Only The Dodgers...

That picture of the scoreboard above shows something that may never happen again in my lifetime. It's only the fifth time in Major League Baseball's storied history that this has ever happened. The Dodgers won a game without getting a hit. Yeah, that's why I saved that ticket you see on the top left.

L.A.D. beat L.A.A. 1-0 after Jared Weaver pitched six hitless innings, along with Angels reliever Jose Arredondo, who blanked the Dodgers for two innings.

"It's the most bizarre game I've ever been part of," said Russell Martin.

That pretty much says it all doesn't it? The last time this happened was in 1992, and for someone like me who actually went to this game, and witnessed Dodger history, it was a night I'll never forget.

This was my first time going to a Freeway Series regular season encounter. Dodger Stadium was rocking, especially in the pavilions. Every time Angels fans would walk up to their seats in the left field pavilions, the Dodgers fans would let them have it. They couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without being booed heavily by the home crowd. The Angels fans backed them up though, clapping for their brave (or stupid) fans for flaunting their Angels love.

The atmosphere was fantastic. The best part being when a Dodgers fan ripped the hat off an Angels fan and threw it 20 rows deep.

Finally, the weirdest part of going to the game (besides getting there by the 5th inning, lousy 5 Freeway traffic!), was the helicopter circling around the stadium during the 7th inning! The flying bird had it's searchlight on, and ambulances were seen after the game, so we can only hope that no one was badly injured. What do you expect when rowdy L.A. fans get together?!

Anyways, back to the game! The Dodgers proved once again how anemic they are offensively, with their only run scoring on a Matt Kemp walk, a stolen base, throwing error on Mike Napoli (which allowed Kemp to go to third), and a sacrifice fly by Dodgers rookie Blake DeWitt.

It's fair to say that the Angels had trouble scoring this weekend as well, since they were blanked yet again by the Dodgers pitching staff. The Angels scored only one run in this series, and at one time, they were held scoreless for 20 straight innings.

I'll never forget this game...the players won't either...the coaching staff will always remember....and the fans got to see the Dodgers do something that only the Dodgers could pull off.

That's JAKked Up Dodgers!

The Freeway Series

The time has come upon us yet again. It's timeeeeeeeeeeee for L.A. Baseballlllllllllllllllllll. That's right the L.A. Dodgers are taking on the L.A. Angels, and by the looks of things, the Dodgers might as well give up their 'L.A.' title and hand it over to the Angels. I mean, I'm a Dodgers fan, but I see the light people.

The Dodgers have turned into one of the worst major-market franchises in sports. I can only think of the New York Knicks as a worse example of front-office floundering in a big market. The Angels changed their name to the absolutely ridiculous title of "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," in January of 2005, and they've been owning L.A. ever since.

The Dodgers have been constantly outplayed by their neighbors from the south. The Bums are 28-37 all-time against the Angels. They already lost the series in L.Anaheim, and with Chan Ho pitching tonight, expect to see a lot of GRAND play from the Angels.

The Dodgers are also a horrendous 18-42 in interleague play since 2005. GO BLUE! The worst part of this series for Dodgers' fans is that there is a coaching mismatch in this series. Mike Scioscia's Angels have always gotten the upper hand of Joe Torre's Yankees (even beating them twice in the post-season). Now that Torre has considerably less talent then he did in New York, the Dodgers have no chance!

Get this: In the last 11 meetings with this club, the Angels have gone 9-2 against "the real" L.A. team, outscoring their opposition from the north by an average of almost 4 runs a game. During those 11 games, the Dodgers also had a Rosie O'Donnell ERA of over 5.

The Angels have a team that can pretty much do everything that the mediocre sub .500 Dodgers cannot. Vlad impales the Dodgers whenever he sees them, and he's only hitting .424 this month.

Come on Vlad, it's not like the Dodgers passed you up in the Dominican while you were just a young boy, picking your older untalented brother instead! You have no basis to be upset Vlad!

That's JAKked Up: The Dodgers will bring back Wilton Guerrero to put a hit on Vlad. Rory Markus will attempt to stuff seven Dodger Dogs down Vin Scully's gut. Finally, Mike Scioscia will be held hostage by Tommy Lasorda who will then force him to watch the last great Dodgers moment. IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO PEOPLE!

