Derek Fisher is the Lakers' driving force again

The veteran point guard comes through with a huge fourth quarter to carry the Lakers to a huge Game 3 victory.

Eleven years in 94 feet. A Lakers lifetime in less than 10 seconds. A career of shadows eclipsed in a streak of brilliance.Old, slow Derek Fisher grabbed the basketball near the Boston Celtics baseline in the final minute

Tuesday night and did what he has done countless times in countless moments for a team that has never considered him its star.He quietly pushed. And pushed. And pushed. He dribbled past Rajon Rondo early, past Kevin Garnett at midcourt, legs pumping, head swiveling, fully expecting somebody would eventually stop him.

But as Fisher has long since taught us, if you push long and hard enough, nobody can stop you. And amazingly, on a floor covered in the sweat of legendary defense, in an arena filled with the cries of legendary desperation, nobody did.Fisher drove right to the basket and took flight just as Garnett, Glen Davis and Ray Allen all converged on him. They collided in mid-air. Fisher dropped to the floor.

Just as the ball was dropping in the basket. Just as a dagger was going through a heart. Just as the biggest moment in a second consecutive NBA Finals was being stolen by the smallest presence in the gym."They swallowed him up," said teammate Luke Walton with an amazed grin. "But he came out huge."Bigger than ever he is, this creaky Lakers leader who has once again saved a game that his longtime running mate and much brighter star named Kobe Bryant could not.

Remember when Fisher's two three-pointers stole Game 4 from Orlando last June? This time he was stunning for an entire quarter to steal Game 3 from the Celtics, Fisher's 11 points in the final period leading the Lakers to a 91-84 victory and a two-games-to-one series lead.His coast-to-coast layup, a three-point play because he was fouled, was only his final basket of a period in which he repeatedly held off the surging Celtics amid a blistering roar from TD Garden fans who could not believe this was happening to them.They pull within one point and Fisher fights his way for a layup? They later pull within two points and Fisher bounces off Allen for a jumper? Then he hits another running jumper? Then he fights through Davis and Rondo for a bank shot?Is it any wonder that by the time Fisher grabbed that ball to begin his full-court flush, the Celtics were in such a state of shock, they could only watch him?

Equally as surprised were all those back in Los Angeles who were surely watching their televisions and crying for Bryant to take over. I can show you text from a friend who proclaimed that the game would only be won if Bryant won it for them.Nearly every time, he does. But this time Bryant was scuffling through the end of his worst game in several weeks, making only one of six shots in the fourth quarter while Fisher was making five of seven.The closet closer."He pretty much won the game," Rondo said of Fisher. "When we made our run, he seemed to have answers every time.''Fisher had all the answers until the end, when he was called over for the national television postgame interview. He has four championship rings, yet how many times has he been the one doing that interview? He has heroics that include his infamous 0.4-second shot that beat San Antonio in the 2004 playoffs, yet how many times has he been honored for creating the biggest moment on basketball's biggest stage?Fisher was so overwhelmed by the moment, he initially couldn't answer ABC reporter Doris Burke's question, appearing on the verge of tears."I'm sorry to get emotional," he said.

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE SOURCE

Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 3 Preview

Chin resting in his hand, mouth barely moving as he spoke, Kobe Bryant had the look of someone who would have rather been anywhere but Staples Center.

The next few nights might make him long to be back home.
The NBA’s best rivalry is returning to its East Coast headquarters, site of perhaps the most miserable moment of Bryant’s career last time he and the Los Angeles Lakers were here for the finals.
And the Boston Celtics and their green-clad fans can’t wait to welcome him back.
“I feel good going back to the jungle,” Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said Sunday.

Those familiar “Beat L.A! Beat L.A!” chants that have echoed through the Garden during so many springtimes will be booming again, and the Celtics can lock up an 18th NBA title if they can do just that three times.
Game 2 is Tuesday night, followed by games Thursday and Sunday in Boston.
The Celtics evened the series at a game apiece with their 103-94 victory in Game 2, with guards Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen taking turns punishing the Lakers, and Bryant often powerless to stop them because of foul trouble.

