Game 2 - Celts : Lakers :: Baruch : Hillary

Well, it certainly wasn't the prettiest 4th quarter the Celtics have played in the playoffs ... but, believe it or not, it wasn't the worst either ... ;-) ...

Anyone reading this knows how critical I have been of the Celtics' consistent failure to close out games in the 4th quarter,

and this would seem like the most dangerous example of that not-great tendency ...

BUT ...

For some reason, I never really felt that this game was in doubt, despite the Lakers' fabulous comeback ...

In fact, one could say that their 4th quarter "walkabout" -- more than a meltdown, because they just seemed to space out, ESPECIALLY on defense --

is probably a good thing ...

Why ???

Because they are well aware that -- while they were able to get away with it in Boston --

they will really be in trouble if they allow something like that to happen in LA ...

So it's probably just as well that it happened when and where it did ... a salutary warning for what they absolutely CANNOT allow to occur out West ...

In that sense, I would have to -- slightly -- agree with the Globe's Bob Ryan, who said it meant absolutely nothing ...

It means a good deal less than the OTHER times this has happened, because they were so far ahead for so long, which was not the case vs. any of the Eastern Conference teams ...

But it IS something the coaching staff -- and I'm SLOWLY getting a little less annoyed at Doc, chiefly because he's doing now what he WASN'T doing earlier in the playoffs,

namely, PLAYING THE BENCH A LOT ... giving them the minutes they need, as Leon Powe so brilliantly exemplified --

will be able to use to remind the Celtics that -- their superlative play in the first two games aside -- they simply CANNOT afford to space out like that in LA ...

If they do, they'll find themselves coming back to Boston behind, and HAVING to win the final two games, which would NOT be a good situation ...

They've shown they can keep Kobe under control and disrupt the Lakers' offensive rhythm, which is by far the most important thing for the rest of the series ...

In which context, the one thing they MUST do, which they haven't so far, is stop the Lakers' side pick-and-roll ...

If they can do that consistently, then they will win at least one game at the Staples Center, and will be in very good shape when they return to Boston ...

And what's the Baruch / Hillary analogy ???

Simple: In Game 2, the Celtics were so far ahead that, at no point, no matter how close the Lakers got, there really wasn't any doubt that they were, in fact, going to win ...

which is EXACTLY the same situation Baruch was in for the last few months with Hillary ...

No matter how close she got, there was no way she was going to be able to pull it off ...

And while it's not great for EITHER the Celtics or Baruch to coast into victory,

the fact was that both they -- and their respective opponents -- knew perfectly well what the end result was going to be ...

Hope that makes sense ... ;-) ...