• Whether you like Paul Pierce’s supposedly “fake injury” or not, deal with it. Paul Pierce played the best role in Game 1, as an injured basketball player, who suddenly comes back after his 105-second injury. Did he fake it? I think so. Was that the reason we lost, I don’t think so. To be honest, the Los Angeles Lakers we’ve seen all season long only played the first 24 minutes of the game. And for a team that desperately needs the world’s approval and applause, they failed. They didn’t play the whole game, so definitely, it was no surprise that they will lose.
• Whether you like Kobe Bryant’s 9-of-26 shooting or not, deal with it. Yes, he missed a lot of shots that he normally makes or in his term, “bunnies”. But the fact is that he was not listening to Phil Jackson telling him to find the open guys and pass the ball. Of course, sometimes The Black Mamba knows best, and sometimes, it’s just not that way.
• Whether you like Kevin Garnett’s dunk over Pau Gasol or not, deal with it. When we needed the rebound most, we choked. When all Pau or Sasha must do is to box out The Big Ticket, they didn’t. When we needed a miracle, all the guys on the floor wearing purple and gold were just watching, waiting as if the ball would come to them and God will rescue them from this WWE-like arena. I don’t care if these acts can be referred to as “jitters”, but they’ve got to stick to the game plan.

It’s such a pain to see my team fold in such circumstances as in Game 1, but there are a couple of things we need to know :

• Spurs beat us by 17 points. We got beat by the Celtics by 10 points, so it doesn’t really much pierce our hearts since we’ve beaten like that before.
• We just missed some “easy shots”, shots that the team normally makes, shots that went in and out, shots that we know will fall in Game 2.
• The Celtics bench ate us. Whether you like it or not, those meddling veteran bench guys, namely Sam Cassell and PJ Brown totally ate us. They played more desperately than the whole Laker bench. But we also need to know, that Sam I Am and PJ Brown had already played their best game, and from Game 2 onwards, it’s over for them.
• Derek Fisher needs to be aggressive. Yes, D-Fish had 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting, but that doesn’t mean he was as good as the guy in the WCF Series. We need his leadership, and it starts with showing the other guys how to shoot in that damn ring.
• Stop those unnecessary fouls, there came a time in the third quarter that every Celtic possession there was a whistle called on the purple shirts. What was the reason of fouling? They showed fear on their opponents, and the Celtics saw that as an opening to stay aggressive on the floor. The four bench guys plus The Space Cadet combined for 16 fouls. Most of those were committed when the Celtics were making a run, the point where Paul Pierce entered into the arena like most of the WWE wrestlers would normally do.

I’m still sticking with my bet : Celtics in Game 1, Lakers in Games 2-5.

And if the Celtics just happen to lose tomorrow, then I will say goodbye to the “fairweather” fans.

By the way, I won’t be live-blogging in Game 2 of the Finals because I have to attend church. For those of you who are wondering, I’m not a Mormon, it’s Sunday morning here in the Philippines while it’s Saturday night there. Have a nice day! LA in Game 2!