What's the biggest mismatch in this NBA Finals?

[Patterns]

The matchup problems we have against the Celtics cannot be underrated.

Do you guys remember how we always got blown out by the Suns when we had Kwame with an undeveloped Bynum and no Pau? Because we just couldn't match up with them. We were always down by 20, 25 playing the Suns. The Suns were the only team we could never beat and we drew them twice in the playoffs. While all the Lakers fans were celebrating like we won the series when we went up 3-1, I still thought that the Suns would come back and beat us and they did.

You have to look at little intangibles when you look at a series. You can't just base things off of games vs other teams. To play the Suns, you have to have a big man who can rebound and finish at the rim. We had Kwame freaking Brown. When we had Bynum this year, we took the Suns out easily.

Same thing with the Celtics. If you want to beat the Celtics, you have to either have an athletic team like the Bobcats(did extremely well vs the Celtics) and Hawks, or a big physical team like the Cavs.

We have neither of those. We have Kobe and Phil Jackson. I pray that we'll be able to pull out a miracle and I hope Phil has a master game plan to hide our weaknesses.

[EHL]

I don't think Lakers fans understand this concept:The Cavs and Pistons played the type of defense that causes the Celtics to struggle at times offensively.

Not only are the Cavs and Pistons highly disciplined but they have defenders who match up well with the Celtics at several key positions. At SF you have Lebron and Prince. At SG you had Richard Hamilton and in the Cavs series the Cavs doubled Ray everytime he caught the ball. In both the Cavs and Pistons series you had several solid defensive bigs. This is why the Celtics have at times looked like an anemic offensive team.

The Lakers do not have the players or the type of defensive discipline of our last two opponents.

The Lakers will use the same strategy our last two opponents used against Rondo. They will leave him and use that defender to muddle things up. The C's are slowly improving against this strategy often using Rondo as an offensive rebounder.

Kobe will be able to defend Ray straight up. But... the Lakers are going to have to send doubles at Pierce AND KG so that would clearly point to Ray getting free quite a bit.

The Celtics offense is bound to function at a higher level against the Lakers because they simply do not have the horses on defense to handle our top two players.

Sure the Lakers can try to outscore the Celtics but the Celtics are going to get more high percentage looks and will likely dominate the glass. Leaving the Lakers with one and out possessions on offense while the Celtics will get more second and third chances offensively. Over the course of games and series' this will wear down the Lakers.

Except the Lakers already played a tougher defensive team, a playoff-proven and battle-tested 3-time championship team, and beat them in 5. Cavs sending doubles at Ray Allen? Come on man, be real here, no such thing occurred with any regularity, that's just lunacy. Fact of the matter is the Lakers have a combination of all sorts of things that the Celtics don't want to see; they have a huge advantage with Kobe being guarded by Ray Allen, which has two effects; one, Kobe will inevitably get beat him off the dribble, and two it'll take Allen off his game, which has already been horrid most of the playoffs. Pierce's advantage on Radman is big, but Pierce isn't nearly the threat Bryant is and luckily Radman isn't nearly as important to the Lakers as Ray Allen. Best of all, Ariza is healthy and has proven he can stay in front of Allen Iverson. Look for Ariza to have a great series defensively in spots against Paul Pierce.

Basically it'll come down to KG having to carry the load, which the Lakers have no issues with whatsoever. The more the ball is in KG's hands the better, it'll take away from Pierce's game. Lakers would much rather Pierce didn't handle the ball. And no, KG will not be doubled with any regularity. Even Duncan wasn't, and certainly Duncan is more of a scoring threat than KG.

[EHL]

The matchup problems we have against the Celtics cannot be underrated.

Do you guys remember how we always got blown out by the Suns when we had Kwame with an undeveloped Bynum and no Pau? Because we just couldn't match up with them. We were always down by 20, 25 playing the Suns. The Suns were the only team we could never beat and we drew them twice in the playoffs. While all the Lakers fans were celebrating like we won the series when we went up 3-1, I still thought that the Suns would come back and beat us and they did.

You have to look at little intangibles when you look at a series. You can't just base things off of games vs other teams. To play the Suns, you have to have a big man who can rebound and finish at the rim. We had Kwame freaking Brown. When we had Bynum this year, we took the Suns out easily.

Same thing with the Celtics. If you want to beat the Celtics, you have to either have an athletic team like the Bobcats(did extremely well vs the Celtics) and Hawks, or a big physical team like the Cavs.

We have neither of those. We have Kobe and Phil Jackson. I pray that we'll be able to pull out a miracle and I hope Phil has a master game plan to hide our weaknesses.

rofl. You're just horrid at this.

[eatyourchildren]

The matchup problems we have against the Celtics cannot be underrated.

