Why & How Boston won in '08

[laoc]

In case you forgot, here is a video analysis of the 2008 finals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nepmd2ygMK4


The entire series was pretty muched rigged & one-sided. Too much money was invested on the Lakers. Everyone and their grandmas (including the analysts) picked the Lakers to win. The Lakers were the heavy favorites to win it all.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2 ... ies=lalbos


In game one, Boston pretty muched lived on the free throw line. The Lakers were getting fouled hard without any calls (as you will see in the video). There were a lot of hand checking and illegal moving screens as well. Most of these fouls were obvious, but never called. Whenever the Lakers tried to fight back, they would get the whistle. By the way the games were being called, the Lakers didn't have a chance in hell to win in '08. That series was so frustrating to watch and I can only imagine how the Lakers felt. I was impressed at how Kobe was able to keep his cool.

This is a new series, new year, and new team. Bynum was out, Ariza was playing with a bad ankle, the "Space-Cadet" was starting (no more Turiaf, Mihm, & Newbie). Boston is missing a few key guys from '08 also (PJ Brown, Cassell, Posey, House). Posey was a dirty player.

The Lakers need to come out and hit Boston hard (literally) to make a statement. I want to see some straight up 80's style/MMA basketball. Boston gets away with a lot of fouls. Remeber the '09 playoffs (Boston vs Bulls)? Rondo threw Henrich across the scores table. Then he punched Brad Miller in the face. Rondo was never ejected or suspended. If Boston plays dirty, the Lakers need a power play like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y8CzEjN ... re=related


This will force the refs to call the games tighter. The Lakers are a finesse team, so it will be in their favor. The Lakers have a few tough guys on the team, so I'm not worried if the games get physical (Kobe, Odom, Artest, & Fisher). After the '08 series, the Lakers learned how to play physical with a few moves up their sleeves.


Here's a clip of an "old school" foul by Kobe (knee and elbow to the face):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PsPATt5 ... re=related


Here's a hard foul made by Odom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmzK7zX ... re=related
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0161382020080101


The Lakers need to beat Boston at their own game. Make no mistake, this Lakers team can play physical if necessary. I'm expecting some T's, hard fouls, flagrant fouls, ejections, and suspensions. Guys like Mbenga, Powell, or Vujacic need to step up and take one for the team. We can't afford to lose any of our starters. If you have been watching the Boston series, they have been fouling guys hard around the rim... making them earn the pts on the free throw line. Their strategy is to have everyone use up all six fouls.

Here's a chance for Artest to keep his promise to Kobe. Remeber after the game 6 blowout, he promised Kobe (in the shower) that it will never happen again. Lets hope Pierce doesn't pull the wheelchair trick again. The Lakers won't fall for it this time around.

[Lakeshow2417]

**** thread. BOS I felt was teh better defensive team and that 15+pt lead in game 4 I beleive still has a sour taste in my mouth

[brownfishfarmar]

There were a lot of BS calls but in hindsight... The Celtics simply devised an EXCELLENT strategy for defending Kobe Bryant and no one else on the Lakers stepped up.

Throw in the Game 4 collapse in which the Lakers gifted the Celtics a historic win and I think it's safe to say that Boston executed better in the finals hence why they won...

Oh yeah also there was a lot of Walton on Pierce and Vujacic on Allen in the series, thankfully those two guys are pretty much out of the rotation and despite his terrible offense from time to time Ron will be here to check Pierce.

[Day in the Life]

Sorry, even as a Lakers fan. Your video and explanations are (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

Boston had three solid defenders on Kobe. Three solid defenders in Pierce, Allen, and Posey. Not to mention, their overall team defense was excellent. Pau was just neutralized. Even though they got away with moving screens and other bad calls...the Lakers choked. There's no excuse for the meltdown in game 4. We were up 20+ and we just choked it due to our lack of mental and physical toughness.

It also didn't hurt to give up wide open three's to Allen, House, and Posey.

Hopefully this year will be different with Bynum in the frontcourt and Artest guarding Pierce.

[bballcool34]

I hope that if the Celtics lose to you guys this year, I have the class to admit that you guys were the better team....

We won in 08 because we were the better team.

That might be different this year though....I'm not nearly as confident as I was back then, but hey, they're there, and the Celts have risen above the doubts the entire playoffs....

[King Of The 4th]

Classy comments by LA fans in this thread. Glad to see that you aren't playing the "THE NBA IS RIGGED!!1!" card like your "friend" laoc here.

