2008 NBA Finals

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2008 NBA Finals
Team Coach Wins
Boston Celtics Doc Rivers 4
Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson 2
Dates: June 5 - June 17
MVP: Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics)
Television: ABC (U.S.)
TSN (Canada)
Others
Announcers: Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy
Radio network: ESPN Radio
Announcers: Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown
Referees:
Game 1: Bavetta, Foster, Rush
Game 2: D. Crawford, Delaney, Mauer
Game 3: J. Crawford, Salvatore, Wunderlich
Game 4: DeRosa, Javie, Washington
Game 5: Bavetta, Foster, Mauer
Game 6: J. Crawford, Rush, Salvatore
Hall of Famers: Coaches:
Phil Jackson (2007)
Eastern Finals: Boston defeated Detroit, 4–2
Western Finals: Los Angeles defeated San Antonio, 4–1
NBA Finals
 < 2007  

The 2008 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2007–08 NBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. 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 in a best-of-seven series. This is the first Boston team to win a title since 1986.

2008 marked the first time since 2000 that the top seeds from both conferences met in the Finals and the first time since 2003 that any top seeded team played in the NBA 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. The two clubs, the 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, when the Lakers advanced to the Finals, but the Celtics led 2-1 but fell in the Conference Finals to the more favoured New Jersey Nets 4-2. 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 and 1987.

The Celtics' 66–16 record gave them home court advantage over Los Angeles (57–25). This was the first time since 1997, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz for the championship, that an Eastern Conference team had the home court advantage and the first Finals since 1998 not to feature either Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal.

Contents

[edit] Road to the finals

Main article: 2008 NBA Playoffs
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

[edit] Regular season series

The Boston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:

November 23 Recap Los Angeles Lakers 94, Boston Celtics 107 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston KCAL, CSN
December 30 Recap Boston Celtics 110, Los Angeles Lakers 91 Staples Center, Los Angeles NBA TV

These games were played before Pau Gasol was traded to the Lakers on February 1.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Game summaries

All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time. Games marked with an asterisk (*) are if necessary.[1]

[edit] Game 1

June 5
9:00 pm		 Recap Los Angeles Lakers 88, Boston Celtics 98 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Attendance: 18,624
Referees:
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 21–23, 30–23, 22–31, 15–21
Pts: Bryant 24
Rebs: Gasol 8
Assts: Bryant, Fisher 6
TOs: Bryant 4		 Pts: Garnett 24, Pierce 22
Rebs: Garnett 13
Assts: 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 shooting touch, 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 22 points.

[edit] Game 2

June 8
9:00 pm		 Recap Los Angeles Lakers 102, Boston Celtics 108 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Attendance: 18,624
Referees:
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 22–20, 20–34, 19–29, 41–25
Pts: Bryant 30
Rebs: Radmanović, Gasol 10
Assts: Bryant 8
TOs: Bryant 4		 Pts: Pierce 28, Powe 21
Rebs: Garnett 14
Assts: Rondo 16
3P-FG: Pierce 4/4
The opening tipoff of Game 2
The opening tipoff of Game 2

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 lead 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]

[edit] Game 3

June 10
9:00 pm		 Recap Boston Celtics 81, Los Angeles Lakers 87 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Attendance: 18,997
Referees:
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 17–23, 25–17, 19–27
Pts: Allen 25
Rebs: Garnett 12
Assts: Garnett 5
FG: Pierce 2/14		 Pts: Bryant 36, Vujačić 20
Rebs: Gasol 12
Assts: Farmar 5
3P-FG: Vujačić 3/5

The Lakers won game 3 on a strong shooting night from regular season MVP Kobe Bryant, who scored a series-high 36 points, leading the Lakers to their first series win and adding to their undefeated streak at home in the 2008 post-season. Sasha Vujacic matched Leon Powe's performance in Game 2, scoring 20 points in 28 minutes, Paul Pierce had a poor shooting game, making only two of his 14 field goal attempts. Kevin Garnett also had trouble shooting, finishing with only 12 points. Ray Allen was the only member of Boston's Big Three that did well, with 25 points.

