Big Baby Boon

“Yeahhhhhh”

Nate Robinson celebrates aboard Big Baby

It became a Series when Boston won Game 2 at the Forum. And that trend continued when LA reclaimed home court with a Game 3 victory in the Garden. If Allen was the star of Game 2, Derek Fisher was West “clutch’ in Game 3. The adjustment was simple. Phil Jackson tells Derek Fisher: “chase Allen all over the court relentlessly, don’t let him get off, and do it all night long.” Fisher did exactly as told and held Allen without a trey all night long. As an added bonus though, Fisher made huge plays on the offensive end to spark the Lakers to a victory. The signature moment was when he got a rebound, and took it around KG at mid-count, then raced to the basket and floated a bank shot over three Celtic defenders. Absolutely spectacular clutch shot! Despite playing very poorly offensively (aside from KG, who had his best offensive game with 25 points), Boston had a chance to win the game but just couldn’t overcome Fish’s inspired performance.

If Game 2 and Game 3 defined the series, Game 4 is where this series became a street fight. Entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers held a 2 point lead, but the Lakers starters let the Boston bench beat them. Big Baby and Nate Robinson spelled an ineffective Rondo and Garnett and sparked Boston with energetic play. Robinson hit a key three and made a nice driving layup and played with his self-described “energy.” Bench players are always said to bring in energy, but Big Baby brought a lot of skill and heart. He made 4 key baskets against the Laker front-court that was missing Andrew Bynum due to his recurring meniscus injury. In the fourth quarter when Big Baby and Robinson were doing damanage, it was remarkable to see the Celtics starters wait and wait and continue to wait to enter the game as the bench sealed the game.

The pivotal Game 5 promises to be a dog fight. Since no team has won two straight games, I believe Boston will have to win its last game at home if it wants to have any hope of winning this series. With attrition starting to take its toll, Boston must take advantage of the fact that Bynum is not 100% and take a 3-2 lead into L.A. Although Wallace is also struggling with a bad back, Bynum’s injury has a greater bearing on the series.

The last three games of this series should be a classic. We still have not seen a classic Kobe performance nor have we seen more than 2 of the Celtics Big Four play well all in one game. In order for this series to be called a Classic, there’s got to be one of those games where all of the stars shine. If that happens, we’re all in for a real treat.