THE NBA FINALS - Series tied 2-2
BOSTON 96, LOS ANGELES LAKERS 89
Let's give a proverbial tip-of-the-cap to both Celtics head coach Doc Rivers and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy ...and here's why:
Rivers had the fortitude to put four bench players - that's Davis, Robinson, Tony Allen and Rasheed Wallace - on the floor along with struggling starter Ray Allen for most of the fourth quarter here and he rode the hot hand to perfection.
Meanwhile, Van Gundy - just moments into the fourth quarter - made the brilliant comment that Rivers must have faith in his bench to put 'em out there down 62-60 after three quarters and the old coach hinted that Boston could get a real energy lift from this group.
Bingo!
Davis registered nine points in the fourth quarter and pounded in the points from in-close - the very same type shots the Celtics couldn't hit for the first three quarters when a bevy of "bunnies" were missed even without any Lakers covering them in many instances.
Heck, Boston's Kevin Garnett (5-of-13 FG shooting for 13 points) missed four point-blank jumpers in the final quarter and was doing his best to shoot the Celtics right out of these Finals and there was Allen clanging more jumpers en route to a shabby 4-of-11 FG shooting game. Davis brought energy, muscle and - okay - a little drool too here and the enthusiasm quickly spread and that's where Robinson came in.
The former New York Knicks three-time slam-dunk champ not only hit important shots but he recorded a key steal in the final quarter and - better yet - committed only one turnover while Rondo got R&R for much of the last frame.
Sure, Celtics star Paul Pierce wound up with 19 points - thanks to a hot start and quick-fire finish but he was MIA for much of the middle two quarters - and the Lakers resorted to their tired old game plan of asking Bryant to do way too much at crunch time while never getting the ball into the hands of big man Pau Gasol (21 points but a total non-factor in the fourth quarter) in the game's final 10 minutes. Maybe Gasol's got to take some of the blame here too as he never did shake free from Wallace's long-armed defense.
No doubt that Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was seething after this game - Boston's 16 offensive rebounds probably bothered the Zen Master more than anything else - and LA now is banking on nearly three full days of rest for a tired Bryant and a banged-up Andrew Bynum (played just 12 minutes in all and was a DNP after halftime here).
P.S., for anyone out there wondering, in the past 10 years there has been only one NBA Finals that has "gone the distance" with San Antonio topping Detroit in 7 games back in 2005. Otherwise, there have been four NBA Finals series that have gone 6 games, three NBA Finals that have gone just 5 games and there's been a pair of sweeps while dating back to the 2000 NBA Playoffs.
Here's a game-by-game look at this year's NBA Finals (note all home teams are in CAPS):
DATE
FAV
SPREAD
DOG
RESULT
6-3
LAKERS
- 6
Celtics
LAKERS 102-89
6-6
LAKERS
- 5½
Celtics
Celtics 103-94
6-8
CELTICS
- 3
Lakers
Lakers 91-84
6-10
CELTICS
- 4
Lakers
CELTICS 96-89
Pointspread Note: The NBA Finals Betting Favorites now are 2-2 ATS (against the spread) and note that playoff chalk sides are a resounding 46-32-1 ATS overall this year for a .590 winning rate.
The Boston Celtics are 14-7 spreadwise overall in this year's post-season action (a .667 winning rate) while the Los Angeles Lakers exited Thursday's Game 4 with an 11-9 spread log (that's a .550 winning percentage).
BOSTON 96, LOS ANGELES LAKERS 89
Let's give a proverbial tip-of-the-cap to both Celtics head coach Doc Rivers and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy ...and here's why:
Rivers had the fortitude to put four bench players - that's Davis, Robinson, Tony Allen and Rasheed Wallace - on the floor along with struggling starter Ray Allen for most of the fourth quarter here and he rode the hot hand to perfection.
Meanwhile, Van Gundy - just moments into the fourth quarter - made the brilliant comment that Rivers must have faith in his bench to put 'em out there down 62-60 after three quarters and the old coach hinted that Boston could get a real energy lift from this group.
Bingo!
Davis registered nine points in the fourth quarter and pounded in the points from in-close - the very same type shots the Celtics couldn't hit for the first three quarters when a bevy of "bunnies" were missed even without any Lakers covering them in many instances.
Heck, Boston's Kevin Garnett (5-of-13 FG shooting for 13 points) missed four point-blank jumpers in the final quarter and was doing his best to shoot the Celtics right out of these Finals and there was Allen clanging more jumpers en route to a shabby 4-of-11 FG shooting game. Davis brought energy, muscle and - okay - a little drool too here and the enthusiasm quickly spread and that's where Robinson came in.
The former New York Knicks three-time slam-dunk champ not only hit important shots but he recorded a key steal in the final quarter and - better yet - committed only one turnover while Rondo got R&R for much of the last frame.
Sure, Celtics star Paul Pierce wound up with 19 points - thanks to a hot start and quick-fire finish but he was MIA for much of the middle two quarters - and the Lakers resorted to their tired old game plan of asking Bryant to do way too much at crunch time while never getting the ball into the hands of big man Pau Gasol (21 points but a total non-factor in the fourth quarter) in the game's final 10 minutes. Maybe Gasol's got to take some of the blame here too as he never did shake free from Wallace's long-armed defense.
No doubt that Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was seething after this game - Boston's 16 offensive rebounds probably bothered the Zen Master more than anything else - and LA now is banking on nearly three full days of rest for a tired Bryant and a banged-up Andrew Bynum (played just 12 minutes in all and was a DNP after halftime here).
P.S., for anyone out there wondering, in the past 10 years there has been only one NBA Finals that has "gone the distance" with San Antonio topping Detroit in 7 games back in 2005. Otherwise, there have been four NBA Finals series that have gone 6 games, three NBA Finals that have gone just 5 games and there's been a pair of sweeps while dating back to the 2000 NBA Playoffs.
Here's a game-by-game look at this year's NBA Finals (note all home teams are in CAPS):
DATE
FAV
SPREAD
DOG
RESULT
6-3
LAKERS
- 6
Celtics
LAKERS 102-89
6-6
LAKERS
- 5½
Celtics
Celtics 103-94
6-8
CELTICS
- 3
Lakers
Lakers 91-84
6-10
CELTICS
- 4
Lakers
CELTICS 96-89
Pointspread Note: The NBA Finals Betting Favorites now are 2-2 ATS (against the spread) and note that playoff chalk sides are a resounding 46-32-1 ATS overall this year for a .590 winning rate.
The Boston Celtics are 14-7 spreadwise overall in this year's post-season action (a .667 winning rate) while the Los Angeles Lakers exited Thursday's Game 4 with an 11-9 spread log (that's a .550 winning percentage).
So true! When I first came aboard this forum I started there and did not get the responses i was looking for. It seemed nobody wanted to discuss sports on this forum. Thankfully, i found the "sub-forums"
to King JR 
worked out well