The Lakers won Game 1 of the Finals with ease, reminding fans once again of the Lakers' strength.

Without a doubt...

This is the strongest team in the league's history, bar none.

With an undefeated record in the regular season and sweeping every round of the playoffs, it was expected that the Celtics could give the Lakers some trouble. However, with Kobe only playing 16 minutes, the Celtics lost to the Lakers by 33 points.

Let's talk about the statistics from this competition.

......

Wei Guo: 37 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 6 blocks

Paul: 21 points, 3 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks

Kobe: 11 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Garnett: 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

Pierce: 21 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Ray Allen: 17 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks

......

Statistically, Kobe's performance was the least impressive, yet he only played for 16 minutes.

He's building up his strength for the second game...

Gentry strongly encouraged physical contact, but he was also afraid of players getting injured. Pierce and Kobe's battles were too fierce. Kobe was extremely competitive. Pierce was ruthless, and Kobe was even more ruthless in return... But Pierce was a tough guy who survived being stabbed eleven times in a nightclub and was able to return to the court.

If Kobe gets injured during a close battle, it would be a net loss.

Even without Kobe, the Lakers can still win the championship. Gentry has faced many strong teams in his coaching career. This year's Celtics are ranked in the top three. Without Kobe, it's uncertain whether they can sweep them. That's why Gentry only let Kobe play for 16 minutes.

Kobe's true impact was only realized in Games 2 and 3.

......

The Celtics flew back to Boston that night, and their first game was also to recover from the fatigue of the first three rounds.

The finals, Game 2, will begin in three days.

Three days is enough time for Garnett and his teammates to get back to their best form. Their goals are different from the Suns'. The Suns just want to win a game against the Lakers, while the Celtics are aiming for the championship. Winning only one or two games is not their goal. PJ Brown has also adjusted his mindset. Since he's here, he might as well make the best of it and play well for the Celtics to try and win a championship ring.

Fans were also very dissatisfied with the Celtics' performance in the last game. Kobe only played 16 minutes and failed to bring out the best in the Lakers, losing by more than 30 points.

but...

There are many reasons to look for.

Role players didn't perform well, Perkins was plagued by foul trouble, and the Big Three's performance was also mediocre. Pierce scored a team-high 21 points, but that came from 19 field goal attempts plus foul free throws, with a true shooting percentage of less than 40%.

Rivers is also reflecting on the fact that he didn't make good use of the regular season and playoffs to train his players. The Celtics are not without players. For example, Tony Allen is a very fierce defender. Although Big Baby Davis is fat, he is also quite dangerous under the basket. Powell, House, and Pruitt are all good players.

However, in the first three rounds of the playoffs, two rounds went to a Game 7, and the Eastern Conference Finals also went to six games before a winner was decided. In such a tense situation, and with Rivers being a cautious head coach, he didn't dare to let these players play at all.

Regardless of these...

Rivers spoke with each player individually before the game, encouraging them and preparing them for the game, as it would be very difficult for the Big Three to defeat the Lakers.

......

June 8th, sunny turning cloudy.

The Celtics flew to Los Angeles again for Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers.

After three days of adjustments...

The Celtics are all back in form. In the first and second rounds of this year's playoffs, the Celtics didn't lose a single home game against the Hawks and Cavaliers. Similarly, they didn't win a single away game either. This pattern absolutely cannot happen in the Finals, where they have no home-court advantage against the Lakers.

As evening approached... the Celtics arrived at Staples Center.

As the players warmed up, spectators gradually entered the arena. Many basketball stars were present today. Now that the playoffs have begun, apart from the Lakers and Celtics players, the other players have entered vacation mode. Bringing their families to watch the game is a pleasure, especially since this is Weiguo's retirement game.

Tickets are really hard to come by...

I heard that tickets for the Celtics' two home games have already skyrocketed in price, mainly because people can't get tickets to the Lakers' home games and have to settle for Celtics tickets. Especially for Game 4 of the Finals, tickets for the Lakers' bench have been resold for six million dollars each. I heard that the Celtics' owner even had his close friends pay money to get good seats in order to sell tickets.

Only legends of Russell's caliber and Bird's caliber can sit in the front row...

It's still uncertain whether the Lakers can sweep the Celtics. Tickets for Game 4 were already so popular. From a profit perspective, the revenue from playing one more game in the Finals is immeasurable. If it goes to a Game 7, not to mention the league's revenue... the ticket revenue alone would make the Lakers and Celtics owners laugh their heads off.

The Lakers' owner is relatively generous, after all, he is a mysterious Chinese tycoon.

The best seats in the first two rows were all reserved... as a favor... in China, people value personal relationships... Pierce took a few shots and then saw two burly men walk to the front of the court, arms around each other's shoulders, and sit down.

He knew these two strong men very well: Joe Johnson of the Hawks and LeBron James of the Cavaliers. In the first round, Joe Johnson averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, while James averaged 28 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in the second round. It was because of the performance of these two that the Celtics played 14 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The two appearing at the Lakers' home arena now seems like a provocation against Pierce.

Just now in the locker room, Rivers said that the whole world doesn't have faith in the Celtics, so we'll win this game and prove them wrong, letting them know that Boston's honor is inviolable.

......

Starting lineup for this match:

Celtics: Rondo, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins

Lakers: Paul, Kobe, Wei Guo, Gasol, Bynum

......

The game began with the sound of the whistle.

Defending the country jump ball...

Paul took the rebound from Kobe, dribbled across half-court and pushed forward with both hands. Garnett and Perkins quickly moved towards the three-second zone. Gasol received the pass, attracted the defense, and passed the ball to Kobe.

Seeing Kobe receive the ball... Pierce made a sudden stop and turned around to defend Kobe.

Pierce reached out to try and steal the ball from Kobe, but the referee didn't call a foul. It wasn't just Pierce's aggressive play; Kobe's defensive play against Pierce was also quite aggressive. If such physical contact had been called a foul, both Kobe and Pierce would have fouled out in the first quarter.