Image via WikipediaCome Sunday night, the Lakers had no fight to support their talk.They lost the tie-breaking Game 5 of the NBA Finals to the Celtics, 92-86, with Boston's 56.3 percent field-goal shooting the best anyone has hung on the Lakers this postseason.
No opponent had even shot as much as 50 percent in 20 previous playoff games, actually.
"We need to protect each other," Lakers forward Pau Gasol said of the disappointing defense, which offset a dynamic individual show by Kobe Bryant. He had 38 points to account for 44 percent of the team's scoring. With four assists, he had twice as many of those as any teammate.
That stilted offensive production was just another way the Lakers failed to play as a team. Their 86 points were still the fewest the Lakers have scored all postseason.
It leaves the Lakers trailing in a series for the first time in the playoffs. What once looked so promising for the Lakers considering Jackson is 47-0 when his team wins Game 1 has become a profound challenge.
A road team has faced a tie-breaking Game 5 with the safety net of home Games 6 and 7 eight previous times; the winner of Game 5 has won seven those eight series. Overall, the winner of the tie-breaking Game 5 has gone on to win 19 of 25 NBA Finals.
"They've still got to win one more," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said, "and they have to do it on our home court."
The Lakers opened the playoffs 9-0 at home before losing Game 2 to the Celtics and have won 84 percent of their home playoff games (72-14) since Staples Center opened in 2000. Since the start of the 2008 NBA playoffs, the Lakers are 29-4 at Staples in the postseason.
Said Boston's Rajon Rondo: "We play better on the road anyway."
Celtics coach Doc Rivers reiterated before this game that Boston probably needed to overcome one stellar Bryant scoring game to win the series. He wound up as prophetic as Jackson, as Bryant made 13 of 27 field-goal attempts despite going 4-for-12 in the first half on a twisted ankle.
Bryant scored the last four points of the first half for the Lakers – and then the first 19 of the second half. The elapsed time where no other Laker scored? The last 3:59 of the first half and the first 9:44 of the second half. That's a mind-boggling 13:43 of game time, an entire quarter and then another 1:43 of the next.
Boston's Paul Pierce scored 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Garnett was key with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks.
The only other Laker to reach 12 points was Pau Gasol, but he shot just 5 of 12 from the field. The Lakers were outscored in the paint, 46-32.
Bryant, though, refused to dwell on it. When asked about his confidence level heading home, he laughed and said sarcastically: "I'm not very confident at all."
"That's Kobe," Garnett said. "He's got a lot of confidence. I've got confidence that my team can go out there and get a win. So we'll see."
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