Help From Within

The 2007-2008 Los Angeles Lakers defied all the critics and finished first in the Western Conference. Not only did they get the top seed in their conference, the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals, where they were actually favored to take home the Larry O'Brien trophy. They were chosen to finish eighth at best, especially with the West being so tough, but the team grew faster than anyone expected.

What do the Lakers need to do to get back to the Finals? Trade Lamar Odom? Bring in a veteran? Play more Fluke?! Well, my answer my friends, is not much.

To think that they went all the way to the NBA Finals, without their starting small forward and center is mind boggling. That's how deep this team was.

The biggest hit of the Laker season came when Andrew Bynum went down with an injury Jan. 13. He was the anchor to the Lakers' defense, rebounding and blocking shots like it was his god given right to do so. He averaged 13 PPG and 10 Rebounds before he went out with a devastating knee injury, which was originally misdiagnosed as a two-month rehabilitation.

Watching Pau Gasol try to play center was comical compared to what Andrew Bynum did early in the season. Gasol rarely gets a rebound in traffic, as he is constantly out-hustled around the basket. Bynum on the other hand is a beast down low, who thumps his chest and rips down rebounds with pride.

Pau is also very slow when it comes to rotating to his man on defense. His help D leaves a lot to be desired. Someone call 911 when Fisher gets beat off the dribble, please! Bynum however has the quick feet necessary to block shots on the help side (he swatted 2.1 during the season).

Trevor Ariza is another player the Lakers missed. Sure, you're probably telling yourself, "but hey Jonathan, Trevor was playing in the Finals!" The problem was that he didn't get enough minutes. Now, most of that was because he wasn't in proper game shape, as he was out for a considerable amount of time. He also needs to develop a consistent jump shot. However, he should have played more minutes over the embarrassing Luke Walton and the slower than slow-motion Slalom Radmonobitch.

Bynum and Ariza give the Lakers more length than any team this in NBA history this side of the 80's Celtics. I mean think about it...You have Andrew Bynum with his ginormous wingspan. Pau Gasol is playing his true position at power forward. All 6'11 of Lamar Odom will be at small forward and Trevor Ariza's lanky ass on the bench.

Everybody was talking about how the Lakers were bullied by the Celtics in the Finals. The truth is was that they were. The Lakers D was deplorable at times, and their rebounding left a lot to be desired. Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum help those areas tremendously, but a certain Slovenian Sharp-Shooter needs to return....He goes by the name of THE MACHINE!

The Bottom Line: The Lakers need to re-sign Andrew Bynum and Sasha Vujacic. Critics will say that Andrew Bynum needs to prove his consistency over a whole season, and that Sasha only had his breakout season to get a big contract. Those are valid points but the Lakers need to pull the trigger on both of them if they're serious about being CHAMPIONS. Salary Cap? Schmalary cap! Sign them both, and a new Laker Dynasty will begin.

Mark me down as saying that if everyone is healthy next year, and presuming Sasha Vujacic comes back...The Lakers will win over 65 games next year and dominate their way to a championship.

Boston wins the NBA Championship

Just when you thought the NBA Finals couldn't have been more embarrassing for the L.A. Lakers, they did something to top their 24-pt. epic collapse in Game 4. They got completely annihilated by Boston in the clinching game 6. Boston won the championship over the L.A. 131-92 and set multiple Finals records along the way:

Game 4: Biggest comeback in a Finals Game (Boston was 24 pts. down)
Game 6: Largest ASS-WHOOPING in a Finals clinching game (39 pts.)
Game 6: Most Steals by a Finals Team: Bos (18 steals)

Coming into the game I had some confidence in the Lakers knowing that there were a bunch of unforeseen circumstances:

1. Ray Allen had an illness in his family. Who knew where his head would be at, especially with his hideous Eastern Conference playoff performances.

2. Kendrick Perkins was a game-time decision. When Perkins didn't suit up for Game 5, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were dominant in the paint, scoring 39 points.

3. The Celtics didn't land in Boston until 8:00 PM PST Mon. because of flight problems.

None of these factors mattered, except maybe for Perkins. He barely played in Game 6, but they didn't need him because the Celtics were raining 3's on the Lakers all game long. It looked like the Lakers were the team who were running on fumes staying all day at LAX.

