Did the Celtics just waste KG's last truly great game?

I've always been angered by Game 4 of the 2004 NBA Finals? Why? Because it was Shaquille O'Neal's last truly dominant game and yet the Lakers managed to blow it thanks to their collective ego and Kobe Bryant's selfishness. I've long said that this was probably the lowest point of Bryant's career, even lower than the disastrous 2004-2005 season. It was the game where he let his hero complex get in the way of victory.

Shaq scored 36 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in that game. Bryant was a horrific 8-for-25 from the floor, attempted only two free throws and was called for a technical foul.

Watching tonight's Game 3 of the 2010 NBA Finals, I can't help but draw parallels and wonder if the Celtics just blew Kevin Garnett's last truly great game. It's no secret that KG isn't the player he once was, nor is it any secret that he was mediocre and terrible in Game 1 and Game 2 of the series, scoring a combined 22 points. Well, last night he had 25 on 11-of-16 shooting. The Celtics defense was terrific, which always starts with KG. And the Celtics blew it. They lost, 91-84, because Ray Allen couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, Paul Pierce was a factor for being primarily a non-factor and Derek Fisher did a Robert Horry in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals impersonation.

Given the struggles for KG since the beginning of the Orlando series, can the Celtics really expect him to deliver another performance like he gave them last night? And can they really expect Kobe Bryant to have another terrible performance as he did last night (29 points on a ghastly 29 shots)? Sure, Allen won't go nothing-for-13 again but it's becoming more and more apparent that Pierce can't get off against Ron Artest.

Given that two unlikely events--Kobe reverting to Game 4 of the 2004 Finals form and KG delivering a performance reminiscent of his 2004 MVP campaign--that Boston needed to happen happened, and they still didn't win, I'm having a hard time seeing how the Celtics win this series now.

My prediction? The Celtics take Game 4 and the Lakers win Games 5 and 6 to close it out. KG doesn't have another performance that good, Kobe doesn't have another performance that bad, Allen doesn't have another performance that atrocious and the Celtics spend the entire summer, and perhaps the rest of the KG-Pierce-Allen era mulling over Game 3, which goes down as the night they lost the 2010 NBA Finals.