After listening to Van Gundy declare the game over when the Lakers were up 20 in 1st and watching the Lakers lead by as much as 24, I made the mistake of giving my wife control over the remote.  I then received the following text message from my boy Khris:

"I'm sorry, MJ just wouldn't have let this happen."

After a mad scramble for the remote, I stop my wife's DVR'ed General Hospital episodes and turn to the game and the bleaping score is 77-77.  Lamar Odom's face looks like Rocky's in Rocky IV when Drago bellowed, "if he dies, HE DIES."  Its looks like we've got some must see TV down the stretch:

5:21 remaining:  Posey hits a three to cut the Lakers lead to 81-80, followed by Kobe's floater straight off the glass no rim and a Gasol bucket.  I hate to bring back up the Kobe/MJ comparisons, but it's plays like this that end the discussion.  I just don't recall Mike forcing as many shots or getting stuck in the air without a shot or pass as much.  To quote Khris once again, "if this was MJ, he'd have 45 and the game would be over."

4:22 remaining:  Odom does the exact same thing, all glass no rim.  He has been killing the Lakers this series.  When Phil said he was tight Odom got defensive because he knew it was the truth. 

Eddie House one of the biggest gunners in basketball history hits a big three to give the Celts their first lead.  This game is turning into a prime opportunity for KG to silence alot of critics. 

2:53:  Lakers down 3, Kobe can't get a shot and kicks out to Farmer who bricks a three, followed by a Garnett basket putting the Celtics up 5.

Its pretty safe to say if the Lakers lose this game the series is over.  Coming into this series, I grossly underestimated how big a mismatch Gasol guarding KG is.  What makes it worse is that KG knows Gasol can't guard him and for stretches he totally dominates him. 

Unfortunately the fact that he only does this for stretches is what has kept KG from reaching his potential.  You can call it unselfishness, lack of killer instinct, or whatever else you can think of.  Fact of that matter is, there is no reason that KG shouldn't average 30 points per game shooting 60% against Pau Gasol, TenderRoni Turiaf, Lamar Odom, and Vlad.  Don't try to convince me otherwise, I won't listen.

Down the stretch in this game KG took one shot.  Luckily, James Posey hit two threes and Eddie House hit another that sealed the deal, however, had they missed these shots and the Celtics lost this game, everyone would have been asking why KG didn't take these shots.  I'll bet if you had a mic on Doc Rivers down the stretch you'd have heard, "HOUSE WHAT THE HELL ARE *swish* .......you doing shoving the dagger in LAs heart like that" or "POSEY, IF YOU SHOOT THAT *basket good*.......shot and make it like that I'll buy you dinner."

2:03:  Kobe at the line trying to redeem himself cutting the lead to 3.  All I can think about is the rumors about Kobe staging games in high school so that he could provide late game heroics.  This one isn't staged, it's a must win game and Kobe has 1:44 to show and prove.

1:30:  Kobe scores again with a tough finish on KG.  Where is Tim Donaghy when you need him?  Lakers need a three point play in the WORST way right about now.

1:13:  Posey with another big three.  I'll bet Phil's pre-game whiteboard said in big underlined letters, "we'll live with Posey beating us."  He's got 18.

46.8:  Kobe fouls Paul Pierce, sending him to the line.  92-89 Celtics.  So with this flopping rule, are defensive players the only one getting fined for flopping or are offensive players who act like they just got stabbed in the hip when they get a little contact going to be cutting checks too?

21.0:  Ray Allen scores on "The Machine" to go up 5 again as the entire Lakers team completely forgets how to play help defense.  One thing made evident by this series is the fact that Pau Gasol not only brought immense talent to this Lakers roster, but he brought years of losing and the nonchalant defensive attitude that comes along with losing to this ballclub.  How many times have we seen Gasol's alligator arms on drives to the hoop.  (See, Leon Powe's coast to coast dunk in Game 2 as the most serious offense)

3.6:  Game over, Celts up with the ball.  Kobe's complaining and the league's best finisher couldn't close out a game up 20 points in the 3rd quarter.  He finished with 17 points and no team in league history has come back from a 3-1 deficit.

What started out as a joke, has turned out to be a disaster.