The T.V. says L.A., but my heart says Boston in six.
Why is the everyone so sure about the Lakers? The Lakers do have Kobe Bryant, who is the best...shooting guard of the decade, maybe? Bryant has three rings, but Allen Iverson has won three scoring titles, won an MVP trophy, and been the star of a Finals team during the '00s, so it's at least close between them.
Bryant, who really ought to switch back to jersey number 8, is the undisputed best player in the series. The team with the best player almost always wins the Finals. Take last year's Spurs, or the Heat before that. Or the Lakers with Shaq. Or the Bulls with Jordan. Throw in Phil Jackson, the best coach in the series, and it looks like L.A. should get by easily.
The Lakers are missing only one ingredient: an outstanding No. 2 guy. I don't know if they need one, but championship teams typically have at least one other good clutch player. Like Shaq with the Heat, The Admiral/Tony Parker with the Spurs, Kobe with the Lakers, Scottie Pippen with the Bulls, and various other name players throughout history. Yes, I would take all of there guys over Pau Gasol. Of note are the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons, who didn't have the best player in the Finals, but who had a lineup of five outstanding No. 2 guys.
The Celtics fit the typical championship mold worse than the Lakers do, but are still an impressive team. They have a pair of stars in Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Garnett, like Kobe, will end up in the Hall of Fame. He's one of the few professionals with a truly well-rounded game: Garnett can score, rebound, and defend, and is also a talented passer. He's also a ferocious competitor and the consummate performer who gives his all in every game. His biggest failing is the bizarre need to goaltend every shot taken after the whistle; like Pete Rose sprinting to first after a walk, it's something I just don't get.
Pierce is a more conventional modern star whose strength is his scoring. He takes a lot of three-pointers for someone with his percentage (.363 career), but he can get hot. He can rebound and pass, but doesn't post especially-high totals in either category. I'm intrigued by how he'll play defensively in this series as well.
The Celtics do have some advantages, though. They have better depth than the Lakers, whether it's the three other capable starters, or reserves like James Posey. The Lakers seem to have a bunch of guys who can do exactly one thing (usually it's shoot) and Luke Walton, who is a credit to fundamental basketball, though not in quite the same way Tim Duncan is.
Plus Boston was awesome this year, with the best record in the league and an outstanding scoring differential. They won nine more games than the Lakers and won the average game by three more points. And they had a terrific defense this year, which won't do much to bottle up Kobe but which can easily frustrate the rest of his team.
So yeah. That and I'd hate to see the Lakers win.
Bonus programming note: I'll be out of town for a few days and probably won't be back posting until about Game Three or so, but feel free to comment here as I plan to respond.
Comments
I'll be interested to see how Rivers plans on matching up on D with the Lakers. I think Rondo is their best on-ball defender and they should put him on Kobe. The risk with that is, if Rondo gets into foul trouble, the C's are screwed because Eddie House sucks at point guard. Also, if KG guards Gasol, then who will guard LO? Perkins? That could be liability, although Perkins did look good in the Detroit series. Hopefully Perkins can keep up with the quicker Odom.
The best scenario I could imagine would be for the series to go to a game 7 and the Lakers lose by one point because Kobe forced up a last second contested J with a teammate standing wide open under the hoop. That would be awesome...
Man, what a game that was tonight! I was terrified when Pierce went down, it looked like he'd blown out his knee (from his reaction, not from the replay of the collision). I thought the series was over. But the Celtics came back. Yes, they SHOULD win Game One at home, but still, always good to see them take care of business.
Also, I loved the Sports Guy's series preview, too.
How about that KG put-back dunk?! Gasol is lucky KG didn't break his hand on the rim with that dunk!
Are we going to have to suffer through this whole series with these same atrocious announcers? I really hope not. I'm so sick of hearing Mark Jackson gushing about how amazing Kobe is. Last night he said he was just as good as Jordan. Ridiculous. Also, some really needs to let Jeff Van Gundy know that he is NOT funny, despite what Charles Barkley says.