All In

If the Boston Celtics want to win game 7 of the NBA Finals, they'd better be. I just hope they got all the bad juju out in that game 6 stink bomb, but this is an incredibly tall order. You kind of had to see an LA victory in game 6 coming, and although it's only happened a few times in NBA history I still firmly believe that if anyone can pull this off, it's these Celtics. I have no idea who will win, but if Boston continues to play defense effectively and goes from Arby's bad to just shit sandwich awful, they stand a really good chance of winning the title tonight.

In order to win, the Celtics need to take care of the basketball and win the rebounding battle. This will be tough without Kendrick Perkins, but perhaps his absence will inspire Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace to step up and shoulder their share of the load. But it doesn't just fall on the bigs, everyone on the court has to box out and pursue the basketball tonight. Really, it comes down to playing with energy and being focused, decisive and aggressive, but rebounding is so hugely important to controlling the pace of the game and limiting the Lakers' opportunities.

Offensively, the Celtics just have to be in a higher gear than they were on Tuesday and move the ball with precision. Shots will fall if the Celtics take care of the other areas of the game, they just need to share the ball, protect it, and challenge the Laker defense to play well twice in a row (I don't think they have it in them).

I don't believe that Ron Artest and Lamar Odom are going to make the same type of shots they made in game 6, and I hope and pray that the Celtics can stifle the other Lakers and goad kobe into launching contested fade-aways while his teammates stand around flat-footed and watch. The Celtics have nothing to lose in this game, on paper the Lakers have every edge that matters. On the court, it's been even thus far and I don't see the Celtics being that bad or the Lakers being that good again.

Let's go.

The Ominous Return of the Mamba

And I don't mean ominous for the Celtics, either. You can't get on the internet or turn on the TV today without tripping over a story about how Kobe Bryant almost burned a hole through the parquet floor last night and almost singlehandedly carried the Lakers to victory, but almost completely lost in the adulation for what was truly an impressive virtuoso performance was any analysis of how poorly the Lakers defended during that stretch of play. Kobe Bryant scored 19 straight points for the Lakers on 7-9 shooting, but a 1 point game turned into a double digit deficit for Los Angeles in the process, and nobody seems interested in discussing why. Were the Celtics just executing great offense and weathering the storm by getting lots of buckets, or was it something else?

I say that it is both. The Celtics showed great mental toughness and refused to wilt in the face of Kobe's greatness or overreact to his hot streak by leaving other Lakers open, but I also noticed something about this stretch that influenced the course of the game on both ends for the Lakers. During the 3rd quarter as Kobe hit ridiculous fall-away after ridiculous fall-away, I saw everyone else on the Lakers standing around and watching flat footed. LA would get the ball over half court, give it to Kobe (if he didn't have it already) and then go stand around far away from him and wait for the "Black Mamba" to strike. The fact that Kobe proceeded to stick just about everything he threw up there makes the point that this kind of offense is much easier to defend against totally moot, but the fact that this attitude permeated the Lakers' "defense" is worth discussing at length.

Basketball is a game of rhythm, and the players on the floor can lose their way quickly if they aren't involved in the flow of the game. When Kobe decided to take over the game offensively, he may have very well doomed his team to failure by removing all of them from the action and essentially releasing them from ownership of what was going on out there. If Kobe is going to do it all anyhow, why bother staying involved when I could passively watch the show from the best seat in the house? Despite the incredible production of Kobe for this stretch of the game, the Lakers' offense was incredibly stagnant and they let that infect their defensive game too. It's hard to stay focused on moving, rotating and running when half the time you're standing there and watching a teammate freelance for 20 seconds at a time.

Am I too harsh? Maybe. Am I simply a hater who is looking for any excuse to deride Kobe? Probably, but I still feel like my point here is valid. It's one thing to score 23 points in a row for your team by working within the flow of the offense and relying on your teammates to help you get open looks, but it is a completely different animal to pound the air out of the ball, take one screen from a teammate and launch an off-balance 20-footer with a hand in your face. Is it ridiculously impressive that Kobe scored so many points while averaging a 9.8 on the degree-of-difficulty scale? Absolutely, but the whole time it was happening I was saying to the Fox "it's ok, this is what we want. It's fool's gold, they won't win like this." And it's true, those shots are fool's gold. The Celtics gave Kobe those shots two years ago and won the title because of it, they're doing the same thing this year and Kobe is obliging them. This time around he's made more shots and his teammates have gotten better, but as long as the Celtics can get Kobe to take these shots, I like their chances to win the title this year.

