NBA Finals: Celtics Win 98-88 – Paul Pierce injured; pulls a Willis Reed
In what will undoubtedly go down as one of the more dramatic moments of this year’s NBA playoffs, Celtics captain Paul Pierce (who I admit is my favorite basketball player) made a dramatic comeback after sustaining what looks to be a sprained knee to help bring the Boston Celtics to their first NBA Finals victory in twenty years – beating the Los Angeles Lakers 98-88 in the first game of the much anticipated series.
Pierce was injured when fellow Celtic Kendrick Perkins accidentally landed on him while going for a rebound, which led to Pierce being carried off the court by his teammates before being wheeled to the locker room by team officials. Now in his tenth NBA season in what has been an almost injury free career (other than being stabbed, of course), the air went out of the Boston Garden for a minute as the team has rarely been without Pierce for the past ten seasons, let alone in the NBA Playoffs.
Even with Pierce off the court, Ray Allen stepped up in his absence, having a great overall game in what has been a roller coaster playoff journey for the veteran who has played some of his worst basketball in spurts during this year’s playoffs. As expected, Kevin Garnett played with all the passion and desire (with the thunderous dunks to match) that appeared to make all those frustrating years in Minnesota worthwhile.
However, while Pierce is expected to be a hero at times, Celtics veteran P.J. Brown surprised everyone with some huge contributions off the bench. While Brown was not an offensive presence, his ability to step up in place of an injured Kendrick Perkins to play some solid defense and pull down some crucial rebounds made him one of the games most valuable players. Just how much is P.J. Brown under the radar after his long NBA career? He’s so under the radar that his NBA.com widget looks like this:
While P.J. Brown was providing valuable minutes, Pierce’s return to the game energized the Celtics crowd – a la Willis Reed of the New York Knicks. Not only did Pierce’s return provide a mental lift to the team, his back-to-back three pointers gave the Celtics some breathing room against a very talented Lakers team that will continue to fight (and win some fights) as the series goes on.
For the Celtics to win the series, they will undoubtedly have to continue to contain Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant like they did tonight. With stellar defense on Bryant by a combination of P.J. Brown, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, James Posey, AND Kendrick Perkins, the Celtics managed to hold the MVP to a near-average performance, which is no small feat against a determined Bryant.
Of course, Bryant had a few shots that made anyone watching the game shake their head and wonder “How is this guy that good?”, but as long as the Celtics can keep these moments few and far between, the championship drought stands a chance of becoming the rags to riches story that has been the Celtics transformation from 2007 to 2008.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson has won every NBA Playoff series where his team has won the first game of the series, so by the Celtics winning Game 1, they give themselves a chance at taking what will be one of the most entertaining and intense NBA Finals match ups we’ve seen in years.
[...] NBA Finals: Celtics Win 98-88 – Paul Pierce injured; pulls a … … comeback after sustaining what looks to be a sprained knee to help bring the Boston Celtics to their first NBA Finals victory in twenty years – beating the Los Angeles Lakers 98-88 in the first game of the much anticipated series. … [...]