That was just an epic fail... I love the thought of King Kobe sobbing into his jersey.

Now watch the Lakers take the next three or some crazy-ass shit. I'm glad I'm not a gambler.

I watched the first half & then turned it off thinking the Celtics were toast. Bad on me. Wish I'd stayed up to see it.

And the way it happened wasn't the way these things, these greatest comebacks and most stunning choke jobs, usually happen. The Celtics didn't go crazy. The Lakers didn't melt down.

It was simply a matter of the Celtics outplaying the Lakers, one trip upcourt at a time, one trip downcourt at a time.

I can't say enough about your writing, King. Not only do you capture the essence, but you do so with a light touch and without the sanctimony and hyperbole so prevalent in sports and politics.

Thanks.

like the old LA song... McArthur Park.

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark

All the sweet, green (gold) icing flowing down...

Someone left the cake out in the rain

and I don't think that I can take it

'cause it took so long to bake it

and I'll never have that recipe again

Oh, no!

Awesome game, eloquently desribed.

The so called black mamba got black mamba'd

I like Phil.

I like Kevin.

Now I'm cheering for the Celtics because I like players that play with cool passion. The Celtics kept cool and they played with fire, the purposeful, contained fire that kept the Celtic engine going. That's grace.

Meanwhile, if Kurt Schilling was right, it's likely that Kobe was the destructive, uncontained fire when the Celtic engine steadily pulled the game their way.

I thought Paul Pierce was great in the post-game interview: as controlled as Steve Nash in the lane.

I was even more impressed by Phil. It takes a lot of moxie to stand up there afer a collapse and make it quite clear that your opponent was great.

Or, as Joe Frazier might have said, "Lawdy, Lawdy, they were great."

That was a great win by the better team.

I think we're about to witness the fulfillment of King's comment on last year's Rockies/Padres play-in game:

"You know the story of the Rockies, who ... beat the Padres in a play-in game that would be on an endless loop on its own dedicated cable channel by now had it been contested by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox..."

I thought that was a brilliant observation at the time and considering we just had the NBA equivalent of that hypothetical contest, I fully expect to catch last night's game on ESPN Classic several times today.

-Scot

Assuming the Celtics hold on, Paul Pierce is the presumptive series MVP, but I'd like to put in a plug for Ray Allen, who played the entirety of game four scoring 19 points, snagging 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Allen's quietly averaged twenty points in the series as the Celtic's most consistent player on both offense and defense. After a miserable first few rounds, its nice to see Allen making such a solid contribution.

That game hurt, yes, but even after they had that huge lead I never felt like this game was in the bag. Even after Farmar's lucky 3 pointer at the end of the first half you could feel the Celtics were closing in. I saw from the first few minutes of game one a Laker team that is simply not built to compete with this Celtics team. The Celtics are too big and too physical, and L.A. has no answer. They don't have one body they can throw in and give the Celts what they get. When you play a 48 minute game that's important, which is why I'm shocked the Celtics didn't sweep. I think they're that much better.

I think this Laker team overachieved. They're good, but being a long time Laker fan, back to the Cazzie Russell and Lucius Allen days, I thought it was obvious they weren't championship good. I think Phil knows this deep down as well, and that's why that loss won't eat him up as much as it would have if it had happened against the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. They have to bulk up in the middle. They need a banger. Until they get that guy who can intimidate inside, they'll be stuck where they are now. A nice spot to be sure, but second all the same.

When your inside defense vanishes and your best shooters put up nothing but bricks and airballs I'm not sure what else you'd call it. And what was up with Odom and Fisher sitting on the bench while all this was going on? I remember thinking at some point Fisher's going to come in, hit some J's, and put a stop to this but that never happened. Weird.

I watched the game and became a HUGE fan of the Celts. Just an amazing performance. I think the killer stretch was the 2 min opening of the 4th Q - neither team scored anything for 2 min, while they were tied. If one team had hit a couple buckets, things might have changed. But, not for the Lakers.

Celts will win on Sunday and finish the series.

His post game press conference was PRICELESS.

His plan to overcome this game, "some wine, some beer, about 20 shots" or something to that effect.

Meltdown for the ages.

Pierce may have been the catalyst that helped the Celtics come back and win this game (his lock-down defense on Bryant and his step-back jumper as the shot clock expired in the fourth quarter come to mind), Ray Allen deserves a lot of credit. He played the entire game, came up with some huge rebounds in traffic (including an offensive rebound in the fourth that he converted into an amazing reverse layup), and made an excellent steal down the stretch.

A little dap for the inventor of the technology that allows you to fast forward over life's bad moments. Call me a front runner, but in a darker age I definitely would have changed the channel after the first half.