I have read thousands of reports on the Lakers since Thursdays game one loss in Boston and have come up with several conclusions. The first is that many reporters have no idea what they’re talking about and their opinion is ridiculously useless and should be taped off with caution in order to protect readers from wasting a single second of their life skimming an article about Paul Pierce being the best player in the NBA Finals.

With that said, and some of my anger released since the ridiculous loss, it’s time to review what needs to be done in order for the Lakers to win their first series in which they start off from behind.

Pau Gasol is key to this Lakers team. I feel like Gasol was extremely nervous during game one and didn’t contribute to his potential. Gasol has an excellent variety of moves and strengths that can drive Boston crazy. The Lakers are a team known for its effective offense and essentially it’s large amount of easy baskets (ie. layups and dunks). Game 1 was pathetic in terms of intensity around the basket. I will let analysts say whatever they want about the Celtics defense, but the bottom line is that the Lakers couldn’t be effective on the inside because they weren’t making shots on the outside.

Sasha Vujacic, Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Luke Walton are players capable of coming into the game at random times and dropping three pointers on you. The first game in Boston was an example of how road teams struggle when they shoot from the outside. Something about those rims in the Garden that didn’t let the ball just smoothly fall through the hoop, the ball would rattle in and out on every shot attempt, even most of Kobe’s.

I’ve also heard many crackheads address that Kobe Bryant played horribly. Yes, his shooting was off. But let me put it this way, had the rest of the team’s shots been going down and the Celtics really have been forced to play defense on every guy like they should have to, Kobe would have a lot more room to operate. Instead, he was constantly jammed in between a bunch of defenders and even his own players that couldn’t set a normal pick.

O yeah, the screen, or shall I say the Boston/Kevin Garnett Moving Screen. Are the officials ever going to call the moving screen on KG. This guy is constantly taking steps during the screen, bending his shoulder down into the defenders chest as they try to go above the pick, and just simply doesn’t understand the concept of a screen. Kevin: A screen is used in order to free one of your teammates by standing in ONE spot, straight up, and giving your teammate the opportunity to dribble around you to create space between himself and the defender. The screen is not designed for the screener, in this case KG, to take a defender out of a play be playing defense on the defender (if that makes sense to you).

The biggest overall problem with this game was that the Lakers couldn’t rebound. I have a real issue with the way Phil Jackson played the line ups in this game, unless of course there is an injury I am unaware of. Trevor Ariza is not only a great defender for the Lakers, but he is also a high flyer and a strong rebounder. If Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and our small forward all commit to boxing out the offensive players, then we should be able to get the rebounds and not give up so many second chance points. Kevin Garnett is constantly going over the top of our guys and simply pulling the ball into himself. I wouldn’t call the fouls against him for over the back either, well, I would on some of them, but most of them he earns by commiting to the rebound and not being lazy.

Pau Gasol: don’t use your hands to box out, use you 7′0″ frame and your butt. I’m sick of being out rebounded every game. Good rebounding is just like good defense, all it takes is heart and commitment. If you tell yourself that you will rebound, you will rebound. Of course, once in a while there is a bad bounce, but in general, you shouldn’t ever be standing to the side of the basket waiting for the ball to clank of the rim while KG is standing in the key waiting on the other side. We’re not playing this game with luck on our side, clearly with all the injuries this season, we are playing this game with hard work. Why wasn’t Gasol boxing out Garnett that play in the 4th when KG had a monster put back dunk of the James Posey missed three?

Simply put, Game 1 wasn’t all that bad for the Lakers. The box score said the lost by 10, but they were really only down by about 6 if you don’t count the fouls at the end for the purpose of hoping they miss and give you a shot at the game again. The Lakeshow had plenty of chances to put this game away and open it up, the bad shooting from all the players on the team in general is really what hurt this team. The keys for the next game won’t be Kobe shooting better, they will be Vujacic making shots he normally makes, Pau Gasol understanding his role as a dominant force in the paint with a wide variety of post moves, the front courts commitment to rebounding, and Kobe Bryant’s general ability to spread the floor as he torches the Celtics with points and assists (I suppose some rebound wouldn’t be bad either).

By the way, I apologize for the delay in my article of the three main factors that the Lakers have over the Celtics. Although the series has already begun, I will still write this article in the next few days when I have a bit more free time away from work. Also, don’t forget to tune in to LA Ball Talk for all future live blog events.