8th
Celtics beat the Lakers 98-88 to win Game 1 at home. Three storylines surface in the second-by-second +/- data.
The coaching mismatch between Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson didn’t materialize. It looks like Doc effectively managed Pierce’s minutes after the injury to minimize any diminished team performance. Rivers gave extended minutes to Brown and Posey, and spot minutes to Cassell and Powe in the late-3rd and early-4th quarters. Of note, Posey turned around a tough opening half with strong play in this stretch. And Brown was solid during his minutes against all of the Laker bigs-Gasol, Odom, and Turiaf.
While the Celtics’ big man advantage was apparent going into the game, the graph shows a glimmer of some advantage in the Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher matchup. Rondo’s speed and overall slipperiness might make him capable of exploiting Fisher’s physical style, even though it wore Tony Parker from the Spurs down in the Western Conference Finals.
If Rondo is making good decision in end of game situations it looks like the Celtics and not the Lakers might have a real creativity advantage in playmaking during a close grind-it-out, close-it-out 4th quarter. The Lakers sank hard with Kobe Bryant failing to make positive plays for himself and for his teammates when Boston dug in to shut him down at the end of Game 1. If it happens to Kobe and the Lakers don’t figure out, it might be something Los Angeles struggles with throughout.