The Lakers gave up 131 points to a team that couldn't even touch that total during the regular season. It was the highest scoring output of the season (regular and playoffs) for Boston in the last game of the NBA season. When it was all said and done, the Celtics played more playoff games than anyone else in history.

Paul Pierce was named the unanimous MVP of the series. Ray Allen had been the most consistent and scorched the Lakers from 3, erasing his past playoff woes. Kevin Garnett chose a clinching game to finally show up and demolished the Lakers on both ends of the court. "The Big Ticket" finally earned his nickname.

L.A. was sloppy all game long giving up 19 turnovers. Rajon Rondo had six steals and was excellent ripping the ball away from Kobe.

Speaking of the devil, Kobe Bryant had one of the worst games of his career. He may have statistically been worse in other games throughout his career, but this game meant more than any other. Kobe had one assist and four turnovers. He was 7-22 shooting with 9 of those shots coming from 3-pt. distance. He only made three 3's, and once again settled for outside jump shots, refusing to drive into the paint at times. When he did slash, he was met my multiple Boston defenders and turned the ball over.

It was like he was playing Boston for the first time. He became a rookie all over again, just like in the playoffs against Utah in 1997. He Launched one prayer after another, trying to make the right play, but he fell short of his 4th championship, but more importantly...

Kobe fell short of winning a championship without Shaq. If he never wins one, it will forever stain his brilliant career. Kobe won the MVP, and had a phenomenal season, but Boston crushed him in the Finals. He never had a breakout game, and I give most of the credit to the Boston D. They shut him down. Everyone can now officially put the Michael Jordan comparisons on hold.

Bryant's career isn't over. His team should be back and better than ever next year, but that's another blog all together.

Your thoughts and predictions for Game 6!

Enough of my ramblings. You all know that I think this series is OVA! I wanna know what you guys think! What's going to happen in Game 6?! Gimme your predictions...

24 Reasons Why The Finals Will Be Over Soon

Well, I thought in memory of Game 4, I would commemorate the 3-day anniversary of the biggest recorded Finals collapse in NBA history with a list. I haven't done a list on this web site before, so I might as well start now. Therefore, in no particular order, here are 24 reasons why The NBA Finals are OVAH!

24. The Celtics Big 3 are better than the Lakers Big 3 period. . . .
23. Celtics experienced bench wins over Lakers young and more talented bench
22. Phil Jackson has had match-up nightmares and hasn't taken time outs in key situations
21. Doc Rivers coached the best game of his life in Game 4
20. Celtics random performers: Cassell (Game 1), Powe (Game 2), Posey & House Game 4
19. Boston's suffocating D on Kobe Bryant (reminiscent of Detroit Finals defense in 2004)
18. Lamar Odom is lost offensively and can't stay out of foul trouble
17. Pau Gasol has channeled his inner Kwame Brown by dropping passes left and right
16. Paul Pierce has outplayed Kobe Bryant in this series
15. Ray Allen woke up from the slumber he had during the Eastern Conference playoffs
14. The Lakers inability to get key rebounds and play tough around the basket
13. Have you ever seen a machine cry? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5XroW3nGXQ
12. Pau Gasol's numbers have dwindled every single playoff series.
11. Luke Walton and Ronny Turiaf have combined for 19 points in this series...wow
10. The Lakers need to get in 100 point range to win, because of Boston's perceived lack of fire power, but only one game has gone over the 100 pt. mark and the Celtics won it 108-102
9. Defense, rebounding, and athleticism have gone the Celtics way...Andrew Bynum anyone?
8. Even with all the Celtics banged up, (Pierce, Rondo, Perkins) they have more heart
7. Kobe Bryant hasn't shot well in this series. Mostly because of the Celtics D and partly because he is confused between trying to be a facilitator and/or scorer.
6. The Lakers have no home-court advantage. Unless...they give away free tacos! Or they can put those annoying "Get Louder!" noise meters on the giant screen, they're doomed!
5. The Celtics are both mentally and physically tougher than the Lakers. The difference in the series is that the Celtics didn't allow the Lakers to make their comeback in Game 2, while the Lakers opened up their defense and invited the Celtics right into the history books.
4. What happened to Kobe Bryant "willing" his team to victory? His teammates haven't responded.
3. P.J. Brown dunking on Kobe?! That's a series right there
2. The Lakers' help D has been atrocious. Kobe can't guard everybody out there, and Pau Gasol moves like he's stuck in quicksand. Gasol and Walton should race up and down the court just to piss Kobe off.
1. Everybody picked the Lakers to win this series. All the pundits/analyst/experts/family members. I blame all of you! Just like in 2004, the Lakers were heavy favorites and it has all come crashing down.

