Banner #17 in sight

[sjay2k]

Intense.

Pierce's injury scared the crap out of me, but the four point play and then back-to-back threes were the two biggest momentum-shifting moments of the game. I was also impressed with Garnett, who was constantly looking for the ball instead of shying away like he has down in clutch situations earlier in the playoffs.

Boston's two vets, PJ Brown and Sam Cassell, both had some pretty huge plays (especially Brown's timely offensive rebound whilst getting molested by two Lakers in the 4th). PJ Brown also drew a great charge on Odom, but got a terrible and-one call instead.

The Celtics defence was amazing. Kobe did not get many open looks. 24 points from 26 shots (and 6 free throws) is a huge result for Boston. Ray Allen was able to keep up with Kobe and the Celtics team defence rarely left LA's shooters (Sasha, Radmanovic, Fisher) open for the threes on the wings.

Odom and Gasol both had some nice plays, but were never really able to create their own shots ala Pierce and Garnett. I felt like Gasol was relying on Kobe for most of his scores.

Sportsbetting: Boston were tremendous value at 1.72 before the game (I was able to get a decent amount matched at 1.78 a few days ago). I expect Boston will shorten to something like 1.65 for game 2, which I think represents only marginally good value and I will probably stay away.

I think the correct line in the series should now be something like Boston 1.88, Lakers 2.11. Though I expect Boston will still be the underdogs when the dust settles tomorrow (even though it's pretty silly to expect the Lakers to win 4/6 more than half the time), so I'll be letting my series bet ride for the moment.

Look forward to game 2.