Kobe:" I don't get why you suck so bad in the regular season, Fish."

Basketball Goddess is a slut.

In Game 2, she loved Ray Allen, and he became a Basketball God. All night, she held his hand, and danced with him to the tune of 32 points, and an NBA Finals-record eight three-pointers.

The Celtics rejoiced in victory.

But,in Game 3, Basketball Goddess  jilted Allen– left him for another man, Derek Fisher.

Fisher scored 11 fourth quarter points, helping the Lakers withstand a late Celtics surge, taking a 2-1 series lead with a 91-84 win.

And poor Ray Allen didn’t see a thing coming. None of us did.

As the misses piled up, Allen seemed confused, perturbed– as if he wanted to ask Basketball Goddess, ‘How could you do this to me? How could you desert me now, when I need you most?’

Ray Allen finished with just two points, and  he missed every shot he took, including eight three-pointers.

Boston fought hard to overcome a 17-point first half deficit, but couldn’t quite get over the hump as Los Angeles made all the big shots, and Allen missed all of his.

Boston played well enough to win–their defense was top-notch, they took care of the ball (10 TO’s), Kevin Garnett regained his earlier playoff form–but both Pierce and Allen disappeared when Boston needed a big basket.

Meanwhile, for the regal group in purple and yellow, Fisher was using the pick-and-roll to get into the lane and score throughout the fourth quarter. Kobe made some shots that only Kobe can make. And the Celtics didn’t have any juice left in their orange to squeeze out another Finals win.

Kevin Garnett scored on the Celtics first three possession and Boston surged ahead 12-5 while playing with superb energy inspired by the boisterous TD Garden crowd. After the 12-5 start, however, Los Angeles went on a 32-8 run that spanned from the last half of the first quarter to the first minutes of the second quarter and gave the Lakers a 37-20 lead.

Other than Garnett and Rajon Rondo, none of the Celtics shot well and the value of a basket shot through the roof like the price of oil after a roadside bombing in Iraq.

Both teams played sensational, swarming defense, and neither team shot well from behind the arc. Boston shot 4-18 from three-point land, while Los Angeles was 2-15.

With the combination of pesky defense and poor shooting, the game bogged down in the trenches of half court offense. Rajon Rondo was the Celtics general, commanding his team with 8 assists and zero giveaways. However, Rondo was unable to control the pace of the game, and was a scoring liability in the half court. Whomever was guarding Rondo–usually Kobe Bryant– played WAY off him on the perimeter, daring Rondo to become a shooter. Rondo didn’t succumb to the pressure to shoot, but he wasn’t able to penetrate effectively either.

If Boston is going to win this series, Rondo must be willing to shoot the open 15-footer with no hesitation–and not just when the shot clock is clicking down to zero. Rondo must keep the Lakers defense honest in order to open up driving lanes for Allen, Pierce, and himself. In Game 2, Rondo practically rented the painted area from Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, and the Celtics won. In Games 1 and 3, Rondo has only sporadically knifed his way past the Lakers body-armor into the soft underbelly of the defense, and the Celtics have lost. I’m noticing a trend…

After playing like “horseshit” in Games 1 and 2 ( KG’s words, not mine), Garnett was as vintagely fresh as a Michael Jordan Bucs high school jersey. He continuously attacked Pau Gasol off the dribble, exploding past him regularly on his way to 26 points on 11-16 field goals.

Kendrick Perkins grabbed 11 rebounds and generally played well, but he was just 1-4 for 5 points–once again a non-factor offensively. Glen “Big Baby” Davis provided some much-needed interior offense, adding 12 points off the bench, while Tony Allen also played well for the second-unit, defending Bryant proficiently and adding 7 points.

Bryant scored 29 points for the Lakers, but took 29 shots to get there. Ron Artest scored just 2 points,  Gasol only 13, and Andrew Bynum was limited to 9 points. Boston executed the game plan perfectly on defense, but didn’t shoot well enough to win. Credit to the Lakers defense, which forced Boston out of their sets and into tough, contested shots.

The Lakers defense is their biggest improvement from 2008 and is the main reason LA leads the series. In 2008, Los Angeles was a decent defensive unit, but Boston seemed to score on them when they REALLY needed to.  Now, in 2010, Los Angeles has added that extra gear on defense that all great champions have: they can earn precious stops when the game hunkers down in the last five minutes and each basket is like a nugget of gold.

In the end, the game was all about that cheating whore, Basketball Goddess.  She was fed up with Ray Allen, and traded him in when she saw the chance to reignite with her old Finals fling, Derek Fisher.

