For almost the entire second half, the Lakers were chipping away at the Celtics’ lead.  Any time they would get close, the Celtics would create a little breathing room for themselves.  That is exactly what happened after the Lakers tied the game at 61.  The Celtics used three Ray Allen free throws to create a three point lead with about six and a half minutes left.  That is when Derek Fisher hit another huge three pointer in a NBA Finals game.

An interesting little wrinkle with this play is Lamar Odom bringing the ball up.  This is important for two reasons.  When Pau gets the ball in the post, it is hard for Big Baby (the man covering Odom) to double off of him.  It allows allows for Derek Fisher to float off of the basketball.

Odom hits Kobe on the wing and cuts through to the opposite corner.  Big Baby has to stay with him to prevent any backdoor cuts to the basket.

Kobe then enters the ball into Pau Gasol.  After doing so, Kobe cuts through to the opposite wing.  There are two reasons why.  The first is that he prevents Ray Allen from being able to dig in on Gasol (this is because Ray Allen has to stay with Kobe).  It also frees up space for Derek Fisher to float to and get open for a three.

Now, the Lakers’ floor spacing on the opposite side of the hoop leaves much to be desired.  This is important because it allows for one Celtic defender to cover two Lakers.  However, the Celtics don’t take advantage of this mistake.  You can see Pierce wants to go double Gasol, but Rajon Rondo beats him to it.

As soon as Rondo doubles down, Gasol kicks the basketball out to Derek Fisher.

Fisher makes the catch, and despite a solid close-out he knocks it down.  The Lakers didn’t trail the rest of the game.  The big mistake made by Celtics on this play is that they didn’t send the right man on the double team.  Watching the play in real time below shows that Pierce wants to double, but Rondo (the wrong man) beats him to it.