That Boston Mentality

I couldn't quite put into words my feelings for tonight's game 7....

So I drew a picture.

The Difference Between Lakers Fans and Celtics Fans

How they feel after a Celtics win

How they feel after a Lakers win

And sorry Dutch, but this cannot stand without futher review...

...Kobe always has to find some way to cheat

Classless

DUTCH EDIT:

Perkins lands wrong on his own leg.

If anything, you should be mad at Bynum for the over the back; Kobe is making an attempt at a rebound, not trying to knock a guy's legs out from underneath him. A slight nudge of Perkin's calf, followed by Perkins readjusting his footing really poorly, and you get a pretty nasty injury.

Why Perkins couldn't land this, I don't understand.

I mean, we're all going to see what we want to see in the video, but Kobe is trying to win games, not ruin players' careers. Kobe might be cheating on his wife, but never on the court.

I think what all Boston sports fans are feeling right now, with the performance of their teams in the last year, is that the good times of the 2000's are coming to an end- which leads to fear of how long the losing will continue before the next Tom Brady, Kevin Garnett, and Papi Ortiz come along with some shiny championship trophies to quell the masses.

No one wants to relive the curse. Not with the taste of success Boston had from 2002-2008 still lingering.

Crooked Response:

Spin it however you want. No city has known a dynasty like Boston, where every team has had a chance to compete for a title every year for a decade. Fine. Call us a spoiled. Call us arrogant. Call us whatever you want, because when it comes down to it, it's not the winning that's important to us. The suffering is what makes the victories better. As fans, there is no greater feeling than to feel involved, like you're part of something bigger. It's nice to think that if you complain enough about calls, cheer loud enough for goals, harass players to the breaking point, or even just chant, "Yankees Suck" enough, that it makes a difference.

What makes being a Boston sport fan great?

We care.

We watch every game. We agonize over every blown call. We revel in every point. No one cares more about the game than Bostonians. No other city's morale relies on sports.

So when a bull-shit, half-assed thrown together team like the Lakers wins the championship on a couple of free throws, we suffer. When we get camera breaks of the LA crowd of movie stars, most not even watching the game, we suffer.

Yes we are assholes.

That's why we chant things like; "Ugly Sister!" or " No Means No".

It's because we truly hate, and until other cities feel that passion, you don't deserve to win.

Go Red Sox?

DUTCH EDIT 2:

The winning is not what's important?

Boston is a city of sore losers, and sore winners. Hate is not the passion of champions. It's for losers, plain and simple. You wouldn't make the trades you made to create the current Celtics basketball team if winning wasn't important. Winning is everything in the modern megabucks era of professional sports. The last time Boston didn't care about winning, Babe Ruth went to the Yankees. The suffering is something you put up with because the winning is so damn good.

Recognize that Los Angeles doesn't even have a football team. And the Dodgers and the Clippers and the Kings are all jokes. The Lakers are it for that city in terms of sports, and they have a history as illustrious as Boston's. It is truly cherished as a team, as a symbol, as all the things that Boston fans attribute to their beloved sports teams. Every city cares about their teams like it's life and death; just ask Chicago. It's just that other cities don't have to be dicks about it.

When the A's were in town at Fenway, and the Sox were losing, what do the fans do to cheer themselves up? "BEAT LA!! BEAT LA!!" The A's are 6 hours away from LA in Oakland! I understand that the Celtics are in the Finals across town later that night, but how about something that is at least the same sport? It makes about as much sense as chanting "Yankees suck!"

When the Red Sox come to Baltimore, so many of them pour in that the Orioles get booed when they come to bat at their home field.

And Boston is full of people who don't watch the game. The fact that the Red Sox have become one of the most popular brands in the world, going all the way down to the pink Sox hat, shows just that. It's cool to be a Boston fan, just like it's cool to be a celebrity and go to the Lakers game. They live in LA, it's the biggest thing going on in town, where the hell do you expect them to be?Shit, they're pretty much the only people who can afford it.

Half-assed, thrown together? You can't do that 2 years in a row. This team was put together the same way the Celtics were built. Take a home-grown superstar and give him the tools he needs to succeed. I would not be surprised to see Kobe here again next year.

But, in the end, let's recognize that this was one of the great battles in basketball history.

And they let Scalabrine play! And he almost made a shot!

DUTCH EDIT 3:

If you were looking for 100 point performances, you might think that this was not an exciting game.

If you wanted your favorite player to hit every shot and walk on air, this was probably not so thrilling.

But if you wanted to see two teams do everything in their power to stop each other, then this was the game for you.

After the lopsided blowouts and home losses earlier in the series, this was one of those games where every player had nothing left at the end. Look at Gasol's battle scars. Watch Sheed and Pierce grimacing after every bucket. This was a great war, something that you don't see too often in the NBA.

