Alright welcome in to the full recap of the game between the Lakers and the Celtics where the Lakers pry a victory away from their arch enemy, Celtics on a 38 point 4th Quarter barrage to avoid an extension of their worst home skid at 9.
I'm gonna be fair. I'm not going to be like a homer saying it was a great game and big win for the Lakers, but the game put me half asleep. Probably the worst Friday night double-header ESPN showcased in a long time, the first being the Bulls and the Nuggets that ended in a Bulls blowout and then this game. The 4th quarter, when our new guys Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks started to carry the Lakers, that's what woke me up for this game and it was great finish, but it doesn't hide the fact that the majority of the game was a snooze fest.
Let's start off with positives, our bench mob. As inconsistent as they've been all season long and fighting injuries, they've provided decent numbers to prolong more rest for our starting lineup. I've mentioned them before and I'll mention them again, one more round of applause for our newcomers from the Warriors, Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks. Bazemore had 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals on 5-10 shooting and Brooks had 14 points on 7-11 shooting as well as adding 3 steals. Like I said last Wednesday, I thought Bazemore was just a throw away piece in the deal for the Warriors to acquire Steve Blake, but he showed us this game that he was more than just a cheerleader off the bench, he can attack the basket and he can show flashes that he can shoot. For Brooks, he had the most with the chip on his shoulder considering he was traded three times this season, first to traded to Boston in the offseason for the blockbuster deal sending KG and Pierce to Brooklyn, then traded to Golden State early in the season for the Warriors to acquire Jordan Crawford, and finally traded to LA before the deadline. Brooks did a great job getting it going in the 4th to make the Lakers' momentum soar sky high to beat the Celtics. Great debut for the Killer B's 2.0, although it's too early to crown them. Rest of the bench mob, Farmar with 8 points, 2 big 3s in the 4th, Kaman with 16 points and 8 rebounds, made big shots, and Jordan Hill with 10 points and 12 rebounds to go with 3 blocks. I told you guys at the end of the 3rd quarter, Hill's block on Olynyk in the final seconds was going to build momentum and it did. For the starting lineup, Pau Gasol 16 points and 7 rebounds in his return and Jodie Meeks also added in 16 points, but had rough going from downtown, both are still trying to recover from injury and they contributed decent numbers for the starting lineup.
Onto the negatives again I'm beating a dead horse, the turnovers. The thing that was making me mad was that the Lakers were forcing long passes all game long and some of the long passes were awful, luckily the Seahawks' Legion of Boom secondary wasn't playing otherwise they would've picked off those awful long passes all game long. I like that they wanted to run and not let the transition D get set, but long passes from full court create a high percentage of turnovers. More negatives this game, Wesley Johnson and Kendall Marshall. Marshall facilitated well, displaying fundamental point guard basketball, but he was one of the main culprits in the turnovers category leading the team with 4. Obviously the Lakers traded away Steve Blake to determine Marshall's long term future with the Lakers, he'll have terrible games, it's natural. Wes Johnson 1 point, 4 fouls, c'mon man you were playing so well the last few games, don't get overconfident and complacent now.
Overall, good win for us Laker fans, it was good, not great. No greater way to honor Jerry Buss' death anniversary late than beating the hated Celtics. So for us Laker fans good win, for NBA fans, awful loss since you guys had to deal with 2 crappy double-header games on ESPN. I'll see you guys on Sunday for the game against the Nets. Gonna have to find a way to split time with that and the new Walking Dead episode.
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