I would first like to say that this is a saddest day of 2008 for me. Not only did I witness a public massacre on television, but now I am left with absolutely nothing to follow for about 60 days. Minus the fallout of the NBA season with meaningless trades, Kobe having a possible meltdown, and the USA Olympic team. Real football news doesn't matter until August when the teams start to actually play. Baseball is....well baseball. There is no way in hell I could sit through an entire game unless I am there or it is not the playoffs. I could endure watching the EURO 2008 before I watched 3 innings of baseball. At least their crowds are alive during the entire match. Not to mention when the guy yells "GGggoooooooooooaaaaallllll" for like 3 1/2 minutes.
Ok - The
Celtics beat the Lakers like they owed them money last night. Like they cheated on their baby virgin sister. Like they stole your spot at the gas station in the middle of August and your air condition doesnt work and window doesnt roll down .(I've been there) Not only did LA need Jesus on their side, but they needed the Devil to cool down Boston's Jesus. How about Walter Ray Allen? He definitely had his assassin hat on for this game, 7-9 on 3's, 8-12 overall. He practically pulled a Robert Horry times 10 were he was absent the first half of the playoffs and then he found his mojo in Detroit and it was over from then. I had him as my MVP on the vote of consistency. He hit an NBA Finals record 22 3's in the series, including tying the record of 7 in one game. Without Allen's underrated defense on Kobe, part-time point guard duties, and bullseye shooting, the Celtics would be on the other end of the stick right now. Somebody must have told KG that he was in a twisted plot from Saw 5 where his family was being held hostage and his game performance depended on if they lived or died. Something twisted like every time he took a jumpshot, the plank holding his family above hot flaming magma got lowered each time. The second part of the plot must have involved Rondo. Rondo played the game of his career, everything from here on out is gravy on his career. Everybody came to play, the entire Goon Squad won the series for them (Posey 4-4fgs and lockdown defense, House 5 assists, Powe, Rondo 20pts, 6 steals, 8 assists). Posey might have just cashed in for the next few seasons with his 2 rings in 3 years and unccanny leadership and clutchness in big games.
The LakersLet's face it. It's not like the Lakers were supposed to make it this far and had the same expectations the Celtics had coming into the year. The story through November was the possibility of trading Kobe, not making it to the championship. The team grew a lot with Bynum emerging as one of the top 5 centers in the league, throw in the the acquisition of Gasol, Farmar and Vujacic playing great in stretches, this team is set for years to come. That is.....if
Kobe doesn't die with this loss. It's not out of the question for him to not trust this cast of team members in the event they get off to a slow start in a very competitive Western conference. I guess we will re-visit this in December.
MVP - Paul Pierce - Series Averages 21 ppg, 6 assists
I guess it was inevitable that the team captain and highest scorer of the series and
possibly the best actor, Pierce did enough to not lose the MVP. He was the leading scorer for 3 or the 6 games, 2nd leading scorer in another game. Sure he stuck out the place in Game 3, but that was probably the worst game of the series for the majority of the players on both teams in which four people reached double figures (KG, Allen, Kobe, Vujacic). More than anything, Pierce stepped in to guard Kobe in key stretches which not only helped get Ray Allen off but also had to make Kobe bang with a bigger frame for more extended portions of the game.
Best Post Game Ever Besides KG yelling "I'm going to die" (1:23), followed by shout outs to the entire hood, his momma, South Carolina and Chicago, and then saying "I'm Certified Mother #*#*#*" (3:40) that got bleeped out. Throw in there that he was crying and happy and hyped up at the same time and vowing not to sleep for a week, someone needs to accompany this man at all times. Too bad he messed up his potential Adidas commercial by
butchering the slogan. He followed this up with an
interview at the podium where he referred to getting over the hump of winning to beating up the school bully. To paraphrase, it's like going to school, the bully is waiting on you at the door, he pats you down and takes your money. The next day, you say enough is enough, the bully pats you down and you Lay his AZZ out.
Other Celtics interview If you recall my prediction, I called Lakers 4-2.
I really would love to see the Celtics pull this off but in the end I just think LA is too deep. Add their depth with the most potent offensive player in the game (see point 2 above), I don't see how they could blow this one.
Pau/Odom can match up with KG, with a little Turiaf for a breather. They have a ton of wing players to throw at Allen and Pierce.
Plus Kobe is guaranteed 25 ppg. Don't forget Ray Allen always add a little fire under Kobe with the strange fued that they have. If Ray Allen carries his flame throwing jumper over to the next series and Kobe returns to 2006 status of "I'm not passing the ball to anybody unless 3 people are guarding me mode",
then it will be a Celtics runaway. I don't see that happening, so Lakers will take it.
This was a total team effort though. And my if's came true. Ray Allen returned from hiatus and the Lakers star was not the star that made his team better in key moments. I thought Kobe was a little too passive, and by passive I mean passing too much. He fell into the Lebron James mode of making the "good" extra pass even if it means at the expense of his own offense. I think that took away from his killer instincts that we saw the first 8 minutes of game 6. Anyway it goes, my life is completely on hold after the
draft.
