The difference in game 1 was the last 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter. LA was up 2 when Odom was going at the basket. He went up soft, the shot was blocked by P.J. Brown, and Pierce hit a three in transition. On the next possession, another Laker went down the middle of the lane, Garnett blocked it (I thought there was a foul), and Pierce hit another 3 in transition. Instead of the Lakers being up by 4 (+/- a couple of points), they were down by 4. Boston held that lead the rest of the way.
The refs were all right in the game - they let them play. They missed a couple of calls both ways, and gave the home team the benefit of the doubt on some calls, but that's all normal.
Boston's team defense was effective. Pierce and Garnett doubled Kobe and stopped his drives. Kobe's had problems in the past where he seems to enter a period of play deciding to either be a scorer or a passer. Instead, he needs to react to what the defense is doing. Drive and decide what to do once you see the defense respond to your move. I thought that he was finally past that, but maybe not.
In Game 1, Gasol disappeared in the second half. Kobe didn't shoot well, but the defense was responsible for a lot of that. The Lakers got nothing from Farmar and Walton off the bench. Pierce and Garnett did about what I thought, and Allen played better than I expected. However, in the NBA everybody overreacts to what happens in every game. As I said earlier, I think the Lakers will make better adjustments throughout the series.