Contrasting Kobe's all out barrage of shots, the Celtics once again played a balanced game and came away with a win, thanks to inspired play from Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, Nate Robinson and Rasheed Wallace. Everyone chipped in on both ends and played a role in the Celtics' win, and despite some sloppy play and a late game scare, it was beautiful to watch. The Celtics need to take care of the ball and focus a little bit more on running better offense, but they are well on track to capturing the 18th title in franchise history. Prior to game 5, neither the Celtics or the Lakers had won back to back games in this Finals, so winning three in a row seemed ridiculous. After watching Kobe go into mamba mode for the past two games and seeing the way the Celtics have played, I think that Boston could very well wrap up this series on Tuesday. They pretty much have to, because as good as the Celtics have been thus far I don't know if they can win a game 7 in LA.

Though each game of the 2010 Finals has been maddeningly different than the previous contest, the correlation between winning the battle of the paint and the glass and winning the game has remained constant. Without a healthy Andrew Bynum, it seems as though the Lakers will have a tough time winning those battles and the ball games. Although the Celtics only won the rebounding battle by one board, they had a field day in the paint unlike any of the other games in this series thus far. Some of those points in the paint came in transition (which was great to see), but lots of them were made possible by the fact that the Lakers were missing Bynum's physicality and shot-blocking on the interior. Without their young and talented center, the Laker bench hurts (because Lamar Odom has to start) and their interior defense and offense struggles mightily.

As a Celtics fan I hope that Bynum is still hobbled after a long flight to Los Angeles and that the Celtics come out with twice the focus and intensity that they displayed yesterday. It is so on right now I am running out of hyperbole to conjure, so I shall leave it at that. You owe it to yourself to watch game six on Tuesday, so don't make excuses!

We're just a little bit more than an hour away from the tip off of the 2010 NBA Finals and I still have no idea what is going to happen. The Lakers have been unstoppable offensively, but the Celtics have been playing stifling defense and have already closed out two of the best teams in the NBA this year (as well as 3 of the 4 best players in the league). The Lakers haven't played great defense and haven't seen a defensive team like the Celtics, but the Celtics haven't had to stop a team with as many weapons as the Lakers. Cleveland and Orlando aren't chopped liver on offense, but both of those teams relied an awful lot on one player to make things happen. The Lakers have a slew of those guys, and they utilize a system that is much harder to defend than your average screen & roll. Either team could win this series, it's just going to come down to who can play a more complete basketball game 4 times. I may not know the outcome of the game, but I do know what the Celtics need to do to win this game.

First of all, I would like to see Rajon Rondo in attack mode early and often tonight. The Lakers have been terrible at defending the pick & roll for a long time now, and with an injured Andrew Bynum out there the Celtics need to make the Lakers defense rotate and move to open up opportunities all over the floor. Rondo is the engine that makes the Celtics go, and he is going to need to be focused, aggressive and determined to make the Lakers pay for leaving him open.

Secondly, I want Ray Allen to be in constant motion when the Celtics have the ball on offense. His movement creates lanes, angles and scoring opportunities for everyone on the floor, and its also a great way for the Celtics to physically punish the Lakers and tire them out. Either Kobe Bryant or Derek Fisher is going to have to chase Ray all over the floor, and they will pay for staying close to Allen.

On the same note, I also want the Celtics to set good, hard, LEGAL screens tonight. Derek Fisher especially sells calls very well (read that: flops) and is almost always protected by the refs, so it is important for the Celtics to curtail that portion of their game and not waste too many fouls on those kind of plays. It's important to find the middle ground and make sure that the Laker defenders take bumps when the Celtics have the ball, but the margin for error is so thin in a series like this that every call potentially counts (especially if you're Kendrick Perkins and 1 T away from a suspension).

I also need the Celtics to play with pace tonight and get easy scoring opportunities when they arise. If Kobe is going to defend Rajon Rondo, he is going to have to find him in transition and that could open up opportunities for the Celtics. Boston also does a great job of getting good perimeter looks off of the secondary fast break after dribble penetration by Rondo, and those shots being there or not could be the difference between victory and defeat.

