It's About Damn Time....

I'm a little late on this post, it's been a long day but I had to write something about the amazing spectacle last night. Finally, three talented, respected, future hall of famers finally got what they have been battling for the past several years...an NBA Championship. This year the Boston Celtics went from one of the worst teams in the league to the top of the hill and everybody contributed.



Ray Allen, the sharpshooter of the team, set an NBA Finals record with 22 threes in a Finals series and most threes in a Finals game with 7 in Game 4. Paul Pierce, the heart and soul of the Celtics rightfully won MVP as he did all of the intangibles for the team as he came back from injury in a Rocky-esque atmosphere in Game 1, was able to shut down the greatest player in the planet in Kobe Bryant in Game 5, and consistently got to the rim and scored when his team needed it. Kevin Garnett, was utterly amazing in this series defensively as he shut down Pau Gasol and left the Spanish All Star intimidated.



Game 6 had more highlights than the entire NBA Finals as the Celtics punished the Lakers 131 to 92. Everybody had a piece of the action with Eddie House and Posey shooting threes and Big Baby Glenn Davis, Leon Powe, and Tony Allen throwing some dunks down towards the end of the fourth quarter. You have to be proud of Rajon Rondo, a second year player that has at times looked like a veteran in this series, as he battled to get minutes as he was strategically defended by Bryant because of his poor mid-range field goal percentage. But I gotta say the best play of the game and probably the play that sealed the victory early in the game was Garnett's amazing three point play in which he hung in the air until his defender, Odom, fell and through up a sweet bank shot while getting fouled and falling to the ground.

Boston fans experienced something for the record books, the atmosphere was amazing with the crowd roaring as their team just kept on piling up the score. The Lakers looked dazed and confused, the game looked like it was a college team playing against a professional team. The concentration of the Lakers was totally broken as they were getting threes shot on them left and right (13 to be exact) and got dunked on like their opponents were playing on a Fisher Price rim.



Personally, I was going for the Lakers but I was not at all disappointed when I saw Pierce, Allen, and Garnett finally get their championship. I have never seen Garnett have so many smiles in an NBA game, I am used to his intense mentality (you know what I'm talking about, that crazy look Garnett gets as you know he is cursing) and concentration on the court and on the bench. As for Pierce, he is always composed and poised, yet you even saw him on the bench jumping up and down ready for the glory of holding the trophy over his head as he has been with the Celtics from so long as he came so close in 2002. Ray Allen was all smiles as well in disbelief of the amazing journey they made in this 2007-2008 season. So many storylines (Pierce's struggle, Allen's experience with the Bucks/Sonics, Garnett's loyalty to the Wolves), but the best way to put it is in the words of Kevin Garnett at the end of the game, "Anything is Possible." GO CHAMPS!

(I Loved this Press Conference)

Lakers v. Celtics - Another Historic Series

For all you basketball heads, even if you are not a big Lakers or Celtics fan, you gotta have to have a little sense of excitement for this year's NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers back in the NBA championship is good for the league as the Celtics have had a rough decade with several losing seasons.

The story of this NBA season was simply amazing. The offseason of the Bosten Celtics saw them land "The Big Ticket" Kevin Garnett, "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Ray Allen, "Big Baby" Glen Davis, veterans James Posey and P.J. Brown, and the "great" Scott Pollard (kidding about that last one). Throughout the season, the role players of the Celtics began improving with Rajon Rondo making better decisions as a point guard and using his speed to his benefit and Kendrick Perkins consistently on the boards. By the end of the 2008 season the Celtics had the biggest single season turn around in NBA history with an improvement of 36 wins and became the best team in the East.


On the other hand, the Lakers had a crazy story throughout the NBA Season as it started out with the acquistion of veteran guard Derek Fisher and Kobe "KB24" Bryant requesting to get traded simultaneously dissing Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown. Then, all of a sudden they started gelling with Bynum beastin on the boards and dunks and the Laker's bench maturing as Vujacic slowly pulled away from being a one dimensional player on the 3 pt line, Walton becoming a lot more consistent with his play, and Farmar making better decisions on the court. Then, the day of glory came in the post-Shaq era of the Lakers...they got Pau Gasol for nothing (Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, and first round picks in 2008 and 2010). Despite the injury to Bynum, they soared to the top of the competitive Wild, Wild, West and became the top team in the West with KB24 winning MVP.


This 2008 NBA Finals is sure to please as both of these teams are incredibly talented. I think the X Factor for the Boston Celtics is Ray Allen. Pierce should be covered well by Bryant and Garnett will get his over Gasol, but there isn't anybody who can really cover Allen on the Lakers. If he can shoot the ball consistently and get out of his shooting drought to play more games like he did in Game 5 against the Pistons the Celtics will have a good chance.

However, Bryant will cause serious match-up problems and will attract several different types of double teams and with the way his supporting cast has played the odds look good for the Lakers. The X Factor for the Lakers in the series I believe will once again be Odom. Gasol will be defended pretty well by Garnett and you know Bryant will get his. Odom will need to stand out and will probably be covered by several different defenders including the defensive specialist James Posey. Another interesting match up will be the strong veteran Derek Fisher and the young Rondo, as the match-up is similar to what Rondo faced against Billups, but Fisher has no hamstring problems. Should be a great NBA Finals...get your popcorn ready...or your chips & salsa like I do it.

My Prediction: Lakers in Game 6