Change of Venue Leads to L.A. Win

Facing a 0-2 series deficit, the Los Angeles Lakers faced an all but must-win game last night. In front of their home crowd and multiple celebrities at STAPLES Center, the Lakers were the most aggressive team from the get-go. They rode on the coattails of Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic to a win. They are right back in the NBA Finals.

There was no complaints from Phil Jackson, who was quite vocal of the officiating after Game 2. This comes on the heels of the Tim Donaghy's assertion of playoff games fixed be officials. There was no reason to, after L.A. shot 22 shots from the charity stripe compared to seven for Boston in the first half. However, Jackson should be upset that for all of the trips the purple-and-gold made to the line, they simply could not deliver. The Lakers were just 62 percent from the line.

Kobe Bryant was just 11-for-18 from the free-throw line, but in his own words, "at least I got there." He got there because he was aggressive from the start of the game, posting up several Boston defenders in the paint. Of Bryant's 20 shots, 10 came from the paint. Bryant was able to find the cracks in the defense last night. When the Boston defenders collapsed, he hit his shooters. The most notable was Sasha Vujacic, the reserve guard who scored a surprising 20 points.

The Lakers still have holes to fill if they want to win this series. Their frontline was not productive. Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol combined for just 13 points. The Celtics held the lead for a sizable portion of the third and fourth quarters. Boston was within two points with less than two minutes to go despite the L.A. free-throws, despite the lackadaisical play of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

With Paul Pierce, it appeared he was a step slow last night -- possibly a resurrection of his right ankle sprain in Game 1. As far as Kevin Garnett, for whatever reason, he did not want to be aggressive. KG spent most of his night shooting long jump-shots (which he isn't very efficient with, anyways). The Celtics did not have a low-post presence last night. Kevin Garnett played like a small forward last night. He needs to be more assertive and aggressive if the Celtics are to steal a game in L.A.

The Tim Donaghy scandal came at such a worse time. The NBA got exactly what they wanted, the Lakers and the Celtics, two former juggernauts in the past. David Stern wanted a perfect Finals after the Donaghy scandal erupted. But this Finals series doesn't look nearly as good as it looked a week ago. We know that much for sure.