The rumour mill is running overtime with reports that Gilmore may be feeling the ill effects of the long minutes put on him by over-zealous Coach Young; Gilmore is expected to play and there are no details of any 'illness' at this point. For the Lakers David Robinson has received some harsh words from his own coach and is looking to bounce back following a couple of insipid performances against Gilmore. The real stars of the two teams have been Cousy for the Knicks and Duncan for the Lakers. They're ready to go again with Cousy here several hours before tip off and Duncan out shooting free-throws in anticipation of the hits sure to come his way.
And they're off!! The first quarter gets underway and wow.. the Knicks are lightening fast out the gates.. Ed Macauley is literally all over the court with a variety of drives and jumpers that has the Lakers hanging their heads. For the Lakers their start small forward Shareef Abdur Rahim and heralded Jim Pollard are battling hard but the Knicks enter the first break leading 36-24. The bad news for the Knicks is that Artis Gilmore has picked up a couple of early fouls and looks totally flat (except for his hair of course). Macauley picked up his 2nd foul at the end of the quarter too, that may prove costly. Cousy is not being given much room by the Laker guards but has some early defensive pressure and is letting Easy Ed do the damage right now..
Round 1 to the Knicks.. second quarter is about to start..
It's half-time at the very loud MSG and the Knicks have continued to work their magic on the Lakers behind Cousy and Easy Ed as they lead 66 - 51. Surely they can take it home from here? Although only a day earlier the Knicks saw a very similar first half lead blown open by a stunning late burst from the Lakers, that's in everyone's mind here. Particularly with the foul trouble in the game; what's eating Artis Gilmore? he has more fouls (5) than rebounds (4) and as many as points at the half as Robinson is looking stronger than in previous outings. Cornbread Maxwell is also on 4 and perhaps even more concerning for the Knicks so is danger-man Ed. For the Lakers they're hanging in there at the moment, looking for an opportunity to turn the tables and make a run. If it comes it will come from their small forwards or power forwards as Duncan 14-9 has kept them close.. the second half is coming up soon..
At the end of the third quarter there's a definite edginess to the home crowd as the Lakers make a small but notable indent into the half-time lead. Shareef and Pollard have kept Macauley and Maxwell in check enough to claw back in. No sign of Gilmore in the second half yet, is something stopping the Knick's big man? 88-77 Knicks but it feels more like the Knicks are down double digits not up.. The Lakers bench are ready to go and jumping up and down.. one thing's for sure.. history is repeating itself here today.. an upset win over the number one seed over the two (NY at LA last year), an LA comeback ala game 6 or the Knicks breaking Laker hearts again.. stay tuned..
An incredible game and series for these two tough teams who shared the best record in the league (and 1 and 2 last year too). A tough pill for Coach Russell who had to swallow the same one last year; ironic in the fact that his two previous opponents had to endure the same roller-coaster ride of looking out of it, surging back and then falling short.
I thought when the commish assigned me the games that it would be tough writing about my Knicks if they lost (which they did in game 6 of course) this conference sealing clash. Of course, the only tougher job than writing up a game 7 heartbreaker would be running the whole league and seeing the result come up. Great thanks to Adam and his mighty Lakers, not just for a tremendous battle, but for the hours he puts into making this league great.
So the finals are set.. despite the predictions of who would rise to the top again it's the Chaps and Knicks again, I'm not sure there's a favourite and even less sure it would matter if there was..
Finals begin on Sunday..
Phew..
( 3- 4) LA Lakers 24 27 26 20 - 97 (Shareef AbdurRahim 22)
( 4- 3) New York Knicks 36 30 22 24 - 112 (Bob Cousy 25)
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LA Lakers FG FT 3P REB
MIN M-A M-A M-A O-T A PF BLK TO STL PTS
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Tom Gola 38 4-10 10-12 0- 2 3- 9 1 4 2 4 1 18
Tim Duncan 41 9-23 3- 7 0- 1 5-12 2 3 1 3 1 21
Mark Jackson 35 3- 9 2- 4 1- 3 1- 5 5 2 0 6 0 9
Bobby Wanzer 12 0- 0 1- 2 0- 0 0- 0 5 0 0 1 0 1
Shareef AbdurRahim 26 7-12 7- 9 1- 1 0- 2 0 5 1 1 0 22
Stephon Marbury 8 0- 1 0- 0 0- 1 0- 1 2 1 0 1 0 0
Al Horford 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jim Pollard 35 3- 9 3- 6 0- 0 2-10 3 2 0 0 0 9
Dean Uthoff 3 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
David Robinson 41 6-14 5- 8 0- 0 4- 9 4 3 2 3 1 17
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Totals 240 32- 78 31-48 2- 8 15-48 23 20 7 20 4 97
41.0% 64.6% 25.0%
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Coached by: Adam Russell
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New York Knicks FG FT 3P REB
MIN M-A M-A M-A O-T A PF BLK TO STL PTS
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Bob Cousy 41 11-26 2- 4 1- 5 0- 3 4 1 0 1 4 25
Artis Gilmore 18 3- 4 0- 0 0- 0 3- 7 4 5 1 2 0 6
Ed Macauley 25 9-15 5- 5 0- 0 3-11 3 6 0 3 3 23
Alvin Robertson 39 8-19 2- 4 0- 3 1- 7 6 4 1 2 4 18
Cedric Maxwell 28 2- 5 6- 6 0- 0 2- 5 1 6 3 0 0 10
WorldB Free 4 0- 2 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Jack Sikma 1 0- 0 0- 0 0- 0 1- 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Oliver Miller 16 4- 7 0- 0 1- 1 1- 6 4 1 0 1 2 9
Eddie Jones 6 2- 4 0- 0 0- 1 1- 1 1 0 0 0 1 4
Carl Braun 17 2- 4 0- 0 0- 2 1- 3 0 3 1 1 0 4
Steve Carfino 11 0- 4 0- 0 0- 1 0- 0 3 0 0 0 0 0
Clark Kellogg 34 6-10 0- 0 1- 2 2- 5 4 2 0 3 1 13
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Totals 240 47-100 15-19 3-15 15-49 32 28 6 13 15 112
47.0% 78.9% 20.0%
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Coached by: Nige Young
Technical Fouls: Carl Braun 1
Clark Kellogg 1
Lead Changes: 2 Ties: 5 (11-11)
Go-Ahead Shot: Bob Cousy (13-11)
Largest Leads: LA Lakers -- 2 (3-1)
New York Knicks -- 17 (110-93)
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