I would also like to see the Celtics focus on taking Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol out of the game. As good as Kobe Bryant is and as important as he is to his team, the key to victory for the Celtics are the other Lakers. Overcommitting to Kobe leaves other Lakers open, hurts your chances on the glass (where guys like Odom and Gasol and the other Lakers generate a lot of good shots) and gets five guys involved in the offense instead of just one or two. If the Celtics can get Kobe to keep taking those hero shots and finish those possessions with rebounds, I am prepared to live with the results. If Boston lets Odom and Gasol run wild, we have no chance in this series.

As always, I'd like to see the Celtics take care of the basketball.

And lastly but perhaps most importantly, I want to see the Celtics come out and remind the Lakers what physical playoff basketball is all about. The Lakers have played the Celtics tough since losing in 2008, but this Celtics squad looks possessed and determined to take no prisoners in this series. If the Celtics can play their brand of basketball and take the LA "fans" out of the game early, I think they can win tonight and three more times in the series to capture the championship. We shall see, get psyched!

Know Your Enemy

Oh yes, it's officially on! The Lakers and the Celtics are just two days away from tipping off what promises to be a hard fought, close series to decide the NBA championship, and in the spirit of the Finals I thought it might be nice to get to know the Lakers a little bit so we can all appropriately hate them once game one of the Finals tips off on Thursday evening. Before we get too far into dissecting their roster, let's try and remember that this is not 2008, even though many of the faces on the court are the same. Both teams are different than they were two years ago, so I'm going to try and avoid drawing from that series to predict what will happen this time around. With that being said, let's get right to it.

The Los Angeles Lakers have perhaps one of the deepest and most talented teams in all of basketball and along with the Boston Celtics are one of the most balanced, dangerous teams in the NBA. Their roster features plenty of guys who can kill you on any given night, and they play a brand of basketball that maximizes their talents and presents opponents with match-up nightmares all over the floor. While they are still a finesse team that likes to outscore their opponents rather than relying on stifling defense for victories, these Lakers are not the same cream puffs that the Celtics eviscerated in June of 2008, especially when it comes to playing the Celtics.

Like most of Phil Jackson's teams that run the triangle offense, the Lakers do not feature a traditional distributor/dribble penetrator type of point guard. Instead, the Lakers have the time tested Derek Fisher, a left handed guard who has made a career of spotting up on the perimeter and hitting big shots in high pressure situations. Fisher punishes defenses for over committing to Kobe Bryant and always seems to hit one or two momentum changing shots per series. At this point in his career, Fisher is a defensive liability, especially when it comes to defending the pick & roll, which favors Boston immensely due to the emergence of Rajon Rondo as the Celtics' best player. The Celtics' coaching staff would be salivating at that match-up if they were likely to see it much in the Finals, but the truth is that Kobe Bryant (more on him soon) is going to spend the most time guarding Rondo, but fear not because Fisher will still have to try and guard somebody.

Next to Derek Fisher in the backcourt, the Lakers feature some guy named Kobe Bryant who is supposedly one of the greatest players of this era. If you look at the numbers for this postseason, Kobe has been playing out of his freaking mind and has performed well above even his own lofty standards. Kobe has gone for more than 30 points in 10 of his last 11 playoff games with far greater efficiency than normal and has also been stuffing the stat sheet with around 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game as well. Some extra rest before the playoffs seems to have revitalized him, and the challenge of beating a boston team that got the best of him two years ago is more than enough motivation for Bryant to stay extra focused during these NBA Finals. This is trouble for the Celtics, but it may not be as bad as it initially seems.

Yes, Kobe has been on fire from the field and is playing with incredible efficiency, however if you watched the Phoenix series you know that his shot selection is still questionable at best. Kobe unleashed a barrage of contested two point jumpers against Phoenix and just happened to make an astounding number of them. It happens. The shots he took are still, by and large, terrible for his team over the long run. Although Kobe makes more of those shots than anyone else in the league, he is selling himself short by settling for those looks, and if he doesn't hit at such an astonishing rate during the Finals the Lakers could be in deep trouble. In 2008, the Celtics gave Kobe those shots and lived with the results and I fully expect them to follow the same strategy this year. Although James Posey is gone and Kobe has grown as a player since 2008, the 2010 Celtics were able to disrupt LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in these playoffs with their current personnel, so it's not out of the question that they could do the same to Kobe.

