NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Celtics

[cured]

It is officially ON.

Los Angeles Lakers - 57-25 regular season, 12-3 playoffs, #1 seed in the Western Conference

vs.

Boston Celtics - 66-12 regular season, 12-8 playoffs, #1 seed in the Eastern Conference

Regular season meetings: Boston bloodied the Lakers in 2 games in the regular season, holding Kobe Bryant to 15-for-46 shooting in the 2 games. Both games were played with Andrew Bynum on the roster for LA, who went down with an injury in January, prompting the Lakers to trade a lot of their dead weight to Memphis for center Pau Gasol.

The Lakers, with Gasol, went on a hot streak and won the top seed in the toughest western conference in history while the Celtics bludgeoned their way through the eastern conference and seemed poised to run roughshod through the playoffs. A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum, though, and while the Lakers swept Denver, conquered a very good Utah team, and dethroned the defending champions, the Celtics were taken to seven games by the lowly Atlanta Hawks, seven more by the one-man-show Cleveland Cavaliers, and 6 tough games against a defensive-minded Detroit Pistons team.

The matchups favor Boston in this series, so I'll run through those:

Kobe vs. Pierce
Fisher vs. Rondo
Radmonovic/Vujacic vs. Allen
Odom vs. Garnett
Gasol vs. Perkins

Think that's how they'll line up?

First, Kobe and Pierce. Both guys are physical and can bump their way to the basket if they need to. Kobe is the better defender but in the 2 games played during the season, it was Kobe who was struggling from the floor. Will the same happen this time around? The Black Mamba is a different player in the playoffs.

Fisher vs. Rondo: Fish will probably do a pretty good job keeping Rondo out of the lane and chip in with some shots here and there. Rondo will probably be pretty up and down, more down than up. Fisher lives for the big shots while Rondo is usually the cog that gets the wheels turning but isn't afriad to take big shots.

Radmonovic/Vujacic vs. Allen is all incumbent on if Allen's jumpshot decides to show up or not. Radmonovic has picked up his play and I don't expect either Laker to put too much defensive pressure on Allen in terms of going to the basket but this is something the Celtics will probably try to do to get Ray going if his shot isn't going. Vujacic has got to be the pest he was to Ginobili for this to work.

Odom vs. Garnett will be the big key matchup. Garnett is obviously going to get more points but Odom is going to have to match him rebound for rebound. Can Odom stay out of foul trouble, though? I don't like Gasol on Garnett because Garnett has a good outside shot and can take Gasol to the bucket if he plays him too high.

Gasol vs. Perkins will be an interesting one to watch because it was offensive rebounding that gave the Lakers real problems in the series against Utah and it was something the Spurs didn't really have the personnel to do. Perkins had a monster first half in game 5 and then had a meek second half. Will he be consistent all the way through? Will Gasol get challenged around the rim as San Antonio successfully did against him? Will Gasol's overall field goal percentage pick up or will we have these 3-10 type of games from him?

Bench:

Lakers - Sasha Vujacic brings instant offense and pesky defense but poor penetration. Jordan Farmar has had an up-and-down playoffs but showed some real signs against San Antonio. It should also be noted that he was the only player who showed up for UCLA in their title game against the Florida Gators. Ronny Turiaf is a big defender with an extrmely high motor who should provide some valuable minutes if and when Laker big men need rest or get into foul trouble. Luke Walton is Mr. Intangible who quietly works his way through games. Never dominant but pretty fundamentally sound.

Celtics - The Celtics have a pretty short bench if you look at who has been getting minutes in the playoffs. Sam Cassell was brought in from the Los Angeles Clippers to provide some big-shot capability but has been a decided disappointment in the playoffs and hasn't received much playing time. Leon Powe was a valuable contributor for the Celtics who has found his way into coach Doc Rivers' doghouse and hasn't gotten many minutes at all. Eddie House is a shooter who has also had some problems and has been riding the pine for much of the playoffs. That leaves mid-season pickup P.J. Brown providing good minutes as a solid big defender who has a nice midrange jumper and James Posey who brings great defense, has good length, and has a good 3 point shot.

Coaching - there is no comparison between the two. Doc Rivers has struggled as a head coach in the league with inferior talent while Phil Jackson from LA has won nine championships, six with Michael Jordan's Bulls and three with Shaq and Kobe in LA. Grumblings from viewers have noted that Rivers shortened his bench for the playoffs and his players have logged big minutes, which may have contributed to 4th-quarter problems for his team. The Lakers, meanwhile, have come back from 15+ deficits three times this postseason and have finished quarters and games very well.

This series will hinge on 3-point shooting, rebounding, and turnovers. The Celtics have homecourt and will host games 1 and 2, with 6 and 7 coming if necessary.

Game 1 of the NBA finals is on Thursday, June 5, and will follow a Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday format. The TV coverage will be on ABC networks.

