Editor's Note: I can't get the picture to load today. Freakin' technical difficulties. So this is a pic-free post.

Lakers-Celtics: A classic matchup! A rivalry renewed! And Spider-Man's balls...this game was bawful. Both teams shot 39 percent from the field. The Lakers went 1-for-15 from downtown. The Celtics attempted only five free throws at home. Derek Fisher's corpse was 0-for-7 and finished with a game-worst plus-minus of -10. Kevin Garnett was 6-for-23 from the field and got skinned and eaten alive by Pau Gasol (25 points, 12-for-20, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocked shots). KG even missed his last NINE shots...but somehow finished with a plus-minus of +6 while Pau was -3.

It was just that kind of game.

In the end, the Celtics couldn't keep Andrew Bynum and Gasol from gobbling up offensive rebounds (11 combined) and making easy put backs, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime. And that's what cost Boston the game. Fittingly, the loss was sealed when Gasol swatted a desperation tip attempt by Ray Allen:


Said Allen: "I was in the perfect position and he came out of nowhere."

Added Celtics coach Doc Rivers: "I thought this was an awful game. If we had won, it would have been an awful game that we won. Give them credit -- a lot of that was defense. But I thought a lot of it was self-inflicted."

No kidding. And watching this horror show wanted me to self-inflict on myself.

Paul Pierce: Truth's near triple-double (18 points, 9 boards, 7 assists) was offset by his boner at the end of regulation. With Ray Allen open for three, Pierce picked up the dribble, got trapped by the L.A. defense, and let the clock hit zero.

WTF, Paul?

Said Pierce: "I didn't make the pass."

Added Garnett: "I don't think Paul was comfortable with throwing the pass. He picked his dribble up and time expired. It's that simple."

The Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets played okay...for a half. Then the Warriors -- playing in Denver by the way -- opened the third quarter on a 14-2 run and ended up winning the period 37-20. And that was the game. Let me tell you, the final score of 109-101 wasn't that close.

Said Aaron Afflalo: "That was horrible. You've got to give the Warriors credit, but on our home floor, that was horrible."

Yeah. It was pretty horrible. Golden State shot 52 percent from the field AND on threes, and Stephen Curry (36 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists) did whatever the hell he wanted. He even imitated coach Mark Jackson's old shimmy shake.

Said Jackson: "I tried to hold my laugh and stay in coach mode but I had to giggle. Now I know why my dad told me to stop doing it."

Added Curry: "I don't know what got into me. But I turned around and I saw (Jackson). We had joked about it earlier that it was his signature move. I haven't practiced it but I'm scared to look at the film. That was the first time and probably the last time."

Shimmies aside, the Nuggets have now lost five straight overall and five in a row on their home court. They're .500 at the Pepsi Center (7-7) and have fallen to 15-12 on the season.

So...has the Dead Superstar Bounce officially ended?

The Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash continued to amaze (14 points, 7-for-7, 13 assists) and his team continued to blow chucks. FREE STEVE NASH. PLEASE.

Eh, as for the game, the Suns couldn't hold down Houston's reserve corps: The Rockets' pine jockeys finished with 57 points on 25-for-40 to go with 26 rebounds and 18 assists. That's like a damn starting unit.

Hands? Faces? Anybody? I mean, if you can't stop Jordan Hill and Patrick Patterson, I guess you deserve to lose. The Suns also gave up 12 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points. And, hell, even then Phoenix had a chance to pull out a win...then committed two offensive fouls in the final 1:22.

Said Nash: "We didn't convert in so many areas, so it makes it a really disappointing loss. You're going to have cold patches but you've got to find other ways to stay in the game."

The Oklahoma City Thunder: They got a gimmie on national TV against the Excremento Kings, holding the Paupers to 40 percent shooting and limiting the Sactowners to exactly zero field goals in the final two minutes...

...and lost.

Mind you, they were up 95-87 with less than five minutes to play. And they couldn't hold on.

Said OKC coach Scott Brooks: "We had a good lead and in the last five or six minutes we've been good all season. But the turnovers hit us tonight. We played with good effort, but we didn't play with a controlled effort."

Yep. The Thunder were in a giving move, committing 23 turnovers for 28 points going the other way. Six of those TOs were bumbled away in the fourth quarter, during which the Kings outscored Oklahoma City 30-23. And won by five.

Said Kevin Durant: "It was just frustrating to lose because Serge (10 blocked shots) had a great game tonight. He was closing up the rim, in the paint, and we couldn't close it out for him. It was a tough loss, but we have to move on. We have a game tomorrow (in Utah) and we can't harp on this one."

Chris' Lacktion Ledger:
Lakers-Celtics: Andrew Goudelock lost the rock once and bricked twice (once from the Custom House Tower) for a +3 in 8:29.

Marquis Daniels turned over the ball once in 68 seconds for a +1.

Warriors-Nuggets: Ekpe Udoh amalgamated two assists and two boards in 20:39 with one lost rock and a near-foulout for a 6:2 Voskuhl, while Charles Jenkins bricked once and took a rejection for a +2 in 196 seconds.

Thunder-Kings: Nick Collison managed four boards in 25:17, only to turn over the ball twice and arrive a notch away from fouling out for a 7:4 Voskuhl.
7 Comments:
Anonymous Kenny said...
Regarding Steve Nash, I sometimes think that where he lacks is in not forcing things. CP3 does that but to a lesser extent. It's good to get your teammates involved, but there are times when a possession is going sour and Nash could take a contested look but gives it up for another contested look. Nash is the better option in those situations. I'm not saying he's playing for his shooting percentage, but there were many more than 7 good opportunities to shoot the ball for a superior shooter.

Anonymous JJ said...
I guess this is how Nash will go out. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Anonymous Silvio said...
Picture of the night:

http://cache.boston.com/multimedia/sports/bigshots/nba_finals_2010/bs27.jpg

Blogger aegeansheed said...
a little bit of "Blake get out of my way" was the "perfect spot" for Ray actually.

Not to mention, the play of the day was Frye's rare macho-move ended in a dunk on e-Baka.

especially after a couple of a days having seen this: http://i43.tinypic.com/2a6qfwh.jpg

Blogger chris said...
Regarding Steve Nash, I sometimes think that where he lacks is in not forcing things.

And we wonder why he hasn't demanded a trade from Phoenix. There's the answer right there.

Anonymous Matt said...
Wow, I just saw the game-ending play and realized how Allen was able to get that offensive putback attempt.

How can nobody comment on how he just grabbed Blake (who had position and was properly blocking out) and spun him out of the way?

Still, if the refs are going to swallow their whistles at the end of games (and they are), then you've gotta give Allen credit for doing what he needed to do to give his team a chance to win.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
mach..you heard they´ll change the Rookie-Soph thing?BOOoooOOOooOOring, not as bad as before, but still...
here´s what stern totally should do:
change the voting process - only the best players of winning teams, then vote on two squads only from loosing teams, then do a rookie and sophomore roster with 12 players each and pit them all together in a nice little tourney, players love tourneys, they don´t only get to play to win a game, but a TOURNEY!!so much more exitement involved, rookies getting beat up by the "real" all Stars, Sophomores handling the lolstars (probably not, since the east´s squad in such a setting would consist of Melo, Amare, Chandler, Williams, Monroe (? he´s Sophomore?split him, I say), Bargs, Varejao and Humphries,...
Pair the teams in two groups w/3 (or 4, if you do east and West Rooks and Sophs) teams, east and west, and there´d still be a sunday evening All-Star Tourney Game Finale..just sayin`