Not Enough

There's no shame in the way this team played, but it still hurts.  Celtics fall in overtime.

• Pierce once again played fantastic clutch defense on Kobe.  Even the shots he hit were under intense pressure.
• Hand it to the Lakers defense.  They've really, really improved.  We missed shots in the 2nd quarter that we usually hit, but they got us out of our offensive flow quite a bit tonight.
• Nice games by House and Powe off the bench.
• Hate to have to resort to Big Baby shooting jumpers in the final minutes of overtime.  He's hitting that shot more, but obviously not the best option.  Again, credit the Laker D for forcing that upon us.
• Somebody woke up the corpse of Lamar Odom.  Not a good thing.
• Solid game by Gasol as well.  Shot right over Powe and Baby.  This is why we need a reliable backup center with size.
• Nice all around game by Rondo.  Constantly attacked the rim and dished out 12 assists.  Only 2 turnovers.
• One thing that kept us in the game: Lakers were 17-29 from the line (58.6%)
• I can't blame the loss on the refs, but they weren't very good tonight on either side.  Inconsistent and inaccurate all night long.
• Losing KG (yes, on a really cheap call) was obviously a huge blow.  But the C's still almost pulled it off.

All in all this was a classic Celtics/Lakers game.  It was hard fought, chippy (without being over the top), back and forth, and dramatic.  It just didn't end the way we wanted it to.

See you in the Finals.  We'll be ready.