First, to the drunk, idiot, Celtic fans on the subway after the game: thank you for limiting your assault to a few choice verbal barbs. I was at the game, so I know the Celtics "BEAT LA" and didn't need the reminder. "No means no" was more creative, but old news, don't you think?
Even though the Lakers lost, I LOVED going to the game. The energy at the TD Garden was awesome. Celtic fans are way over the top with their emotions. They cheer any small victory like it's the conquest of the universe. A Nate Robinson layup? Thank god the game action continued or Celtic fans would have cheered at the top of their lungs for 10 minutes! If a Celtic hits a buzzer beater to win game 5, I fear for the health of the crowd. They'll spontaneously combust!
The music at the TD Garden is great, too. Bonjovi's "Living On A Prayer", played at 100 db and sang by 18,000 Celtic fans, sent chills up and down my spine… and gave me a good chuckle at the irony, even though it may be the Lakers living on a prayer if Andrew Bynum can't play effectively in game 5.
I got a kick out of the Garden's Jumbotron. To get the crowd *really* riled up (as if they needed the help), the Jumbotron shows videos of Celtic players urging the crowd to cheer. Paul Pierce, Big Baby, even KG all get in the act. Now, I love Paul Pierce and think he's a phenomenal player, but can you imagine Kobe Bryant making a video begging his fans to cheer? Not in this (or any other) life time.
Speaking of Kobe, he's intense. I never saw him talk to a teammate, except during the game action. When the teams were shooting before each half, Kobe was in his own world - isolated and totally focused. His shot is out of this world, too. I'm struggling to describe it. "Dharma", perhaps, as defined in the Wikipedia article: "an ultimate and transcendent truth which is utterly beyond worldly things". I know in Boston Paul Pierce is "the Truth", but he's not. Not really. Kobe is. Kobe was put on this earth to shoot a ball through a net and when you see him do it, you are in the presence of the divine.
Speaking of esoteric, spiritual things: what exactly does Phil Jackson do during timeouts? I had never noticed this before on TV, but for the first part of each timeout, Phil stands away from the team, flanked on each side by an assistant, and stares at his clipboard. When there are perhaps 30 seconds left in the timeout, he lumbers over to the bench and says a few choice words to his team. No long motivational speeches for Phil. So what's on his clipboard? My guess is it's ouija board. He asks it what to say to the team and it always answers: "get the damn ball to Kobe!"