[IsiliRunite]

Kevin Garnett likes Chelsea, so he's destined to lose.

You don't think the series will come down to defence? The Lakers posted some pretty good defence against the Spurs, especially during the second halves where they overcame two huge leads if I remember correctly. Sounds like defence got them here and will continue to determine how successful they can be.

How are the Lakers in turnover margin?

[cured]

Both teams play good team defense but both teams also leave shooters open. The teams they've been playing haven't been able to knock down the bulk of their shots, though.

The Lakers get into real trouble when they turn the ball over and they're behind in the margin because the Jazz and the Spurs don't turn the ball over much. Turnovers have either killed runs or started them for the other team. The thing is, this is true of the Celtics, also. They've had some real problems lately with strings of turnovers setting off big runs for the other team and throwing their defense out of rhythm. Ball pressure on the point guards has been effective in generating turnovers. So again, all things being equal, 3 point shooting (big barometer for these teams), rebounding, and turnovers will decide this series.

A lot of people are picking LA to win the series and I don't get it. The Celtics have homecourt and have whooped the Lakers in both season matchups. Of course, Cleveland beat San Antonio in both the regular season matchups last year and they ended up getting swept in the Finals. But I don't see the Celtics as having that many deficiencies. They've got a lot of weapons. The big minus they have is their coach.

[Winston]

indeed, jackson on the bench is huge advantage, he's like at home in the finals
i'll go boston though

[Troy McClure]

Boston will win in 6 games. I trust Garnett, Pierce and Allen to deliver more than I do LA's top three of Bryant, Gasol and Odom. The long layoff should cool off the Lakers and negate their bench advantage. The Finals games last forever, close to 3 hours sometimes, and the extra day's off benefit Boston.

[cured]

Really, the matchup LA needs to utilize is Odom on KG. Gasol had to play off of him because KG is too quick. Gasol played a pretty good game and rebounded well but he is really only good for being under the basket when a pass comes these days.

The Celtics, again, were fortunate to collect long rebounds. Perkins didn't do much but the Lakers were out-rebounded by 10. The Lakers have to be more physical under the basket when the shot goes up.

Paul Pierce may be done for the series, in terms of how effective he can really expect to be. A Strained meniscus means he will have an incredibly sore knee when he wakes up and his explosiveness will be hampered. He shoots the ball well and Radmonovich isn't the best choice at defense (HELLO! Where the hell is Ariza?) and I don't think you'll see another 7-10 night from Pierce again.

The Lakers rimmed out a lot of shots in the 4th and Kobe played right into the teeth of the Celtics defense. I knew Posey would be a factor and he may be even more with Pierce sitting out.

I was hoping LA could come in and steal a game and put the pressure on Boston for game 2 but now the pressure is on LA to not go home down 2-0.

Going to be a great series.

And the Celtics assistant coach in charge of defense will be a head coach in the NBA next year.

[Troy McClure]

So game 3 starts in about an hour. The Lakers should win since the refs assigned for the game are considered big time 'homer' refs. Plus the Lakers are undefeated at home this playoffs.

Although I am enjoying seeing the Laker players and Phil Jackson moan about the refs. Boohoo. They aren't down 2-0 because of the refs.

Jason

[IsiliRunite]

I thought the Lakers were pretty classy/clever with respect to (not) discussing game 2's refing....

Asked about game 3 improvements, Kobe mentioned; 'A few more lay-ups and rebounds and we should be good.. and some free throws '

[cured]

Originally Posted by Troy McClure

So game 3 starts in about an hour. The Lakers should win since the refs assigned for the game are considered big time 'homer' refs. Plus the Lakers are undefeated at home this playoffs.

Although I am enjoying seeing the Laker players and Phil Jackson moan about the refs. Boohoo. They aren't down 2-0 because of the refs.

Jason

They were murdered in game 2 because of the officiating. Bennett Salvatore hasn't been kind to the Celtics but Joey Crawford has been equally bad for the Lakers. The Lakers got to the foul line more (and should have been more than they got) but missed a lot of them and saw their two starting forwards hit the bench with three foul with 11 minutes left in the first half.

Garnett's shot isn't falling tonight and Pierce looks a little slow. If not for Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, they'd be getting blown out, even with the Lakers hitting only half of their free throws.

[cured]

The Lakers need to stop playing Radmonovich, give Vujacic more minutes, and Gasol needs to be bitchslapped by everyone in the locker room until he feels like manning up. They also need to put Odom on Garnett because he is owning Gasol.

The Celtics had only one guy really show up and that was Ray Allen. Well, Rondo had a good game going until he sprained his ankle but the point remains. You aren't going to see Garnett play like a drunken fifth grader and Pierce stand around and be a waste of oxygen in Boston, which is where the Lakers will have to win this series if they win game 4.

I don't like the Lakers' chances in game 4 if they come out this way; they need to be more aggressive and there were very few players for LA tonight who fit that bill.