Kobe who? Pierce is The Man as Finals reach foregone conclusion

LOS ANGELES -- Game 4 was dead and buried until Paul Pierce made it spin in its grave. Pierce didn't just guard Kobe Bryant in the second half. He became Kobe Bryant in the second half.

Paul Pierce asks to guard Kobe in the second half. (Getty Images)

Given their shoddy supporting cast and abysmal bench, the Lakers' only chance in the 2008 NBA Finals is for Bryant to be the best player on the court. If the best player is Pierce, the Lakers don't belong on the same floor with the Celtics.

That was certainly the case in the second half of Game 4, when the Celtics staged the biggest NBA Finals rally in at least 37 years. Boston won 97-91, a score that makes this thing look competitive. When it mattered, it wasn't. Boston rallied from a 24-point deficit, the biggest comeback in the NBA Finals since the Elias Sports Bureau became the league's official statistician in 1970-71, and blew out the Lakers 57-33 in the second half.

That monster second half gives Boston a similarly monstrous 3-1 series edge. The Celtics could close out the Lakers on Sunday at the Staples Center, but even if they don't, they will return to Boston needing just one win in two games at home, where they are 12-1 this postseason.

In other words, the NBA 2008 Finals are over.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson says otherwise, but what else would he say? Asked about the monumental task facing his team, Jackson sounded as if he were talking to himself as he muttered, quietly, "This is not over, this is not over. The series is not over. The series is not over."

Maybe if Jackson says it enough, he'll start to believe it. Here on planet Earth, we know otherwise. The Lakers can't beat the Celtics once, much less three times in a row and twice in Boston, without two things happening:

1. Kobe has to be the best player on the court.

2. And he needs a little bit of help.

Neither happened in Game 4. The best player on the court was Pierce, who scored a game-high 20 points. Bryant had 10 assists but just 17 points, and none of his teammates picked up enough of the slack. The difference between Game 3 and Game 4 was highlighted most egregiously by Lakers reserve Sasha Vujacic, who scored a career playoff-high 20 points in Game 3 but had just three Thursday on 1-for-9 shooting.

The box score will show Lakers forward Lamar Odom contributed mightily with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but the box score is a bigger liar than Tim Donaghy. When the game spiraled out of the Lakers' control in the second half, Odom was downright invisible: four points and two rebounds. In typical Odom fashion, he's good when the going's good. But when the tough gets going ... Odom beats it out the door.

Meanwhile, the Celtics showed some serious fortitude. Down 24 points in the first half, and down 20 in the third quarter, they reinvented themselves on the fly. Doc Rivers went to a smaller lineup with Kevin Garnett at center, Pierce at power forward and a bunch of 3-point shooters everywhere else. James Posey hit four 3's and scored 18 points. Eddie House sank two killer 3's in the second half. With the floor spread wide open, the Celtics picked apart the Los Angeles defense, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor.

Going small was an idea Rivers actually had begun toying with on Wednesday in practice. On Thursday, with the Lakers ahead by 20 in the third quarter, it was time to stop toying and time to start rallying.