A fuming Bryant had little to say afterward, offering terse responses as he looked back on that game and ahead to the next one.

“It’s the most important game. Game 1 was the most important, Game 2 was the most important, now it’s Game 3,” Bryant said. “It’s just the next game, simple as that.”

The finals are deadlocked after two games for the first time since 2004, when the Detroit Pistons split a pair in Los Angeles before coming home and winning three straight to take the series. That was Bryant’s first loss in the championship round.

His other one came two years ago, on a night the Lakers will never forget.
The Celtics pummeled them 131-92 in a Game 6 rout that was decided after mere minutes. While Garnett, Allen and Pierce celebrated their long-awaited first NBA title, the humiliated Lakers sat trapped in their team bus as Boston fans taunted them from the street.

“Obviously there’s feelings involved and there’s memories that are in there, which should help us, should help us to push through and to battle even harder,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said of that night.
Both teams were off Monday following the cross country flight from Los Angeles. The 2-3-2 format in the NBA finals was instituted in the mid-1980s, when Lakers-Celtics matchups were as common in June as graduation parties, to limit the amount of coast to coast trips. But a return to California won’t be needed if either team can win three straight.

“We took home court, so we’ve got a chance to play three games (at home),” Celtics forward Paul Pierce said Sunday. “But I told you all yesterday that doesn’t guarantee we’re going to win the games because we’re at home. We’ve got to go out there and play the game. They’re going to be coming into our house and we can’t assume anything. We can’t take it for granted.”

The Celtics turned things around following their 102-89 loss in their opener by toughening up their defense, limiting the Lakers to 41 percent shooting. Rondo tracked down the long rebounds of many missed shots to ignite Boston’s fast break, and Allen capitalized on the open looks that created by making an NBA finals-record eight 3-pointers while scoring 32 points.
The Lakers were frustrated by the foul trouble for Bryant and top reserve Lamar Odom, who has been ineffective in both games. Bryant was more annoyed with his team’s defense against Boston’s guards, wasting strong efforts from Gasol and center Andrew Bynum.

“It has nothing to do with scoring. Nothing. It’s all defensively,” Bryant said. “We gave them too many easy baskets and blew too many defensive assignments. That’s it.”

Now they’ll have to play better on the road than they have in some previous series, having lost twice at both Oklahoma City and Phoenix earlier in the postseason.

Just like in those series, they’re searching for ways to slow down a dynamic point guard. Rondo had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth career triple-double, repeatedly beating the Lakers to loose balls and then beating them down the court.

“In a sequence like this, there’s no doubt it’s a blow to us to lose the home court, but we anticipated this might happen, and we’re just going to have to go pick it up,” coach Phil Jackson said.

Los Angeles dropped all three road games during the 2008 finals, but the Celtics aren’t as dominant on the parquet now as they were back then. The Lakers haven’t lost in Boston since that night that ended their season two years ago, posting a pair of regular-season victories.

“Game 3 is the biggest game of the series so far. These two games are behind us,” Rondo said. “You know, they’re not in a bad situation at all. They’re a good road team, and we’re a good home team. It’s going to be a good game.”

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE SOURCE

Allen and Rondo Lead Celtics Past Lakers

LOS ANGELES — It began with Ray Allen’s quick release, ended with Rajon Rondo’s quick hands and finally, definitively, with the Boston Celtics’ indisputable arrival in the 2010 finals.

The Celtics had wobbled through a series-opening defeat and had their vigor and fortitude called into question during the too-long break between games. Their response came Sunday evening, with a 103-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers that hushed the star-studded Staples Center crowd and tied the finals at a game apiece.

The next three games are at TD Garden, starting Tuesday night.
Allen put on one of the greatest shooting displays in finals history, hitting 8 of 11 3-point tries and finishing with a game-high 32 points. Rondo had a triple-double, with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Lakers had a 3-point lead late in the game, then lost their defensive edge. Rondo got loose for back-to-back layups, sparking an 11-0 run that put the game away. He kept providing the fuel, blocking Derek Fisher from behind and poking the ball away from Kobe Bryant.

