Celtics-Lakers: A crazy 4th quarter

As I was discussing this series Saturday night with a friend, he said he thought Game 5 was the game of the series. I completely agreed, and the game did not disappoint. But instead of my usual 'thoughts' piece, here are my thoughts on the key plays of our crazy 4th quarter.

• 3:56 Rondo makes an amazing tip shot, Celtics 87-75. He leaps above two bigger Lakers to make this happen. I mention to my wife that if we were having a boy his name would need to be Rondo. She closes her eyes and forces herself to sleep.
• 2:55 Kobe makes two free throws, Celtics 87-78. Why is this important? Because Artest and the other Lakers forgot how to make free throws in this game.
• 2:06 Ray Allen misses a three. This was a really bad call. Ray missed the rim by inches, but the refs said it hit the rim, so Perkins' offensive rebound stood instead of a 24-second violation. The Celtics took time off the clock, but did not score.
• 1:30 Kobe makes three free throws, Celtics 87-82. R. Allen has fouled Kobe a couple of times shooting threes in this series. It looked pretty mild on the replay, but I don't play the officials for calling it.
• 0:46 KG loses a jumpball to Derek Fisher. Yeah, you read that right. I think it's safe to say that KG has lost a little explosiveness.
• 0:40 Pierce gets a defensive rebound off of missed Artest free throw. Really, Kobe came from the three point line and made a great play for the rebound, then Pierce swept in and stole it out of his hands. Kobe got pissed about this, but the replay showed it was a good physical play. Artest was 1-4 shooting free throws, all in the 4th quarter.
• 0:38 Boston calls timeout. After the rebound, Pierce was having trouble getting the ball up the court and wisely called timeout.
• 0:35 Rondo makes two point shot. That what's ESPN's play-by-play says, but let's break down the most important and amazing play of the playoffs. KG is inbounding (not sure why, maybe because of his height). He's having trouble getting it in. Pierce releases toward the hoop. KG lets lose a baseball pass that Pierce catches over his shoulder off balance, falling out of bounds. Rondo cuts to the basket and Pierce throws a perfect pass. Rondo layup. My description is lame compared to the actual play. My wife was asleep, and I had been quite most of the quarter, but I let out a 'yelp' of some sort after Rondo's layup, which woke her up. She thought a seagull had hit our window.
• 0:18 Fisher personal foul on Ray Allen. This was the icing. Rondo even got the ball on this play, but he was too fast for Artest and was able to give it up before anyone touched him. Of course, Allen drains the freebies.

Other thoughts:

• I've mentioned this before, and I might again: Artest is a shadow of his former shelf. He is doing a decent on Pierce in this series, but he can't guard any other key Boston player. He's too slow for Rondo, and Phil Jackson made the tactical error of putting Artest on Rondo in the closing minutes, which led to a layup and missed opportunity to foul a poor free throw shooter. And he can't guard small bigs anymore. Farmar or Brown should have been guarding Rondo in the final minutes.
• The officiating continues to stink. After three quarters of decent officiating, the zebras decided to put their fingerprints on the 4th quarter. Again, it's stinking both ways, so I'm claiming no conspiracy here, but man Stern needs to do something.

Celtics in 6.