Finals Schedule ( All games on the ABC Network)
Game 1: Lakers @ Celtics Thurday June 5th 8:30 PM Eastern
Game 2: Lakers @ Celtics Sunday June 8th 8:30 PM Eastern
Game 3: Celtics @ Lakers Tuesday June 10th 10 PM Eastern
Game 4: Celtics @ Lakers Thurdays June 12th 8:30PM Eastern
Game 5: Celtics @ Lakers Sunday June 15th 8:30 PM Eastern
Game 6: Lakers @ Celtics Tuesday June 17th 8:30 PM Eastern
Game 7: Lakers @ Celtics Thursday 19th 8:30 PM Eastern
Game Preview
The dream final that David Stern and every die hard NBA fan wanted has come to fruition. The epic struggle between blue collar and white collar cities collide again in the NBA finals. And just like in previous meetings, the team in LA is flashy and alluring while the team in Boston is hard nosed and tenacious.
I won't be going into all the showdowns over the decades because that will be covered endlessly over the next few days by sports shows and sports writers more older than me. What matters is this version of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. There's little to go other than the two early meetings in late 2007. Kobe was without Gasol while the Celtics were without Sam Cassell and PJ Brown. The Celtics won those two meetings pretty easily. The Lakers would like you to believe they are a different team now. Although they probably are, you cannot argue the fact the Celtics can still take a lot out of those two early meetings and apply it in this series. They kept Kobe in relative control (28 and 22 pts respectively) but more importantly they stilfed the supporting cast.
That is the biggest factor going into the series. Kobe is going to get his. There's no denying that. He's too good and too motivated to dissappear like LeBron did in his outing with the Celtics. But just like in all the previous series, if the Celtics can keep the role players from chipping in, they win. When the Szczerbiaks and McDyess's start getting 15 to 20 points is when the Celtics, most often than not, lose. So the Celtics defense will be keen to stop Gasol and Odom. I even think the Celtics can win if Gasol or Odom plus Bryant have decent games. But if Farmar or Walton start going for 15 to 20, then the Celtics are in trouble.
The overall matchups are very favorable to the Celtics. Rondo should be plenty seasoned now to handle Fisher. Fisher is a spot up shooter these days so Rondo has to be carefully when helping off him. Kobe will dominate his matchup with Ray but he still has to expend a lot of energy chasing him around screens. Ray should find more room to shoot in this series as opposed to his handcuffed matchup with Hamilton in the previous one. Paul Pierce will dominate his matchup with Radmanovic. This will be a great series for Paul especailly on the road. KG is too big for Odom to handle in the post although he is more mobil than most power forwards. It's imperative they put KG down low as much as possible. While Gasol is a different animal than Bynum, I now have confidence that Perk can elevelate his game when neccessary. He handled Rasheed and McDyess pretty well and Gasol is only slightly better than them. If anything Perk should dominate the boards because he is the only wide body out there.
The Lakers bench has been coming up big of late with Farmar and Vujacic hitting key shots when needed. But you got to believe the veterans of the Celtics will rise to this occasion. This is where Cassel and Posey made their names in these kind of games. And PJ has waited his whole career for this. Tony Allen's status is uncertain but I doubt Doc goes to him this late in the postseason unless foul trouble becomes an issue. Powe and Baby could see spot minutes depending on the situation.
But this is about Pierce, Allen and KG. Forget about fatigue being a factor. They get a big dose of rest before the series start plus a couple of days in between game 1 and 2 and game 4 and 5. This is where they wanted to be when they got together last summer. As the Celtics crept closer to their end goal, the three amigos have stepped up their play. I cannot believe now when they are so close, they will not step up even more. If the Celtics can jump out to an early series lead, they will start to smell blood and bring it home.
The biggest difference between the teams is that the Celtics are committed to defense. And if we are to believe that defense wins championships, then this is my last game preview for the Celtics17 website.