Do you guys remember how we always got blown out by the Suns when we had Kwame with an undeveloped Bynum and no Pau? Because we just couldn't match up with them. We were always down by 20, 25 playing the Suns. The Suns were the only team we could never beat and we drew them twice in the playoffs. While all the Lakers fans were celebrating like we won the series when we went up 3-1, I still thought that the Suns would come back and beat us and they did.

You have to look at little intangibles when you look at a series. You can't just base things off of games vs other teams. To play the Suns, you have to have a big man who can rebound and finish at the rim. We had Kwame freaking Brown. When we had Bynum this year, we took the Suns out easily.

Same thing with the Celtics. If you want to beat the Celtics, you have to either have an athletic team like the Bobcats(did extremely well vs the Celtics) and Hawks, or a big physical team like the Cavs.

We have neither of those. We have Kobe and Phil Jackson. I pray that we'll be able to pull out a miracle and I hope Phil has a master game plan to hide our weaknesses.

You're right. Celtics have no exploitable weaknesses. Lakers are exactly the kind of team that Celtics can thump.

Please remove your sig banner.

[humblebum]

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Except the Lakers already played a tougher defensive team, a playoff-proven and battle-tested 3-time championship team, and beat them in 5. Cavs sending doubles at Ray Allen? Come on man, be real here, no such thing occurred with any regularity, that's just lunacy. Fact of the matter is the Lakers have a combination of all sorts of things that the Celtics don't want to see; they have a huge advantage with Kobe being guarded by Ray Allen, which has two effects; one, Kobe will inevitably get beat him off the dribble, and two it'll take Allen off his game, which has already been horrid most of the playoffs. Pierce's advantage on Radman is big, but Pierce isn't nearly the threat Bryant is and luckily Radman isn't nearly as important to the Lakers as Ray Allen. Best of all, Ariza is healthy and has proven he can stay in front of Allen Iverson. Look for Ariza to have a great series defensively in spots against Paul Pierce.

Basically it'll come down to KG having to carry the load, which the Lakers have no issues with whatsoever. The more the ball is in KG's hands the better, it'll take away from Pierce's game. Lakers would much rather Pierce didn't handle the ball. And no, KG will not be doubled with any regularity. Even Duncan wasn't, and certainly Duncan is more of a scoring threat than KG.

The Celtics have the best defense in the NBA. They've had it all season long. They have one of the best one on one post defenders in Kendrick Perkins. They have the best pick and roll/help defense big man in the game in KG. They have a great perimeter defender in Pierce (a much better defender at this stage of his career than Bruce Bown). They also have two average defenders in Rondo and Ray. Ray will be ready for Kobe and he's done a great job on him during the regular season. On top of this they have a great scheme and all of the players are committed to it. Posey and PJ add to this as well.

I love how again a Laker fan is counting on Pierce and KG to roll over and die in fourth quarters. It's truly hilarious. Did you watch game 7 of the Cavs series? Have you watched KG at all this postseason he's a supremely efficient offensive player who can always get his shot off.

If the Lakers are placing all their hopes on the fact that the Celtics "struggled with lesser teams like Atlanta and Cleveland" or that "they are a bunch of career losers who will choke in the clutch" they're in for a huge suprise.

And again the Cavs and Pistons are MUCH MUCH MUCH better equipped to guard the Celtics. The Lakers have NO SUCH EQUIPMENT defensively and will have to rely on their scoring if they are to have any chance in this series.

[eatyourchildren]

All I know is this: Ray Allen is ready for Kobe Bryant.

[RocketPower23]

All I know is this: Ray Allen is ready for Kobe Bryant.

Hey, Kenyon Martin couldn't stop him, AK47, Brewer and Harping couldn't stop him and Bowen couldn't stop him, but Ray Allen is going to stop him.

[Patterns]

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You're right. Celtics have no exploitable weaknesses. Lakers are exactly the kind of team that Celtics can thump.

Please remove your sig banner.

Yes. The Celtics are to the Lakers now as the Suns were to the Lakers when we had Kwame: the team that match up well against us and has the right approach to the game that we simply cannot beat in a 7 game series. We couldn't beat the Suns run and gun style no matter what in 04-07 and I don't think we can beat the Celtics with their physical philosophy.

That's not to say that they don't have any weaknesses. We're just not the team that can exploit that weakness.

For example, the pre-Shaq Suns' weakness was that a good big man like Duncan will outrebound them and wear them off. But for us, we had Kwame, possibly the worst player to use against Phx at that time. Back in 05-07, if you told me that the Lakers had to play the Suns, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. If you told me that the Lakers had to play the Spurs or Mavericks, I would at least have some hope.

I feel like the Celtics are what the Suns to us before. They're not necessarily the better team but they are the team I don't think we can beat in the playoffs.

Hey Suns fans, do you agree with what I just said? You're probably more objective than most Lakers fans.

[eatyourchildren]

Definitely.