If the Lakers have any pride left or emotions left, they will not let the hated Boston franchise celebrate on L.A.'s home court. Jerry Buss' old heart won't be able to take it, but he'll probably be gambling on top of a hooker, while drinking, and wondering why he's paying Phil Jackson $10 freakin' million dollars.

Great Article by Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com

You guys gotta read this. It's an article Scoop Jackson wrote where the Lakers are making a concession speech to Boston. He makes a lot of good points on the series and the article is very optimistic for next year!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/080613&sportCat=nba&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

That Didn't Really Happen...Right?

The number 24 is cursed.

Kobe Bryant wears the number 24, which so happens to match the 24-pt. lead the Lakers squandered, in Kobe's 24th Finals game.

Now, I'm not a superstitious person. I don't believe in signs, things happening for a reason, or karma, but I guess we can safely say that Kobe Bryant will never be a fan of the show "24."

Even Jack Bauer couldn't have saved the Lakers from the worst tank-job in the history of the NBA Finals.

To think that everything was going well for the Lake show. Their offense was clicking. I mean Lamar Odom was 6-6 shooting in the 1st quarter alone. As unbelievable at that seems, Lamar was the best player on the planet for that stretch of time. All this while Kobe Bryant only had four points at the half when Jordan Farmar hit that amazing running three-pointer at the buzzer.

I hate Jordan Farmar. I know I picked him as my stand-out performer (he failed me miserably by the way), but that's not the reason why I loathe him. It's because I was watching the game with my cousin James at the time.

I told him that if Farmar runs the court in the 5 seconds they had left on the clock, and makes a 3, that I would jump in the pool. Well sure enough, the big-eared freak made the shot and I was forced to jump in with all my clothes on. Thank you Jordan. Then, when James told me that they only counted it as two points, I wanted to drown myself. Thankfully, my cousin is a joker, but not even he could predict what kind of joke this game would really become.

The bottom line is that Doc Rivers coached a magnificent ball game, that had Phil Jackson looking as confused as ever. When Rivers starting big man Kendrick Perkins got injured, for the second time this series mind you, he went to small lineup. Keep in mind that Rajon Rondo was completely ineffective because of the previous injury he had on Tuesday. Doc didn't even put a true point guard out there and went with his best offensive lineup to chip away at the Lakers lead. He had Laker killer Eddie House, 3-pt. shooter extraordinare James Posey, and the Boston Three Party just dissecting the Lakers in and out.

All of a sudden, Boston had firepower. Their three pointers that were rattling in and out, were now being sunk in. James Posey and Paul Pierce played great perimeter on Bryant and suffocated him from getting to the basket. He was forced into taking tough perimeter jump shots, just like in Game 1.

The star of the night had to be Ray Allen though, as he played all 48 minutes of this ball game, and was Captain Clutch down the stretch. He made an unbelievable reverse lay up, where he seemingly hung in the air long enough to kiss the sky. He also broke Sasha Vujacic off with his final driving lay up when Gasoft was too late to help-defend. Allen finished with 19 points, and are you kidding me...9 rebounds!

Game Notes:

-The Lakers bench was terrible and out-played by the older and more experienced Boston pine-stars
-Sasha had 3 points (a far cry from the near-perfect 20 he had in Game 3)
-Ronny Turiaf once again provided nothing.
-Paul Pierce once again outplayed Kobe Bryant outscoring him in 20 to 17 and made big plays down the stretch.
-Eddie House and James Posey combined for 29 points
-The Lakers scored only 33 points in the second half, which was less than their total for the 1st qtr. (35 pts.)