[Jajwanda]

The 08 bench was ramshackled. Boston out rebounded them to the point Turiaf didn't get playing time anymore. Gasol and Odom were tired, extremely tired playing massive minutes afraid to get into foul trouble because of their terrible replacement(s). Bynum being back should help and Powell is decent. Shannon Brown at least provides defensive value to the team. My new outlook on the players in the series?

I'd say the Laker's front court even if neutralized is still superior to that of Boston. Odom is better than Rasheed, Bynum hurt over Perkins, and I think Gasol will finally shut REALGM the **** up with this Garnett owned him bull. Artest will have a tough time but he'll slow Pierce down a bit.

I'd say the addition of Shannon Brown only helps the Lakers in that they have a guy to slow down Rondo and Allen a bit. I want to see Odom-Gasol isolate Garnett-Perkins every damn play.

[Luffy]

Simply put, Boston beat us in 2008 because they were the better team. I do have to point out that they received many favorable calls on their home court (cue Game 2), but that's to be expected of home court advantage. They had home court advantage because they were the league's best regular season team, while the Lakers were not. Lakers are the ones to blame for not having secured home court.

This year, whichever team makes it out of the NBA finals with the Larry O'Brien Trophy, will have won because they are the better team. I'm just glad the Lakers have home court advantage this time and the referee advantage for 4 games.

[DubaLakers]

Nah OP KG should have fouled out every game by the half the way he mauls with his arms, and Paula Pierce's best part of her game is her cannon shotted foul reaction upon contact. But it was clear that Beantown was the superior team.

I'm going to love Artest on Paula matchup for sure (it's important Ron keeps a level head)
think the key to the series is that exactly Pierce/Artest.

As long as the Lakers play ball hard and don't whilne about calls because they'll be a ton of bad calls. And nobody erupts like stupid Sasha did tonight I love the Lakes chances for sure. I feel confident.

[soxfan2003]

Celtic fan here. The Celtics were the better team in 08 but I will be the first to admit that 2010 is different since KG, PP and RA are all 2 years older. And the Lakers are obviously better now then back then. Rondo has obviously improved and now has the trust of his teammates but Perkins really hasn't that much.

Tony Allen before his latest ankle injury in this years post season was playing better then Posey from 2008. I remember Posey that year being absolutely abused by Lebron James driving to the basket in the Cavs series but Tony Allen actually did a very impressive job this year. If Tony Allen isn't effective off the bench that is huge since he is someone capable of giving Kobe a very difficult time even though Kobe could make him look bad with a 4 point play. I doubt someone like Daniels can do a good job on Kobe. Ray Allen is a smarter defender then Tony Allen but Tony Allen is more athletic. If healthy, Rasheed is clearly better then PJ Brown but the Celtics don't have Powe and he was good in the 08 postseason.

Artest is certainly a big improvement over the Lakers wings from 08 but quite honestly the Laker that concerns me the most relative to expectations is Lamar Odom. Fortunately, if Boston goes small KG will probably be on him but Odom's passing/ballhandling and rebounding ability are impressive.

If this series was played when Boston peaked in the playoffs...last 3 games vs Cleveland and first 3 vs Orlando, I honestly don't think the Lakers could match that level of play. But realistically the Celtics may have been playing a little over their heads on offense during that stretch since Rasheed Wallace was shooting very well and playing very good defense.

But this series could easily go to the Lakers since I am not sure if the Celtics have 6 or 7 more great games in them. And clearly LA is the best offensive team the Celtics will have faced this post season. The Celtics need the rest before the finals but I am not sure if Tony Allen, Rondo, KG and Wallace will look as good as they did earlier in the playoffs. And Perkins is 1 tech away from missing a whole game. I expected KG to struggle a bit vs Orlando since Howard is the second best player in the game today after Lebron but KG struggled a bit more then even I expected. (I have Kobe as the 3rd or 4th best player in the nba) Rondo has grown as a player since Howard did a tremendous patrolling the paint and Rondo still contributed.

I realize Artest is good enough to prevent Pierce from going off but quite frankly what makes Paul Pierce so difficult to guard right now is that he does such a good job of picking his spots. Pierce really gets most of his points in the flow of the game. He is happy to get 18 points on 12 shots and isn't looking to score 35 points.

Artest is tough and certainly athletic but he is no where even close to Lebron on defense.. Lebron shutdown Pierce's offense since he was taller, significantly stronger, and much faster then Pierce. Pierce knew he was outclassed in that 1 on 1 matchup and did the smart thing of letting other Celtics beat the Cavs. And he primarily focused on just helping slow down Lebron's offense. Artest just matches Pierce's toughness but doesn't really pose a defensive challenge anywhere near Lebron. Pierce had to be weary of Lebron blocking his drives from virtually anywhere.

