The top two players in the league lost today, Kobe nearly got a triple double and the Celtics won despite no Rondo. And here's the best part, this is all true!
Celtics 100, Heat 98 in 2OT
The biggest news doesn't involve LeBron's clutch three or Ray Allen's return, but we'll cover that later. The Celtics got some huge points from Garnett and Pierce in double overtime, along with gritty defense from Jeff Green, and they hung on to win an inspired game.
For the Heat, it was all LeBron and Allen. Dwyane Wade did not score in either OT, going 6-20 on the day. LeBron sent it into OT after he nailed an open three with seven seconds left. The Heat had a chance to win in the first overtime, but Wade couldn't execute after seemingly getting Pierce to fall for a pump fake. In the second OT, The Celtics locked down on Miami. Garnett and Pierce each made some baskets to give Boston a two-point lead. In the final seconds, Miami went for the win, but Shane Battier airballed a deep three. LeBron was used as a decoy on the final play. His line by the way, 34-16-7.
The sad news came to fans in the third quarter when we found out Rondo will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. This is a crushing blow for Boston, who is currently eighth in the East. Doc Rivers will do his best to put together a winning rotation, but there's no good answer to losing your best player. Rondo was set to start his first all-star game in February. Pierce's reaction says it all.
Lakers 105, Thunder 96
Kobe outplayed Durant in the fourth quarter and the Lakers got their biggest win of the season. Only a fool would try to predict anything about this Lakers team, but they seem to have found a winning formula.
Kobe was a distributor first and scorer second. Nash was aggressive at times and looked comfortable for once as a Laker. Gasol came off the bench and actually got involved! World Peace, Clark and Jamison all made big shots. And Dwight Howard? He wasn't so great. Only 8 points, 10 boards and 2 for 10 at the line. But hey, the Lakers won, and they're 2-0...in D'Antoni time.
For OKC, Durant and Westbrook didn't shoot the ball well. And while for Durant that still equals 35 points, for Westbrook it means 6-22 shooting, 4 turnovers and frustration. For the first time in months, this seemed like a game where they really missed James Harden.
Kobe will get all the credit for sharing today, but the player of the game for L.A. was World Peace. He played 43 minutes of lockdown defense on Durant, not letting him breathe in the fourth. His 15 points were a bonus compared to his tenacity on defense. More good efforts from Peace will allow Kobe to have more games like this.
I can call the Lakers 2-0 only if they promise to stop restarting their season. This is exhausting.
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