The tone of the series was set last night and it will be a physical one. Within the 1st 30 seconds after tip-off, Paul Pierce and Ron Artest received double technicals for elbowing and jawing under the basket. The first battle in this series was won by the Lakers with Kobe Bryant scoring 30 points. Pau Gasol was ultimately the best player of the night showing his finesse and toughness throughout the game with 23pts and 14reb. Andrew Bynum had arguably his best game of the playoffs while only providing 10pts. Artest added 15 himself and provided solid defense he had been lacking in the last few series.
Pierce led the Celtics with 24pts, followed by 16 from Kevin Garnett, 12 from Ray allen, and 13 from Rajon Rondo, who also had 8 assists. Nothing went right for the Celtics from the start and even culminated in a jump ball of Nate Robinson 5'9 agains Pau Gasol 7'0. Rondo I feel did not keep the Celtics offense together like he needs to if they are going to move forward in this series.
The Lakers proved that they are not just the finesse team that they are known as. They can be physical with the rest of them. The Celtics will continue to be that physical, but hopefully they can translate that into more successful play. They were out rebounded by the Lakers and will need to use that physicality to be better around the glass. I look for a closer game in game 2, as I do not see the Celtics being this bad the rest of the series. We shall see though when the series resumes Sunday at 8:00 in Las Angeles.
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