Kobe clearly has the physical tools to guard Ray Allen extremely well on any single play or series of plays but I question whether he will have the discipline and energy to not let up at times with all of the screens he will be facing.

Barring new injuries playing a huge role, I would think this series is either Celtics in 6 or Laker in 7.

[SashAlex]

I hope that if the Celtics lose to you guys this year, I have the class to admit that you guys were the better team....

We won in 08 because we were the better team.

That might be different this year though....I'm not nearly as confident as I was back then, but hey, they're there, and the Celts have risen above the doubts the entire playoffs....

You weren't better, you wanted it more as a team, as a group. You were hungrier. I mean, almost everyone from the Celtics '08 team had 0 rings besides Posey. Kobe couldn't do it alone. But I still believe if things had been different in Game 4, it would've gone to 7 games and you never know...

Anyway, let me ask you a question - are you( Celtics fans ) allowed to post here with these ugly like you sigs ?

[monopoman]

Man the refs always have it out for LA every damn year.

I sure hope this is the year the refs don't have it out to make Kobe look like a fool. Obviously the Lakers are 100 times more skilled and talented then the Celtics.

I mean Kobe alone could take the whole Boston team duh.

[Mamba Venom]

Bynum Gasol LO Artest Kobe Fish ALL need to bring the D.

They remember

Their pride has been injured

There is so much fuel the fire cannot be contained

This time Phil WILL light that CIGAR

[magic1fan]

only a homer or a hater would deny the fact that boston got away with alot of bs because they were the so called better defensive team. they were allowed to do alot of holding grabbing and pushing. when the lakers did the same they were called for fouls.

now with that said,they were hungrier. kobe and fisher were the only one's not scared of the celtics fake thug tatics.

[Triple M]

in the first video does the guy not know the difference between help defense and a zone??? Just because Kobe is getting double teamed or the Celtics are forcing him to the rotating help doesn't necessarily mean the Celtics are playing a zone defense.

[laoc]

I'm glad Phoenix played zone defense the last couple of games because it prepared the Lakers for the Boston series. Boston plays a lot of zone and they'll be sending 2-3 guys at Kobe to get the ball out of his hands, which means 2-3 guys will be open. The Lakers role players will have to step up in this series.

Boston is a physical team, so the Lakers will have to match their level of intensity. They have a couple of banged up guys, as do we.... it's just a matter of who's going to want it more. After playing the Thunders and Suns, the Lakers are glad to match up with Boston. Boston is not a team that likes to run for 48 mins.

If I was PJ, I would torture the guys by making them watch game 6 of the '08 finals to give them more motivation. No one forgets a 40 pt blowout. I actually think Boston's '08 roster was better than it is now, and our roster has improved with Artest.

Boston is a good road team and LA is a good home team. The most important game is game 1, which will set the tone for the series.

[NBAWestFan]

I hope that if the Celtics lose to you guys this year, I have the class to admit that you guys were the better team....

We won in 08 because we were the better team.

That might be different this year though....I'm not nearly as confident as I was back then, but hey, they're there, and the Celts have risen above the doubts the entire playoffs....

What is this have to admit comment? Sounds like a lack of confidence.
Not something you want to see from a bigtime C' fan.

That is right the 08 was a better team than the 10 team and it took 6 games but
was pretty much lopsided.

Now that it is more even how would the C's close in 6 as some predict. Not likely.
I see a 7 game series or a Lakers in 6 more likely than a C's in 5 or C's in 6.

[rendezvousness]

rondo will outplay fisher...

but artest will keep pierce at bay, and kobe will own allen. gasol and odom will outplay garnett and sheed. bynum=perkins, w/e.

lakers in 6 this year for sure. unfortuatenly...... not a lakers fan. go head kobe. you wont get 6 anyway.

[DubaLakers]

I think you guys are wrong on the matchups. No way Kobe follows Ray around all day that's stupid. Ray would not be a good matchup for Kobe. Sure Kobe could guard him, especially down the stretch and at times during the game, but that's not how they matched up this year. Kobe likes to help to much Ray would love that.

Fish took Ray and Kobe laid off Rondo.

[Cqc_Nastyn8]

??? eh the only game i felt was horrible was game 2 other then that we couldn't play d. Lakers had a crappy first line.. no bynum,no ariza at the time, no bench really. Celtics had house and posey coming off the bench and thats deep. Also we had garbage rod monabitch who just sucked. we just needed a few more pieces