NBA Finals Preview: Who Wins?

The NBA Finals are upon us. Finally, we will all find out what plays out in Game 1 later this evening.

Most of the experts have picked the Los Angeles Lakers to win in six or seven games over the Boston Celtics. I guess it depends on if the Lakers can get one on the road in Game 1 or 2 to start the series. Before I give my prediction, we have to look at how both teams got through the playoffs.

The Lakers came into the playoffs with the best record in the Western Conference. To do that, they just had to contend with the most competitive West the NBA has ever seen. Somewhere Baron Davis and Don Nelson are wondering why a 48-win team like the Warriors can't even finish 8th. That's just how ridiculous the conference was this year. It's was crazier than the sight of me eating a pizza with a giant smile on my face. Just never gonna happen.

L.A. breezed by their first round matchup with Denver with an impressive four game sweep. They were later matched up against the physical Utah Jazz who beat them up a little bit, but they proved they could win in the most hostile environment in the NBA when they won on the road in Game 6. Fisher even had to deal with this moronic fan:
http://www.bleacherreport.com/images_root/image_pictures/0032/8287/jazz_fans_suck_article.jpg

Finally, and what many thought was going to be a tough long series with the San Antonio Spurs, turned out to be a five game series for the Lakers. They showed their grit and determination by coming back from 20 points down in Game 1 and 17 points down in Game 5 to win.

The Celtics had a much harder road to travel over in the Eastern Conference. They went through a mentally tough seven game series with the Atlanta Hawks. That's right, the team with the NBA's best record struggled with the number 16 seed in the playoffs and almost pulled a Dallas Mavericks on all of us. They couldn't win one lousy road game to a team that I didn't know had any fans.

They had another seven game series with the very one-dimensional Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are an average team at best, with one of the worst offensive sets I've ever seen, and I've seen Ben Howland coach. Michael in Syria, could call better plays offensively. Once again, the Celtics proved they couldn't win on the road, but they won out at home and took the series.

Finally, the Celtics faced the Atlanta Braves of the NBA in the Detroit Pistons. They ultimately won their first road game, and received their first home loss in the process. Let's face it, they beat a depleted Pistons team that had injuries to Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. Detroit was just going through the motions as they always do this time of year, and as a result "The Coach Killer" Joe Dumars axed another coach in Flip Saunders.

The Lakers haven't lossed at home this post-season. They have played five less playoff games than the older Celtic team. It has to be said however that the Celtics have demolished the Lakers twice during the regular season. The C's won 94-107 in Boston and got a big win in L.A. beating the Lakers 110-91. It has to be noted that the Lakers received their "donation" of Pau Gasol after those encounters, but the Celtics did beat a better defensive team in the Lakers. When they played at Staples Center, the Lakers played both Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum, who are considerably better defensively than their current starters Slalom Radmonovich and Pau Gasol. Maybe it had something to do with those retro shorts...
http://s2nblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/dfishshortshorts.jpg

The psychological edge has to go to the Lakers with their Finals experience, and one of the biggest coaching mis-matches of all time with Phil Jackson going up against Doc Rivers.

The Lakers biggest factor in this series is that they have the "Black Mamba," "Triple Ocho," "The Rapist," or whatever people want to call him. Kobe Bryant has three NBA championships and his lust for another one can only be seen by looking into his eyes. He looks like he feels that he is the only player out on the court and he can't be stopped. Kobe is in a zone that can only be penetrated by his selfishness.

Kobe is the key reason why the Lakers will win this series. The Celtics will try to double team him but he will make his team better by passing to the open man.

The Lakers will win this series in six games,. Phil Jackson will pass Red Auerbach with 10 titles, while Kobe will inch that much closer to Jordan's 4 titles. The scary thing is, this Lakers team will only get better next year when Andrew Bynum comes back. The only question will be how many championships will the Lakers win before the decade is over.......
Two more. Yup, two more.