LOS ANGELES (AP) -If ever there was a game fit for cliches, Game 7 of the NBA finals is it.
And the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers didn’t disappoint on Wednesday, with both sides offering up some of the most overworked axioms in sports.
“It’s for the marbles, it’s for everything, all out,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. “Juices flowing and they’ll continue to flow.”
Kobe Bryant, last year’s MVP of the finals, put in a bid for cliche MVP honors when asked if he enjoys the moment during big games.
“You’ve just got a job to do, you go out there and you do it, and then you can look back at it after the fact,” the Lakers guard said.
Boston coach Doc Rivers weighed in on appreciating the opportunity when it comes.
“You can never take for granted a season, a game, and especially a Game 7 of a finals,” he said. “You never know if and when you’re going to be back in that position, and so when you get in that position, you want to take advantage of it.”
In case anyone needed reminding about the situation, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, “We’re on our feet fighting for the seventh game.”
Boston’s Rajon Rondo added, “It’s do or die. Win or go home.”
His teammate, Ray Allen, vowed, “I want to do everything I can to leave it all on the floor.”
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MEDITATE THIS: The Lakers planned to meditate before Game 7, just as they’ve done previously during the finals.
Informed of this, Boston’s Glen Davis said, “They meditate? What’s that?”
A helpful reporter explained to him that the team sits in the dark and concentrates on breathing and clearing their minds.
“For real? I’m going to try that,” Davis said. “If it’s what they do to get ready for the game, hey, let them find their lost remote.”
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WORLD CUP UPSET: Switzerland upset tournament favorite Spain 1-0 Wednesday in World Cup soccer, which wasn’t good news to Lakers center Pau Gasol of Barcelona.
The loss ended Spain’s run of 12 straight wins and handed the Spanish just their second loss in 50 games.
“I woke up, I couldn’t sleep anymore, it’s 8:30, turned the game on, and the next thing I know we were down 1-0 and struggling and scrambling to score a goal,” Gasol said.
“Not the way that we expected our team to start a championship, of course, and it puts them in a position where they have to win probably two games they have left against Honduras and Chile.”
World Cup games yet.
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CHOOSING KOBE: No offense, LeBron, but Kevin Garnett thinks Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA.
“He makes his team go,” Garnett said. “He’s their life, does multiple things in the game, and every time you speak of Kobe, you speak of excellence, you think of excellence. Class act, plays with a vengeance and tenaciousness, well-respected around the league. I can keep going and going.”
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NOTES: The NBA finals have gone to a deciding seventh game for the 17th time, and just the second since 1994. In the previous 16 Game 7s, the home team is 13-3. … The last time the Celtics and Lakers played a Game 7 against each other was in 1984, when Boston won 111-102 at the old Boston Garden. It was the first of three meetings between the teams in the finals over the next four years. … The team with the overall rebounding edge has won the first six games. The Lakers had the edge and won Games 1, 3 and 6. The Celtics dominated the boards and won Games 2, 4 and 5.
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