crc21209
02-06-2009, 07:07 PM
It's LeBron vs. Boston to face Kobe in Finals
by Kevin Hench
No need to ask why David Stern is smiling.
The NFL season ended on Sunday, momentarily lifting its massive footprint in the sports marketplace. Kobe Bryant went for 61 in Madison Square Garden on Monday. LeBron James dropped a 52-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound line in MSG on Wednesday. And the Lakers and Celtics knocked heads in a playoff-caliber OT thriller on Thursday.
It's good to be David Stern.
While Roger Goodell had to watch a team no one cared about a month ago crashing his Super Bowl, Stern can start salivating at the prospect of another boffo matchup in the NBA Finals in June.
There won't be any Arizona Cardinal-type run to ruin Stern's party.
The Denver Nuggets won't peak at the right time. The Atlanta Hawks won't come out of nowhere.
No, there are only three teams with a shot to play in the Finals and they would all be very good for business. The Lakers are a lock in the West and the Cavaliers and Celtics will play for the right to meet L.A. for the title.
LeBron vs. Kobe? Or a Lakers-Celtics rematch?
Talk about a win-win.
They may not have played the All-Star game yet, but in this season — with the gap between the elite three and the rest of the league so gaping — it's not too early to start hyping these potential matchups.
LeBron vs. Kobe
Or is it Kobe vs. LeBron? We didn't think it could get any better than Celtics-Lakers for all the marbles, but what the two best players in the league — and possibly two of the three best players of all time — did this week in New York has to make Lakers-Cavaliers David Stern Fantasy No. 1.
When Michael Jordan was at the peak of his powers it was a long way down to No. 2. Sure, we tried to pretend that his opposite number in the Finals was worthy — it's Jordan vs. Drexler! — but M.J. went 6-0 in the Finals because the Bulls always had the best player on the court when it mattered.
If we're lucky enough to see defending MVP Kobe square off against likely '09 MVP LeBron, that won't be the case. It will be No. 1 vs. No. 1a, with the upper hand changing from possession to possession.
James, 24, is more explosive than Bryant, 30, who recently admitted the only dunk contest he could win would have to be an over-30 affair. But Bryant has a silkier stroke with a jugular-seeking jump shot in crunch time.
Just contemplating these two squaring off against each other in the final minute of a close NBA Finals game is enough to set a fan's heart — hardened as it may have become by the methodical Spurs — newly aflutter.
The bad news for the Cavs, of course, is that should Cleveland reach the Finals, the games will not be played merely by LeBron and Kobe.
Even though Mo Williams has been a significant upgrade for the Cavs, James' remaining supporting cast just cannot measure up to Bryant's. The lack of a dominant big man has seldom been a problem for Cleveland this year (39-9, 23-0 at home), but the deeper you go in the playoffs the more important post play becomes.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 33 and coming off an ankle injury. He is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game, his lowest total in seven seasons. He is also moving further and further away from the basket on offense as his 11 made 3-pointers attest.
Meanwhile, the Lakers may have lost Andrew Bynum for the moment (he vows to be back for the playoffs), but they still have an All-Star big man in Pau Gasol. The 7-foot Spaniard had some up and down moments after coming over from the Grizzlies last season, but he has been a rock for the Lakers this year.
Gasol is averaging 18.1 points per game on 56 percent shooting and 9.2 rebounds a game. In three games since Bynum went down he has averaged 28.7 points on 70.8 percent shooting and 14.3 rebounds.
In three games against the Celtics and Cavs this season — all wins — Gasol has averaged 22 points on 68.3 percent shooting.
The acquisition of Gasol from the Grizzlies (for Kwame Brown, Jarvaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol and two guaranteed-to-be-late first-round picks) was the most corrupt transaction not involving Bernie Madoff of the last 10 years.
A Lakers-Cavs series would inevitably be distilled down to the meeting of the two greatest players of this generation for hype purposes, but L.A. would be favored because of Gasol.
Lakers-Celtics
While neutral NBA fans probably want to see LeBron and Kobe clash for seven games in June, Laker fans (and obviously Celtic fans) would prefer a resumption of the hostilities that almost boiled over Thursday night.
