Sixers, Celtics Advance; Nuggets Force Game 7

Kobe Bryant played through a nasty illness against the Nuggets in Game 6 Thursday night, and it was both hilarious and a little uncomfortable to watch. You could see his intestines moving just with his facial expressions. But obviously, Kobe is Kobe, and he played through it, and actually had one of his most efficient games of the playoffs. He was 13-23 from the field for 31 points, with 4 assists.

The Lakers’ problem was not Kobe. Andrew Bynum went 4-11 from the field with just 11 points, and Pau Gasol was even worse, going 1-10 for 3 points. So if you’re wondering how the Lakers could possibly get blown out with Kobe playing that well, look no further than his two sidekicks, and how badly they played.

Luckily, despite becoming the fifth No. 1 seed to lose in the first round in NBA history, Boozer feels the season was successful. From ESPN Chicago’s Nick Friedell:

Um.

Game 7 is scheduled for Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on TNT

For more on the Lakers, check out Silver Screen and Roll and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Nuggets, head over to Denver Stiffs and SB Nation Denver.

This sums it all up:

That’s pretty much all we need. Or, if you prefer moving images:

Take it away, Dan Devine:

And here’s what he’s talking about. Watch Brown’s hands at the beginning:

Yeah, this, pretty much.

To say he was rotating at all is giving him too much credit.

Sums up this game.

Later, he responded to a question about his advancing age.

All that was missing was an ANYTHING IS POSSIBLEEEEE reference.

Kobe Bryant is dealing with a stomach virus, meaning things are coming out both ends, essentially. He’s playing, of course, but that doesn’t mean he’s feeling chipper this evening. So we might as well get this all out of the way now.

The Lakers are playing pretty crappy so far.

Here’s a shot of Kobe Bryant captured by TNT’s cameras going into a timeout. Remember: Bryant is playing sick.

The Nuggets are off to a really fast start in Game 6 against the Lakers, and Andre Miller is a fan of that.

(As originally spotted by @blazersedge).

Now, here’s where it gets interesting.

At first glance, the foul may have occurred before the ball was thrown in. Here’s what the NBA rulebook says about the situation.

The Boston Celtics went on a 7-2 run in Game 6’s last two minutes to come away with a 83-80 win over the Atlanta Hawks and advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs. Boston won the series 4-2.

Important GIF’s and videos:

To a certain extent, this is true. That was a pretty terrible shot by Smith. But those criticizing Smith for his shot are looking too much at the results and not enough at the process. Let’s break down this play. Here’s video:

So yes, feel free to blame the Hawks. Just know that the issue is not that they didn’t run a play, it’s that they ran a play that failed because the Celtics were grabbing them knowing the referees would swallow their whistles.

Seven seconds, two fouls and a trip back to the bench. That was it. That was Marquis Daniels’ contribution to the game.

This all begs the question: if Horford played all year, how many more wins would the Hawks have had this year?

You see, Iguodala has had a problem with clutch free throws this year. According to NBA.com’s John Schuhmann, Iguodala had hit just seven of 18 free throws in what were deemed as “clutch” situations. However, this time, he stepped up and hit the two biggest free throws of his career.

How’d he do it? Here’s what he told NBATV’s Cheryl Miller.

Here’s TNT’s Mike Fratello on the Celtics’ superb defense during the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Hawks.

“They don’t let you take the shots you want to take, and they make you take the shots they want you to take.”

To those people: shush. The 76ers haven’t won a playoff series since 2003, and since then, they’ve been riding the treadmill of mediocrity for so long that fan apathy has set in. Even if this current 76ers team is also mediocre and merely benefited from a rash of Bulls injuries, this is still a cool moment for the fans and the players.

Congrats to the 76ers and their fans. To everyone else: let them have their moment.

Rondo tried dribbling into the paint here, but had to settle for a stepback 20-footer that he nailed with a man in his face. The shot maintained a Celtics four-point lead, and in this game, with these offenses, every point is significant.