Bryant scored 21 points but spent much of the night with his arms stretched out to his sides, palms up, shoulders raised, in a mild state of confusion. He got his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and his fifth on a charging call early in the fourth quarter, sending him to the bench.

Bryant returned with 6 minutes 16 seconds left to play and struck immediately, with a 3-point play, then a baseline jumper as the Lakers took a 90-87 lead. The Celtics dominated the rest of the game.
Allen’s eight 3-pointers broke the finals record of seven, a mark held jointly by Allen (2008), Scottie Pippen (1997) and Kenny Smith (1995). Allen hit his first seven 3-point attempts of the night, all in the first half. That broke the finals record of six 3-pointers in a half, held by Allen (2008), Smith (1995) and Michael Jordan (1992).

His brilliance from the arc helped offset the sketchy shooting of the rest of the Celtics’ lineup. Paul Pierce missed his first five shots and finished 2 of 11 from the field, for 10 points. Rondo shot 9 for 19. Kevin Garnett was again overmatched by the Lakers’ front line and finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 5 fouls. But he hit a late 9-footer as the Celtics pulled away.

After taking a 102-89 victory Thursday to open the series, the Lakers anticipated a fierce response. They are familiar enough with the Celtics to expect nothing less. “It’s going to be a much more tight game, I think, going down the stretch,” Coach Phil Jackson said before tip-off.

If anything, it seemed that the Lakers might have underestimated the degree of pushback. The Celtics grabbed an early 14-point lead, despite spotty shooting, a slow start by everyone other than Allen and foul trouble throughout their big-man corps.

Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis all had three fouls by halftime. Bryant also had three, limiting him to 18:33 in the first half. The Lakers’ big men set the tone early, with Andrew Bynum and Gasol combining for 25 points and 7 blocks in the half.

But the most striking numbers came from Allen, all from the outside. “He saved us in the first half,” Coach Doc Rivers said.

Bynum, playing despite a torn meniscus in his right knee, had a huge impact all night, disrupting shots around the basket, tagging the Celtics with fouls and putting every ounce and inch of his 7-foot, 285-pound frame to good use.

As the Lakers shut down the lane, the Celtics responded with a flurry of deep jumpers, most of them by Allen. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter, then five more in the second, as the Celtics surged to a 14-point lead. He had 27 points by halftime, having hit 9 of 14 field goals and 7 of 8 3-pointers. The rest of the Celtics went 8 for 25.

Allen’s final 3 of the half gave Boston a 52-39 lead, and put a chill in the building. The Lakers, after a meandering 22 minutes, at last responded, scoring the final 7 points of the half.
Gasol converted a 3-point play after driving baseline for a pretty reverse dunk. In the final seconds, Bryant stole a looping pass by Shelden Williams, then rose and drilled a 27-foot 3-pointer. Williams immediately threw another lazy pass, which Bryant also picked off and turned into an even more difficult 3-point try, which missed at the buzzer.

The sequence energized the building and sent the Lakers into the locker room with a bit more bounce. It carried in the second half, as they surged to a 57-56 lead, completing a 16-2 run that bridged the second and third quarters.

The night began on a somber note, with a moment of silence for John Wooden and moving tributes from Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The mood picked up from there, with the crowd responding warmly to a lifetime coaching award given to Tex Winter, Jackson’s longtime assistant, and Jack Ramsay.

It was a choppy, tightly called first half. Garnett got a foul for bumping Gasol in transition. Pierce and Davis were called for illegal screens on consecutive possessions. The Celtics had 18 fouls in the half, sending the Lakers to the line for 25 free throws.

Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 2 Preview

Rajon Rondo often enjoys returning to his room at the Celtics’ hotel and watching tape of a Boston victory before he goes to sleep.
The losses, not so much.
Yet Rondo did just that after the NBA finals opener Thursday with teammate Kendrick Perkins, ordering room service and watching the replay of the Los Angeles Lakers’ decisive win. In his own room elsewhere in the hotel, Kevin Garnett did the same thing—twice.
“You learn a lot about yourself when you lose,” Garnett said. “You learn a lot about yourself when you’re down. This shows what you’re made of.”
While Rondo and Perkins muted the television, Garnett turned it up to hear every unflattering thing said about the Celtics. Yet all three came away from the film session with two conclusions: Kobe Bryant is awfully good, but Boston still can compete with the Lakers.
“That might be the first time after a loss that I watched a game again so quickly,” Rondo said Saturday before Boston’s workout at the Lakers’ training complex. “This isn’t the first round any more. You don’t have a lot of time to get things right. I think I correct my mistakes better when I see them.”
Rondo, Perkins and their teammates all promised increased intensity in every aspect of their considerable games when they look to avoid an 0-2 series hole Sunday night in Game 2. After staggering into this finals rematch with an unimpressive effort, Boston hopes focus and adjustments will make their trip out West worthwhile.
“Everybody gets punched,” Celtics big man Glen Davis said. “Everybody gets knocked out. It’s about how you get up. We got punched. We got dazed. It’s about how you react to it.”
The Celtics all realize that while Bryant’s offensive artistry is responsible for most of the attention directed at him, particularly after 12 30-point games already in this postseason, he’s a perennial all-defensive team selection for a reason. Rondo used his film session to analyze exactly what Bryant did to slow down both the Celtics and their young point guard.
“He’s a good defensive player, and we all knew that,” Rondo said. “He did a great job on me. A lot of what they do on both ends keys off Kobe.”
Bryant guarded Rondo at times during the 2008 finals largely because the matchup left him free to help out on other defensive matchups while daring Rondo to beat them.
After Rondo shredded Cleveland and Orlando in consecutive playoff series, he’s possibly the Celtics’ single biggest offensive threat. The Lakers concentrated on using Bryant’s superior size to direct Rondo into tough areas of the court.
“You don’t want to overcommit too much, but it’s a full-time job because he’s very smart,” Bryant said. “He gets after it quite a bit. It takes a great deal of energy and effort to key in on him.”
So everybody played a role. When Rondo slipped underneath the basket for difficult layup attempts in the first half of Game 1, both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum rudely swatted away one of his shots. Lakers coach Phil Jackson drilled his big men on resisting the urge to pick up Rondo immediately, which would allow Rondo to pass to his own low-post players for dunks.
“We try not to commit too early, because that’s when they get you,” Bynum said. “You just have to stay disciplined, and we did that in Game 1.”
Boston ended up with playoff lows in field goals (29) and attempts (67), and Celtics coach Doc Rivers traces it all back to his team’s play on defense.
Los Angeles surprised Boston by running relatively little of its customary triangle offense, instead using pick-and-roll plays that cleared space for numerous aggressive drives to the hoop, even by backup guards Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. Add that to a passionless rebounding effort in a foul-plagued game, and Rivers wasn’t surprised to see the Celtics manage just 89 points.
“Rondo is not going to get going if we don’t get stops,” Rivers said. “Our offense is directly connected to our defense. Every team’s is, for the most part, if you want to run. If we’re going to take the ball out of bounds, if they’re going to shoot free throws, they’re going to get second shots, Rondo is not going to be in the open court. If we can get multiple stops, we can get multiple runs.”
Rivers and Jackson both seemed pleased to have an extra day off between the series’ first two games, as dictated by the NBA’s television schedule. Sunday’s meeting is the first of three in five days, with a cross country flight thrown in, so the time for game-planning was Saturday, and both coaching staffs knew it.
“I think we gain some time for guys that obviously can use time,” Jackson said, referring to several Lakers nursing minor injuries—including Bryant, who again watched practice from a folding chair at courtside.
Jackson said the break gives the Lakers “an opportunity to digest some of the things that are ongoing, concerns about our team’s effort, where we have to expend more energy, more focus. I think you lose a little bit of the continuity of that nervous energy that you build up to get into a series, so you can lose a little bit of your guard. That will be something we have to be prepared for.”

CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE SOURCE

Kobe, Pau provide one-two punch as Lakers drop Celtics


LOS ANGELES -- So the Celtics want to play rough again? Kobe Bryant and the Lakers look ready this time around, and they barged into an early lead in the NBA finals.

Bryant scored 30 points, Pau Gasol had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and defending champion Los Angeles got tough in a 102-89 victory over Boston in the NBA finals opener Thursday night.

Ron Artest scored 15 points after tumbling to the ground in a tangle with Paul Pierce in the opening minute of the 12th finals meeting in the NBA's most scintillating rivalry. Bryant and Gasol then led a gritty physical effort against the Celtics, who memorably pushed around the Lakers while winning their 2008 finals matchup in six games.

"They were the more physical team by far," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They were more aggressive. They attacked us the entire night. I didn't think we handled it very well."

Pierce scored 24 points and Kevin Garnett added 16 after a slow start for the Celtics, who might not want to know Lakers coach Phil Jackson's teams in Los Angeles and Chicago have won 47 straight playoff series after winning Game 1.

"I wish I had put it in the bank, so to speak," said Jackson, the 10-time champion. "We've got to play this out. ... Our defense stiffened at various points in the game, was very effective. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but it's nice to know that (the 47-0 streak) is on our side."
Game 2 is Sunday night at Staples Center.

If the first 48 minutes of the rematch are any indication, this series again will be a knockdown, drag-out physical confrontation -- and the supposedly finesse-oriented Lakers held their ground early.

Ray Allen scored 12 points in just 27 minutes, saddled with constant foul trouble while trying to guard Bryant. Pierce also picked up early fouls, while Garnett simply struggled, going 7 for 16 from the field and grabbing just four rebounds -- even inexplicably missing an open layup with 5 1/2 minutes to play.

That's mostly because of Gasol, the Spanish 7-footer determined to assert himself after admittedly getting pushed around by Garnett two years ago. Gasol capped a strong game by sprinting downcourt and catching a long pass in stride for a dunk with 6:21 to play.

"Pau played a big game tonight," Jackson said. "I thought they did a good job on him in the post, but his movement and his activity was important."

This one was rough from the opening tumble. Just 27 seconds in, Artest and Pierce got double technical fouls after crashing to the court back-to-back with elbows locked. The mood didn't improve much in a game featuring 54 fouls, but Bryant's playmaking and the Lakers' inside advantages drove them to a 20-point lead after three quarters before surviving Boston's final run.

"You can't ease into the game, espeically in the finals," Pierce said. "That's one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA. We've just got to do a better job rebounding the ball, eliminating easy opportunities. When I look up and we've given up 100 points, I haven't seen that in a while."

Los Angeles outrebounded the Celtics 42-31 and put up a strong shooting percentage until a fourth-quarter slump, again excelling at the their two biggest areas of strength in this postseason.

Andrew Bynum scored 10 points on his injured right knee as the Lakers improved to 9-0 at home in the playoffs, with 12 straight postseason home wins dating to last year's championship run.
Rajon Rondo had 13 points -- just three in the second half -- and eight assists as Boston went 1 for 10 on 3-pointers, but forced 15 turnovers with active hands in passing lanes.

Bryant scored just four points in the fourth quarter, but hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds. He added seven rebounds and six assists in his 12th 30-point game of the postseason.

Pierce and Artest set a resonant tone for the first quarter, which featured 18 personal fouls and 20 free throws, 12 by Boston. The Lakers took a 50-41 halftime lead, but Rondo kept the Lakers close with 10 points, including a buzzer-beating jumper.

Los Angeles took charge in the final minutes of the third quarter, when Bryant led an 11-2 run to an 84-64 lead heading into the fourth. Boston swiftly sliced that lead with a 10-1 run in the first four minutes, but the Lakers kept their lead in double digits throughout the fourth.

