This is for all the marbles
June 5, 2008 by Mike
You’ve heard enough about the Celtics/Lakers too make you puke.It hasn’t been a rivalry since 1987, and the style of the game has changed. We won’t see any McHale closelines, or see Kareem getting in Bird’s face. This is 2008, players aren’t like that anymore. Especially these Los Angeles Lakers, who are about as soft as puppy shit, but there isn’t a team in the league who can score like them. It provides for a very interesting match up with the Celtics. Who are a tough team, that rebounds the ball well and plays good D.This whole series hinges on two players: Pau Gasol and Paul Pierce. If Gasol can play at an All-Star level, combined with Kobe being Kobe the Lakers maybe too much to handle. However, for Boston if Paul Pierce plays at the elite level he has for most of the playoffs, and not trying to match Kobe score for score, he can take the Celtics to their 17th Championship. Everybody thinks for Boston that Ray Allen is the key, he’s important, he will be the reason they win a game, but he’s not the key. You will not get consistent play from Allen, he’s going to have his hands full on the defensive end with Bryant. Same goes for Lamar Odom, who is about as reliable as expired condoms. Odom, is that guy with all the ability in the world, that has big games against the Timberwolves and the Sonics, but when it comes down to those big games he goes Bobby Fisher on you. He’ll have his moment this series, but won’t be much of a factor. The one guy from the Lakers, that will surprise people with his play and will be a constant thorn in the Celtics side is Sasha Vujacic. He’ll be a cross between Lindsay Hunter and Delonte West. As much as I have complained about Doc Rivers, he has actually coached fairly well in the playoffs, and the notion that he will be out coached by Phil Jackson is a stretch. Phil isn’t the X and O guy that Gregg Popovich is, he’s more of the motivator and cerebral guy, that gets his players to relax and gets them to play to their max. The zen master has Tex Winters for his X and O’s, just like Doc has Tom Thibodeau for his. The Lakers are going to live an die by Kobe and Gasol’s performances, whereas the Celtic’s can have different options for people to step up for them. It’s not strictly Pierce and Garnett for the C’s to win; Allen, or even Rondo have the ability to steal a game. Oh, and the bench that overwhelmingly goes to the Celtics. The C’s have options, the Lake Show has Turiaf and Vujacic. The Lakers cannot afford to let this series get physical, because they can’t match up and just don’t have the depth to bang with the C’s. However, it will be just as tough for the Celtics if they try to run with the Lakers, because they can score in bunches; and they don’t lose when they score over 100pts. Every analyst thinks that it’s a guarantee that Kobe’s Lakers have this thing wrapped up, and that’s not the case. The Lakers are a different team since they last played here, but so are the Celtics. They changed in that Detroit series, and like Jonathan Moxon in Varsity Blues, their ready for the center stage, and if you want to take the title from them you’re gonna have to knock’em out.
Prediction: Celtics in 6
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