Kobe helps lead Lakers past Celts for first game victory By David Zizmor June 3, 2010     This was a big game for the Lakers a team who established who was the better team in game one of this NBA Finals for a 102-89 victory at Staples Center in Los Angeles. This was a big game for the Lakers. When the Celtics played the Lakers two years ago the Celts had home court advantage and the Celtics won game one. They really asserted themselves physically against that Lakers team, the Celtics in the 2008-09 season were just a physically superior team, they were fantastic on defense and even on the offensive end of the ball they were just pushing the Lakers around, they were just having their way with them. The Lakers remembered that they took it to heart and last season when the Lakers won the title they didn't have to go through the Celtics. Last season the Celtics had a lot of injuries, Kevin Garnett didn't play at all in the post season and they weren't the same team. This year Garnett is back he's not the same player that he once was but he's still a presence. So there might some fear on the part of the Lakers that having a full complement of players back would mean the Celtics could possibly physically exert themselves on the Lakers. The Celtics could impose their will on them. The memory of that two seasons ago really pushed the Lakers in this game because you get to see them play with a level of intensity we really haven't seen too much for them. The Lakers are known for being down and dirty and a gritty team, they’re not known for a defensive team. The Lakers even back in their day in the 80s with more finesse, show time, but this team on Thursday night against a very good Celtics team. The Lakers 2009-10 season really showed that they physically can assert themselves when they need too. That's really not their style and don't expect them to pull it off every single night and were not sure they're going to have the energy to do it but the fact that they did it in game one and put themselves in the driver's seat that's really important. It shows the Celtics are not going to be able to push the Lakers like they did last time. If the Celtics want to hang with this Lakers team the defending champions then the Celts are really going have to push it to a new level. Let's face it the Celtics may not have faced a team of this caliber and usually you don't in the playoffs and you usually don't play the best team until the end in the post season and that's what the Celtics are doing right now and I'm not sure if the Celtics have enough to hang with the Lakers. Rajon Rondo has emerged as a fantastic player and one of the top point guards in the NBA but compared to the Celtics team from two years ago Paul Pierce and Ray Allen while their still good players their not the great players they were when they won the title a couple of years back. Rondo's improvement and maturation as a player can make up for what the other players have lost. Rondo is a great player but it's still a team effort and he can't do it by himself, the Lakers are just too good, but let's give credit to this Lakers team and this isn't about what the Celtics couldn't do but what the Lakers could do and what the Lakers could do aside from playing defense and asserting themselves as a physical team they played really good basketball. David Zizmor covers the NBA Finals for Sportstalk Radio

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