Eight minutes

By Gary Dzen

June 9, 2008

2 minutes to read

The Celtics played outstanding basketball for 40 minutes in Game 2. But the doubters will focus on eight minutes of bad basketball. If it’s possible to ignore a 2-0 series lead, Boston’s critics certainly will.

“It’s just one of those playoff things,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “Home-court advantage, they held serve, and we go home and do what we have to do on our home court. That’s what it’s about.”

Up 95-71 with 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Celtics got careless, allowing Los Angeles to climb right back into the game. While Boston was trying to run out the clock, Kobe Bryant was leading his team back into the game. Bryant had 13 points and 5 assists in the fourth, cutting Boston’s lead to two points on a pair of free throws with 38.4 seconds to play.

Nevermind that the Celtics held on for the win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. The postgame press conferences were all about that eight-minute stretch.

“I thought we got cute when we got the lead,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “We started trying to make sensational plays instead of keeping it simple, and when you play a team like that, that has the arsenal, they made a lot of shots…We had a chance not to allow them to get comfortable and we did.”

The comeback doesn’t change the status of the series, but it seemed to inspire Bryant.

“We played with a sense of desperation and more aggression, and I think that’s something for us to take home and learn from,” said Bryant. “They took care of business at home, and we’ve got to go home and try to do the same thing. It’s not the end of the world. We’ve come too far to really sweat being down 2-0. We’re going to go home and handle our business.”

For their part, the Celtics can learn a little something from those eight minutes as well.

“Obviously we’ve got to be a lot more aggressive come fourth quarter,” said Kevin Garnett. “I don’t think we did some of the same things that got us the lead, and it’s a live-and-learn-type thing. Hopefully we can apply — not hopefully, but we will apply what we learned tonight and take it on the road.”