I am not going to mince words. The Celtics are going to win this series. I don't know if it will be 4-0, 4-3, whatever, I just know the Celtics are going to have 4 wins in June. Here's why:
1) Ray Allen is back shooting well, and he plays great against the Lakers because he and Kobe inexplicably hate each other. Also, ESPN demonstrated pretty well that Ray Allen did a good job guarding Kobe in the Celtics' matchups this season. The key is to sag off of him and limit Kobe to outside shots. He does his damage in the lane drawing fouls and going to the line, and the Celtics have learned well to clog the lane from floppers like Lebron and Chauncey, which is a girl's name by the way.
2) Paul Pierce always elevates his game in Los Angeles. He's going to go NUTS.
3) There are several players on the Celtics that are capable of having bad nights, but none of them capable of completely flaking out like Lamar Odom. KG might shoot poorly but he will rebound and defend. Ray Allen may not shoot well but he still commands switches off of screens. Lamar Odom has played well in the playoffs, but he is a space cadet and I LOVE the KG/Odom matchup. It's like matching up Kobayashi and Nicole Richie in a hot dog eating contest in terms of intensity. I love this matchup like James Worthy loves prostitutes.
4) Pau Gasol is a very good player, but let's not forget- the Celtics almost traded for him, and got Kevin Garnett instead. Remember how we were all saying, "Thank goodness we got KG instead of Gasol, that would have been a disaster!" Yep, it happened, now you remember. Perkins is going to brutalize that fuzzy-faced foreigner.
5) I even think that the Celtics have a distinct advantage at point guard! Derek Fisher is a proven commodity in the league and I know he is going to have a couple threes in this series that will drive me nuts. However, he couldn't keep Tony Parker out of the lane and Rondo is just as quick.
6) VladRod is a clown. Tony Allen hates clowns.
7) One of the first men off the bench for the Lakers is Luke Walton, who is basically Brian Scalabrine with a gluesniffing habit wearing a Bill Walton mask and donning a couple laugh-out-loud-retarded tattoos. I love the Posey/Walton matchup like Kobe loves, um, aggressively coaxing teenagers to have sex with him in Denver hotel rooms.
8) The Lakers are a very good perimeter shooting team. However, the Celtics have done an outstanding job defending the perimeter and the Lakers have Kobe and a bunch of spot shooters that can't create their own shots in the guard/small forward spots. Don't get me wrong, they can LIGHT YOU UP if left alone. I just don't think they will be left alone enough to really go nuts. At least, I hope not.
9) Celtics have a rebounding advantage if they want it, especially off the bench.
10) The Celtics have beaten the Lakers twice already this season and played great in all the key matchups that they can exploit during the Finals. I know Gasol wasn't there, but Tony Allen played point for the second game, peeps. Kobe couldn't get going in either game because the defensive strategy worked. You can't just throw those games out, they meant something. They meant something to me.
11) Inexplicably, Doc has shown the ability to coach wisely when the games increase in magnitude. The Celtics played very well and were well coached in all their clinching games, as well as Game 3 in Detroit (which they HAD to win). They have been shaky because Doc likes to probe for good matchups and screw with the rotation. I don't think he'll do that in the finals unless things are really going down the tubes. I also want to make a quick point that while I am probably the least racially aware person I know, I have noticed that black coaches in the NBA get criticized a helluva lot more than white ones. Mike Brown, Avery Johnson, the dude that coaches the Bobcats, Eddie Jordan, Doc Rivers, and even Byron Scott are regularly criticized for being morons. Maybe they are, but even KC Jones gets slammed out of nowhere from time to time, and that man won his share of titles! Meanwhile, professional whores like Larry Brown are Doug Collins are looked at as competent. Really!? Are they!? Anyway, I'll let someone more articulate steal my point and argue it better.
What I am trying to say here is that Phil Jackson might be a great coach because not just anyone could win titles with Jordan/Pippen and Shaq/Kobe, right!?!? Barf my brains out. What a joke. I just don't think that there is enough coaching for Philip to do that will make up for the matchups the Celtics can exploit.
12) When people are nervous about the matchup between their team and the other team, they get defensive. They ask questions like, "Who's going to guard Gasol!?" Perkins, that's who, dumbass. Stupid question. Gasol is built like a teenaged female figure skater, and Perk is a bitchmaker. Now, when you're confident about your team, which I am, you ask, "Who is going to guard KG?" Answer- nobody can. The Lakers don't have a single defensive stopper in the post. Ronny Turiaf is first off the bench down low for the Lakers, people. THAT MAN HELD DAN DICKAU'S SPITTOON IN COLLEGE! As Gob Bluth would say, COME ON!
13) The Celtics have several role guys capable of just going nuts. In the playoffs, it has been Eddie House, Posey, PJ, Powe, GBBD, Cassell (once) and Scals at the Papa Gino's all you can eat pizza Tuesday night. These guys can step up at the right time. I love this aspect of this team, and NOTHING fires up a spazz quite like playing in a big game. You've seen it a million times- some random dude comes up huge in the biggest moments- I think the Celtics out-random-dude the Lakers by at least a 3-1 margin.
14) Lastly, this Celtics team was built to get to the Finals. They had the best regular season record to clinch homecourt, and they're SUPPOSED to be here. They have been working all year for this moment! I would argue that there was more pressure leading up to this series than there is in this series. It's akin to studying hard for a test for weeks and then sitting down totally prepared to take it. I predict the Celtics will play loose (maybe some silly turnovers early) and confident because they know they can beat this team and they know that most people are picking the Lakers.
In conclusion and in summary, the Celtics should dominate the paint, defend the perimeter against the spot shooters, and funnel Kobe (as they did Lebron) into off-balance shots. On offense, look for them to exploit the Lakers' lack of depth in the frontcourt, kick it out to Ray Ray for threes, and play uptempo to neutralize Gasol's involvement as much as possible. I like this matchup, I love the Celtics, and I know they can win this series. Go Celtics.Source URL: https://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2008/06/boston-will-win-this-series.html
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