AccuScore On SportsFanLive

While the Lakers are solid favorites at home the laws of probability indicate they are definitely in trouble with under 44 percent chance of winning the series. Once again the team that won the rebounding battle won the game, but unlike the other games, rebounding really was not the deciding factor. Game 5 came down to defense. Boston was great defensively. No one could stop Kobe from making those tough shots, but Celtics did make it difficult for him holding him to under 50 percent from the field. They frustrated Pau Gasol by being physical and not conceding anything easy. Pau is looking increasingly like the 2008 version of himself. The soft player who does not handle physical defense well.

As good as Boston was defensively, the Lakers, and Ron Artest specifically, were horrible defensively. Paul Pierce hit 12 of 21 and frankly, he should have gone 15 for 21. Artest not only allowed Pierce to get to any spot on the court that he wanted, he almost looked like someone who did not ever play Pierce before in his life. Artest is a big, strong guy but he looks like a brick wall defensively. You cannot move him or go through him, but you can go right around him or run him off a screen easily. In my expert opinion, Ron Artest is a big dumb guy.

For the Lakers to win they obviously need Kobe and Gasol to play well, but as this Finals has shown, the Lakers need more than these two to play well to beat Boston. The pressure is on Lamar Odom and Ron Artest. Andrew Bynum is not helping the Lakers playing hurt. He had one rebound in 31 minutes. The Lakers need Odom to come through with a double-double at PF with Bynum hurting. They also need Artest to get his head straight. If Artest holds Pierce to no better than 40 percent from the field, grabs rebounds, passes the ball to the open man, and does the Lakers a favor and does not take a shot the Lakers will be better off.

If Boston shoots over 45% from the field, Ray Allen re-discovers his three point touch (40 percent from three point range), and they stay even with LA on the boards the Celtics will likely finish of LA in Game 6. If Pau and Odom dominate the boards and the Lakers force at least 15 Celtics turnovers, the Lakers will ride these extra possessions to a Game 6 win.