Who gets Game 3 - NBA Finals Update

 Ron ArtestI realize there isn’t an NBA team anywhere near Kansas City and that means there aren’t a lot of NBA fans – at least compared to MLB or NFL – who might be reading UFR. Nevertheless, I am a fan and so I’m going to report after each game in the finals. I would probably do it regardless of who the two teams were, but when it’s the Lakers-Celtics, you can’t go wrong.

Of course, Los Angeles won game #1 the way I expected – dominating at home. Game two was much more like the typical Lakers-Celtics wars of yesteryear – although nowhere near the scoring. Though the final margins of the two games were similar, game #2 was far more competitive.

Having watched both contests, I have a few  thoughts.

Game 1: 67 Free Throw Attempts - Boooring!

Game 2: 67 Free Throw Attempts - Boooring!

As Ron Artest goes, so go the Lakers

Artest was an abysmal 1-10 from the field, 1-6 from the arc and 3-8 from the line. It doesn’t get much worse than that. He is important defensively, but you simply can’t begin to overcome a -3 EFF in 40+ minutes!

I don’t think I’ve ever discussed this yet on UFR. It’s one thing to get a -3 in two minutes of action, but something entirely different in 40 minutes. If you add all the Lakers individual EFFs you get 106. Since there are 240 man-minutes in a game, that means for each minute played per person, they should have racked up .442 EFFs.

Since Artest played 40:31, he should have had an 18 EFF to be consistent with the team. Even worse, take his 40:31 out of the mix and you have 109 divided into 192 minutes. That’s .568 EFF per man minute. If he had done as well as the rest of the team on a per-minute basis, he would have had an EFF of 23.

I can assure you that if he had a 23 instead of a -3, the Lakers would have won… easily. The loss of this game falls at the feet of one person – Ron Artest.

What is Artest doing jacking so many threes?

I looked at the last 30 games that each of the players have played – which includes 18 in the playoffs and the last dozen of the regular season. Here is a stat that will make you quiver in your boots if you are a Lakers’ fan.

COOL FACTOID: Ron Artest has taken more three-point shots than Kobe Bryant over the last 30 games each has played.

That might be ok if it was 2008 (38.0%) or 2009 (39.9%), but in 2010, he only shot 35.5% and over his last 30 games, he’s bricking them at 26.2%.

In Bryant’s last 30 games, he’s shooting treys at 40.3%! Huge difference. Here are the three-point stats for Fisher, Bryant, Farmar and Artest over the last 30 games.

Player	Treys.Attempted	3pt%
Artest	145	26.2
Bryant	144	40.3
Fisher	96	36.5
Farmar	81	45.7

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Can anyone explain to me what a non-ball handling, defensive forward is doing shooting more threes than any of the guards on the team – including Kobe Bryant – especially when he’s only clanking them at 26% !?

It’s hard to believe Jackson likes it, but you have to figure he probably tolerates it in order to keep his (Artest’s) mind right.

Rajon Rondo was even better than Ray Allen

Rondo will get some props because he is the flavor of the month for the talking heads – not to mention a triple-double. But, most people will certainly make the blanket assumption that Ray Allen won the game for Boston. Although it was close by EFF, Rondo had a 28 and Allen a 26.

While it is true that Allen outscored Rondo 32-19 – including a finals record eight three-pointers on only 11 attempts, it’s also true that Rondo had nine more rebounds and eight more assists!

Besides, every one of those eight three-pointers came in the first three quarters. LA had the lead after that. It was Rondo’s play down the stretch that won the game for the Celtics.

Unquestionably, the headline(s) will read… Ray Allen this, Ray Allen that. In fact, the first person mentioned in every story I looked at was “Ray Allen”. It’s just one more example (out of millions) where the public and the reporter are fooled by scoring.

You will know (well, you won’t know because you will be dead of old age) that reporting has evolved when you see a game like this and the lead headline is “Rajon Rondo leads Celtics to victory”.

EFFs for games 1 and 2

Los Angeles

Player	Game 1	Game 2
Gasol	32	37
Bryant	28	19
Artest	18	-3
Bynum	11	25
Fisher	10	10
Odom	6	6
Brown	5	4
Farmar	5	3
Vujacic	2	5
Walton	1	—

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Boston

Player	Game 1	Game 2
Pierce	28	9
Rondo	14	28
Garnett	14	13
Wallace	12	12
Perkins	11	16
R.Allen	8	26
Davis	4	7
T.Allen	1	3
Finley	0	—
Robinson	—	7
Williams	—	-2

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I don’t have a prediction on game #3. However, I’m sticking with the Lakers winning the series. It will be tough to win in six, having lost one of two at home, but I still think they are the superior team.