Los Angeles fans are obsessed with the way last season ended (a 131-92 drubbing in Game 6 in Boston) and the only way to exorcise that demon is to beat the Celtics in the Finals. A five-game romp over Cleveland would yield a victory parade, but not the primal cleansing of beating hated Boston.
Twice in the last six weeks the Lakers have shown that they have no intention of being rolled by the Celtics again.
After holding Boston to 83 points with tough, physical defense in a nine-point Christmas Day victory, the Lakers turned in an even more impressive performance Thursday, sending a message with a 110-109 win in OT.
Boston thrives on rattling opponents with its physicality, which features lots of hands-on defense, borderline hip-check screens and the menacing extracurriculars of Kendrick Perkins. In rendering his team's obit after last year's Finals, Phil Jackson chiseled "soft" in the headstone.
The Lakers have a swagger about them that says they will not go down without a fight this year.
And a big part of that physical swagger is being provided by an unlikely source: the much-maligned Lamar Odom.
After the Game 6 debacle last year, callers to L.A. sports talk radio were offering to drive L.O. to LAX, such was their desire to run him out of town.
True, Odom is a maddening player with the size, agility and ability to finish that can make him unstoppable one night, only to don an invisibility cloak the next.
Well, Odom was far from invisible Thursday in Boston. He finished with 20 points, six rebounds, hit a monster fourth-quarter 3-pointer and converted the game-winning free throws in OT. More importantly, when things got chippy — as they tend to when the Celtics are involved — he went eyeball to eyeball with Kevin Garnett and did not blink.
The Lakers have served notice that they will be in the Finals (and the backsliding second tier of the Western Conference looks incapable of beating L.A. four times total in three series much less four times in one series).
Who the Lakers play is for the Celtics and Cavs to decide.
Either way, the NBA will have a very happy commissioner come June.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9187642/It's-LeBron-vs.-Boston-to-face-Kobe-in-Finals?MSNHPHMA
What a tool, talk about taking that Laker/Kobe cock deep to the throat, geez, if it was a lock why not just play the Finals now then? Thats why they play the games "expert," I can't wait till playoffs. The Spurs are willing and ready to take down the Lakers. :flag:
by Kevin Hench
No need to ask why David Stern is smiling.
The NFL season ended on Sunday, momentarily lifting its massive footprint in the sports marketplace. Kobe Bryant went for 61 in Madison Square Garden on Monday. LeBron James dropped a 52-point, 11-assist, 10-rebound line in MSG on Wednesday. And the Lakers and Celtics knocked heads in a playoff-caliber OT thriller on Thursday.
It's good to be David Stern.
While Roger Goodell had to watch a team no one cared about a month ago crashing his Super Bowl, Stern can start salivating at the prospect of another boffo matchup in the NBA Finals in June.
There won't be any Arizona Cardinal-type run to ruin Stern's party.
The Denver Nuggets won't peak at the right time. The Atlanta Hawks won't come out of nowhere.
No, there are only three teams with a shot to play in the Finals and they would all be very good for business. The Lakers are a lock in the West and the Cavaliers and Celtics will play for the right to meet L.A. for the title.
LeBron vs. Kobe? Or a Lakers-Celtics rematch?
Talk about a win-win.
They may not have played the All-Star game yet, but in this season — with the gap between the elite three and the rest of the league so gaping — it's not too early to start hyping these potential matchups.
LeBron vs. Kobe
Or is it Kobe vs. LeBron? We didn't think it could get any better than Celtics-Lakers for all the marbles, but what the two best players in the league — and possibly two of the three best players of all time — did this week in New York has to make Lakers-Cavaliers David Stern Fantasy No. 1.
When Michael Jordan was at the peak of his powers it was a long way down to No. 2. Sure, we tried to pretend that his opposite number in the Finals was worthy — it's Jordan vs. Drexler! — but M.J. went 6-0 in the Finals because the Bulls always had the best player on the court when it mattered.
If we're lucky enough to see defending MVP Kobe square off against likely '09 MVP LeBron, that won't be the case. It will be No. 1 vs. No. 1a, with the upper hand changing from possession to possession.
James, 24, is more explosive than Bryant, 30, who recently admitted the only dunk contest he could win would have to be an over-30 affair. But Bryant has a silkier stroke with a jugular-seeking jump shot in crunch time.
