nadal-gasoljersey1.jpg

"The game lacks the kind of performances one expects in a big game. Just flat.."

that's because the greenies want to win ugly - playing stifling defense (they'd rather foul than have you score a clean basket)!

NP Like the rest of the bloody team as well

This sucks

TTC is showing a Wimbledon classic, 2005 Final between Lindsay and Vee. They both played so well, but the turtle was just too slow for the gazelle. Go Caro, Scandinavia's#1, World's#3, reigning USO finalist, winner of 7WTA title and the ONLY teen in the top 25. Du er den bedste!

Pat Pau and Rafa are freinds

sf, the thing is that it's Kobe and Pau who should be leading the charge. They picked the worst possible time to come out flat. Granted the Boston defense has been excellent, but shooting just barely 23% (21% and 25% respectively) is just inexcusable, no matter what the circumstances.

Half the Laker points are second chance, and Magic thinks Perkins being out is a blessing for the C's. Alrighty, then. :)

AM, I hear ya. Kobe needs to pick up the slack in the 2nd half. Doesn't matter if the Celtics are throwing bricks at him. If he can't carry his team tonite then he doesn't deserve to win. Simple as that.

Sorry Lakers fans, but today Celtis are kicking Lakers ...

If you look at most of the posts tonight, it might answer the question why tennis is struggling in the states, a tennis board with more posts on stupid basketball then the great sport of tennis. Long live tennis. Nite all.

Samantha, huh? :)

We're sports fans, there is no tennis going on, and it's two hours out of the day for the last NBA game of the year. Besides, Kobe is talented and beautiful. :)

@AM...

heheheh... thats explains the mutual admiration AM... :)

np,
you have a point. i wonder where they contracted this nervous energy disease! not like they've not been here before!

they should go to playing basic simple basketball.

let the star (kobe) attack the rim, draw the inevitable double/triple team, then pass to a waiter to shoot - dont think, just shoot! or draw a foul and soon they'll back down. dwayne wade is the best at this tactic, with his slithering dribbles! (lebron does too, but wade has the edge, methink).

all we need is a lil spark, and the crowd energy will carry us the rest of the way!

come on, lakers, let's go!

Celts run a play to post up Ray? Seriously?

Pau stop being soo bloody tentative

nice assist their boston!!!

Take Pau off the court and someone give him a New Brain

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5960226&id=26081741101&fbid=455014441101

Did anyone see this picture ? What the hell were Sharapova and Ivanovic thinking ? They're wearing the ugliest dresses ever.

Yeah Phil calls time out

I wonder why Moron.pfft.

Sod's friend, yeah, Kobe HAS to attack the rim. He's not hitting squat from outside.

@SAm...

cheer up... thinks we're doing this for the finals... its the finals alright... ehhehe...

@lakers shooting...

cant shoot decently at the start lakers... kobe trying more than impossible shoots from way out of the center.. and its not going in the basket...

Come on Lakers Get In Their Faces

i like this laker time-out. stop the bleeding.

Sherlock - "Kobe is talented and beautiful"??????? I will give you talented. very. But we must have WAY different definitions of beautiful. s'ok. I forgive you. ;-) Maybe if Kobe wore a little Stella McCartney number, I could see it..but til then.. not so much.

11 point advantage now boston!!!

Kobe's gotta stop taking so many tough shots. Seriously.

Kobe those bloody shots arent working

I couldn't resist using the well-used phrase, CL. :)

And Ray Allen continues to stink.

one thing is for sure: boston's defense today is making hard for the lakers to win points...

Kobe's obviously cold tonite. He's gotta find a way to get to the line, or find a wide-open shooter while the Celts double- or triple-team him.

keep attacking the rim, kobe, we'll break their defense down in a lil bit.

Hi guys, I'm watching the game too. I don't care relly who is going to win but if Lakers lose I'm sorry for Rafa. First Spain lost his first match (they will win) and now maybe his friend Gasol too?

re: the wta players party photo: serena and jj look super. shriekie and ana - like a statue and droopy flat, respectively.

Sherlock. :-)

Yeah...Ray hasn't got anything like a shooting eye tonight. At the moment, he looks like the kid on the play ground no body wants to pass the ball to. Really lost. And not just the shooting. I suppose 'pros' should be able to put such stuff aside, but it must be tough dealing with his kid's situation.

down to 6pt deficit (from 12). good job kobies.

now keep the focus and let's break them down slowly.

more attacking the rim - force the issue!

But then the problem is that Kobe is only 50% from the line tonite. Can't believe he'd come out this flat in the most important game of the season. Forget MJ, he'd be fortunate to be in the same sentence as Magic after this stinker.

G-o-d, Kobe's being worthless tonite. What a moron.

nice 3 points their boston!!!

Another dumbass play by Kobe. WTF.

Hell Kobe

about time odom started scoring!

Pau Wakes Up

About bloody time too

Gasol didn't get even CLOSE to a piece of the ball on that Garnett shot. Incredible.

Dumbass Pau keeps letting KG drive to his right. He just doesn't learn. That was a good block, yes, but he should've never let KG get to the rim in the 1st place.

dunkalicious brown, please give me a spark. please!

lakers now turning up the heat!!!!

Idoits Lakers!!!!

Crap!

Come on Lakers

Dont let them push you around

Hee did we need that one

Lakers GO

and now its the bostons who cant score!!!

bye guys!!!

update me on the scores will you all... pls...

need to get some sleep.. bye all!!

onwards to wimbledon!!!

CL, yeah, I hate to say it, but Ray's been nothing short of horrible since his amazing game 2. :(

What's up with his kid?

