Field Notes From a Quarter

I was able to tune in for the fourth quarter of today's rematch between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. What struck me most was the coaching decisions at the end of the game. The Celtics have a tendency to lose identity during the last four minutes or so. With so many great offensive players, the first option is neither obvious nor consistent across games. Typically, Paul Pierce will attempt to take over, sometimes successfully, other times not. Game seven of the Finals last year ended with empty possession after empty possession as Boston saw its lead slip into a Lakers' victory. Similarly, on December 24th this year, the Celtics had worked toward a lead over the Magic only to lose the ability to score in the final minutes and thus lose the game. Today was different.

First, the match-ups all favored the Celtics. For a large portion of the last quarter, the Lakers had Blake, Bryant, and Brown as their point-wing-wing combination. This meant that Kobe had to play three while Blake dabbled as a two or one. Blake was either getting destroyed by hard screens while desperately chasing Ray Allen or getting destroyed by a quick Rondo move to the cup. Brown was very ineffective on offense. I thought that in terms of fourth quarter personnel, Rivers seriously out-coached Jackson. Then came the inevitable Celtics drought. As I screamed at the screen, begging for Garnet to get all the touches, Doc Rivers called plays that served exactly this purpose. Kevin either was taking his comfortable 18' jump shot or getting lobs from Rondo for low-post buckets. In crunch time, he is the C's best 1v1 scorer. Teams cannot afford to leave anyone else on the team open to double, as KG can pass the ball well. He took it to them, and the rain poured down in Staples Center as the Celtics did what they should have done 7 months ago.