In 2008, Paul Pierce and the Celtics feasted on the Lakers' small forward corps. Luke Walton and Vlad Radmanovich had no answer for Pierce defensively and barely made him work on both ends of the floor, and the mismatch was a major reason that the Celtics won the series. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Lakers now feature Ron Artest at small forward who still remains an elite defender and has a long history with Paul Pierce. Though Artest has lost a step since his peak, he is still more than capable of shutting down more physical wing players thanks to his incredible strength and tenacity. Paul Pierce doesn't have the quickness to exploit Artest and has no hope of winning the physical battle, so despite his success in the Conference Finals against the Orlando Magic I am worried about Pierce's production in these Finals. Also, it is impossible to underrate the effect of having Artest on Pierce instead of Kobe Bryant, who should have much more energy for offense and will be free to defend Rajon Rondo. I'll live with whatever offense Artest can give the Lakers in this series, but I am terrified of the potential effect he could have on the defensive end.

Up front, the Lakers feature one of the biggest and longest tandems in all of basketball with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Bynum provides all of the rebounding and interior toughness that the Lakers were lacking in 2008 (he missed the Finals with a knee injury) and was a big key to the Lakers' championship run last year. Fortunately for the Celtics, Bynum is once again battling a knee injury, and although he has played and will participate in the FInals, he has been inconsistent and isn't moving at full speed. The Celtics should go right at Bynum and involve him in the pick & roll, which will force him to move on defense and takes him out of his most effective role as a help defender and draw him away from the hoop. The Lakers have always been terrible at defending the pick & roll, and with Bynum hobbled, I expect to see a healthy dose of it in this series.

Pau Gasol is another matter completely. Gasol may be the most skilled big man in the NBA along with Dirk Nowitzki, and his passing, post game and soft touch with either hand are sure to give the Celtics some problems this year. While the lanky Spaniard was soft in 2008 and got ruthlessly picked on by Kevin Garnett in the Finals, he has used that bad memory as motivation and has worked on his toughness, defense and rebounding in the two years since then. Having Bynum to protect him has helped a lot, but Gasol is a different player than he was in 2008, especially when it comes to playing against the Celtics. Gasol's length won't bother the Celtics too much, however he is a dangerous player who may very well be the key to the series.

The Laker bench is not incredibly strong, yet it is also not weak and does have the potential to give the Celtics problems. Lamar Odom is a versatile forward who has unparalleled quickness and a reliable handle, though he lacks a jumper and sometimes disappears in big games. He has played better since getting punked by the Celtics in 2008, and like Gasol has used the lingering embarrassment as motivation to stick it to Boston every time they play. A healthy Garnett should be able to contain Odom to some degree, but his presence will be a major one in this year's Finals.

Flanking Odom on the bench is a shit sandwich composed of Shannon Brown, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga. At times, Brown and Farmar have been effective, but overall the Laker bench is weak aside from Odom. While the Celtics' bench isn't exactly the deepest in the NBA, they should be able to handle the Laker reserves. Glen Davis, Nate Robinson, Tony Allen and Rasheed Wallace will all have favorable match-ups at times and will need to play big in order for the Celtics to win the championship this year.

Overall, this match-up is very even across the board. The Celtics have a distinct advantage at point guard and are even just about everywhere else, so I expect this series to be very close and hard fought throughout. In my mind, Kobe is likely to get his no matter what the Celtics try and do to stop him, and in most cases paying too much attention to Kobe just allows the other Lakers (many of whom are more than capable of creating their own offense) to get better shots. I would like to see the Celtics focus on shutting down Odom and Gasol and limiting Fisher in certain situations. As magnificent as Kobe Bryant is, he won't be able to bat the Celtics by himself (I wish he would try), so limiting the other Lakers and taking them out of their comfort zone will be key this series. Hopefully, Kobe will see single coverage and get the tunnel vision that has been a defining characteristic of his career and the Laker offense will sink into the muck against a tough, committed Celtic defense that is unlike anything Los Angeles has had to experience thus far.