This game will be decided on which team sucks more in the last Q. If Kobe keeps up his dumbass plays it'll be the Lakers.

So, MJ will still be the GOAT by a mile after tonight. Boring game. Lakers would've got their a$$es kicked if Perkins was playing.

ok, here's the deal...

end 1st quarter: down 9
(diff 3)
end 2nd quarter: down 6
(diff 2)
end 3rd quarter: down 4
(diff 1)
end fourth quarter: win 1 (or lose 1)

quite a pattern, eh?

who's going to be the hero in quarter 4?

Sherlock - his son has severe diabetes. He was with the kid in the hospital for most of the night before one of the games. Hard time managing the kid's blood sugar. Pretty scary stuff. (I only know this because my BFF is visiting and she remains a hard core Celtics fan. She is sitting on the couch alternately cheering and flinching. ;-)))

LA's dismal FT shooting continues. What a joke.

Good luck, Boston. You won't get a call this quarter.

Kobe's being worse than worthless. Just get the hell off the court. What a moron.

lakers keep shooting themselves in the foot.

first kobe throws the ball to rondo - unrequested!

then farmar and pau can't connect and let big baby break the pass.

then, icing on the cake, ignorant referee calls a foul on kobe when it should be offensive foul!

np,
don't despair. inspite of all the bad plays it's still real close.
keeping our poise could be the difference in this one.
and, btw, i like the well-timed timeouts. (boston's using theirs well, too).

Phew Kobe that might spark something off in you

keep the poise, lakers - you got this one!

let's go artest! 1pt game!

Yay Ron your my hero

and now, ray allen misses his 1st ft of the whole series!

sf, even if the Lakers win, this will feel like an empty victory. I wasn't expecting this crap nite from Kobe. He'll probably be named the MVP, but he will have gotten the award despite what happened tonite.

where from all this ft misses from pau and kobe? gawd. please somebody break this spell!

And dumbass Pau misses both FTs. What a farce.

all tied up! 64-64, np, keep the faith!

i know it's hard sometimes, but that's the nature of this game - a player can't be "on" all the time, y'konw?

Isn't this a red meat post? The B-ball people are completely drowning out the folks who want to talk tennis. May I suggest that those of us who want to talk tennis go back to the "On the Bounce" thread where some fun conversations were going on earlier?

As for this exerpt, I love all this stuff but Sherlock, I think you're right about the "veil of secrecy" that should be honored about the locker room. I suppose the statute of limitations has run out on those older stories from Lendl and Connor's days and maybe Pmac will only tell warm and fuzzy stories about the current players. I have the book and can't wait to read it.

I love the fact that Andy Roddick is more comfortable staying in the B locker room with his friends than going to the Elite A room. Bravo to him.

Ladyjulia: I completely agree with your view that Rafa's rituals before the match begins are a separate issue from his on-court slowness. As several people have already pointed out, he does the exact same thing before every match. It is never going to change nor should it. I am a creature of habit and can totally identify with his need to go through the same rituals before each match. What's the big deal that he takes ONE minute longer than everyone else? It would be nice if he could just speed things up a little. Don't know why the powers that be haven't spoken to him about it. His jumping up and down in front of the net and sprinting to the baseline is a unique signature for him. That's why he's a STAR and not just an ordinary player. I've heard numerous commentators, including both McEnroe brothers, say how much he brings to the game with his energy.

And to say that he's resting between points is comical. His opponents are usually happy for the respite. He's certainly not controlling the points when he's receiving which is 50% of the match. I agree he should be penalized if he goes over the 25 seconds between points when he's on serve. But remember that rule is flexible and up to the umpires discretion depending on how strenuous or crazy the previous point was.

Personally? I'm tired of the players going to the towel after every single point. It's now become a habit for numerous players.

Oh, and one last thing, I think Pmac made it pretty clear that Fed is a prince so he deserves the sportsmanship award he receives every year. But he also said that Rafa is liked by everyone too. But he's got alot of annoying habits. His running and jumping in the locker room before his matches must be really annoying! I don't care if he ever wins a sportsmanship award because he's admired by his peers regardless. And I always take one last pee before I leave my house. It's the last thing I do before I grab my keys and go out the door.

And there probably isn't one person left here who gives a flying fedal about anything I just wrote. Enjoy the basketball.

What a huge shot by Fisher. Can't believe that's the shot the Lakers wanted, but he got it.

sf, this game has been a bad joke. I honestly can't remember watching a worse playoff game. At the very least this will go down as one of the ugliest games in NBA Finals history.

annie vamos, sorry, for talking basket-ball.

tonight's a big night, and since there's no live tennis action, i'm sure the moderator would indulge us.

but big sorries to all who're offended.

Annie, sorry. I would've stayed on the last thread, but I saw no one there.

Ray wide open and......not even close.

hey, np, the kobe pyros about to start - can you tell?!

sf, good to see Kobe finally step up when it counts most. I want him to EARN the MVP honor.

see how smart the celtics are stopping our mo (with a time-out) as soon as we went up 68-64?

that's what the lakers should hve done in boston in game 5 and we wouldn't be nail-biting tonight!

Phew Kobe

Come on Lakers keep going

This is really an ugly game. Allen can't even finish layups.

sf, apparently not, unfortunately. Kobe needs to get to the line.

np, i agree it's ugly, but tyhe celtics know stiffling defense is the only way they caould win, that's why it's looking this way.

Hell 3 pt game with 3mins to play

lakers should take a timeout if boston scores on this possession.

That was a major dumbass play by Pierce. But Pau misses 1 FT. Still a tight game.

And now it's Artest's turn to donate points. Pierces makes both. 74-70.