This was all just a bad nightmare right? This couldn't have really happened...nah no way, Kobe would've never allowed this to happen...You have got to be kidding me...

Wow...BOS 97 LAL 91

That was absolutely embarrassing. The Lakers blew a 24-point lead at home. I'm currently speechless so if anyone wants to comment, be my guest. I will blog about this later on.

Thoughts After An Ugly Game 3

Wow, that game was Sam Cassell ugly. I don't think anybody is going to look at that game and say that was the deciding game of the series. It definitely won't be remembered in 20 years like the Celtics classic clashes with the Lakers in the Bird-Magic era. Rather it was a game, where it looked like only three people belonged on the court. For the Celtics, it was Ray Allen (25 pts.) and for the Lakers it was Kobe Bryant (36 pts.) and Sasha Vujacic (20 pts.).

The story of the game was that four of the big stars of the Celtics and Lakers, didn't even show up. Kevin Garnett settled for outside jump shots going 6-21 while Paul Pierce was in foul trouble for most of the game scoring six points on a horrendous 2-14 shooting.

Now, a lot of that had to do with the Lakers defense, especially Kobe who stepped his D up against the hometown boy Pierce, but some of it has got to be him feeling the lingering effects of the Game 1 injury. Pierce wasn't as explosive going to the basket, which was evident when Farmar set himself up for a charge, giving Pierce another his fifth foul in the 3rd quarter. I don't believe Pierce was pressing because all of his family and friends were watching him, since he averages more points against the Lakers than any other team at 28.6 PPG. Expect to see Pierce to have a rebound performance while Kevin Garnett should be receiving more post-up opportunities against Paul Gasol.

Speaking of everyone's favorite Spaniard (and I'm not talking about Rafael Nadal) Pau Gasol, he resembled Casper yesterday night. Sure he had 12 rebounds, but he was completely useless in the post, as he repeatedly kicked it out when he was posting up Garnett. It was sickening to see a Laker re-post to him, only to have Gasol kick it out again! I thought that the Lakers were going to re-establish him early just like they did in Game 2 when he was 6-6 in the 1st quarter, but Pau has proven he does not want the ball. Phil Jackson will be in his left ear and Kobe in his right all night if he doesn't assert himself offensively. If he doesn't, the label of Pau "Gasoft" will be his to bear like the scarlet letter "A" for quite some time.

Lamar Odom might as well be on the show "Lost." The dude has no idea what is going on the court. Every time he attacks the basket, he is rejected by a Celtic, or he throws up a wild air ball. He was 2-9, but had 9 rebounds. Odom has to keep it simple. He needs to shoot the open jumper and make the Celtics pay for sagging off of him. Also, he needs to just be a steady rebounder, and defend the paint. If the Lakers get the little things from Lamar Odom, and consistency from Pau Gasol, they will be tough to beat in Game 4.

Finally, what to expect in Game 4? Well, to be honest, I don't really know. The Lakers were favored by 9 1/2 pts. in Vegas, and they couldn't even cover the spread. You don't really know which Lakers or Celtics team is going to show up, but I'm going to bet on the MVP Kobe Bryant.

The funniest stat of the night was that Kobe had only 1 assist. He took it upon himself to be aggressive and go to the hole. He sliced and diced his way through the Boston defense, and may have figured out how to get past the Green Hole that is the Boston D. Expect Boston to double team him more often on the catch, and make another Laker starter beat them. So far, no other Laker starter besides Kobe has had a huge impact on the series. The bench is another story...

THE MACHINE! MACHINA! EL MAQUINA! Whatever language you want to use, it sounds just as nice, because The Machine was locked, cocked, and ready to unload his offensive arsenal, as soon as he touched the ball. He was a highly efficient 7-10 shooting the ball making three 3 pointers, and he made me a happy man because I picked him to have a breakout game.

My next breakout performer will be Jordan Farmar in Game 4. The man is fearless as he stood toe to toe with that bully arm-pulling ancient Center P.J. "Clown." He would benefit playing more minutes as well.