Much like 2008, the Lakers have looked awfully impressive up to this point, but haven't had to play another elite defensive team in these playoffs. Without a healthy Bynum, this team slightly resembles the squad from 2008 that relied on simply outscoring its opponents to gain victory. The Lakers have learned since then and will play better defense this series, so I am more worried now than I was two years ago. I think Ron Artest could be a huge difference maker for the Lakers, but at the same time these Celtics are so balanced that they have been able to punish the best of the NBA even without stellar contributions from Paul Pierce. I'll have plenty more material tomorrow and on Thursday, just make sure you tune in and watch the games!

Hero-itis

At least the Celtics tried last night. I just wish the focus would have been, too. After looking dominant for the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics suffered a set back and lost their rhythm on a night when the Orlando Magic decided to show up and play. This loss wasn't totally disheartening and dreadful to watch (like game 3 of the Cleveland Series, for example), but it didn't lack in frustration, head scratchers or angry outbursts directed at my TV. A loss is never a good thing, and watching game 4 gave me PTSD flashbacks of this regular season where Orlando looked like world-beaters and the Celtics looked completely disjointed.

The Celtics looked like they all wanted to be the hero last night, and as a result the wheels completely fell off their offensive game. The Celtics couldn't or didn't want to move the ball last night, and they let the Orlando defense clamp down and force Boston into uncomfortable situations. The Celtics not named Ray Allen could not buy a basket from downtown (Orlando was not great at shooting the 3, but the Celtics were AWFUL) yet still chucked up enough threes to build a brick house (Ray Allen: 5-7 on 3-pointers in game 4, other Celtics: 0-11. Yikes). The Celtics weren't listless during game 4 and actually did a remarkable job of coming back to force OT considering how bad they were, but they simply couldn't get anything done on offense and couldn't stop a fired up Magic team.

Speaking of the Magic, this is probably a situation where I need to give credit where it is due. Orlando played hard for an entire game for the first time this series and executed a brilliant game plan on both ends of the floor. They escaped with a gritty victory and now have some momentum heading into a game 5 in Orlando that may well be the last at Amway Arena. The Magic were more aggressive and decisive in game 4, which put the Celtics on their heels and created more easy scoring opportunities that had been scarce until now.

Jameer Nelson played better than Rajon Rondo for the first time this series and was an effective playmaker throughout. Nelson also sealed the game for the Magic in overtime by hitting consecutive 3-pointers, both of which registered a collective 9.0 on the ridiculous scale. The first shot was a rushed three-pointer from the left wing that was heavily contested and banked in, breaking the 86-86 tie that had ended regulation. After a Celtic miss, Nelson then dribbled down the right side and was blanketed by the Celtics yet still chose to launch another 3 from 27 feet away from the hoop. Swish. Nelson took the game from a dead tie to a 6-point Magic lead in less than 45 seconds and the Celtics never regained the lead. I didn't care much for the results of those two possessions last night, but I will absolutely live with those looks and the consequences for the Celtics.

Jameer Nelson may have made the lucky shots to ice the victory for Orlando last night, but their real hero was Dwight Howard, who made his best and most dominant contribution to this series on both ends of the floor. Howard finished with 32/16 and 4 blocks on an efficient 13-19 from the floor but a miserable 6-14 from the free-throw line. The stat line for Howard is impressive enough, but it doesn't begin to tell the whole story of how he affected last night's game (fortunately for you guys, I am here to fill in the details). Dwight Howard flat out controlled the paint on both ends of the floor last night largely because of his work on the glass (and also because the refs let him camp out for five seconds at a time in the key). The Celtics couldn't handle Howard on the glass (he had 5 offensive rebounds) and paid dearly for it. Instead of making him work out of the post for his shots, the Celtics let Howard grab misses in position to dunk or lay the ball in and then failed several times to wrap him up and send him to the line after an offensive rebound.

Orlando came out and played like they had nothing to lose (maybe because they didn't?) and the Celtics came out and played like they all wanted to put the Magic to sleep by themselves. That kind of basketball isn't what got the Celtics to this point, and if they continue to do this they may be in real trouble. I certainly got ahead of myself yesterday and was perhaps put in my place by the turnout of the game, but that doesn't mean I am prepared to give in to the front-running hysterics and declare that this ship is going down. No team in NBA history has ever come back form a 3-0 deficit, and it will not be happening this year. The Celtics will be more focused in game 5 and the Magic still haven't shown that they have what it takes to play consistently against this Celtic team. It's very hard to beat anyone four times in a row in this league, so don't panic and tune in for game five on Wednesday!