Reflections on Game 1

It was great to see the Celtics win Game 1. The big three all had their moments and role players did what they had to when it was needed.

KG punctuated the game with his put-back dunk on the missed three inside three minutes to go in the fourth. He was the motor that started the Celtic machine going, and when the engine started sputtering late in the fourth, he kick-started it again.

Paul Pierce had his mini-Willis Reed moment upon his return from the locker room after dramatically going down in the third quarter. When he went down, I was sure the game was over. In the second quarter--when Paul Pierce was sitting with three fouls--the Celtics faltered. It really seemed like that would resume, but contrary to my intuition, Boston came strong and went on a 6 - 0 run when Pierce went to the locker room. Then Pierce came back and hit two dramatic threes, and you really got the sense that when the second one dropped the Celtics were going to win.

Ray Allen had six rebounds to go with his 19 points, which must have been the first time he'd had that many boards since he played for Connecticut.

Aside from a quiet performance by Kendrick Perkins--who left the game about 20 seconds after Pierce with an injury--the Celtics' role players stepped up also. While Posey and P.J. Brown didn't blow up the stat sheet, they both contributed some solid minutes, with P.J. Brown looking like a damn hungry 38-year old, scrapping for loose balls, grabbing rebounds, and drawing fouls down low. Rondo played under control for the most part and contributed 15 points to go along with his seven assists and five boards. Cassell hit some important shots in the second quarter, when no one else seemed to be able to hit anything.

All in all, this had to be a very encouraging ten point win over the Lakers, who despite lacking home court advantage in the series, seem to have been crowned the champ before they played a game.

If only I had been able to watch the game live...