The Lakers Didn't Choke, They Were Strangled

After the Celtics historic comeback in game 4, I read quite a few articles about how the Lakers choked. They were up by 24 points and then let the Celtics come back. In reality, the Lakers didn't choke, they were strangled by the Celtics defense. The Lakers raced out to their 24 point lead as the Celtics played little or no defense in the first half. They exerted little or no energy going after rebounds or loose balls. The Lakers had their way and seemingly did whatever they wanted. Then, in the second half, it was a completely different story. The Celtics came out and played their brand of defense that made them the top defensive team in the NBA this season. Over the regular season, the Celtics held teams to under 42% shooting. They had the biggest differential in the league between points scored and points allowed. After the Celtics ended Houston's 22 game win streak, Tracy McGrady said that he had never seen defense like the Celtics played. In the second half of gam...