After a few frightening moments that threatened to derail a potentially epic NBA Championship series, not to mention Paul Pierce's career, we made it through Game 1 begging for more.
The Boston Celtics held serve, denying Kobe Bryant any room to rise up and steal a road win for the Los Angeles Lakers. When the C's needed it, their defense came up HUGE down the stretch forcing bad shots or passes from Kobe when the Lakers were desperate for a bucket.
The C's were lucky their careless turnovers after big defenisive stops didn't come back to hurt them. I'm sure a few of those lost possessions will get Doc Rivers up early this morning.
Still, for Game 1 the Cetlics have to be happy, seizing control in the second half with Pierce shooting it and Kevin Garnett cleaning up everything else. Look for Kobe to force the action a little more from here on out, making the refs call something. I'm sure Phil Jackson will use the two days off to squawk about officiating to help set up Kobe for a big Game 2.
Can't wait.