2008 NBA Finals
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| Dates | June 5 - June 17 | |||||||||
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| MVP | Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics) | |||||||||
| Hall of Famers | Coaches: Phil Jackson (2007) | |||||||||
| Eastern finals | Boston defeats Detroit, 4–2 | |||||||||
| Western finals | Los Angeles defeats San Antonio, 4–1 | |||||||||
The 2008 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2007-08 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of that year's postseason. The East's top-seeded Boston Celtics, the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, defeated the West's top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, the winner of the Western Conference Finals, four games to two.
This marked the first time since 2000 that both top seeds from each conference met in the Finals. The Lakers appeared in the Finals for the first time since 2004 and a record 29th time overall. The Celtics appeared in the Finals for the first time since 1987 and second-best 20th time overall.
Going into the series, the Celtics had won the most championships all-time with 16, and the Lakers were second with 14. Both clubs, the two most successful teams in NBA history, looked to renew a longstanding rivalry 21 years after their last Finals meeting in 1987. They narrowly missed meeting each other in 2002. This was the 11th time the teams met in the championship round; the Celtics won eight of their previous Finals meetings, which occurred in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1984, 1985, 1987.
The Celtics' 66-16 record gave them home court advantage over Los Angeles (57–25). This was the first time that an Eastern Conference team had the home court advantage since 1997, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz for the championship.
The two teams met twice in the regular season; the Celtics were victorious in both games.
This was the first Finals since 1998 not to feature either Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal.
Road to the finals
| Los Angeles Lakers | Boston Celtics | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 57-25 (.695) 1st Pacific, 1st West, 3rd overall |
Regular season | 66-16 (.805) 1st Atlantic, 1st East, 1st overall | |
| Defeated the (8) Denver Nuggets, 4-0 | First Round | Defeated the (8) Atlanta Hawks, 4-3 | |
| Defeated the (4) Utah Jazz, 4-2 | Conference Semifinals | Defeated the (4) Cleveland Cavaliers, 4-3 | |
| Defeated the (3) San Antonio Spurs, 4-1 | Conference Finals | Defeated the (2) Detroit Pistons, 4-2 | |
Regular season series
The Boston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:
These games were played before Pau Gasol was traded to the Lakers on February 1.
Series scoring summary
| Team | Games | Wins | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Los Angeles Lakers | 88 | 102 | 87 | 91 | 103 | 92 | 2 |
| Boston Celtics | 98 | 108 | 81 | 97 | 98 | 131 | 4 |
Key: Boldface - win, italics - home court, * - number of overtimes.
Game summaries
All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time. Games marked with an asterisk (*) are if necessary.[1]
Game 1
June 5
9:00 pm |
| Los Angeles Lakers 88, Boston Celtics 98 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 30–23, 22–31, 15–21 | ||
| Pts: Bryant 24 Rebs: Gasol 8 Asts: Bryant, Fisher 6 TOs: Bryant 4 |
Pts: Garnett 24, Pierce 22 Rebs: Garnett 13 Asts: Rondo 7 Stls: Posey 2 | |
Paul Pierce scored 15 points in the third quarter to give Boston the lead for good, and Kevin Garnett paced the Celtic attack with 24 points and 13 rebounds including a powerful two-handed putback dunk late in the game. Kobe Bryant struggled with his shot, finishing 9-26 from the field with 24 points.
Pierce injured his knee by falling awkwardly on Kendrick Perkins' leg. Pierce was carried off the court and placed in a wheelchair. After realizing his injury was not as serious as had been feared, Pierce returned to raucous cheering from the crowd. He soon hit two three-pointers on consecutive offensive possessions and finished with 28.
Game 2
June 8
9:00 pm |
| Los Angeles Lakers 102, Boston Celtics 108 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 22–20, 20–34, 19–29, 41–25 | ||
| Pts: Bryant 30 Rebs: Radmanović, Gasol 10 Asts: Bryant 8 TOs: Bryant 4 |
Pts: Pierce 28, Powe 21 Rebs: Garnett 14 Asts: Rondo 16 3P-FG: Pierce 4/4 | |
The Lakers jumped out to an early 15–8 first quarter lead, but the Celtics answered with a 10–0 run at the start of the second quarter and ended the first half with a 54–42 lead.
