By Rick Morris, James Morris
June 16, 2008 5:31pm CDT

Rick and James Morris break down the first five games of the NBA Finals and what lies ahead for the rest of the series.

BOSTON CELTICS by Rick Morris

Call it coincidence if you must, but the Celtics are looking better than they've looked since their 66-win regular season ended, and Paul Pierce is back as the team's leading scorer as he was during the 82-game campaign. So goes Pierce, so go the Celtics, apparently. As Boston tries to clinch the NBA title in either Game 6 or Game 7 at home, it's worth considering how much the Big Three might still have left in the tank with the finish line looming. Predictably, each has been relied upon much heavier as the playoffs have progressed in terms of workload (Kevin Garnett: 32.8 MPG in the regular season, 38.0 MPG in the conference finals, 38.4 MPG in the NBA Finals – Pierce: 35.9 MPG in the regular season, 42.3 MPG in the conference finals, 42.8 MPG in the NBA Finals – Ray Allen: 35.9 MPG in the regular season, 35.8 MPG in the conference finals, 42.8 MPG in the NBA Finals). The stars have either been paced properly in terms of being able to contribute meaningful production at the end of the playoffs, or they're being ridden into the ground just shy of the finish line. It's entirely likely that after everything else that has come up for this team along the way, the question of how much is left in the tank at the end will be the sole determinant of whether Boston is able to bring home the championship no Beantown fan has seen in over two decades. The dependence on the consequential trio is exacerbated by the fact they are collectively contributing 60.8% of the team's scoring in The Finals, up from 55.5% in the regular season.

FORWARDS/CENTERS: After attaining status as a point-a-minute scorer through the first two games of the series as noted here last week, Leon Powe predictably regressed to the mean as the sample size expanded, and he's now down to 5.8 PPG (albeit in only 8.8 MPG in the series). Many fans might be surprised that Boston is clinging to a 3-2 series lead with Garnett averaging only 16.6 PPG in The Finals (off a whopping 6.2 PPG from the conference finals), but conversely, his rebounding numbers are much improved (12.8 RPG, up from 9.7 RPG in the conference finals – and this increase has been needed desperately by Boston, as Kendrick Perkins has plummeted from 9.2 RPG against Detroit to 3.5 RPG in this round). At 72.2% from the line, however, he's significantly down from his regular season and playoff totals. The talk in this series about how Pierce has upped his game to try to match Kobe Bryant comes from not only the increase in scoring against LA, but the improved distribution as well (5.6 APG, up from 4.4 APG throughout the playoffs and 4.5 APG in the regular season). In a series where the Boston bench has shockingly outperformed the notoriously deep Lakers, Glen Davis still has yet to crack the rotation, so he has not been part of the surprise.

GUARDS: When Ray Allen is raining threes to the count of 45.5% accuracy, you'd expect Boston to be leading in a series. But much like Pierce with the assists, Allen is also helping out in areas other than you'd expect, as his RPG has climbed to 5.2 this round, up from 3.8 RPG throughout the playoffs and 3.7 RPG in 2007-2008. Rajon Rondo, a work in progress at the controls of this offense during the regular season, is dishing 6.4 APG in this series, and thus peaking when he was needed the most. Sam Cassell's "presence" in this series continues to be a mere rumor (3.8 PPG, 1.2 APG).

LOS ANGELES LAKERS By James Morris

The Lakers have managed to win two of the three games at home to pull back to a 3-2 deficit in the NBA finals. After blowing the biggest lead in NBA finals history and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory to lose Game 4, the team was able to rebound and pull out a win in Game 5 to send the series back to Boston. Kobe Bryant is single handedly keeping the Lakers in the series, with Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher pitching in admirably. The main problem the Lakers face is lack of play from just about everyone else on the team! If the Lakers want to make this an interesting series, they are going to have to find a way to win one in Boston, a feat which only one other team has accomplished this postseason (Detroit).

Guards: Kobe Bryant is doing what Kobe Bryant does. He can take over the game and win it whenever he chooses to. We all know that. But, the problem comes from the fact he is trying to be too "mature" now, letting his other players be involved, and it is costing the Lakers big leads throughout the game. No, Bryant shouldn't be a ball hog, but when you are arguably the best player in the entire league, it is your duty to your teammates to take control of the team and lead them to victory. What he is doing is letting the inmates run the asylum at times, and it shows, as they look bad even when they win. Derek Fisher can get you 15 points per game, but can he please total more than two assists on a given night? Jordan Farmar doesn't seem to have a clear definition of what an assist is either, as he had a series high of just five in Game 3. Sasha Vujacic is either white hot or ice cold, and you never know which you are going to get. In Game 3 he was Na vatra (on fire in Croatian, his native language) to the tune of 20 points on 7-10 shooting from the field and 3-5 from the 3-point line. But, in Games 4 and 5 he was nowhere to be found. The Lakers need "The Machine" to get going early and often in Game 6 if they want to have a chance.

Forwards/Centers: Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol are doing their thing. You know what to expect from them, and you get just that. The problem there, is that you know that Gasol's defense is suspect at best and Kevin Garnett is lighting him up because of it. The Lakers need to worry less about Kendrick Perkins and PJ Brown and rotate the help over to Gasol when Garnett touches the ball. Vladimir Radmanovic, Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza, Chris Mihm and Ronny Turiaf have been about the most worthless set of forwards and centers in the NBA this series. Radmanovic can't seem to eclipse the 7 point/5 rebound mark, and Walton might as well have stayed home if all he can give the Lakers is five fouls and two points. The others are role players at best and shouldn't be relied on for much anyway. But, the Lakers bench has been atrocious to say the least, and a large part of it is the Forwards/Centers.

The Lakers are going to have to skate uphill to take home the NBA title this year. They had a prime chance to take the series back to Boston with the lead in the series, but blew it in the worst way. The Lakers will tell you that it isn't over until it is over, but based on what we have seen from them thus far, it would be a surprise for them to win Game 6 on the road. The team needs better play from their bench, and Bryant needs to just take over the game and do his thing. That is what separates the great from the legendary, the ability to recognize that it is all about you, and then to be able to act on it at will. Bryant is great, but is he truly legendary? Time will tell.