"Paul Pierce and the Celtics are one win away" by Ronald Carthen

Paul Pierce played his best game in the NBA Finals by far. Pierce drop 27 points to lead the Celtics pass the Lakers 92-86 to lead the series 3-2 and are one win away to their 18th NBA Championship. Kobe Bryant scored 38 points and did everything he could to keep the Lakers in this game, but too bad his teammates weren't on the same page. I can't wait to see how this will shape out in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Check out what else I learned in Game 5 of this series.

Paul Pierce is stepping up at the right time!!!!!

Ron Artest did everything he could to stop Paul Pierce, but Pierce has had the better of him in the last two games. Pierce drop 27 points on 12-for-21 shooting in 43 minutes of this contest. Pierce was getting into the Lakers heads the entire night. Kobe was so pissed on how Artest couldn't stop, he told Phil Jackson "Let me guard him." Pierce's biggest play of the game came with the Celtics up 87-82 with 38 seconds left in the game. After Artest missed both free throws and the Celtics called a 20 second timeout, Kevin Garnett threw a long pass inbounds pass to Pierce. Then as Pierce was about to head out of bounds, he found Rajon Rondo and threw a touchdown pass to him for an easy layup to extend the lead to seven and put the Lakers away for good. Pierce has scored 46 points and shot 19-for-33 from the field in the last two games. As long as Pierce plays well, the Celtics will be tough to beat in LA.

"Kobe vs. Celtics" didn't work for long!!!!! 

Kobe Bryant was the only Laker that showed up and wanted to win this game. Kobe drop 38 points on 13-for-27 shooting while the rest of his starters scored a combine 34 points on 12-for-36 shooting. He only scored 10 points at the end of the first half, but in the second half he went off. In the first eight minutes of the third quarter, he drop 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting. He scored 23 straigtht Laker points between the 4:23 mark in the second quarter to 2:13 left to go in the third quarter. He was the first player to score 20 straight points in a playoff game since LeBron James, when he scored 25 straigth points for the Cavaliers in double-overtime win over the Pistons in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. It was amazing how he was playing "1-on-5" and he was still able to keep the Lakers in the game. I could say something about Kobe shooting 9-for-32 in the last three fourth quarters, but last night he did what he could to win this game. The only other player in double-figures last night was Pau Gasol with 12 points, but he didn't show either. I know I said Kobe has to play well in the fourth quarter, but his teammates have played in enough big games to know that they have to step up. Despite last night's loss, Kobe became only the second player to score 600 points in the playoffs three times. The only other player to do that was Michael Jordan (1992, '93 and '98).

Where was the rest of the Lakers?????!!!!!

Did the rest of the Lakers stay on the team bus? I haven't seen Kobe work so hard without his teammates since Kwame Brown and Smush Parker were in the starting five. While Kobe drop 38 points, the rest of the team scored only 48 points (34 from starters and 14 from the bench). It was good to see Andrew Bynum play 32 minutes, but he only had six points and one rebound in this game. Pau Gasol was the only other player with 12 points but Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins abused him all night with a lot of physical contact. You can tell his boby was taking a beating with a few cuts and brusies on his body. Please don't get me started with Ron Artest. You can't miss both free throws miss throws like that with your team down 87-82 with 40 seconds left in the game. Artest and Derek Fisher combined for 4-for-18 shooting and combined for only 16 points. The Lakers have to win back-to-back at home to win the NBA Championship. The last team in the NBA Finals down 3-2 and won back-to-back home games to win the championship was the Houston Rockets over the New York Knicks in the 1993-94 season.

KG, Rondo, and Allen stepped up in Boston!!!!!

I know Paul Pierce was happy to see his other starters step up in this game. They scored a combine 52 points and help the team shoot 56.3% from the field while the Lakers shot only 39.7%. Kevin Garnett once again destroyed Pau Gasol with 18 points and 10 rebounds. It feels like I'm watching the 2008 NBA Finals all over again. Rajon Rondo finished with 18 points on 9-for-12 from the field and eight assists, but seven turnovers is not a good sign at all. Rondo has to make better decisions with the ball or else it could cause this team the championship. Ray Allen scored 12 points but I can't believe he has missed his last 16 three-pointers since his 32-point performance in Game 2 of the finals. The Celtics have to learn to keep a lead as well. The Celtics were up 87-75 with less then four minutes left in the game, but Kobe cut the lead to five with 1:30 left in the game. They better play much better in the fourth quarter in LA or else it could come back to hurt them in Game 6 or possibly Game 7 of the Fianls.