Just a day before Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals and I thought I give my 2 cents on what must be THE dream final for the NBA marketing guys. At the start of the season, I thought it will be Spurs-Celtics...I was damm close, wasn't I?
Now for the breakdown as I see it-
Centre- Pau Gasol must the steal (or donation) of the season (of the decade even), but the Celtics have Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins in the middle. Yes, I know Garnett is the power-forward but see the way he plays and tell me he's not playing like a centre. However, I like the Celtics for this match-up because of Perkins. He was a monster against the Pistons and if he can constantly get 10 rebounds against the Pistons, I like his chances against the smaller line-up of the Lakers. About even but I will go against the gain and say Celtics just win this one.
Forwards- With 2 of their Big 3 in the forward line-up, Boston got this one in the bag. I think Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are going to have their way against the Lakers and I don't think there's too many people who will disagree with me here. In fact the only interesting thing I see here is whether Lamar Odom can limit Pierce's scoring. If he can, Phil Jackson will be a happy man. Celtics!
Guards- Ray Allen has struggled in the playoffs while Rajon Rondo is quite frankly a vastly over-rated player. He is a young talent but prone to making some very stupid mistakes at times. The Lakers has Derek Fisher and a certain MVP named Kobe, last name not needed. What else is there to say? Lakers by a mile.
Bench- They couldn't be more different. Lakers has a young bench with Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton. All young talent hungry for success while the Celtics has a bench loaded with experience. Sam Cassell, Eddie House, P.J. Brown, James Posey have all been in the game for some time and know what it will take to get that ring. I have to go for the Celtics here due to the experience.
Coach- 'Doc' Rivers has done a good job this year but Phil Jackson is looking for his 10th NBA title. Jackson has got the Lakers into the finals when no one thought they had a chance in hell of getting past the Spurs, Suns etc. Lakers!
Intangibles- The magic word is HOME-COURT! The Celtics may have lost one to the Pistons but at other times they have looked just incredible at home. They didn't just beat teams in Boston, they killed them by 10-20 points! For the Lakers to win the series, they must win in Boston. I don't think they can. Boston due to the home-court advantage.
In the end, I will say the Celtics in 6.
2 comments:
Rondo vastly overrated? No my friend, you are completely incorrect. Prone to stupid mistakes? No, he rarely turns the ball over, as his assist to turnover ratio shows ( I don't know the exact numbers, but I think its something like 7:1.5). His biggest weakness is confidence. I don't know why people think that Derek Fisher is going to do so much better than Rondo. He's not. Everybody says that Rondo is the worst guard Fisher has faced all playoffs. Alright, well Rondo had to guard Chauncey Billups all last series, who was clearly 100 percent by the end of that series. Rondo was also guarded by a combination of the much larger Rip Hamilton and the defensive master Lindsey Hunter. I think Rondos pretty happy to see Fisher on the other side of the floor as well. Rondo is underrated, because all year nobody thought he could lead the team to the playoffs. Then they said that he couldnt get them to the Finals. Now people like you are saying that he can't lead them to a championship. Rajon Rondo might be the most underrated point guard in the NBA.
Sorry but I have to totally disagree on you on this. Rajon Rondo is overrated in my view.
1) the man has no range on his jumpshots. The Pistons left his wide open at times because they do not think he can constantly hit those jumpers. They're right, especially when the Celtics are away.
2) In the self-court set, the ball is immediately given to one of the Big 3, mostly in the hands of Paul Pierce. That's why he has so little turnovers. You can't have turnovers when you don't touch the ball. And he's the point-guard.
3) he is the worst guard Fisher has faced all playoffs. Remember, Fisher faced off against Williams from the Jazz, and Tony Parker of the Spurs. Rondo is nowhere near those two.
Having said that, the less than stellar play of Sam Cassell in the playoffs so far means that Rondo will have to play a lot of minutes. The Celtics will need him to play well, especially away from home, in order to win. Celtics fans better start praying
Post a Comment