One last item of interest. On the way home, one of those brilliant late-night radio hosts made a comment to this effect – meaning paraphrased: “I think it is important that LA win at least one game in Boston because they have to get back the home court advantage.”

Hey Sherlock! I’ve got an even better reason why they need to win at least on game in Boston. Because if they don’t… they will lose the series 4-1.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design Creative Writer

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Reasons why Lakers won

1. Lamar Odom

Los Angeles Lakers forward Lam…
AP - May 28, 12:53 am EDT

LOS ANGELES – The night began like so many have for Lamar Odom(notes). His back ached. He had no rhythm, no shot, no … nothing. He drove hard to the rim and, suddenly, Chris Andersen(notes), the Denver Nuggets’ frenetic center, was there, swallowing up the ball before it could leave Odom’s hand.

The Los Angeles Lakers had come to expect this from Odom the past two weeks. They knew he was hurting. They also knew they couldn’t count on him, even if they wouldn’t admit it.

Odom knew this, too. So with the fourth quarter having now arrived, with the Lakers’ season having reached a crossroads, he took a pass from Kobe Bryant(notes) and looked up to see Birdman Andersen again standing between him and the basket. Odom bounced hard off the court, past Andersen, cradling the ball just long enough to let everyone know the ferocity that awaited.

An instant later, Odom was punching the ball through the rim, crashing down on Andersen. He lingered for a moment, staring past his teammates at all those delirious fans, and roared back, a moment that seemed as cathartic as it was exuberant.

2. Poor Denver Defense

Kobe Bryant(notes) offered himself up as bait and the Denver Nuggets bit. That freed up Lamar Odom(notes) and Pau Gasol(notes) on the inside, where the Lakers’ big men dominated.

3. Good Finish

So it all came down to the final 12 minutes.

Bryant, Odom and Gasol teamed for all but seven of the Lakers’ 27 points in the fourth. They opened on an 11-0 run for their first lead of the second half and it was capped by Shannon Brown’s(notes) jumper that beat the shot clock.

“He came in, gave us a huge spark and that’s what you need,” Bryant said of Brown. “It’s about who controls momentum.”

The Nuggets used a 13-6 run to close to 93-89. Linas Kleiza(notes) scored seven straight and Anthony had six in the spurt.

But then the Lakers regained control and finished off the victory. They improved to 20-0 in Game 5s at home when a series is tied 2-2.

“The games that we’ve lost, they had an advantage on the inside,” Anthony said. “The games that we’ve won, we had an advantage. We had to go to a smaller lineup tonight and they kept their big lineup on the court. That kind of hurt us a little bit. We’ve got to do a better job of keeping our big men out of foul trouble.”

4. Poor Officiating?

“I thought they got the benefit of the whistle,” Karl said. “Every player in my locker room is frustrated, from guards to big guys. Gasol goes after at least 20 jump shots, 20 shots to the rim and gets one foul; our big guys have 16. Nene has six fouls, three or four of them don’t exist.”

Karl said he didn’t want to get himself fined before agreeing with Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team leads Cleveland 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals.

“In the post game we’re lobbying for the league to help us with the refereeing,” he said. “This is too good of a series. It’s too good of teams competing that we’re sitting here just confused by the whistle.”

5. Lakers Play Team....

Understandable how Kobe Bryant passes the ball.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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NBA GAMES Denver vs. Lakers

Watch live video from Lakers VS Nuggets on Justin.tv
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Important Game for Denver
To make the NBA Finals for the first time—and bring their tattoos, athleticism and exuberance to the biggest stage of all—the upstart Denver Nuggets must win two games in a 48-hour span against a savvy Los Angeles Lakers team that is shooting for its 30th Finals appearance.

Oh, and L.A. hasn’t lost back-to-back games since March.

The Nuggets might very well be the better team in the Western Conference finals, with a deeper bench, more muscle and better health than the tired, injured and often disjointed Lakers. But they also tend to implode at the worst times.

There’s the taunting after big shots, the complaining after calls and the botched inbounds passes that cost them Games 1 and 3 and a chance at brooming the Lakers right out of the playoffs.

Now, they’re one loss away from summer vacation.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

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