[edit] Game 4

June 12
9:00 pm		 Recap Boston Celtics 97, Los Angeles Lakers 91 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Attendance: 18,997
Referees:
  • #14 DeRosa
  • #29 Javie
  • #49 Washington
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 14–35, 26–23, 31–15, 26–18
Pts: Pierce 20, Allen 19
Rebs: Garnett 11
Assts: Pierce 7
Stls: Allen 3		 Pts: Odom 19
Rebs: Gasol, Odom 10
Assts: 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 (5.5 m) 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]

[edit] Game 5

June 15
9:00 pm		 Recap Boston Celtics 98, Los Angeles Lakers 103 Staples Center, Los Angeles
Attendance: 18,997
Referees:
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 22–39, 30–16, 18–24, 28–24
Pts: Pierce 38
Rebs: Garnett 14
Assts: Pierce 8
TOs: Pierce 5		 Pts: Bryant 25
Rebs: Gasol 13
Assts: Gasol 6
Blks: Odom 4

As in Game 4, the Lakers jumped out to an early lead, leading 43–24 with 11 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter. And as in Game 4, the Celtics came back, taking a 62–60 lead behind the strong play of Paul Pierce.

The Lakers finally regained their composure, outscoring Boston 24–18 in the 3rd quarter. 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) by a total of 43 points (73–116).

The Lakers built a 14-point lead in the 4th quarter, but the Celtics again came back with a 16–2 run to tie the game at 90. With less than one minute left in the game, the Celtics had the ball with the Lakers leading 97–95. Pierce 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 downcourt to Bryant for a breakaway dunk, giving the Lakers a 99–95 lead. The Lakers went on to win 103–98, pushing the series to six games.

Kobe Bryant scored 15 points in the 1st quarter, but only 10 more in the rest of the game. Bryant shot a paltry 8 of 21 from the floor, and also committed 6 turnovers, but also contributed five steals. Gasol played well, with 19 points, 6 assists, and 13 rebounds. Several of his rebounds were big plays that kept Laker possessions alive.[8]

A surprise several-minute appearance was made by Chris Mihm, who had been out for more than half of the season, having only played four games since December 23, totaling 25 minutes with four points.[9] After the game, Phil Jackson said he would not experiment with that in Game 6.

As for the odds stacked against the Lakers to come back from a 3–1 deficit, Jackson said, "We're young enough and dumb enough to do this."[10]

[edit] Game 6

June 17
9:00 pm		 Recap Los Angeles Lakers 92, Boston Celtics 131 TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Attendance: 18,624
Referees:
 ABC, TSN, Cuatro, Canal+, Canal 7
Scoring by quarter: 20–24, 15–34, 25–31, 32–42
Pts: Bryant 22
Rebs: Odom 10
Assts: Odom 5
FG: Bryant 7/22		 Pts: Allen, Garnett 26
Rebs: Garnett 14
Assts: Pierce 10
Stls: Rondo 6
Boston wins series, 4–2
Boston Celtics fans, players, coaching personnel, and staff celebrate the franchise's 17th title
Boston Celtics fans, players, coaching personnel, and staff celebrate the franchise's 17th title

After a rocky first quarter, the Celtics dominated the rest of the game. Maintaining a lead of more than 25 points, 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 a large lead by the second half, Celtics coach Doc Rivers did not rest his best players until the fourth quarter. The Lakers reduced the point spread to 39 points by the final buzzer. This lead was close to the Finals point-spread 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, including rebounds (48–29, with a 14–2 disparity in offensive boards), turnovers (7–19), steals (18–4), assists (33–16) and blocks (4–0).[14]

