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Kevin Garnett nailed!
===Regular season series===
The [[Boston Celtics]] won both games in the regular season series:
The [[Boston Celtics]] won both games in the regular season series:
{{basketballbox
{{basketballbox

Revision as of 03:45, 11 June 2008

2008 Finals
TeamCoachWins
Boston Celtics Doc Rivers 2
Los Angeles Lakers Phil Jackson 0
DatesJune 5 - TBD
MVPTBD
Hall of FamersCoaches:
Phil Jackson (2007)
Eastern finalsBoston defeats Detroit, 4–2
Western finalsLos Angeles defeats San Antonio, 4–1
{{{league}}} finals

The 2008 NBA Finals is the championship series of the 2007-08 National Basketball Association season, and is the conclusion of this year's postseason. It pits the West's top seeded Los Angeles Lakers, the winner of the Western Conference Finals, against the East's top seeded Boston Celtics, the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, marking the first time since 2000 that both top seeds from each Conference met in the Finals. The Lakers appear in the Finals for the first time since 2004 and a record 29th time overall. The Celtics appear in the Finals for the first time since 1987 and second best 20th time overall.

Overall, the Celtics have won the most championships all-time with 16, and the Lakers are second with 14. Both clubs, the two most successful teams in NBA history, look to renew a long-standing rivalry 21 years after their last NBA Finals meeting in 1987. They narrowly missed out in meeting each other in 2002. This is the 11th time the teams will meet in the championship round (1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2008). The Celtics own an 8-2 record all-time against the Lakers in the NBA Finals, but were defeated by Los Angeles the last two times they met in 1985 and 1987.

The Celtics have home court advantage due to Boston's (66–16) better record than Los Angeles (57–25). This is the first time that an Eastern Conference team will have the home court advantage since 1997, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz for the championship.

The Celtics defeated the Lakers in both regular season contests. This was, however, prior to Pau Gasol's arrival to the Lakers on February 1.

Road to the finals

Main article: 2008 NBA Playoffs
Los Angeles Lakers Boston Celtics
57-25 (.695)
1st Pacific, 1st West, 3rd overall 		Regular season 66-16 (.805)
1st Atlantic, 1st East, 1st overall
Defeated the (8) Denver Nuggets, 4-0 First Round Defeated the (8) Atlanta Hawks, 4-3
Defeated the (4) Utah Jazz, 4-2 Conference Semifinals Defeated the (4) Cleveland Cavaliers, 4-3
Defeated the (3) San Antonio Spurs, 4-1 Conference Finals Defeated the (2) Detroit Pistons, 4-2

Kevin Garnett nailed! The Boston Celtics won both games in the regular season series:

Series scoring summary

Team Games Wins
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Los Angeles Lakers 88 102 If necessary 0
Boston Celtics 98 108 If necessary 2

Key: Boldface - win, italics - home court, * - number of overtimes.

Game summaries

All times listed below are Eastern Daylight Time. Games marked with an asterisk (*) are if necessary.[1]

Game 1

June 5
9:00 pm
Los Angeles Lakers 88, Boston Celtics 98
Scoring by quarter: 21-23, 30-23, 22-31, 15-21
Pts: Bryant 24
Rebs: Gasol 8
Asts: Bryant, Fisher 6 each
TOs: Bryant 4		 Pts: Garnett 24, Pierce 22
Rebs: Garnett 13
Asts: Rondo 7
Stls: Posey 2
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Attendance: 18,624
Referees:

Paul Pierce would score 15 points in the third quarter to give Boston the lead for good, and Kevin Garnett paced the Celtic attack with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Kobe Bryant struggled with his shot, finishing 9-26 from the field with 24 points.

Also notable was Pierce's knee injury after Kendrick Perkins bumped him in the third quarter; Pierce eventually returned 2 minutes later.

