It's LeBron vs. Boston to face Kobe in Finals

[crc21209]

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 le.

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/9...inals?MSNHPHMA

What a tool, talk about taking that Laker/Kobe 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.

[Allanon]

I said before the season started that it should be illegal to assemble a team as potent as the Lakers. Anybody could see the Lakers would run away with #1 in the West.

With a frontline of Pau/Bynum/Odom paired with Kobe, that's almost impossible to overcome.

If the Rockets were healthy and in sync, they can do it. If the Blazers had more experienece they could do it. But everybody else is too under-sized in the frontline.

I hate easy wins, I hate blow-outs, I hate that the Lakers have no compe ion right now. But it is what it is.

I wish Duncan had a bigger teammate to run with him.
I wish Shaq/Amare/Nash got along
I wish Dirk/JHo/Kidd had it going...I used to love Mavs/Laker games.

Jazz have had too many injuries
Hornets have no bench

If everything stays as is right now, you can pen in the Lakers for the Finals

The West is a mess of teams fighting to be #2 right now, and quite frankly, it's pretty boring.

[scanry]

I said before the season started that it should be illegal to assemble a team as potent as the Lakers. Anybody could see the Lakers would run away with #1 in the West.

With a frontline of Pau/Bynum/Odom paired with Kobe, that's almost impossible to overcome.

If the Rockets were healthy and in sync, they can do it. If the Blazers had more experienece they could do it. But everybody else is too under-sized in the frontline.

I hate easy wins, I hate blow-outs, I hate that the Lakers have no compe ion right now. But it is what it is.

I wish Duncan had a bigger teammate to run with him.
I wish Shaq/Amare/Nash got along
I wish Dirk/JHo/Kidd had it going...I used to love Mavs/Laker games.

Jazz have had too many injuries
Hornets have no bench

If everything stays as is right now, you can pen in the Lakers for the Finals

The West is a mess of teams fighting to be #2 right now, and quite frankly, it's pretty boring.

Unfortunately you're right about the Lakers. They are by far the favorites this year. As good as Cleveland is, they don't have depth nor the talent to match LA.

Again everyone though that Dallas had it locked in 2007, so i like our chances come playoffs.

You have to remember the Spurs were up 20+ in 2 games (last year's WCF) and still lost. I just want a healthy Spurs squad come playoffs, and anything can happen.

[Killakobe81]

can not take the West for granted

[lefty]

[lefty]

[Dex]

To the writer of this column:

The games aren't played until April, dumbass.

Three teams with a shot? This dude's a moron. The only thing he forgot was the Book It!

[Kobe™]

It's gon be King's pawns vs Kobe's regiment.

[DazedAndConfused]

We all know how right those idiot "experts" were last season so I'm surprised why any cares what they say.

The playoffs are not decided in February.

Come playoff time the Lakers are going to need all their horses to come out of the West.

[tlongII]

If Cleveland gets HCA throughout the playoffs they will win the le. No doubt about it.

[Cry Havoc]

This all sounds so familiar.....


San Antonio - With a 95-89 victory everybody else in basketball will regard as an upset, the Nuggets sent an unmistakable, undeniable message to Tim Duncan and the once-great San Antonio Spurs.

It's over for you.

It has been a great run by the Spurs, including three NBA championships, but it's done.

If Sunday's victory by the Nuggets in the postseason opener was so shocking, why didn't anyone in the visiting locker room look surprised?

After Denver claimed Game 1 in this best-of-seven series, someone asked center Marcus Camby if it was reason to party.

"We're not content," Camby insisted. "We ain't happy."

"That's what I'm talking about, M.C.," chimed in Jack Murphy, the team's video coordinator. "We're businessmen on a trip, here to do a job. We don't need to celebrate."

I'm not saying this series is over.

And the Nuggets certainly know better than to count out San Antonio.

"We know how serious it is," Nuggets point guard Allen Iverson said.

But what was revealed Sunday night is the Spurs are too thin, too gray and too vulnerable to be considered real threats to win it all.

So Denver might as well knock them out now and save San Antonio the inevitable disappointment down the road.

After Duncan clanked shot after shot under relentless defensive pressure by Nene, the normally unflappable San Antonio superstar was spied during the first half rubbing hands across his mug like a fuming child who could not believe what was happening to him.

"You're playing against a Hall of Fame player, and you can't stop a guy like that, all you can do is contain him," Iverson said of the intensity Nene employed to rattle Duncan. "Nene did a great job of just taking the challenge."

If Mr. Robot Face is what you normally see from Duncan, then his display of frustration means the Spurs are in real danger, Will Robinson.

After watching Carmelo Anthony and Iverson combine for 61 points, taking over at crunch time in a raucous arena, you must acknowledge Denver possesses as much or more talent than the Spurs.

There's only one Bruce Bowen, San Antonio's designated defensive pest, and he cannot be a gnat buzzing in the ears of Anthony and Iverson at the same time.

Once, as every bone in the body of San Antonio big-shot artist Robert Horry creaked as he raised himself from splatting on the floor, I swear you could see the AARP card slip from his pocket. The Spurs are old. They're ornery. They won't go quietly. But their roster has too much mileage to make a long playoff run.

Maybe the only thing really shocking about Denver's victory was how workmanlike it was.

Unlike two years ago, when the Nuggets teased us by stealing the opening playoff game in San Antonio when Andre Miller played out of his head and the Spurs missed 17 shots in a row, Denver has found a new formula capable of repeat success.

This time, the dream of winning a playoff series for the first time since 1994 is real.

Anthony and Iverson, not Duncan and Spurs point guard Tony Parker, were the best two players on the court.

It was the Nuggets who appeared more composed with the game on the line, going on an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take control.

"We didn't panic," said Iverson, who started slowly only to score eight crucial points in the final period.

After trading for Iverson in December, it took so long for the Nuggets to find an iden y and learn player roles that you worried they might run out of name tags.

"We had some struggles. But there's nothing you can do to fast-track things," Denver vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said.

The pain of discovery is paying dividends now.

The Nuggets are no longer a classic running team. Those rainbow uniforms are in mothballs, and the soft running jumper of Alex English is a fading memory.

But, maybe, just maybe, Iverson has taught the Nuggets how to win the gutter fights and halfcourt battles in the dirty little wars that define playoff basketball.

What is that annoying chant fans scream incessantly in San Antonio's arena?

Go, Spurs, go.

And turn out the lights when you leave.

I knew I'd heard it somewhere before.

[Ghazi]

The difference is the Cavs, Celtics, and Lakers don't suck and their best players aren't pussies.

[Ghazi]

Oh, and the Spurs are 2 years older.

[pauls931]

Depends on what makes more money. Kobe vs Lebron, or a Celts vs Lakers rematch where the lakers win setting the stage for a 3rd meeting in the finals.

[Rogue]

The difference is the Cavs, Celtics, and Lakers don't suck and their best players aren't pussies.

Kobe is not one of the lakers' best players you know.

[Yorae]

I just realized with those pictures and the recent ones that I found, Pierce is a very creepy person on court.....