I will skip the first game and wait for 2nd
-
Comment -
Good morning all. Looking forward to another classic Lakers vs Boston championship series.Comment -
i feel the lakers will need big games from odomComment -
I will have my NBA finals breakdown and winner tomorrow. Last year i picked the Lakers in 5 correctly. I will make an unbiased call of course. I will also make some input on why the series wont be that long .Comment -
I hope this is a great series... bring on 7 gamesComment -
just wonder if the bet is Lakers in 5, is it a loss if they sweep?Comment -
-
doylfish are we on the series bet?Comment -
LB cant wait to see your breakdown
Comment -
cant wait for your input in this series.. did a great job all season LBComment -
Sounds interesting LB
Comment -
Hope everyone here makes tons of money on this last NBA series. Great thread LB. GL ALL!!
Comment -
Excellent. Gl to all!Comment -
It's depressing that in two weeks we will only have baseball to feed our addictions.Comment -
Comment -
Good morning everyone. Finals should be fun. Can't wait.Comment -
yea I'm so pumped for the finals. Liking Lakers ML in game 1. Anyone else?Comment -
Purple and Gold
Comment -
And the Phil Jackson mind games beginnn
“We don’t have a smackdown mentality,” he said. “You might have seen that with [Kevin] Garnett on [Orlando's Dwight] Howard in Game 6 in Boston, where he was smacking Howard’s arm and was finally called for an offensive foul.
“That’s not our kind of team. We don’t go out there to smack people around. I call it more resiliency. We’re a more resilient ball club. We try to stay strong and play hard. But we’re going to have to withstand some of that.”Scared money don't make money
182-120-6 (60.26%) Final Total NBA Record over 308 plays
37-20-1 (65%) Record for the 2010 NBA PLAYOFFSComment -
Lakers FTW.
im pumped up ready to see that purple and gold coming down figueroa st in downtown 
Comment -
THE NBA FINALS PREVIEW
BOSTON CELTICS at LOS ANGELES LAKERS - Game #1, Thursday at LA (9 p.m. ET, ABC-TV)
There is one school of thought that says the veteran Celtics - who have not as so much faced a single elimination game in this year's playoffs - have rounded into form and are peaking as we hit this year's NBA Finals.
There is yet another school of thought that claims the veteran Celtics won't have as much life in their legs as they might like here after getting through playoff series wins against Miami, Cleveland and Orlando.
What will it be?
On the flip side, here's the Lakers fresh off last Saturday's exhilarating 111-103 win at Phoenix that wrapped up the NBA's Western Conference Finals with just enough time to rest before swinging into action here and knowing that mega-star Bryant (averaging 29.4 points per game in this post-season) not only has that assassin's look on the court but he's been in "game face" mode since Sunday!
The Lakers have disposed of Oklahoma City, Utah and Phoenix in this year's post-season run and note that LA won both Game 1 and Game 2 at home in all of the above sets.
Suffice to say, that's what the Lakers need to do here Thursday/Sunday or else momentum and the home-court advantage will swing wildly in Boston's favor - keep in mind that Games 3, 4 and (if necessary) 5 all will be played at "The Garden" and that hasn't always been a friendly joint for the Lakers to visit.
THE KEYS - If you listen to all the media folks, you are likely to get a slew of differing opinions as to what's the most important aspect(s) of this series but let's spell it out with three quick-hitter items here:
First off, the Lakers must place defense first on their priority list and that means containing and/or shutting down Celtics' point guard Rondo (16.7 ppg and 10 assists per game this post-season) who has been Boston's best overall player in these playoffs. It's too much to ask Bryant to shadow Rondo and then go ahead and score his 30 ppg and so expect LA's strategy to include a rotation of defenders on Rondo and a touch of zone defense too;
Secondly, it's no secret that the recent offensive exploits of LA defensive whiz Ron Artest has really come in handy and yet there is no doubt the C's will leave Artest open from the perimeter here and dare him to shoot the three-ball. Something tells us Artest's makes - or misses - from beyond the arc are gonna decide at least one of the first two games in this series;
Finally, the Celtics claim that they're all banged up - reserve forwards Rasheed Wallace (back) and Glen "Big Baby" Davis (assorted body hurts) - might see limited minutes in Game 1 and so it's ultra-important that the "Holy Trinity" of Garnett (14.9 ppg), Allen (16.8 ppg) and Paul Pierce (team-leading 19.1 ppg in these playoffs) stay clear of foul woes and give the C's 40-plus minute showings here.
THE COACHES - The Lakers firmly believe that their 10-time champion head coach Phil Jackson (six titles with the Chicago Bulls and four with the Lakers) will come up with the proper strategy to handle Rondo here but one other key for the so-called Zen Master is that his club must not hang its head if/when it ever gets behind big in the games in Boston. You can be sure that Jackson will be reminding everyone in his locker room of that 131-92 final score in that series-clinching Game 6 win by the Celtics two years ago versus a distraught Lakers bunch.
Meanwhile, it's about time that Celtics head coach Doc Rivers gobbled up the applause that he so richly deserves - no question that Rivers now must rank in the top four of all active NBA head coaches (only Jackson, San Antonio's Gregg Popovich and Charlotte's Larry Brown would get our nod over the Celtics' sideline boss) and here Rivers must push his aging cast and get enough solid minutes from the energy types such as Davis and swingman Tony Allen.
We'll say this: Jackson's an "A+" in our book; Rivers is an "A" but a series win here gets 'em to that elite "A+" status.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE - Let's keep this one on the short-and-sweet side:
The Lakers probably can survive a game or two even if big man Pau Gasol (20 ppg and 10.9 rebounds per game these playoffs) is kept quiet at times but Lamar Odom (10.6 ppg and 9.5 rpg) must reach or exceed his scoring/rebounding averages here in this series or LA will be sunk.
On the flip side, the Celtics will favor a game in the 80s here and so that means the defense they get from the likes of Allen (not always known as a big-time defender) and Rondo will be critical in this series.
Want a real X-factor guy in these NBA Finals?
How about LA's lefty guard Fisher (11.1 ppg) who pretty much saved the Lakers in Game 5 of that aforementioned series against Phoenix with a gigantic first quarter that kept his team afloat - and it says here that if Fisher is left open for 5 or 6 triple tries per game in these NBA Finals, than it'll be curtains for the Celtics.Comment -
Nice write up JR.
But you are not looking at the most important aspectsCause Sleep is the Cousin of DeathComment -
I was watching NBA tv last night and they were talking about how Fisher has won 32 playoff series in his career, that is a lot! Also it showed his shooting % in the playoffs and it get progressively better each round and peaks in the finals. Fisher is gonna be making some big shots wihtout a doubt during this series, I think that is something Boston isn't counting on.Comment -
Good reading JR.Comment -
no brainer. phil and kobe vs doc and pierce... you do the mathComment -
Could this be a preview?
...
Comment
