2010 NBA Playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics, NBA Finals, Game 1
Information about game 1 of the L.A. Lakers vs. Boston Celtics series in the 2010 NBA Playoffs, with score, recap, pictures, stats, highlights, quotes and Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol performance.
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Jun 3 - Staples Center, Los Angeles. The Lakers showed they are not the same team from 2008 and got a physical 102-89 win against the Celtics to open their third straight NBA Finals appearance. Kobe Bryant extended his scoring streak by getting 30 points, his 11th 30+ game in the last 12 and contributed 7 rebounds and 6 assists while his team had control of the game almost all the time. Pau Gasol proved there's nothing "soft" on his game, scored 23 points, and dominated the boards grabbing 14 rebounds, 8 of them on the offensive end. The Spaniard couldn't be contained by any of the Celtics bigs and particularly he was a nightmare for Kevin Garnett who got 16 points but most of them from long distance and just 4 rebounds. Andrew Bynum played 28 good minutes, ended with 10 rebounds and 6 assists and contributed to close the paint. On the other side the Lakers did an excellent job finding the open path to the basket, at moments it was like a freeway with Fisher, Farmar, Brown and Kobe going to the basket at will. L.A. outscored the Celtics 48-30 on the paint, outrebounded them 42-31 and had 16 second-chance points to none for Boston. The Lakers defense worked fantastic for the first 3 quarters, and everything started with Ron Artest (15 points), whose main assignment is to control Boston's top scorer Paul Pierce. Just seconds into the game both received technical fouls after going to the floor, elbows locked fighting for position under the basket. And that was the tone of the game. In the first quarter alone a very strict group of referees called 18 personal fouls. After a buzzer beater by Rondo the Lakers went to halftime with a 50-41 lead. Kobe scored 14 points in a third quarter where the Lakers outscored the Celtics 34-23 to take a 20-point lead, 84-64 into the fourth. With Nate Robinson on the floor Boston opened the final period with a 10-2 run but L.A. reacted on time and there was nothing to worry about until the end. Pierce scored 13 of his 24 points in the period. Ray Allen played just 27 minutes and got 12 points limited by early foul trouble and Rajon Rondo who is probably the key for the Celtics' destiny ended with 13 points, but just 3 in the second half, and 8 assists. It was just the 5th time in 18 playoff games so far this postseason that the Celtics defense allow 100 points. after winning Game 1, Phil Jackson's teams in Los Angeles and Chicago have won 47 straight playoff series. |
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The QuotesPhil Jackson (LAL Coach): "Pau played a big game tonight. I thought they did a good job on him in the post, but his movement and his activity was important." "That wasn't the prettiest basketball game I've ever watched in my life. But it was a good win for us Pau Gasol (Lakers): "I knew it was going to be physical. That's a given. After consecutive Finals, we understand the nature of the game. We understand who our rival is, how they play. You've got to compete, and you've got to match that physicality effort of the game to be successful." Doc Rivers (Celtics Coach): "They were the more physical team by far. They were more aggressive. They attacked us the entire night. I didn't think we handled it very well." Paul Pierce (Celtics): "That's one of the better rebounding teams in the NBA. We've just got to do a better job rebounding the ball, eliminating easy opportunities. When I look up and we've given up 100 points, I haven't seen that in a while." |
Highlights
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Complete Boxscore
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: 3 LALAKERS ( R Artest 1 ) BOSTON ( P Pierce 1, R Wallace 1 )TEAMS (def3sec): None - COACHES: None Officials: Joe Crawford , Derrick Stafford , Joe Derosa Attendance: 18,997 |
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