The Celtics held a 24-point with less than eight minutes to go in the 4th quarter before the Lakers cut the lead to two points with 38.4 seconds to go. Paul Pierce and James Posey then closed out the game with two free throws each. The Lakers had a chance to take the lead with 14 seconds left, but the ball failed to get into the hands of Kobe Bryant, resulting in a shot by Sasha Vujačić that was blocked by Pierce. Bryant finished the game with 30 points and 8 assists.
Leon Powe, a second year bench player, scored 21 points on 6–7 shooting in 15 minutes of play, including back-to-back dunks in the last minute of the 3rd quarter.
Despite injuries suffered by Pierce (sprained knee) and Kendrick Perkins (high ankle sprain), both players started in Game 2 and appeared to be unhampered by the injuries, especially Pierce who finished with 28 points.
Boston finished the game 27-for-38 from the line, while the Lakers were 10-for-10. Some analysts viewed this as favorable treatment toward the Celtics[2][3], while others noted that a difference in playing styles may have lead to the discrepancy, and that the actual foul discrepancy was only 28-21 in favor of Boston[4].
Game 3
June 10
9:00 pm |
| Boston Celtics 81, Los Angeles Lakers 87 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 17–23, 25–17, 19–27 | ||
| Pts: Allen 25 Rebs: Garnett 12 Asts: Garnett 5 FG: Pierce 2/14 |
Pts: Bryant 36, Vujačić 20 Rebs: Gasol 12 Asts: Farmar 5 3P-FG: Vujačić 3/5 | |
In Game 3, the Lakers beat the Celtics 87-81. Paul Pierce had a poor shooting game, making only 2 of his 14 field goal attempts. Garnett also had trouble shooting having only 12 points. Ray Allen was the only member of Boston's big 3 that did well with 25 points. Sasha Vujacic scored 20 points in 28 minutes, similar to Boston's Powe's performance in game 2. Kobe Bryant scored a series high 36 points leading the Lakers to their first series win and adding another win to their undefeated streak at home in the 2008 post season.
Game 4
June 12
9:00 pm |
| Boston Celtics 97, Los Angeles Lakers 91 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 14–35, 26–23, 31–15, 26–18 | ||
| Pts: Pierce 20, Allen 19 Rebs: Garnett 11 Asts: Pierce 7 Stls: Allen 3 |
Pts: Odom 19 Rebs: Gasol, Odom 10 Asts: Bryant 10 FG: Bryant 6/19 | |
The Lakers jumped out to a 35–14 lead after the 1st quarter. The Lakers held their ground for most of the third quarter, leading by as many as 24 points. The Celtics went on a 21–3 run to end the third quarter, closing the deficit to two (73–71). With 4:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Celtics took the lead for good when Eddie House made an 18-foot jumper. The Celtics' victory in Game 4 was the largest comeback in the NBA Finals since 1971[5]. Kobe Bryant had 17 points (6 of 19 from the field), 14 of those coming in the 2nd half. The Celtics bench outscored the Lakers bench 35–15. Kevin Garnett finished with 16 points.
No NBA team has ever come back to win the Finals when trailing 3–1. However, eight teams so far had come back from such a deficit in the playoffs in general. The most recent was a series between the Phoenix Suns against the very same Los Angeles Lakers in 2006.[6][7]
Game 5
June 15
9:00 pm |
| Boston Celtics 98, Los Angeles Lakers 103 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 22–39, 30–16, 18–24, 28–24 | ||
| Pts: Pierce 38 Rebs: Garnett 14 Asts: Pierce 8 TOs: Pierce 5 |
Pts: Bryant 25 Rebs: Gasol 13 Asts: Gasol 6 Blks: Odom 4 | |
Like Game 4, the Lakers jumped out to an early lead, leading 43-24 with 11 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter. Also, like Game 4, the Celtics came back and made the game competitive, and took a 62-60 lead behind the strong play of Paul Pierce. The Lakers would regain their composure, and built a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter. The Celtics would again comeback with a 16-2 run to tie the game at 90 all. With less than one minute left in the game, the Celtics had the ball with the Lakers leading 97-95. Pierce had apparently beat Bryant off the drive, but Bryant knocked the ball out of Pierce's hands from behind. Lamar Odom picked up the loose ball and passed down court to Bryant for a break away dunk, giving the Lakers a 99-95 lead. The Lakers would go on to win 103-98, pushing the series to six games.
