Rondo scored the first basket to open up the quarter. Then Lakers scored 8 to 4 run in the first 3 minutes of the game. Celtics tied the game with 2:50 minutes remaining in the quarter with 18 a piece. That was the last deadlock in the game. Since then, the Celtics kept coming back but didn’t get that close to take the lead. Paul Pierce finished 9 points in the quarter, 5 of them coming from the free throw. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant had 8 points, 4 out of 4 from the charity stripe. At the end of the 1st quarter, Lakers led 26-21. Nothing much happened in the second period. Well, it was more on the Lakers in this quarter. Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant with a little help from Shannon Brown to lift the Lakers to increase the lead to 9 points at the end of the quarter, 41-50 in favor of the Lakers. At the start of the second half, Kevin Garnett scored 8 points but it didn’t affect Kobe Bryant’s hot shooting, scoring 14 points in the third. Pau Gasol and Ron Artest, both with 5 points to finish the quarter. Lakers’ lead increased to 20 points. The biggest lead in the game. 84-64 at the end of the quarter in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers. In the fourth, Paul Pierce didn’t gave up. He scored 13 points but didn’t get help with his team offensively due to the smothering defense of Lakers. Lamar Odom who was scoreless in the last three quarters finally got his 5 points in the fourth period. Kobe Bryant scored the game high with 30 points, 6 assists and 7 boards. Pau Gasol finished with double double, 23 points and 14 rebounds. Boston showed some fight at the start of the fourth. Trailing by 20 points, the Celtics whittled the deficit to 85-74 after a 10-1 run. But the Lakers answered. The play that seemingly sapped the energy out of the Celtics was a block by Artest on Glen Davis, which led to a fast break for the Lakers. An easy dunk from Pau Gasol. “It was a big play for us,” Bryant said. “He (Artest) does a great job for us setting the tone for us defensively.” It was all Lakers in Game 1. There was no aggressiveness in the eyes of Boston Celtics. “We didn’t come out with that fire that we’ve been showing these playoffs,” Celtics forward Tony Allen said. “They outhustled us today. …I don’t think we took that first punch like we should have.” The most intriguing matchup was Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett. These two went at each other. Garnett made some fallaways and finished with 16 points, But Pau Gasol didn’t back away from the challenge who finished with double double. Game 2 will be on Sunday, June 6, 2010 8PM ET at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA More Info.. Lakers took Game 1 in NBA Finals is a post from: Daily World Buzz Continue reading →
