Celtics v. Lakers

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There are echoes of the past here, but this is no nostalgia trip. Few of the current Celtics have even been to a Finals (Cassell I think is the only one with a ring), and the Lakers are young enough that you would forgive them if they said "Who's DJ?"

I don't see a "Kobe-stopper" on the Celtics, except maybe James Posey off the bench. Gasol should outplay Perkins, though Perkins has a shot if he muscles him down low. LA should stick to its usual rotations - their second unit of Farmar/Vujacic/Walton/Turiaf plus a starter should outplay anyone on Boston's bench. Surprise star for the Lakers: Trevor Ariza takes Ray Allen back out of his game.

Lakers in six. Not seven.
 
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I am no Laker fan, but I do not see the Celtics stopping them. They'll end it in 5, maybe 6.
 
VirginiaHuguenot said:
Now this is a nice setup. It will be the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in this year's NBA Finals.

It reminds of the good old days when Bird, McHale, Parrish, Johnson, Walton, Ainge, et al. tangled with Kareem, Magic, and Worthy, et al.
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Good old days? What about Oscar vs. Wilt?
 
I am not a big NBA fan but I've liked the Lakers since the good ole days for sure and used to always watch them and the Celtics all through the High School. I am so looking forward to these finals! I've not gotten into the NBA finals since the Lakers killed the 76ers. I loved that!
 
True that the Celtics have homecourt advantage but they best win both Game 1 *and* Game 2, else they will risk not returning home in the 2-3-2 format.
 
VirginiaHuguenot said:
Now this is a nice setup. It will be the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in this year's NBA Finals.

It reminds of the good old days when Bird, McHale, Parrish, Johnson, Walton, Ainge, et al. tangled with Kareem, Magic, and Worthy, et al.
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Yes, those were the good old days. This year, may the best team win.

beej6 said:
I don't see a "Kobe-stopper" on the Celtics, except maybe James Posey off the bench. Gasol should outplay Perkins, though Perkins has a shot if he muscles him down low. LA should stick to its usual rotations - their second unit of Farmar/Vujacic/Walton/Turiaf plus a starter should outplay anyone on Boston's bench. Surprise star for the Lakers: Trevor Ariza takes Ray Allen back out of his game.

Lakers in six. Not seven.
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It doesn't look good for the Celtics against such a strong la team. A Celtics victory will be that much sweeter.

Anton Bruckner said:
I have Celtics in 6 :smug: Celts have homecourt advantage
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I don't know if I agree with you. Not about the outcome, but about the number of games. Think of all the advertising revenue that would be lost. Celtics in 7.
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Unfortunately the days of Larry Legend and Magic in their short shorts are long gone. I miss those NBA days a lot! (Not because of the short shorts :lol:, but rather the way the game was played in that era)

I don't like either of these 2008 teams. I think Boston is a team full of cry babies, and the Lakers just aren't "Showtime" anymore.

Like everything else in life you can't go back in time to the way it used to be, but as trivial as it may seem it's a shame how far the NBA has fallen.
 
I have despised the Lakers for the past eight or nine years, starting with the Kobe-Shaq era. Rick Fox, Robert Horry and his miracle shot against Sacramento (one among many in his career), on and on. I actually became a Kings "fan" for a few years just because they were the only team to really give L.A. a run for their money in that era. I despised the Lakers about as much as you can despise a team without it being a spiritual problem; maybe it was, for all I know.

In a catastrophic (non-uniformitarianist) twist of irony, I'm actually rooting for the Lakers in this series. Between Garnett's ... odd ... intensity, Paul Pierce flashing gang signs in the series against the Hawks (I think it was that one), and Perkins always looking like he's brimming over with hateful scowls, there's something about them that definitely turns me off.

It should be a good series though, because Boston definitely has a great team, and in my opinion (as in almost everyone else's also...) Kobe is far and away the best basketball player in the world.

Hopefully Gasol can lay off of his Alice in Wonderland, la-deeeee-daaaaaaa - hand-flip shots, put on the Big Boy pants, and make a couple strong moves around the basket tonight!

:)
 
Why do the games have to start at 9??

Today was a busy day at work, I'm exhausted now. I don't know if I'll be able to stay up late enough to watch the Celtics win their first game tonight, but I'll try.

I better go start the coffee brewing, maybe that'll help.
 
blhowes said:
Why do the games have to start at 9??

Today was a busy day at work, I'm exhausted now. I don't know if I'll be able to stay up late enough to watch the Celtics win their first game tonight, but I'll try.

I better go start the coffee brewing, maybe that'll help.
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Not tonight! Lakers will take the first game! :D
 
I might be biased, but I thought there were a plethora of dubious calls in favor of the Celtics. It seemed like every time a Laker player was in the vicinity of a Celtic that a foul was called. I didn't see the final tally, but it impressed me as borderline egregious. Perhaps my biases are blinding me, but I'm not a huge NBA fan, so I hope to have a little objectivity.
 
JDWiseman said:
I might be biased, but I thought there were a plethora of dubious calls in favor of the Celtics. It seemed like every time a Laker player was in the vicinity of a Celtic that a foul was called. I didn't see the final tally, but it impressed me as borderline egregious. Perhaps my biases are blinding me, but I'm not a huge NBA fan, so I hope to have a little objectivity.
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Yup, your bias is showing. Looks like the Lakers don't have an answer for Paul Pierce.
 
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Like I said, I don't know if I watched a single NBA game this season, and the Lakers aren't "my team"; I'm just rooting for them this year. So I'm not totally blinded. But some of the "body contact" fouls called against the Lakers were absurd. I don't even like watching games when chincy fouls like that are called. It breaks up the flow, and is probably predicated by where they are playing. Those same fouls probably wouldn't have been called had they played in L.A., and it's that lack of consistency that prevents me from ever really caring about the league.
 
JDWiseman said:
I might be biased, but I thought there were a plethora of dubious calls in favor of the Celtics. It seemed like every time a Laker player was in the vicinity of a Celtic that a foul was called. I didn't see the final tally, but it impressed me as borderline egregious. Perhaps my biases are blinding me, but I'm not a huge NBA fan, so I hope to have a little objectivity.
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I did not see the game, but that is typical NBA. Expect the same in Game 2, and then a complete reversal in LA - when the Lakes will get all the calls.
 
That does seem to be the general trend. Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too biased, because I have seen calls go against the home crowd before. I wonder how strong my "presupposition of home-cooking" is, and how it effects how I view the calls. Nevertheless, it does seem to be the general trend.

One thing that is consistent, in my opinion, and almost inarguable, is that "big name" players always get the calls. That very much frustrates me. Take a rookie, or even a seasoned veteran off the bench (to be diplomatic, let's say P. J. Brown), and he ends up becoming a foul magnet. Watching anyone who isn't Kobe, LeBron, etc., come of the bench and play is like watching a Red Shirt on Star Trek go down to an alien planet. You know they are in for it.

The most egregious No Call I can remember was in Game 6 of the famous Sacramento-L.A. series, @ L.A., during the middle or towards the end of the 4th quarter, with the game in jeopardy, when Kobe Bryant, who had either inbounded the ball or received the inbound, put a forearm right in Mike Bibby's nose and just floored him. Busted up his nose, bleeding, he may have had to leave the game.

No call.

I think one of the first questions in the press conference was to Bibby, who still had a reddish tend to his nose, and the guy said, "So, Mike, how was your nose that didn't get hit?"
 
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