The Celtics demolished the Lakers, 131–92, the largest margin of victory in a championship-clinching game, the second-largest being Game Five of the 1965 NBA Finals in which the Celtics beat the the Lakers 129–96.[15] They also improved their overall record against the Lakers to 9-2 in Finals meetings. Celtics guard Ray Allen tied 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, their first in 22 years, extending their record for most NBA championships won by a single team. This also capped off one of the Celtics' best ever seasons (66-16) in franchise history.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Rosters

2008 Los Angeles Lakers Finals roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From
SF 3 Flag of the United States Ariza, Trevor 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) UCLA
SG 24 Flag of the United States Bryant, Kobe (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Lower Merion HS (PA)*
C 17 Flag of the United States Bynum, Andrew Injured 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 285 lb (129 kg) St. Joseph HS (NJ)*
PG 5 Flag of the United States Farmar, Jordan 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) UCLA
PG 2 Flag of the United States Fisher, Derek 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Arkansas-Little Rock
F/C 16 Flag of Spain Gasol, Pau 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Spain
G 11 Flag of the United States Karl, Coby 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Boise State
C 28 Flag of Belgium Mbenga, D. J. 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 215 lb (98 kg) DR Congo
C 31 Flag of the United States Mihm, Chris 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Texas
SF 14 Flag of the United States Newble, Ira 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Miami (OH)
F 7 Flag of the United States Odom, Lamar 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Rhode Island
F 10 Flag of Serbia Radmanović, Vladimir 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Serbia
PF 21 Flag of France Turiaf, Ronny 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Gonzaga
G 18 Flag of Slovenia Vujačić, Sasha 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Slovenia
SF 4 Flag of the United States Walton, Luke 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Arizona
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • Injured Injured

Roster • Transactions
Last change: 2008-03-21
2008 Boston Celtics Finals roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From
SG 20 Flag of the United States Allen, Ray 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Connecticut
SG 42 Flag of the United States Allen, Tony 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 213 lb (97 kg) Oklahoma State
C 93 Flag of the United States Brown, P.J. 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 239 lb (108 kg) Louisiana Tech
PG 28 Flag of the United States Cassell, Sam 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Florida State
PF 11 Flag of the United States Davis, Glen 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 289 lb (131 kg) Louisiana State
5 Flag of the United States Garnett, Kevin 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Farragut Academy HS (IL)
PG 50 Flag of the United States House, Eddie 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Arizona State
C 43 Flag of the United States Perkins, Kendrick 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 264 lb (120 kg) Clifton J. Ozen HS (TX)
SF 34 Flag of the United States Pierce, Paul (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Kansas
C 66 Flag of the United States Pollard, Scot Injured 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 278 lb (126 kg) Kansas
SF 41 Flag of the United States Posey, James 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Xavier
PF 0 Flag of the United States Powe, Leon 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) California
PG 13 Flag of the United States Pruitt, Gabe 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Southern California
PG 9 Flag of the United States Rondo, Rajon 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 171 lb (78 kg) Kentucky
PF 44 Flag of the United States Scalabrine, Brian 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Southern California
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • Injured Injured

Roster • Transactions
Last change: 2008-03-04

[edit] International broadcasts

Aside from ABC (U.S.) and TSN (Canada), other broadcasters across the world covered the Finals:[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "2008 NBA Finals Schedule", ESPN. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. 
  2. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=jacksonlakers-080609
  3. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080609
  4. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080610
  5. ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25129400/
  6. ^ http://www.nba.com/suns/playoffs/2006_sunslakers_index.html
  7. ^ <http://www.nba.com/playoffs2003/bestofseven_series.html
  8. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/2008-06-16-gasol-game-5_N.htm?csp=34
  9. ^ http://www.nba.com/playerfile/chris_mihm/game_by_game_stats.html
  10. ^ http://www.daily-jeff.com/news/article/3951451
  11. ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25227077/
  12. ^ http://www.internetfm.com/srn/finals98.htm
  13. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nba/longterm/1998/finals/articles/nba8.htm
  14. ^ a b Template error: argument title is required. 
  15. ^ Template error: argument title is required. 
  16. ^ Global NBA Programming, NBA.com

[edit] External links

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