Boston had homecourt advantage in the clubs' 2008 meeting, but these Celtics will have to win at least once at Staples Center, where the Lakers have won 12 straight playoff games since last season's Western Conference finals.

The arena was packed well before the opening tip for the Lakers' third straight appearance in the NBA finals, and several thousand fans actually deigned to put on the giveaway gold T-shirts handed out by the team. The T-shirt stunt failed miserably the past two times Los Angeles tried it in the playoffs.


CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE SOURCE

Lakers - Celtics NBA Finals Game 1 Preview

LOS ANGELES—Phil Jackson knows the story by heart, even if his players only seem interested in the last two chapters.
Their coach is steeped in the history of pro basketball’s most compelling rivalry, familiar with every twist in the Boston Celtics’ half-century of championship clashes with the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA’s most decorated franchises have battled through heartbreaks, high stakes and neck-aches while forging a true pro sports rivalry, that rarest of commodities in the age of free agency.
Jackson doesn’t mind that almost everybody playing in the franchises’ 12th NBA finals meeting, starting Thursday night at Staples Center, doesn’t have much of a grasp on the history sewn into the uniforms they wear.
So what if Ron Artest claims total ignorance of the Lakers’ past, while Kobe Bryant says he couldn’t care less who Los Angeles played? So what if the deep-seated hatred between the franchises’ fans doesn’t seem to be truly savored by nearly anybody exceptPaul Pierce, the Los Angeles native turned Celtics star?
When asked why the kids these days just don’t get it, Jackson smirks and nimbly sidesteps the trap set for grumpy old men and history buffs.
“That rivalry is renewed … it seems like every 20 years, and now here it is,” Jackson said. “This is our second time going back at them. It’s one that I think piques the interest of the fans of basketball.”
Notice he didn’t mention the players’ interest. In the age of easy team-swapping, $100 million contracts and offseason Vegas partying with bitter in-season opponents, there’s not much actual malice to be found between these Lakers and these Celtics.
“It’s not a personal thing,” Celtics forward Kevin Garnett said before the Celtics practiced at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday. “They’re a great team, we’re a great team. We’re both trying to get to the same goal.”
The clubs are meeting in the finals for the second time in three seasons, and the winner will walk away with the franchises’ 33rd combined championship. That’s more than half of the titles in NBA history.
Yet this 21st-century confluence of Boston’s Big Three era and Bryant’s career zenith still hasn’t reached the frequency and ferocity of the rivalry’s early years. They met seven times in 11 seasons from 1959-69—and the Celtics won every time, led by Bill Russell, coach Red Auerbach and whatever leprechaun pushed Frank Selvy’s late jumper off the rim in Game 7 of the 1962 finals, allowing Boston to win in overtime.
“It seems like most of the ’60s, the Lakers were playing the Celtics, and they were never able to get by them,” Jackson said. “That was a long and arduous period of time for these fans.”
Pierce grew up in Inglewood near the Lakers’ former neighborhood, and he heard the story about the balloons. He knows the Lakers were favorites against the Celtics in 1968 and again in 1969, but Boston twice rallied to beat Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, forlornly stranding thousands of celebratory balloons in the rafters of the Forum.
“We’ve definitely got two franchises that never really liked each other because they were always playing for the ultimate prize,” said Pierce, the 2008 NBA finals MVP. “You can definitely sense that, and I already knew that growing up here.”
Bryant, burrowed deep into his playoff tunnel, professes not to care about the rivalry, even when a victory might fulfill West’s prediction that Kobe will go down as the greatest player to wear the Lakers’ uniform.
“I’m playing in it. I don’t give a damn about it,” Bryant said. “That’s for other people to get excited about. I get excited about winning.”
Yet it’s tough to believe Bryant: He also has said his NBA education during his youth in Italy largely consisted of watching Lakers-Celtics games, when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird clashed three times in four seasons.
Other Lakers aren’t excited about playing the Boston franchise so much as they’re thrilled for a chance at revenge on these particular Celtics, most of whom sent the Lakers home from the finals in 2008. Center Andrew Bynum, who was injured for that series, couldn’t resist talking up a Boston rematch even while the Lakers were in the thick of a tough Western Conference finals against Phoenix.
These Lakers don’t remember Game 4 of the 1984 series, when Kevin McHale clotheslined Kurt Rambis before Cedric Maxwell mimed a choking motion at James Worthy during a key game in perhaps the most fascinating finals in NBA history, an era-defining showcase of the Magic-Bird rivalry.
No, they remember June 2008, when celebrating Celtics fans punctuated their team’s 39-point victory in the clincher by throwing rocks at Los Angeles’ bus.
Leave it to Pau Gasol, the Lakers’ cultured Spanish forward in his third straight NBA finals, to find a common ground between the importance of this franchise’s history and the immediacy of winning one last playoff series in an eight-month grind of a modern season.
“The history just makes it a little more exciting than it already is,” Gasol said. “It’s a matchup that a lot of people want to see. The history is exciting, and there’s a lot of—you could say hate—between the teams, crowds and fans and stuff, but we try to be above that a little bit, and try not to let that affect our minds.
“Obviously it’s motivating, but you still want to win the Finals and championship no matter who it’s against. But obviously it will taste better, to be honest, than what we went through in 2008.”

