LOS ANGELES -- Finally, the punk-ass Los Angeles Lakers decided to toughen up.
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| The Lakers step up their physicality in Game 5 and get the best of the visiting Celtics. (AP) |
It's about time. Until Sunday's win by Los Angeles we hadn't seen this many Europeans get pushed around since World War II.
From now on, when you hear about the Euro flopping, maybe they'll actually be talking about the currency instead of Pau Gasol.
No, Los Angeles hasn't exactly been Tiger Woods in its series against Boston.
But they channeled their inner knife fighter for once, and while it wasn't a perfect showing -- the Lakers gave up another double digit lead -- there were some signs of life in Los Angeles other than Dyan Cannon's hair.
You have to give the Lakers credit for recovering from what was the biggest collapse in franchise history one game ago. They could have shrunk and quit, but they didn't.
"We were aggressive," Phil Jackson said. "We played hard. Not smart all the time, but we played hard."
When did you think you'd ever hear these words: the Lakers were more physical.
"I thought they started out the game more physical," Doc Rivers said. "I thought we had our stretches, but overall I thought they were the more physical team, from Gasol on. I thought all of them they posted when they wanted to post. They caught the ball in the spots that they wanted to catch the ball on. I thought they forced us off our spots offensively. We (the Boston coaching staff) told them before the game this was going to be a game of who could invade the other person's space and I thought they invaded our space."
The Lakers: Space Invaders.
Kobe Bryant's steal and dunk late in the game which sealed the 103-98 win was an indication that maybe the Lakers aren't ready to roll over and die just yet.
Some are going to say that Los Angeles didn't finish the game strong and it wasn't a convincing victory. But that's not the point. They just needed to win. They needed to survive. How they did it, in an elimination game, is irrelevant.