Why was this a great game?

Because the guy who thought he was going to have to win every game all by himself all of a sudden couldn't make a bucket.

Because a team that wasn't supposed to be here, or even close to here, took the defending champs to Game 7, and had them on the ropes there.

Because that same team was shipped down the river after they lost their best big man, supposedly the only guy who was preventing the size advantage of the Lakers from taking over, and still stuck it to those defending champs harder than any other team in the league.

Because of the fact that these two teams played some amazing defense, something that is too often sacrificed. These two teams match up better than any other Finals pair.

Because two of the biggest chumps of the season, and the playoffs, Ron Artest and Rasheed Wallace, got out of their heads and played some of the best basketball of their lives.

The Celtics were going to do it. But they blew a 13 point lead in the second half. Ray Allen should have stopped shooting two games ago. Nate "Tater Tot" Robinson and the Drool Baby weren't there like they were in the wins the Celtics had earlier in the series. The Celtics couldn't get a rebound to save their life, and yet they still had the lead for most of the game. When nothing seems to be going right, and yet, somehow, you're scraping by and still getting it done, that's a great game.

Of course there are going to be a lot of foul shots at the end of the game- that's the only way the Celtics could get the ball back. And don't forget that the Lakers missed about a dozen of those foul shots. And definitely don't forget the big time 3's from Derek Fisher to tie the game, and Ron Artest to put the Lakers over the edge.

In the end, the Celtics couldn't hang on to that lead, and let the Lakers sneak back into it.

Minus the loss, I don't think you could have asked for any more from the Celtics. Just don't blame it on the refs- if the Lakers don't go on 10-0 runs to tie the game, the late-game foul shots don't matter.

This is the way every series should go, where you truly don't know who has the edge until it's all over. I'm also predicting that Gasol gets the MVP trophy in the next finals he wins. Spaniard!!!

Final Thoughts?

Honestly Dutch, I'd love to let this whole thing go and call it what it is, over. But this series will forever stand out in my mind as a wasted opportunity. We had the chance for the one of the greatest series of all time, but ended up with a one of the biggest cop-outs in NBA history. After watching 2 weeks of back and forth action between these two teams, we get a game that is decided by the referees.

Believe me, I hate to say it as much as you hate to hear it, but the numbers don't lie.

Kobe had 2 less free throw, than out entire team!

I know it's bullshit to blame the Refs, but I do blame the NBA. I would have loved to have lost on a legendary Kobe game, like Game 5, where he can't be stopped and he's sinking everything. But that wasn't Game 7. He sucked. And the Refs bailed him out by getting him to the line whenever he wanted. It wasn't a matter of the Celtics giving up the points, all NBA games have up and downs. It was the end of the game, when the Refs are just supposed to let everyone play, and they didn't. They were great all game, and let everything slide. Until it really mattered. Even that out of bounds call on Rondo with 20 seconds left was so close that you just shouldn't call that! Why not let these two teams play in desperation mode and see who comes out on top?

Because Kobe would have lost, and all those Gatorade ads they paid for would look silly.

I will never be able to stomach the hypocrisy that is the LA Lakers. I love how when Big Baby and Nate Robinson celebrate, Phil Jackson calls us "classless", saying how his players would never do that, kinda like dutch with his "Drool" Davis? Really? After Gasol's showing in game 7? That man is the most unfortunate looking person in the entire universe, and to see him scream in victory will forever haunt my nightmares. For the life of me, I can't see why someone wouldn't drown that creature at birth. At least Nate Robinson and Glen Davis are funny. Pau Gasol should've just been like every other European and stuck with soccer. His acting would fit in perfectly. He is EXACTLY what is awful about the NBA. Players who bitch and moan and drop on the floor at the slightest touch, COUGH Fisher COUGH, should be kicked out.

Jordan should never fear being topped by Kobe because no superstar can survive in the NBA anymore. All the big guys end up completely selling-out and gaining an ego the size of Justin Timberlake's when he took Britney's V-Card. They think they deserve every call because they're superstars, and what sucks is that Refs go along with it!

We, as fans, shouldn't have to put up with soccer-like crying. This is America. I want to see the team that plays the hardest win. And that was not the LA Lakers. They expected the NBA to let them win, and the NBA kindly obliged.

Oh, and Ron Artest is a joke, saying he had a good game is like saying Ray Allen had a good game by hitting that last 3 pointer. 1 basket does not make up for a series of shitty-ness.

Also can't believe you said we were a team that didn't deserve to be here. If memory serves, the Celtics SPANKED the Lakers two years ago, and were on the verge of making it to the Finals last year, without KG. We deserved to be there more than the soft-ass Lakers.

Ps. Dig the new Golden State Jersey's. At least one Cali team has their priorities right.