GAME 1 RECAP..."PIERCE ISN'T WILLIS REED SO RELAX"

Game 1 can be pretty easily broken down. The Celtics dominated the boards and defensively clamped down on the Lakers and specifically Kobe Bryant in the second half. The Lakers played a very sound 1st half, but they made a crucial mistake when Paul Pierce got hurt. (More on that in a second.) They relaxed and allowed the Celtics, while Pierce was in the locker room, to believe they could win without him. So when he came back on the floor, they rode that energy to a victory.

Kobe has to play better. The Lakers as a whole played well until they started to miss a lot of open shots in the 4th quarter. The defense the Celtics are playing on Kobe is very similar, if not the same, to what they played on Lebron James. It is designed to force the other players to win games and frustrate the superstar into tough shots. You could see Kobe fighting the urge to go Kobe circa 2004. Overall he made some very pretty passes, but he seemed confused by the defense. Great players though make adjustments and I would not be shocked if we see a dominant performance in Game 2.

I have nothing against Paul Pierce and I am sure his knee is hurt, but if you get taken off the court in a wheelchair only to return a few minutes later then you couldn't have been as hurt as you were letting on. I don't think it was intentional and he played a very solid game, but please spare me the Willis Reed comments or how courageous and miraculous it was. It would have been miraculous if we find out tomorrow he has a blown ACL. Then I will be impressed. Don't over-blow something that shouldn't even be a story. He got a little scared overacted a bit realized it wasn't as bad as he first thought, came back on the floor and hit some threes. The story ends there.