Celtics fizzle against Lakers, lose season series 0-2

Kobe Bryant scored the first 8 points for the Lakers, and new Celtic Kevin Martin was ready to take him head on. On one exchange, both nailed 3 pointers. Each finished with 35 points, but Kobe Bryant's Lakers thundered above the insufficient Celtics via the troubling inability of Boston's stars to make shots.

Like their last meeting, it was a close contest until Boston's bleeding FG% finally flat-lined in the 3rd quarter, aside from Kevin Martin. The wounds began to show in the very 1st quarter when Paul Pierce (3-11) missed his first of many other good shot opportunities, courtesy of Rajon Rondo (19 points, 8 assists) who was forced to take on Pierce's weight and sorely failed to dazzle the crowd at STAPLES center with a brilliant offensive performance of his own. It's always a trial driving into a lane that is crowded by Pau Gasol (28 points, 16 rebounds, on 13/16 shooting) & Dwight Howard (24 rebounds, 14 points on 7/11 shooting). Tonight, Rajon Rondo simply couldn't bear overcome it.

Steve Nash's selfless 12 assists didn't help Boston either, nor did his 19 points, or Metta World Peace (13 points) and his pesky habit of poking at Boston's mortal wounds by dunking and nailing open shots, something Boston simply couldn't do tonight. From LA's bench, Antawn Jamison squeezed 8 more points out of the bumbling Celtics.

To make matters worse, Kenyon Martin got into foul trouble and didn't shoot the ball much, along with Charlie Villanueva. Their size simply couldn't match up with Gasol & Howard on the glass, which left Boston shorthanded on offense with only Kevin Garnett (20 points, 12 rebounds, on 9/18 shooting) and Roy Hibbert (4 points, 7 rebounds), who were left fatigued from having to play both sides of the game. Even Josh Howard struggled to score, altogether making the outcome more painfully obvious, in spite of eight stunning three pointers by a defiant Kevin Martin.