NBA Finals Game #1 - Celtics @ Lakers

[LALFan]

Kobe's gonna ball up Pierce so bad he's gonna end up on a wheelchair again

[TylersLakers]

Man.. all these days between games. It's good for the team and players like Andrew and Kobe, but damn, I want this thing to tip off right now.

[GreenDreamer]

You guys are sleeping on Rondo bigtime. The Kobe strategy really doesn't work any more. Just playing into the kid's hands now. He WANTS that look.

The fact of the matter is that you guys have never really faced THIS Celtics team before. Rondo is the central figure now, and you don't have anyone that he really respects to defend him. He doesn't care about your on the ball defenders, and he doesn't care about your bigs. The only big in the league who really bothers him is already in the rear view mirror.

How one-dimensional, so Rondo doesn't care what other people think and wants a challenge, wow big deal dude! I love Rondo's game but there are a few NBA Players with that mentality, it's called being a star. Rondo's breaking out but thinking that his mentality will out-do Kobe's defense is a straight up empty statement built on Rondo's success against others who've guarded him (Williams? Nelson?) this is Kobe, the man who plays both sides of the court. You have no idea how hungry Kobe will be to shut down Rondo, i'm sure Kobe is gonna go out and guard Rondo as much as possible. Rondo will do good but not great, just not his time.

Tony Allen wasn't getting much run before. provided that he is healthy, he is going to be a problem for you. Why? Ask Wade and LeBron. They found him to be no picnic, and it isn't as if he needs to shut kobe down. He will be one of three quality defenders on Kobe. It will wear severely on Bryant.

Ray Allen is locked in. The guy is in the zone right now. the problem for you guys is that Kobe doesn't get an oncourt vacation in the series. Not only will somebody be all over him on one end, but he will have to GUARD somebody dangerous on the other end. The Celtics don't need to do that. Fisher is an easy guard for Rondo, as is Artest for Pierce. It isn't that they can't put the ball in the basket, but they will not demand a ton of energy to defend. All three of Rondo, Ray, and Pierce WILL demand that effort. Kobe will almost always be stuck with guarding one of them, and they will attack him. They will make him work. He will either be chasing Ray around on screens, wrestling around with Pierce, or trying to catch lightning in a bottle with Rondo. There are no easy outs. Kobe has been gutsy fighting through his injuries, but I think that he will be in big trouble having to carry this load. The Celtics will seek him out and conduct a war of attrition with him.

Nor Wade or LeBron had the cast that Kobe has so Kobe has options therefore he won't have to force offense due to a lack of options like Wade & LeBron so while Tony Allen's defense is respectable, its definitely NOT gonna "wear severely" on Kobe.

As for Ray Allen being locked in, he doesn't scare me either. Ok so big deal, Allens will be in the zone. We'll have Rondo on check, KG on check, Pierce on check so even i'm smart enough to know that one guy will do very well for you guys. That guy will probably be Ray Allen because of his ability to catch fire quick and being able to knock down the big shots, HOWEVER, Rondo/Ray/Pierce v.s. Fisher/Bryant/Artest is not easy one-side in your favor as you think. Ok so they demand effort, dude this is the NBA Finals anyone not in purple & gold demands effort, simple as that. You also forget to point out that your boys gotta play defense, i mean your whole outlook is from an offensive point, to which i counter with "defense wins championships". Our Fisher/Bryant/Artest will handle Rondo/Ray/Pierce on the defensive end enough to neutralize at least two of those players offensive impact. On defense, Pierce will have a hard time getting his easy looks cuz Artest is NOT gonna let him dominate in this series, Artest has been waiting, like the rest of the team, for this re-match so our intensity will be much higher than we've shown in these playoffs, so try to imagine that kind of intensity.

Here's a happy thought for you, remember 08 when you guys were too hungry and intense for us, well now the tables have turned old rival, now we'll put your face in the dirt and forever close you guys out of championship contention. Not tryin to talk trash, just talkin facts. If you wanna spit some then go for it but in here in LA, we're like hungry lions on the prowl for some Celtic green, we're gonna eat you up bones and all. No easy outs? haha you make me laugh with your overrated starting 1,2 & 3 guys.

I didn't say that Rondo didn't care about your on the ball defenders or bigs because he was "hungry". He doesn't care about them because they cannot stop him from doing what he wants to do. For example, Kobe can be as determined as he wants to be. The problem is that doesn't make him one bit faster, and that is what he would need against Rondo. Fisher? The dude has been getting smoked by speed guards for a while now. Rondo is the speediest of the speedy. Farmar? Nope. The only one who I could see possibly giving him an issue is Brown, just because he is so athletic. The problem with him is that he is dumb, and Rondo is very smart.

