Game 4 of the 2008 Finals

a few thoughts from Game 4 of the Finals, and unbelievably, the celtics are up 3-1 in the series.

- james posey was instrumental in this win. down the stretch, he played odom perfectly. even though it was a mismatch, posey caused him to miss shots and turn the ball over. on the other end he made two HUGE 3s in the left corner, one that pulled the deficit within one (two plays later, eddie house drained a jumper that put the celts up for good), and one that pushed the celtics lead up to 5 points with about a minute left. shaq was right, he knew posey was gonna help them win a championship.

- ray allen was the most consistent celtics this whole series. he kept them in the game with his 3s, and he chipped in 9 boards this game, and most importantly he help kept kobe in check most of this series. i mean if you told me this was gonna happen before the Finals, i'd laugh at you.

- garnett and pierce finally attacked the rim much more frequently. rajon rondo's injury was probably a blessing in disguise, it was because of his injury that doc rivers finally let eddie house off the bench. his shot making ability help stretch the defense, and it finally gave KG enough room to deal some damage down low. in the playoff, it's all about player matchup and adjustment, it's amazing doc rivers got this lucky.

- speaking of doc rivers, i can't believe he's outcoaching phil. i haven't see any imprint of the 9 time champion coach this whole series. i predict lakers will win this series rather easily because phil is supposed to be THAT MUCH better than doc rivers. the biggest mismatch of the Finals turned out to be pretty even, which is ridiculous.

- the 2nd point why i thought the lakers will win the championship was because the lakers have the best closer in the game in kobe, while the celtics are just shaky down the stretch because no one seems to step up. in this game, EVERY celtics stepped up. whether it's an offensive rebound, a defensive stop, an assist, a spot up 3, everyone made the correct decision AND executed them perfectly.

- with all that said, it's still possible for the lakers to come back and win the whole thing, but that's highly unlikely. not when the momentum is completely swung in celtics' favor, but 2 of the next 3 games will be in boston, if this series even last that long.

side notes:
- after a time out with 2 minutes left in the game with celtics up by 5, the camera was on the announcing crew when the action resumed on the court. Mike Breen was asking Mark Jackson about the key to celtics' run, and JVG was pointing to the court and making a disgusted/annoyed face that basically says "why the fuck are you showing us? the game is back on!" Absolutely hilarious. ABC quickly switch back to the court where we saw Kobe drove in and draw a foul. JVG is brilliant.

- after ray allen drove by vujacic for pretty much the clincher, pau inbounded the ball to vujacic when the whistle signaled a time out, and you can clearly hear vujacic clutching the ball and yell "FUCK!!!" really loudly. then of course there was the replay of him hitting a chair and saying "FUCK MAN!!" on the bench. nice.