[CB4MiamiHeat]

I voted Doc Rivers vs. Phil..but I think Fish and Rondo is an overlooked mismatch on Fishers side...

Fishers been insane with the steals, i expect Fisher to back off Rondo and pick off a lot of passes, strip people off double teams, basically play center field with Rondos inability to shoot or be agressive.

[RocketPower23]

I voted Doc Rivers vs. Phil..but I think Fish and Rondo is an overlooked mismatch on Fishers side...

Fishers been insane with the steals, i expect Fisher to back off Rondo and pick off a lot of passes, strip people off double teams, basically play center field with Rondos inability to shoot or be agressive.

This what I expect from whoever guards Rondo, whether it be Fish or Kobe.

I also can see the Lakers letting KG go one on one and doubling down hard on Pierce.

[Patterns]

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This what I expect from whoever guards Rondo, whether it be Fish or Kobe.

I also can see the Lakers letting KG go one on one and doubling down hard on Pierce.

I expect the Lakers to double Pierce. If you let KG go off, he'll get his 25 points. If you let Pierce go off, he'll beat you with 35.

[RocketPower23]

I wouldn't mind Fisher on Ray Allen and Kobe playing a defensive free role on Rondo. Unless Ray starts hitting jumpers, in which case Kobe goes back on Ray.
And I have a feeling the Lakers might use Odom on Pierce, Gasol on Garnett and Rad on Perkins.
Just a gut instinct...

No way, Rad is too much of a cream puff for Perkins, we'd have no chance on the board with him guarding their Center.

[Rerisen]

I think experience is a factor. Most people look at the Lakers as a inexperienced team, but where it counts, they have it.

Phil and Kobe have 12 rings between them alone (14 if you count Phil as a player). How many do the current Celtics have?

I think Game 1 is critical to the Celts. If they get stage fright, and the Lakers steal that game, look out.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Perkins would destroy rad in the post

[CB4MiamiHeat]

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Hey, Kenyon Martin couldn't stop him, AK47, Brewer and Harping couldn't stop him and Bowen couldn't stop him, but Ray Allen is going to stop him.

i think its more about team defense...Utah and Denver are pretty bad, and San Antonio decided to defend 1 on 1, leaving Bowen on an island.

Boston will give Kobe more attention and defend him the best of the 4 teams..though that means a lot of open shots for Vlad, Fisher, Vujacic, etc..

[Serpo]

I think the Spurs defended the Lakers very very well they just couldn't execute well enough on the offensive end . The Celtics should take a look at what the Spurs did because it was fairly succesful on the defensive end .

[Patterns]

I think the Spurs defended the Lakers very very well they just couldn't execute well enough on the offensive end . The Celtics should take a look at what the Spurs did because it was fairly succesful on the defensive end .

Celtics defend just as well as the Spurs if not better but they don't have nearly the troubles of scoring.

[snaquille oatmeal]

In all seriousness, LeBron only averaged 13 FTA in our series. I don't think Kobe can get to the rim as well and draw as much contact as LeBron.

that is the problem right there.

[EHL]

The Celtics have the best defense in the NBA. They've had it all season long.

3 NBA championships say you're wrong.

They have one of the best one on one post defenders in Kendrick Perkins.

My guess; Pau Gasol will have it easy this series compared to what he had to deal with last series on every possession with Tim Duncan guarding him.

They have the best pick and roll/help defense big man in the game in KG. They have a great perimeter defender in Pierce (a much better defender at this stage of his career than Bruce Bown).

Sorry dude, this is where you exit stage left.

They also have two average defenders in Rondo and Ray. Ray will be ready for Kobe and he's done a great job on him during the regular season. On top of this they have a great scheme and all of the players are committed to it. Posey and PJ add to this as well.

The Lakers' bench was superior all season, even including the early parts of the season when they were green as hell and just starting to break out. And even before Gasol. PJ Brown on Odom, Gasol, or Turiaf makes me laugh a little inside.

I love how again a Laker fan is counting on Pierce and KG to roll over and die in fourth quarters. It's truly hilarious. Did you watch game 7 of the Cavs series? Have you watched KG at all this postseason he's a supremely efficient offensive player who can always get his shot off.

I'd rather rely on Bryant and Fisher in the clutch than Pierce and KG. Two of those players are battle tested and championship proven. The other two? Not so much.

If the Lakers are placing all their hopes on the fact that the Celtics "struggled with lesser teams like Atlanta and Cleveland" or that "they are a bunch of career losers who will choke in the clutch" they're in for a huge suprise.

And again the Cavs and Pistons are MUCH MUCH MUCH better equipped to guard the Celtics. The Lakers have NO SUCH EQUIPMENT defensively and will have to rely on their scoring if they are to have any chance in this series.

You haven't watched the Lakers at all if you think they can't defend like the Cavs or Pistons for very long stretches.