In Game 5 the Celtics came out strong to take a big lead into half time. At 6:48 in the third quarter they were 27 points up and continuing to push the lead. Rajon Rondo was having an amazing game with 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 11 points.
Kobe Bryant scored immensely well in the 1st quarter with 15 points. But, he would only come to score 10 more for the rest of the game. However, Kobe Bryant made up for his lack of offense with good defense, which included 5 steals - 2 of them in the fourth quarter. Gasol played well, with 19 points, 6 assists, and 13 rebounds. Though, it did not show in the stat sheet, his rebounds were very big plays, keeping Laker possessions alive.[8]
Another note is that the Lakers finally controlled the 3rd quarter, outscoring Boston 24 to 18. In previous games, the Lakers were outscored by Boston in the 3rd quarter (22-31 in Game 1, 19-29 in Game 2, 17-25 in Game 3, and 15-31 in Game 4), with the complete total of 73-116, or +43 points in favor of Boston.
Another unusual note is the fact that Chris Mihm played for several minutes. Mihm has been out for more than half of the season (having only played four games since December 23rd, totaling only 25 minutes with four points).[9] Phil Jackson promised the media that he would not be experimenting with that in Game 6.
As for the odds stacked against the Lakers to comeback from a 3-1 deficit, Jackson stated "We're young enough and dumb enough to do this."[10]
Game 6
June 17
9:00 pm |
| Los Angeles Lakers 92, Boston Celtics 131 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 20-24, 15-34, 25-31, 32-42 | ||
| Pts: Bryant 22 Rebs: Odom 10 Asts: Odom 5 TOs: Gasol 5 |
Pts: Allen, Garnett 26 Rebs: Garnett 14 Asts: Pierce 10 Stls: Rondo 6 | |
| Boston wins series, 4–2 | ||
After a rocky first quarter, the Celtics would assume dominance for the rest of the game. Maintaining a lead of more than 25 points for the rest of the game, the Celtics' Big Three performed phenomenally, while the whole team smothered the Lakers' offense with their tight defense, which included 18 steals. Though they built up an insurmountable lead by the second half, coach Doc Rivers did not rest to put his best players forward, so that by 2:21 left in the 4th quarter, the Celtics' lead was up to an incredible 38 points. With just over a minute left, the Celtics extended it to 43 points, but the Lakers reduced the point spread to 39 points by the final buzzer. This lead was close to the record set in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals where a Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls team beat the Utah Jazz by 42 points, 96-54. [11][12][13]
Boston dominated in numerous statistical categories, notably in rebounds (48-29, including a 14-2 disparity in offensive boards), turnovers (7-19), steals (18-4), assists (33-13) and blocks (4-0). [14]
The Celtics demolished the Lakers, 131-92. This win surpassed the previous NBA record for the largest margin of victory in a championship-clinching game, previously set in Game Five of the 1965 NBA Finals, with the Celtics beating the the Lakers 129–96.[15] Celtics' guard Ray Allen set a Finals' record with seven three-point field goals, while the Celtics also set a Finals' record with 18 steals. [14] This was the Celtics' 17th championship win, their first in 22 years, which broke their own record for most championships won by a single team.
Rosters
| 2008 Los Angeles Lakers Finals roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2008 Boston Celtics Finals roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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International broadcasts
Aside from ABC (U.S.) and TSN (Canada), other broadcasters across the world covered the Finals:[16]
See also
- Lakers-Celtics rivalry
- Curse of Len Bias - the alleged curse that had kept the Celtics from winning the NBA Finals since 1986, which was broken in this series.
References
- ^ "2008 NBA Finals Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=jacksonlakers-080609
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080609
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080610
- ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25129400/
- ^ http://www.nba.com/suns/playoffs/2006_sunslakers_index.html
- ^ <http://www.nba.com/playoffs2003/bestofseven_series.html
- ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/2008-06-16-gasol-game-5_N.htm?csp=34
- ^ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/chris_mihm/game_by_game_stats.html
- ^ http://www.daily-jeff.com/news/article/3951451
- ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25227077/
- ^ http://www.internetfm.com/srn/finals98.htm
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nba/longterm/1998/finals/articles/nba8.htm
- ^ a b . Boston Globe. June 18, 2008 http://boston.stats.com/nba/boxscore.asp?gamecode=2008061702&home=2&vis=13&meta=true. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "NBA Gameflash". Sports Illustrated. June 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Global NBA Programming, NBA.com
External links
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