Massive win by the C's to steal home court advantage. Allen's first half shooting bonanza was amazing and Rondo did all the dirty work to get them over the line.

Rondo's jumper has looked much improved recently too I must admit.

Can the C's win the series at home and clinch all three straight? I'd love to see that!

Yeah, I can't see either team dominating enough to win all three in Boston. I think it's a near certainty that we'll be back in LA to close out the series in either 6 or 7. Both teams are very good, so it would be a shame for it to end any other way.

BTW - I didn't really cover this before because I thought Ray's shooting exhibition deserved to be highlighted, but Rondo had a pretty incredible 4th quarter, scoring 11 points on 4-4 shooting, including a big three and he also came up with a huge block of a Fisher jumpshot from behind and poked the ball away from Kobe as well for another TO.

That was probably the worst officiated game I've ever seen.

Rondo is putting his hand up to be the best guard in the league with performances like that. Ray Allen is pure class.

Surely KG and PP have to step-up at some point though if the Celtics are going to win the series. Ray Allen ain't going to hit 8 threes again. Don't forget also that Kobe spent significant time on the bench with foul trouble. (Granted that some Celtics did too.) And now I see that Pierce is talking trash this morning about "not coming back to LA", which pretty much guarantees that they'll be coming back!

Pierce really shits me with this sort of stuff. The guy is always running his mouth.

What a shooting display for Ray Ray! He has the sweetest shot.
Will be good to see a game that the ref's do not influence too much though. That was a shocker. How about the phantom call on Kobe in the 3rd I think it was, he was not even close to the player!

Re Ray Allen's shooting, great article about how he gets so open here, worth reading and watching IMO.

http://linky.com.au/a8vv5

Nice link DB5. Big Baby's wide girth certainly helping out on a few of those screens.

anon, the whole series has been the same. Poor officiating.

Uwe Blab, yeah, I enjoyed watching that, man he works so hard to get open, and the bigs do a great job of getting in the defender's way. Helps if you stroke it sooooo sweet though!

Kobe's three and steal at the half were good as well, and Rondo's block was huge.

yeah both games have been dictated by the refs, Im a massive Lakers fan - calls were poor both ways! Big babys block was clean as but Kobe had 2 fouls that were BS. The charge on Allen and the foul on Rondo after he stole the ball. Then theres the over the back by KG which would've fouled him out - the ball went out off KG on the review somehow they awarded it to Boston then to add salt they hit a jumper to go up 5 with 1.30 left. Im not saying they were robbed but its calls like that that can change a game. What about the steal by Odom in the last minute that was called a foul. It hurts to say this but Boston did deserve the win, Rondo came up big in the 4th. The Lakers have no answer for him. Look for LA / Kobe to come out fired for game 3 this one is going down to the wire. im still feeling 7 games here
Refs should just let the boys play. stars on both teams should be on the court fighting it out!

"What about the phantom calls on the Davis and Pierce blocks? the whole games was poorly umpired."

Yeh, disgraceful...clean as I've seen, not to mention all the stupid fouls for guys fighting in the post, KG got a couple that made no sense...Kobe's offensive foul that forced him to sit the last 5 minutes of the 1st half was laughable (when he did the fake spin move, made zero contact and they called it a charge), Fisher had a couple chasing Ray that were terrible.

Look at the player-by-player foul count:

KG - 5 (24 mins)
PP - 3
KP - 4
Ray - 3
RR - 2
Sheed - 4 (18 mins)
Sheldon - 2 (4 mins)
TA - 2 (10 mins)
Baby - 4 (18 mins)

Ron Ron - 6
Gasol - 3
Bynum - 5
Kobe - 5
Fish - 3
Lamar - 5 (15 mins)

Hereschenes, you're right, the Celtics will need more from KG to win the series. They can't give up that many high percentage shots in the paint game after game and not have it catch up with them over the series.

Pierce will be needed to step up and score at times in this series and I'm confident he will - but I knew going into this series that Ray Allen was always going to be the Celtics main go to guy. He just has too much height for Fisher and will get his shot off with ease against him. Even if Kobe plays Ray he will still be a focal point on offence, because it forces Kobe to expend energy defensively and Ray has scored plenty of points on him in the past.

Just checked up on Pierce's comments and apparently it was just him giving it back to some courtside fans at the end of game 2. I don't have a problem with that. Pierce knows its going to be a battle to win all three games at home, so I think he just does these kinds of things to add to the theatre of big occcasions, not because he really believes the Lakers will roll over.

I call bullshit on Pierce there Beantown, that reason is just like someone "hacked" his twatter account when he said that they will sweep Orlando. Poor form, and now Kobe will be real pissed.

What do you mean DB5? Are you saying Pierce really thinks there is no chance they come back to LA? No doubt he'll be aiming to win all three in Boston (you'd be crazy not to) but I doubt he'll be at all surprised if they have to come back to LA.

I'm saying that I bet it was not just in response to loud fans. The guy is a great player, but his attitude flat out sucks.
Yesterday can be case A, the Orlando comments can be case B, and the crap after they won the title last time can be case C if you need some examples.

Odom has been a non factor so far too. I would expect him to have one or two big games over the course of the series.

Paul Pierce has a big mouth. Except I agree with what he's saying, we won't be goin back to LA, cuz the Lakshow are gonna win the next 3 in Boston haha :P

On a serious note, the refs need to let these grown men play some ball. Yes, I understand that they don't want the games to get too physical and out of hand, but there are just plain bad decisions going both ways.

No way Allen gets that hot tomoro in game 3. Pierce can't hit a jumper atm to save his life, and Rondo will have more trouble on offense when Kobe is not in foul trouble and allowed to attack Rondo defensively.

Lakers to silence the Boston crowd and take game 3 by 5-10. Kobe to score close to 40.

Well I don't really know what Pierce's comment was in response to, but it was on court and in the heat of a game, so I say big deal.

I'll agree that Pierce sometimes talks a bit of trash, but so do most top players. Hell, Jordan and Bird were celebrated for it.

In general, I just think it adds to the drama of a big playoff series and I don't think Pierce ever steps over the line with his comments.

As a fan of the Celtics, I love the fact that Pierce has so much self belief, steps up under pressure and is not intimidated by any opponent. If that means he talks himself up a bit too much so be it. I'd much rather that, than have guys like Carter or Lewis or Mo Williams, who appear to lack the self belief they need in the crunch.

Chewy, we'll see about game 3, but you can't have it both ways with Boston's backcourt. If you want Kobe on Rondo, I promise you Allen will rack up the points on Fisher once again.

If LA wins, it'll primarily be because Gasol and Bynum are able to dominate again in the paint.

I'm not gonna predict the winner tomorrow, because it really is anyone's game.

I am all for trash talking BT, just not straight after you get a win, rubbing it in someones face. That reeks of no class.
Bird and MJ didn't do that, they would talk shit on the court, then back it up on the court.

Heard a stat that of the 32 times the Finals have been tied at 1-1, the winner of game 3 took the series 28 times.
Very important game.

I don't like to say I told you so Beantown, but Rondo wasn't nearly as effective today in comparison to game 2, and well, Ray Allen couldn't even hit one jumper today.

Derek Fisher has got to be one of the game's most clutch guys ever. He just makes big shot after big shot.

Go Lakers!

2 Mo ;)