Game 4 is another day, though, and Basketball Goddess will choose another lucky player to ascend with her to Mt. Naismith for the night. Hopefully, the vicious vixen prefers her men in Green.

So, ummm, yeah, Rajon Rondo is still giving out two tickets to Game 4. He’s also giving out autographed stuff, but I think it’s safe to say most folks are in it for the tickets.

12:00 p.m. is your next chance. All you have to do is follow Rajon on Twitter, check on Twitter where the next prize drop will be located, and be the first one to reach the basketball that he drops. Hold on to the basketball and say, “Loose Ball.” Then you’ll be given your prize, take a picture, and go merrily on your way. Easy enough, right?

By the way you guys are lucky I don’t live in Boston, because if I did you’d have no chance at getting that prize. I’d be throwing elbows and choking people left and right. I mean, these aren’t tickets to a meaningless midseason game against the Raptors we’re talking about — these are Finals tickets.

(P.S. – With the amount of posts I’ve had about this contest it may seem like I’m getting paid to promote this contest, but I’m not. I’m simply trying to help you guys win some damn tickets. So be a good person and invite me if you win.)

Remember Rajon Rondo’s Finals ticket giveaway I posted about yesterday? It starts today at 5:00 p.m., and you’ll have to be following Rondo on Twitter to be alerted of the contest.

What Rondo’s doing is dropping basketballs around Boston and alerting fans to their location via Twitter. To get a prize (prizes range from autographed stuff to a pair of Game 4 tickets) you’ve got to be the first one to get to the ball, touch it, and say, “Loose Ball.”

Easy enough, right? So go follow Rondo so you can participate in the damn contest, and remember my only rule:

If you win the Finals tickets, you’ve got to invite me. Hey, I’m the one who told you about the contest, so it’s only fair.

(P.S. – Follow me on Twitter too.)

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and Los Angeles won Game 1, 102-89, Thursday night at the Staples Center behind great defense and rebounding.

The Los Angeles Lakers held Boston to just 43% from the floor and  the Celtics only one made three-pointer. Los Angeles also out-rebounded Boston 42-31, outscoring the Celtics 10-0 on second chance points in the first half.

Both Bryant and Pao Gasol (23 points, 14 rebounds) were fantastic offensively for the Los Angeles Lakers. Because the Lakers shot so well–49% from the field– Boston had trouble igniting the fast break, scoring just 5 fast break points for the game.

Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo had 13 points and 8 assists, but he took 14 shots and was unable to set the pace for a suddenly dysfunctional Celtics offense.  The Big Three shot a combined 16-37 from the floor and the lone bright spot for the Celtics was the 13 free throws Paul Pierce was able to generate while Ron Artest guarded him.

Pierce finished the game with a team–leading 24 points and,even more telling, a team-leading 9 rebounds. Pierce and Rondo–not Kendrick Perkins or Kevin Garnett– were the only Celtics with more than 5 rebounds.

The Lakers led 50-41 at halftime and the game did not get much closer the rest of the way. Bryant had 14 third-quarter points, leading a third-quarter charge that gave the Lakers their biggest lead of the game at 20 points, 84-64. Boston never recovered after a poor third quarter, despite multiple mini-runs that cut the lead to 11.

More coverage and analysis to come tomorrow at Celtics Town. Stay tuned.

Paul Pierce may have been raised in Inglewood, CA, he may have grown up  a Lakers fan, dreaming of wearing a Lakers uniform, but there’s no doubt about it–Pierce belongs to the Celtics family now.

According to Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles, Pierce praised the Celtics fans for their knowledge, while  also taking a shot at Lakers fans.

When asked about the difference between fans in Los Angeles and fans in Boston, Pierce responded:

I’m more biased knowing that our fans are, I want to say, I think a little bit more knowledgeable to the game. I think a lot of celebrities come here to get out of the house to watch a game, to see the other celebrities. But then you’ve got your fans to mix with them. It’s an interesting crowd, whereas I think our fans really come to watch the actual game.”

Pierce was spot-on in his comparison of Lakers fans to Celtics fans. Many Lakers fans go to the Staples Center to enjoy a festive atmosphere and be entertained. On the other hand, Boston Celtics fans go to the TD Garden because they care deeply about the Celtics–almost as if they were a part of the team.

Though the Lakers have home court  advantage, Pierce seems to be hinting that the Celtics will not be intimidated in the Staples Center. The Boston Celtics are  coming into Los Angeles with one goal in mind–to win two games– and the happy, partying fans of the Staples Center will not deter them.