No Excuses

Alan Draper

Sports Editor

February 6 2009 3 min read

After getting 5 minutes of sleep and deleting about 100 pretty vulgar Laker troll comments, I just want to address some of the things that are being said by Celtics fans.

1: The refs were horrbile last night. I agree. And they were horrible for both sides. It was one of those games where if Ray makes that shot, Lakers fans are all crying about the refs and its Celtics fans who are telling them to accept it. Yes, the foul the disqualified KG was insanely bad. But you can probably find an equally bad call on the other side. For some reason, David Stern is happy with the refs being a subject of conversation after every big game.

2: Eddie House and his minutes. Eddie was on fire last night. He didn't get crunch time minutes. Ok, I can see how that's an issue on the surface. But who would he come in for? It can't be for Rondo, because we needed a sure-handed ball handler. It's not like we were down 6 and we needed 3's. The Lakers didn't take a 2nd half lead until the overtime. He's not coming in for Ray Allen or Paul Pierce, no matter how gassed Pierce looked. Pierce was playing great D on Kobe, which Eddie wouldn't do. He's not coming in for Perk, obviously. Which leaves Glen Davis.

The Lakers did a good job of defending and forcing Davis to take jumpers. Hell, Davis gave the Celtics a lead in the overtime with a jumper… and he made a huge hustle play late in the 4th. But does that mean Eddie comes in for him? And does what… guard Lamar Odom? Pau Gasol?

Yes Eddie was on fire. But I don't see what giving the Lakers and obvious mismatch does to help.

3: The last play. Ray has 5 seconds to inbound. Rondo faked going for the alley oop, Paul tried to hold off his defender to receive the ball, and Eddie House was trying to sneak behind everyone. After 3 seconds, he gets the ball into Davis who immediately hands it off to Ray. The Lakers had that play defended well. You probably could have called a foul at the end… but you can probably say that of every last-second shot ever taken.

Doc has had a stellar string of out-of-bounds plays working out. The Lakers defended it well, and Ray couldn't get a clean look.

Really, what no one is talking about is how gassed Paul Pierce looked. He wasn't moving well at the end and he couldn't take over. He missed some key free throws in the overtime that could have changed the complexion of the game. He looked like he simply ran out of energy. I wonder if he's fighting the same flu that other guys are dealing with.

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