Both teams looked exhausted when the game came to a close. Expect a cleaner and crisper Game 4. If the Lakers lose Game 4, this series will be over. They have to play with the same intensity, but better smarts. Boston will play better, so it's up to the Lakers to continue to hold serve. By the way, before I make my prediction, how awful was that Laker crowd?! The Lakers have officially priced out their home court advantage.

My Prediction: This one is up for grabs, DON'T BET ON THE GAME!

What we learned from Game 1 going into Game 2

It has been two days since the opening of the NBA Finals. I predicted that we would see a sloppy game full of turnovers and ugly offensive possessions because of the players' nerves. After all, for 90% of the players on the court, the NBA Finals was a new experience. The first half was a well played basketball game for both teams. However, the second half played a lot better for the Irish than the men who wear purple and gold.

The Lakers are the most efficient team in basketball offensively. Phil Jackson has players that are perfectly suited for the triangle. They've been called the best passing team in basketball by many NBA pundits. This same offense scored 30 points in the 2nd quarter, but could only manage a meager 15 points to end the game, with only four field goals made in the 4th quarter.

A lot of the blame is going to Kobe Bryant, and rightfully so. He ventured out of the triangle offense on many occasions, and consistently relied on his fade-away jump shot. He shot 9-26, and I can count on my left hand just about how many times he drove to the basket. That's very unlike Kobe and shooting only six free throws for a guy who loves to slash, is simply unacceptable.

Kobe said after the game that he missed a lot of "bunnies" and he's due for a good game against the Celtics. The Celtics should get credit for not allowing him to drive into the paint and playing good help-defense, but the MVP of the league needs to be more aggressive.

I have never seen Kobe defer two wide open three pointers in my life. My cousin James told me that Kobe doesn't like to take wide open shots as much as he likes to create shots off the dribble, and I agree with him to an extent. The fact of the matter is we all know that Kobe can make a big three any time that he wants, but the fact that he deferred shows confidence in his teammates. Unfortunately, his fellow Lakers let him down as well.

Pau Gasol did not come to play in Game 1. He became Pau Gasoft again as he missed some wide open jumpers and was essentially Snuggles Soft around the basket, when he wasn't getting a clear dunk off Kobe's double-team. Pau needs to do a much better job boxing out the tenacious rebounder Kevin Garnett. KG out-hustled Pau twice down the stretch, and put the exclamation point on the game with his thunderous put-back jam.

Lamar Odom was back to his old self missing lay ups and disappearing on the court, so much so that Phil Jackson had him on the bench in crunch time.

The only player on the Lakers that played well was Derek Fisher. He was 4-9 with 15 points and played aggressively by getting to the hoop and shooting eight free throws. His backup was completely ineffective in Jordan Farmar. He only played seven minutes and was a non-factor.

The Battle of the Bench was definitively won by the Boston Celtics. Sam Cassell rose from the dead and knocked down four jump shots, while posting up Derek Fisher. They out-rebounded the Lakers bench 12-8 and beat them up inside.

The Lakers need to improve on two things going into Game 2:
1. Run the triangle, and make the extra pass.
2. Play better collective team defense. Boston shot the lights out in the 3rd quarter.

Paul Pierce has been a target for critics as well. Some people believe that he faked the injury in order to induce a Willis Reed type moment. It certainly worked for the crowd, since Phil Jackson took a quick time out in order to diffuse the crowd (something he rarely does).

I believe that he is actually hurt and he won't be close to 100% for Game 2. Most of the shots Pierce made when he came back from his injury were from the three point line. He scored an amazing six points in the first minute of the 3rd quarter. A truly gutsy performance by the pride of the Celtics.

With all that being said, the Lakers need to attack him like a shark smelling blood. He will most likely guard Vlad Rad, so the the Serbian Slalom needs to be more assertive offensively. Pierce won't have much lateral movement and Kobe needs to realize where is on the court so he can slash his way to the basket.

The Lakers played a horrendous 4th quarter and were in the game down the stretch. Boston is trying to give Kobe Bryant "The Jordan Rules," like Detroit did to him in the Finals in 2004, but this Lakers team is different. He actually has help now, and his teammates aren't all injured or brain-dead like Gary Payton or Slava Medvedenko! They need to make minor adjustments, and I expect them to win Game 2.

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.