Game 2

June 8
9:00 pm
Los Angeles Lakers 102, Boston Celtics 108
Scoring by quarter: 22–20, 20–34, 19–29, 41–25
Pts: Bryant 30
Rebs: Radmanović, Gasol 10 each
Asts: Bryant 8
TOs: Bryant 4		 Pts: Pierce 28, Powe 21
Rebs: Garnett 14
Asts: Rondo 16
3P-FG: Pierce 4/4
Boston leads series, 2–0
TD Banknorth Garden, Boston
Attendance: 18,624
Referees:

The Lakers jumped out to an early 15–8 first quarter lead, but the Celtics answered with a 10–0 run at the start of the second quarter and ended the first half with a 54–42 lead.

The Celtics held a 24-point with less than eight minutes to go in the 4th quarter before the Lakers cut the lead to two points with 38.4 seconds to go. Paul Pierce and James Posey then closed out the game with two free throws each. The Lakers had a chance to take the lead with 14 seconds left, but the ball failed to get into the hands of Kobe Bryant, resulting in a shot by Sasha Vujačić that was blocked by Pierce. Bryant finished the game with 30 points and 8 assists.

Leon Powe, a second year bench player, scored 21 points off 6–7 shooting in 15 minutes of play, including back-to-back dunks in the last minute of the 3rd quarter.

Despite injuries suffered by Pierce (sprained knee) and Kendrick Perkins (high ankle sprain), both players started in Game 2 and appeared to be unhampered by the injuries, especially Pierce who finished with 28 points.

Boston finished the game 27-for-38 from the line, while the Lakers were 10-for-10.

Remaining schedule

June 10
9:00 pm
Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Staples Center, Los Angeles
Attendance: 18,997
Referees:

Rosters

2008 Los Angeles Lakers Finals roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From
SF 3 United States Ariza, Trevor 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) UCLA
SG 24 United States Bryant, Kobe (C) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Lower Merion HS (PA)
C 17 United States Bynum, Andrew Injured 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 285 lb (129 kg) St. Joseph HS (NJ)
PG 5 United States Farmar, Jordan 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) UCLA
PG 2 United States Fisher, Derek 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Little Rock
F/C 16 Spain Gasol, Pau 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Spain
G 11 United States Karl, Coby 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Boise State
C 28 Democratic Republic of the Congo Ilunga Mbenga, Didier 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 215 lb (98 kg) DR Congo
C 31 United States Mihm, Chris 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Texas
SF 14 United States Newble, Ira 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Miami (OH)
F 7 United States Odom, Lamar 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Rhode Island
F 10 Serbia Radmanović, Vladimir 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Serbia
PF 21 France Turiaf, Ronny 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Gonzaga
G 18 Slovenia Vujačić, Sasha 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Slovenia
SF 4 United States Walton, Luke 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Arizona
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: 2008-03-21


2008 Boston Celtics Finals roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From
SG 20 United States Allen, Ray 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Connecticut
SG 42 United States Allen, Tony 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 213 lb (97 kg) Oklahoma State
C 93 United States Brown, P.J. 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 239 lb (108 kg) Louisiana Tech
PG 28 United States Cassell, Sam 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Florida State
PF 11 United States Davis, Glen 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 289 lb (131 kg) LSU
PF 5 United States Garnett, Kevin 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Farragut
PG 50 United States House, Eddie 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Arizona State
C 43 United States Perkins, Kendrick 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 264 lb (120 kg) CJOHS
SF 34 United States Pierce, Paul (C) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Kansas
C 66 United States Pollard, Scot Injured 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 278 lb (126 kg) Kansas
SF 41 United States Posey, James 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Xavier
PF 0 United States Powe, Leon 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) California
PG 13 United States Pruitt, Gabe 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 170 lb (77 kg) USC
PG 9 United States Rondo, Rajon 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 171 lb (78 kg) Kentucky
PF 44 United States Scalabrine, Brian 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) USC
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: 2008-03-04

Trivia

Broadcasting rights

Aside from ABC (U.S.) and TSN (Canada), other broadcasters across the world will cover the Finals:[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "2008 NBA Finals Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  2. ^ Global NBA Programming, NBA.com
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