Just contemplating these two squaring off against each other in the final minute of a close NBA Finals game is enough to set a fan's heart — hardened as it may have become by the methodical Spurs — newly aflutter.
The bad news for the Cavs, of course, is that should Cleveland reach the Finals, the games will not be played merely by LeBron and Kobe.
Even though Mo Williams has been a significant upgrade for the Cavs, James' remaining supporting cast just cannot measure up to Bryant's. The lack of a dominant big man has seldom been a problem for Cleveland this year (39-9, 23-0 at home), but the deeper you go in the playoffs the more important post play becomes.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 33 and coming off an ankle injury. He is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game, his lowest total in seven seasons. He is also moving further and further away from the basket on offense as his 11 made 3-pointers attest.
Meanwhile, the Lakers may have lost Andrew Bynum for the moment (he vows to be back for the playoffs), but they still have an All-Star big man in Pau Gasol. The 7-foot Spaniard had some up and down moments after coming over from the Grizzlies last season, but he has been a rock for the Lakers this year.
Gasol is averaging 18.1 points per game on 56 percent shooting and 9.2 rebounds a game. In three games since Bynum went down he has averaged 28.7 points on 70.8 percent shooting and 14.3 rebounds.
In three games against the Celtics and Cavs this season — all wins — Gasol has averaged 22 points on 68.3 percent shooting.
The acquisition of Gasol from the Grizzlies (for Kwame Brown, Jarvaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol and two guaranteed-to-be-late first-round picks) was the most corrupt transaction not involving Bernie Madoff of the last 10 years.
A Lakers-Cavs series would inevitably be distilled down to the meeting of the two greatest players of this generation for hype purposes, but L.A. would be favored because of Gasol.
Lakers-Celtics
While neutral NBA fans probably want to see LeBron and Kobe clash for seven games in June, Laker fans (and obviously Celtic fans) would prefer a resumption of the hostilities that almost boiled over Thursday night.
Los Angeles fans are obsessed with the way last season ended (a 131-92 drubbing in Game 6 in Boston) and the only way to exorcise that demon is to beat the Celtics in the Finals. A five-game romp over Cleveland would yield a victory parade, but not the primal cleansing of beating hated Boston.
Twice in the last six weeks the Lakers have shown that they have no intention of being rolled by the Celtics again.
After holding Boston to 83 points with tough, physical defense in a nine-point Christmas Day victory, the Lakers turned in an even more impressive performance Thursday, sending a message with a 110-109 win in OT.
Boston thrives on rattling opponents with its physicality, which features lots of hands-on defense, borderline hip-check screens and the menacing extracurriculars of Kendrick Perkins. In rendering his team's obit after last year's Finals, Phil Jackson chiseled "soft" in the headstone.
The Lakers have a swagger about them that says they will not go down without a fight this year.
And a big part of that physical swagger is being provided by an unlikely source: the much-maligned Lamar Odom.
After the Game 6 debacle last year, callers to L.A. sports talk radio were offering to drive L.O. to LAX, such was their desire to run him out of town.
True, Odom is a maddening player with the size, agility and ability to finish that can make him unstoppable one night, only to don an invisibility cloak the next.
Well, Odom was far from invisible Thursday in Boston. He finished with 20 points, six rebounds, hit a monster fourth-quarter 3-pointer and converted the game-winning free throws in OT. More importantly, when things got chippy — as they tend to when the Celtics are involved — he went eyeball to eyeball with Kevin Garnett and did not blink.
The Lakers have served notice that they will be in the Finals (and the backsliding second tier of the Western Conference looks incapable of beating L.A. four times total in three series much less four times in one series).
Who the Lakers play is for the Celtics and Cavs to decide.
Either way, the NBA will have a very happy commissioner come June.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9187642/It's-LeBron-vs.-Boston-to-face-Kobe-in-Finals?MSNHPHMA
What a tool, talk about taking that Laker/Kobe cock deep to the throat, geez, if it was a lock why not just play the Finals now then? Thats why they play the games "expert," I can't wait till playoffs. The Spurs are willing and ready to take down the Lakers. :flag: