The Celtics aren't beating the Lakers

[BadOdor]

Can we stop pretending Kobe would be man enough to try to guard Paul Pierce?

Never was. No balls for that. Preferred to see his team getting destroyed by Pierce while roaming off Rondo and guarding Eddie House. One of the most disgustingly coward things I've ever seen as a basketball fan.

more cowardly than garnett picking on white pg's?

[mogrovejo]

more cowardly than garnett picking on white pg's?

Garnett picks on everybody. He picked on Dwight Howard yesterday, didn't you notice?

Be assured he'll punk some Lakers player if you're lucky enough to beat Phoenix even if you don't have a white PG on the roster.

And Kobe, once again, will let it go and won't stand up for his teammates.

[mogrovejo]

As for the "we now have X" and "Y matches up well with Z", we all remember what Lakers fans were saying before the 2008 finals. They were unbeatable. Just like they were in 1969. They even had a nickname for their unstopabble and formidable bench. What was it? The mob bench?

[Smooth Criminal]

Seriously, how are the Lakers going to beat Boston?

a. Bryant will be facing a real defense who knows how to shut him down.Superstars can be slowed, but never shut-down. RayRay and Tony Allen aren't great Man defenders, though I will give you the Celtics team D being great.
b. Gasol will be facing a real defender who can contain him one on one.KG cannot contain Gasol, he hasn't done it before and he won't do it now.
c. Fisher will be guarded by Rondo, not Nash. It's not like Derek was going to be a focal point driving to the basket anyway, he'll be spot up shooting, and rest assured he will get open and hit big shots as always.
d. Fisher will have to chase either Rondo or Allen around all game, so he may just have a coronary.Ray for sure, Kobe won't be chasing that much that's for sure. He'll get tired but he can rest on offense which requires him to merely spot up and shoot.
e. Pierce can guard Bryant one-on-one and contain him. Tony Allen can also spend time on Bryant one-on-one. This series will not be a free pass for Bryant like the Phoenix series.Pierce can't at his age, and he will need to save his energy for offense where he can try not to get wrecked by RonRon, Tony Allen cannot guard Mamba.
f. Bryant will have to chase around either Rondo or Allen all game, so he'll have far less in the tanke for the offensive end.Rondo, and he will merely sag way off Rondo because he can't shoot, the Lakers have almost always put Kobe on Rondo to save his energy, this will continue.
g. Odom's length will be less of a factor against Boston.His length is always a factor, Boston will be no different.
h. LA has five players, but how many of those five will actually play well in a given game? Maybe three of them?So you're saying some Laker players will have bad games? Imagine That! I guess Celtics players NEVER have off games...
i. Boston has the Big 4, plus three other guys who can get you 15-17 in a given night (Sheed, Baby, and Tony Allen) Lakers have Kobe (Better than any of the Big 4), and Pau (Better than Pierce, Ray,and KG), and Lamar (As good as KG when he comes to play, which he will, just remember the Orlando Finals), Derek (Clutch!), and Ron (Defensive stopper extraordinaire, watch out Wheelchair).
j. Boston has an X-Factor that LA doesn't have. Nate - who can get you 13 in a big hurry, or 20 on a given night. *Cough* Lamar *Cough*
k. Because of Boston's size, Bynum is a total non-factor. That means LA will have to rely on Odom, and relying on Odom is very a good thing. Odom will deliver maybe twice in a 7-game series.Watch last years Finals again bud, then say Odom won't be a factor, he was huge for us then and he will be now. Bynum sucks though I agree.
l. Artest will do nothing on the offensive end, as he'll be gassed from guarding Pierce.Again you don't need to have tons of energy to catch and shoot, which is what he'll be doing, unfortunately he's been inconsistent with his shooting. Butmake no mistake he'll do a great job on Wheelchair.
m. Boston just has too many weapons, and they know how to play. They are not "overmatched" like Phoenix is So do the LakeShow bud
n. Boston makes the soft Lakers cry, and they will make them cry again.Ohhh clever

[Ghazi]

mogrovejo doin work

[mogrovejo]

Anyone who believes Posey was a better defender in 2008 than Tony Allen is now, especially versus a small-guard like Kobe, simply has no clue about basketball.

It's like 2008 all over again when their bench was far superior to ours and the Cs would have nobody able to check on Kobe. Lakers fans are hugely ignorant about the rest of the league, it's amazing.

[mogrovejo]

Wait, I think it was the mob bench, not the bench mob.

[21_Blessings]

Posey defends Kobe way better than Tony Allen does. It's a fact.

[mogrovejo]

Posey defends Kobe way better than Tony Allen does. It's a fact.

The same way it was a fact that Boston was done and that the bench mob in 2008 was the best bench in the NBA. Now, 2 years later, the story from Lakers fans is that they had no supporting cast. Pathetic.

Posey didn't even defend Kobe that well in 2008. He was the 3rd best Kobe defender in that series.

[21_Blessings]

Lakers had two starters from their 09 champ team injured during the 08 finals. Also a fact.

You only have about 6 more days mog. Better get it all in now

[mogrovejo]

Funny how now it was so obvious the Lakers would have no chance in 2008 and there are so many excuses. The day before the series began, Lakers fans - and, in all fairness, not only them - were overwhelming convinced they'd dominate at will. I wonder where all those Lakers fans went, it seems now every one of them knew they had no chance.

Have you ever seen me talking crap or putting up some bravado here? I don't do that. The fact the Celtics are involved doesn't change anything in the way I see things.

[HarlemHeat37]

Somebody post the picture of all the ESPN "experts" picking LA to win the series ..

[TampaDude]

Hey, Lakers...get by the Suns first before you start yapping about the Finals.

[BUMP]

Lakers had two starters from their 09 champ team injured during the 08 finals. Also a fact.

You only have about 6 more days mog. Better get it all in now

one of them is gone and one of them is sucking horribly

Sad thing is, Kobe will probly go off once he realizes his team can't win just to protect his image just to be like "Hey I did my part"

Its pretty sad to see Laker fans actually think they have a chance, but then again they are the dumbest fans on this board. Let's just say this will be pretty entertaining to see it all unravel..............................if they can even get by Phoenix

[LakerHater]

[HarlemHeat37]

I'm not going to comment on Bump's post, other than to say that you're being really generous by limiting your insult to Laker fans by saying just "this board"..it's pretty safe to say that you could say Laker fans in are just the dumbest fans in general TBH..

[hitmanyr2k]

If the Lakers are gonna beat the Celtics this will have to be Gasol's coming out party. He's been playing great throughout the playoffs but against soft, undersized punks who play no defense whatsover in Boozer, Stoudemire and I can't even remember what scrub he played against on the Thunder. The Celtics frontline is the type of beast Gasol hasn't faced in a LONG time. This is the series where he'll have a chance to shed that Gasoft label.

[mogrovejo]

[LakerHater]

Guess thats good news!

[redzero]

Posey gave up 48 ing points to Vince Carter. At this point, I would rather have Peja guard the opposing team's star wingmen than I would Posey.

[mogrovejo]

Posey was never that good as an individual, 1x1 defender vs. short guards with a driving game. In his prime, he was a superb team defender + very good individual defender vs. slower, long 3s and perimeter 4s + very good rebounder.

[Shastafarian]

I thought the Celtics were closer to even in 2008??? Guess that curbstomping altered how I remembered the series.

[DazedAndConfused]

bump

[namlook]

I thought the Celtics were closer to even in 2008??? Guess that curbstomping altered how I remembered the series.

The Celtics won 66 games in 2008. The Lakers had no Bynum and an injured Ariza. It's amazing that so many media "experts" picked against the Celtics in 2008.