And So It Ends: Lakers Win Defensive Battle For Second Straight NBA Championship

If you’re a Celtics fan today, the most painful part of your team’s loss is that it probably closes the book on the Big 3 era of the Celtics. There will almost certainly be changes next year, some of which could be major. Doc Rivers might not return. Ray Allen is a free agent, and Paul Pierce could be. Rasheed Wallace might retire (okay, I was kidding on that being a big deal). The team you’ll see next year probably won’t look the same as the one you saw this season.

If this is the end, it was a really good run. They got one title in 2008 and could have easily had two more. But at the same time, as SB Nation’s Celtics Blog writes, it has to sting that the Lakers won two of the three titles during the Big 3 era.

-Four quick halftime thoughts: it was nice of Magic Johnson to finally admit he couldn’t make sense of a basketball game; it was fitting that everyone used the wrestling analogy for their analysis; we need more stories from Bill Walton in the future, even if the events he describes are kind of boring; and this Kobe legacy talk is boring, as expected. On the bright side, it was nice of Jon Barry to say the legacy won’t change if Kobe wins “4, 5, or 7 championships” instead of “4, 6 or 8 championships” like he did in the pregame.

-It’s a good thing the jerseys on the front say “Lakers” and “Celtics.” If they instead said “Spurs” and “Nets,” there would be more complaining. Or, more accurately, nobody would be watching.

-I have decided that I actually enjoy these Grown-ups promos. SIIIIKE!

-Kevin Garnett waited seven seconds, let Derek Fisher get off him to get Pau Gasol back on him, waited around, then went right to the bucket. That’s cagey.

-How do we know it’s a big game? Rasheed Wallace didn’t complain after maybe getting fouled.

-I too wasn’t thrilled with Kobe Bryant’s start, but seriously Mark Jackson, he’s never played a worse 12 minutes in his career? Obviously Mark wasn’t watching the Phoenix debacle in 2006, when Bryant decided to stop shooting.

-Maybe I’ve just heard him too much, but Mike Breen is starting to get annoying. His calls are totally predictable, and he doesn’t always have the best sense of the moment. Mostly, I just miss Marv Albert.

-Artest, for three. Clank.

-There’s superstition, and then there’s letting Christina Aguilera sing the national anthem for the second night in a row. On the one hand, she kind of sucks at singing. On the other hand, the Lakers’ crowd was louder than I’ve ever heard it in Game 6, and they’ll probably have to be just as loud tonight.

-I got to say, I was disappointed that ABC didn’t customize the opening montage they always play for NBA Finals games. Hello! It’s Game 7! Can’t you whip up something original? Hell, the opening line was still “And so it continues.” Couldn’t you at least have that changed to “And so it ends?” HOW WILL CASUAL FANS UNDERSTAND TONIGHT’S GAME IS DIFFERENT????

It’s a cliche to say that anything can happen in Game 7, but in this series’ case, it’s true. Not only have the two teams split three games, but they’ve done so in so many different ways. There are no real patterns to this series, leaving tonight’s game as the ultimate ‘Who knows?’ scenario.

At least that’s what SB Nation’s Lakers blog Silver Screen and Roll writes:

Yes, you read that right folks. Tonight’s referees include everyone’s favorite Joey Crawford, according to Orange County Register columnist Kevin Ding.

There’s nothing really wrong with Danny Crawford or Scott Foster, but Joey Crawford? This is the same man that threw Tim Duncan out for no reason, botched this call in the first round of the playoffs and committed several other crimes against basketball humanity. Oh, and he also has a quick trigger finger with technical fouls and ejections. Would you want to see a key player ejected from this game because Joey Crawford threw them out for mild complaining? Me neither, but there’s always that possibility.