-One quick thought before we hit the stretch run: notice how the Lakers aren’t going to TEH MOST CLUTCH PLAYER EVAH down the stretch? I have. As much as Kobe has been Kobe all season, this hasn’t been uncommon. Pau Gasol has closed games as the go-to guy a lot this season, and he’s doing it again. Of course, as I say that, Kobe will take over at the very end and finish this off. -Movement. Movement. Movement. Movement. MOVEMENT! This is officially my new bumper sticker. -Gasol’s defense on pick and rolls has been unbelievable. LA is stopping Boston’s pet play – the Paul Pierce pick and roll. Yet another reason why I blog instead of coaching. -Kobe Bryant hits a jumper, Lakers by 4. I dread Mark Jackson’s lead-out to commercial. It turns out more tame than I expected. -Isn’t it funny how you can’t get your offensive rhythm back easily once you go to too many isolations? LA has played great defense, to be sure, but Boston definitely lost a lot when they started to rely too heavily on Pierce isolations late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter. Right now, Ray Allen is out of rhythm, for example, and so is Kevin Garnett. That definitely made a difference on Allen’s wide open missed jumper. -LA dodges a huge bullet there, because Ron Artest left Paul Pierce wide open to close out on Rasheed Wallace for no reason. Pierce missed the shot, Gasol got bailed out on the other end and actually hit his free throws. Lakers by 6. -I’m surprised we haven’t seen Boston post up Garnett on Gasol much this quarter. That would be a smart offensive set. -Speaking of out of rhythm … Ray Allen just missed a layup. -Kobe just got to the rim and got fouled on a dunk attempt. He missed another free throw. I find it funny that, if the Lakers win, Kobe will get praised for sticking with it on offense. The praise really should go to the Lakers’ defense for shutting down Boston’s offense, which has little to do with Kobe. -Garnett gets free for a dunk right after Mark Jackson said he’s never seen the Lakers play better defense, ever. I love karma. -Pau Gasol has 16 points and 15 rebounds, though it doesn’t seem like he’s made that kind of impact. I guess by my standards, nobody is playing well tonight. -Dribble, dribble, dribble, WHISTLE, foul, free throw attempt, missed free throw. -Paul Pierce and Ron Artest just traded dumb fouls on consecutive possessions. They might need to repaint the free-throw line after tonight.
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NBA Finals Game 7 Live Blog: Lakers Win 2010 NBA Title