NBA Finals Preview: The Matchups

The NBA Finals are only two days away, but it seems like forever since the last time the Lakers last played a game. They haven't played since last Thursday, where they defeated the San Antonio Spurs. That means that by the time the ball is tipped for the Finals, the Lakers will have had a whole week off. The Celtics on the other hand will have had one less day of rest, since they finished their series with Detroit on Friday. The days off won't have much of a factor in this series, other than it allows some of Boston's older players to rest (Cassell and P.J. Brown).

I don't want to focus on the past match-ups of these basketball juggernauts because ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNDEPORTES, AND ESPN CLASSIC will do it all for me. I mean seriously, when is the last time you watched T.V. without seeing a promo for the Finals? The NBA is trying to target the "glory days" audience of the BOS-LA rivalry by ending their Finals promo with the image of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird standing side-by-side. This series will definitely bring a lot of interest from the casual sports viewers as well as the old-timers who hope a new Celtics-Lakers rivalry can begin anew.

Okay, so let's forget about the past and talk about the present. These matchups in the NBA Finals will be the most interesting by far. There are so many different matchups that both teams can throw at each other, it's mind-boggling. All we know for certain that Fisher will guard Rondo and Kobe will guard Allen. The rest of the matchups mostly have to do with the versatility of both teams defensively, and how Game 1 plays out.

Kevin Garnett is the best defensive player on the Celtics. We all now how talented he is offensively, but his defense has gone largely unnoticed until this year, when he captured the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He can guard any position on the court, and his ability to roam around defensively will surely cause the Lakers problems. If Garnett guards Pau Gasol, I expect Pau to eat him up inside because of the size difference, but I don't see Doc Rivers liking that matchup too much. Garnett will mostly likely be on Lamar Odom. Good luck Lamar...

However, Lamar Odom is versatile defensively as well. He could end up guarding Paul Pierce, or Kevin Garnett. It depends who Phil wants to throw at Celtics starting center Kendrick Perkins. He'll probably eat up Odom's lunch inside, so Phil will want to throw more bulk at him with Pau, and Turiaf coming off the bench to combat Leon Powe.

One of the most interesting matchups will be Kobe Bryant on Ray Allen. These two have a colorful history. It started in 2004 when Ray assessed Kobe's game post-Shaq trade:

"He's going to be very selfish," Allen said of Bryant. "And he feels like he needs to show this league and the people in this country that he is better without Shaq."

Allen went on to say:

"If Kobe doesn't see he needs two and a half good players to be a legitimate playoff contender or win a championship in about a year or two he'll be calling out to Jerry Buss that 'We need some help in here,' or 'Trade me,' " Allen said. "And we'll all be saying, 'I told you so,' when he says that."

Wow, I'm just gonna start calling him Ray "Nostradamus" Allen. That's pretty much exactly what happened when Kobe asked to be traded last summer. Apparently Kobe called Ray Allen up and told him that "I'm going to bust your ass," before an exhibition game. Yeah, this was before a PRE-SEASON Game! Kobe and Allen denied it, but Kobe did tell reporters to not mention his name in the same breath as Ray Allen. We will see if time heals all wounds...

We all know about Allen's struggles in the playoffs, but he has picked it up recently, and with Kobe's tendency to leave his man and roam around defensively, Allen will have some good looks at the basket. The only thing holding him back is his confidence, and who knows if he'll throw up more screwballs from 3-point land, like a common Stojakovic in a Game 7.

Coach Jackson knows that both teams will learn more about matchups during Game 1:

"We're going to move people around and find who's going to guard whom in this series. Those things will change dramatically as we go through the first game and the series."

The Celtics and Lakers can match each other's exuberance and tenacity to play basketball. They are rah-rah teams that have a lot of chemistry and it shows on the court. From Kevin Garnett screaming into his players' ears to stay motivated, to Ronny Turiaf's insane dancing on the bench.

The Lakers know they have the experience necessary with Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, and Luke Walton all having Finals experience. I expect Kobe and Derek to be very assertive offensively in order to dictate the tempo, and impose their will on a Boston starting lineup that lacks any NBA Finals experience.

Both these teams have reached their destination. Game 1 is the testing ground. It is the battle before the war.