ARTICLE SOURCE HERE

If at first they succeed, Phil Jackson's Lakers are perfect

Jackson's Bulls and Lakers teams are 47-0 in playoff series when they win Game 1.

Best of one?Welcome to an NBA Finals that, despite being blessed with rivalry of 51 years, could be decided in the first 48 minutes.Welcome to a series where the Lakers aren't playing the Boston Celtics as much as both of them could soon be tangling with the one of the most majestic, maddening statistics in sportsIt's all about a number. A number so trivial that half the players in the series are unaware of it, yet so powerful it could end the series almost before it starts. A number with as much lore as Kobe Bryant's 24, as alive as Kevin Garnett's 5, even more important than the number of the paramedics that Paul Pierce will phone the first time he is gently pushed to the wood. You've probably heard the number. You've probably thought you heard it wrong. You haven't.When Phil Jackson's teams have won the first game of a postseason series, they are 47-0 in that series.Think about that.When Jackson's teams win Game 1, it's Series Done. If they win the first one, they will win the last one. Nineteen seasons. Every single time.Theoretically, the Game 1 winner in any sport has a 65% chance of winning a seven-game series. Historically, the NBA's Game 1 winners ultimately triumph 79% of the time.Jackson's teams do it 100% of the time, including 23 consecutive times with the Lakers.''Staggering,'' said Kobe Bryant''Mind-boggling,'' said Luke Walton.''Huh?'' said Rasheed Wallace.The Celtics forward, among others, apparently has never heard the number. Judging from the way he stared vacantly at the media during Wednesday's interview day, one might think he couldn't even remember the number on his back, but I threw this one at him nonetheless.''That's just media stuff,'' he said. ''That don't mean nothing to me.''That's what all Lakers opponents say. Over the last several years, as the number as grown from an oddity to a coincidence to a real trend, the other guys insist they know nothing about it. Then the Lakers win the first game, and they can't forget it."I'm sure with some players, when they lose that first game, it's like, ''Oh my gosh, do you see that number?''' said Will Perdue, former Jackson disciple and current radio guy. ''The players are telling each other, 'They never lose after they win the first game of a series? If we don't win the next game, we're done.' ''The Celtics are not those players. Or are they? Surrounded with history, the Celtics are smart enough to understand the difficulty in defeating it.Are you telling me that if the Lakers win in the opener Thursday night at Staples Center, the Celtics aren't going to be peppered with that number for the next two weeks? And that at least some of it isn't going to stick?"I know when I go to the free-throw line, the odds of me missing one grow if I haven't missed one in a while,'' Boston's Ray Allen said with a grin. ''So I'll think of it like that.''

ARTICLE SOURCE HERE