About Last Night: Halfway There

The Celtics played seven stink-o minutes last night, and it almost ruined 41 minutes of very good basketball. But they pulled it together in the end, and head out to LA up 2-0 in the NBA Finals. And if you're a Celtics fan, there was plenty to like in the first two games.

First and foremost, Paul Pierce is the man. Last Thursday's drama aside, he was the best player on the floor in both games, not only making big shots, but getting others involved and playing good defense. The knee seems not to be an issue right now.

Second, the Celtics are playing good defense on Kobe Bryant. Bryant had some easier buckets last night, but the best things the Celts are doing is keeping Bryant away from the basket, and off the foul line. He can go 9- or 11-for-26 all series, and that's fine. When Bryant kills you is when he goes 11-for-26, with 12 or 15 trips to the line. He's not living on the foul line, where his good games go to great games. That might change with some home cooking, but I don't think there were a lot of penetration fouls missed on Bryant last night.

The Celtics still have some work to do, obviously. It would be very beneficial to win one of the next three. I'm not going to say the Lakers can't win in Boston, but it appears to be a very, very difficult task for them. The Celtics need to take their defensive intensity with them to LA. The offense will take care of itself. Compared to Cleveland and Detroit, the Lakers' defense is subpar.

Since they lost Game 2 of the East Finals to Detroit, the Celtics have been playing some very, very good basketball (and you might want throw Game 1 of the East and Game 7 of the Cleveland series in there). The only stinkbomb was that horrible Game 4 in Detroit -- a game the Celtics could have (should have) won. They played a great Game 3 in Detroit, and owned Games 5 and 6 of that series. In the first two games of the Finals, they've clearly been the better team.

That will change tomorrow night. The Lakers will be ready to go (as they were in the first six minutes last night, when they were the far more aggressive team). The Celtics don't always play their best on the road. But they need one of three. It's a doable mission.

For the Celtics to win out there, they'll need to stick with the defense, continue to get good bench help (Leon Powe doesn't need to go off for 21 points, but that would help), and Kevin Garnett needs to start making baskets. He's not getting to his spots consistently, and when he does you feel like he's trying to will in the hoop as often as not. You have to think he'll be OK, but I'd feel much better about things if he started making baskets.

Kobe's going to have a say in all this -- or at least will very much try to (he was desperately trying to take the game over in the second quarter last night and just couldn't quite make it happen) -- and the Celtics are going to have to deal with that. But there's a lot about the Lakers that need fixing. They've played terrible defense, they've been inconsistent offensively, and they just haven't seemed quite all together at times. The defense should get a boost from the home crowd if things go well, the offense should get better, and they should just look better at home. But the way the Celtics played the first two games, they should get their chances out there.

The Celtics needed to win both these games. Just had to have them. Now they go out west knowing that one-of-three will do just fine, thank you. After what we've seen so far, you have to be optimistic. Still on edge, but optimistic.