Pierce Locks Up Kobe, Ignites Game 4 Rally

Couper Moorhead
Celtics.com Correspondent
June 12, 2008

Sometimes, after a perfect display of why it is so often used, a cliche becomes most fitting: Defense wins championships.

The Celtics would have fallen far short of one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history were it not for a multitude of timely shots, but after a 20-point third-quarter deficit the final tally reads 97-91 visitors because the Celtics got down, got gritty and stonewalled the Lakers to steal the 3-1 series lead.

The comeback was led all the way by their captain, The Truth.

With his team down 18 at the half, Paul Pierce (20 points) made a simple request to Doc Rivers: He wanted Kobe Bryant.

"Paul came to me at halftime and said, 'I want to guard Kobe. Let me guard him.'" Rivers said. "I think people will look at his offense, but I thought we won the game because Paul was a tremendous defensive player tonight."

The MVP had just three points at the break and logic said he would try and get his shot going after playing the facilitator. If the Celtics were going to have any chance, that couldn't happen. Thanks to Pierce writing an introduction for Advanced One-on-One Defense, it never would.

"Usually the first half is team ball, second half is usually Kobe takes over the games," Kevin Garnett said. "We were giving Kobe every look we've got in the book, from different matchups to trapping him to a guy on the bottom. We were just making other guys make plays."

In fact, defense had so dominated Pierce's mind that a Freudian slip in his press conference helped to illustrate the comeback all the better.

"We said coming out [for] the third quarter that regardless of what the score is, we're not going to look at the score," Pierce said. "If we go out there for the next 24 minutes and compete and not worry about the score and play like our lives defended (sic) on it, we'll have a chance."

Bryant finished the game with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting, with Pierce hounding every dribble, every fake, every spin and every shot. The bigger (6-foot-7) forward made in clear midway through the third that Kobe wouldn't be able to post up on the wing with the same ease as he did against Allen (6-foot-5). Bryant caught the ball on the right wing and gave the usual flurry of fakes, shaking left and then spinning back right for the same fadeaway he has hit hundreds of times. This one, though, he will remember, as Pierce contested so heavily the shot fell short – 27 feet short.

The block set the tone for the next chapter in history. With 16:58 remaining in Game 4, the Lakers would score a meager 21 to the Celtics' 42. But Pierce was far from alone. Rivers unleashed his small lineup of Pierce, Allen, Posey, Eddie House and Kevin Garnett that would terrorize the Lakers until the home team fell silent. As the only big man on the court, Garnett held the paint under lock and key, encouraging first-half superstar Lamar Odom (four points in the second half) to wilt as the lead did the same, and rendering Pau Gasol (seven in the second half) as something ill-befitting an All-Star forward.

But it comes back to the man who started the swarm and has his team close enough to smell the golden trophy. No team has ever recovered from falling behind 3-1 to win the NBA Finals, and the man who took the defensive reins has no intentions of letting go.

"I want nothing more than that ring right now and I'm not going to get over-excited," Pierce.

What better way to keep himself grounded that by getting low and playing D. If the muses that created the cliche were right, it just might win him a championship.