A woeful game for Celtics' Big 3

Their 17th championship was within reach for the Celtics, they could almost taste it. Their dreams would finally come true with balloons and confetti falling from the rafters and all. Then the young Lakers burst their bubble and crashed the party. Despite being in double figures, Ray Allen only 4-for-13 from the field. And he wasn't the only one who had a bad night. Foul trouble kept Kevin Garnett out of his game thanks to Pau Gasol and Paul Pierce's MVP like numbers wasn't enough to lift his team.

Chalking up with 38 points, 6 rebounds and 8 dimes Pierce needs to do a better job in Game 6 which is going to be back in Boston to finally seal the deal. The Celtics starting guard Rajon was a non factor Game 5 even though he was in double figures. It looked like the C's were not on the same page they were overwhelmed by the Lakers offensive and defensive brilliance.

Losing one post-up guy and rebounder for the Celtics proved to be a huge one. Coach Doc Rivers had to rely mostly on Veteran PJ Brown picking up the slack in the center position for Garnett who was hampered with foul trouble. Speaking of Veterans, Sam Cassell saw action in game 5 contributed 9 points for the Celtics.

The Celtics were simply out of sync. It was their worst game in the series. They just weren't aggressive enough on the offensive end. Outrebounded and outplayed played by the Lakers throughout the game. There wasn't enough blocking out for rebounds and that hurt them a lot. Kobe and the gang took advantage of every unforced error of the Celtics and converted points out of those turnovers.

The big steal by Kobe Bryant on Paul Pierce with 39 ticks in the 4th quarter is something P-Double will have to forget. Their defense was broken down easily. Switching their zone defense form 2-3 or sometimes 3-2 to a 1-2-2 zone giving Mamba an edge in that predicament making him go one-on-one with Ray Ray or P-Double. That defensive switch proved to be costly for coach Rivers.

No champagne bottles popping for C's at the moment. The Celebration will have to wait another day and go back to Boston to finally finish off the pesky Lakers. The Celtics have to be more focused if they want that Larry O' Brien Trophy back in Beantown and make that 17th championship in 22 years a reality.