Game 5 - A Huge Steal

Paul Pierce, who scored 38 points, faces the basket while dribbling the ball with under a minute to play. His team trails by two.

It was a contest that had witnessed drastic mood swings. The Lakers got out to a frenetic pace once again. They took a 19-point lead in the first half. Announcer Mike Breen joked, "The Celtics have the Lakers right where they want them." He was right. The Celtics stormed back while both benches were out on the floor. Phil Jackson put in Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf, and even little-used Chris Mihm. The result was nearly as disastrous as the results of the fast-track land-grab on Zimbabwe's economy. Doc Rivers played a little-used player of his own, Tony Allen, who paid off. The only problem for the Celtics was their comeback came too quickly.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Lakers pushed their advantage back up to 14 points. The Lakers bench came back in. Walton was joined by Jordan Farmer and Vujajic, who had another abysmal game from the field, shooting 2-10. Meanwhile, the Celtics bench, led by Posey and Sam Cassell, directed the Boston charge. Cassell is a 38-year old two-time NBA champion who scored 9 points in 18 minutes as his Celtics outscored the Lakers by 23 while he was inside the lines. It looked like the Celtics would comeback again and win the championship. Their roll could not be stopped.

Pierce drives towards the basket. Kobe Bryant, who had 15 of his 25 points in the first, shifts out of the way to let Pierce go by. Pierce forgets about Bryant and focuses on making his next move. Kobe sticks out his hand forcing the ball away from Pierce's control and races towards his offensive basket. Odom, who poured in 20 points, grabs the ball and flings it forward into Bryant's confident hands. Kobe then flushes home the ball, and with it, wins a trip back to Boston for Game 6.

I'm not really sure how the Lakers won this game. Their defense was elementary. Kobe shot rather poorly again, going 8-21. The key for the Lakers rests in the hands of Odom, who also pulled down 11 rebounds and swatted 4 shots, Gasol (19 points, 13 rebs, and 6 assists), and Fisher (15 points). The Lakers stole a 103-98 win to stay in the series.