Rondo, like any player, could be shut off fom getting his points if you threw enough people at him. The problem is that Rondo is an elite playmaking point guard. Throwing more people at him is doing him a FAVOR. He wants that, which is why it is so important to have a guy or two who can guard him man up, or a great shot blocker like Dwight Howard to patrol the paint. You have neither, which is going to be a big problem.

You have also missed the point regarding Ray and Tony, not to mention Pierce. Kobe will be stuck guarding a real threat the vast majority of his time on the floor, and will be guarded by a guy who can do a good job on him. single up, on the other end. He had a hard time dealing with the Celtics two years ago, and it will actually be worse for him this time around. Paul has hardly lost anything, and Ray can still shoot the lights out. Tony Allen, while not being a perimeter threat, is a physical player who cuts all over the place in teh halfcourt and drags people to the rim. Rondo is a nasty piece of work now.

Kobe was able to hide in previous series defending lesser players for long stretches, and only having to expend himself on the defensive end @ key points of the game. Jared Dudely, for example, did a fine job spacing the floor, but defending him was rather easy, effort wise. There is nowhere to hide now. On the other end the Celtics will be rotating FRESH defenders onto him, and ofcourse have the elite defensive bigs to back them up. There will be no oncourt vacations. He will have to play hard the WHOLE time. The moral of the story? The guys he will be going against won't have to work nearly as hard as Kobe does himself. In a 7 game series, that can wear a guy down bigtime. LeBron was totally exhausted by the time the second round was over, and he wasn't playing on a bum knee.

You don't need to remind me about the whole defense thing. These are the Boston Celtics you are talking about. They, not the Lakers, are the team with the hardnosed, dominanting defense. The one that has already stopped teams headlined by Wade, LeBron and Dwight Howard. Eastern Conference, in the trenches basketball. The Lakers are certainly a tougher team than they used to be, but are they tough like these guys? You have faced much softer defenses up to this point than what you will see in the Finals. The Celtics, meanwhile, have already knocked off two of the finest defenses in the league by going through the Cavs and Magic. They are used to the rough stuff. They LIKE it.

A lot will come down to the matchups. If you can stop Rondo from being effective, it will probably mean that you will win the series. If the Celts stop Kobe, then it is ours. The thing is that we have the personnel to do that. Do you?

[daddyfivestar]

3 keys vs 2008
- Artest on Pierce instead of VladRad
- Pau 200 gms in the Tri now instead of 50
- no Posey, House 3 pt threats coming off the bench

[Don Ford]

Rondo, like any player, could be shut off fom getting his points if you threw enough people at him.

You're talking about Rondo like he's some kind of offensive juggernaut. The guy average 13.7 ppg in the regular season and is averaging 16.7 in the playoffs which ranks him 32nd on the playoff scoring leaders. He's a good PG but he's hardly the offensive force that you're trying to portray him as.

[iamworthy]

# Pau Gasol: "(The Finals) will only be exciting if we win." about 5 hours ago via TweetDeck

# Odom, who yesterday said the rest period was "perfect" for his body, again stated how much healthier he feels than late in season. about 6 hours ago via TweetDeck

# Lamar Odom: "I think the most important thing for us is to rebound." about 6 hours ago via TweetDeck

# Phil said that Boston "basically plays a zone" on D. Lakers certainly familiar with what they do. about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

# Jackson said the Lakers could use any one of four defenders on Rondo: Fisher, Kobe, Brown or Farmar. about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

# As expected, Bynum stuck to getting treatment on his knee today. Phil Jackson said the team's "concerned, not troubled." about 7 hours ago via TweetDeck

# Phil called the addition of Ron Artest "Huge" pertaining to Boston, since Paul Pierce was such a problem in '08. 4:43 PM May 31st via TweetDeck

# Phil called his team a more experienced unit in general, which he obviously feels good about. '08 loss & '09 win both critical. 4:37 PM May 31st via TweetDeck

# Phil talking at practice now. First on Lakers/Celtics history, then addressing Artest/Bynum additions as changes from '08.

[Troll]

This is taking to long...

[soxfan2003]

It is true the Celtics don't have a strong 3 point specialist coming off the bench but Rasheed Wallace is almost as good of a 3 point shooter for his career as Posey. Wallace shot the 3 lousy during the regular season but he has been very good this post season from that distance.

On a percentage basis, not even Ray Allen will shoot the 3 as well as Posey did in 2008 or Ray Allen did in 2008. The Celtics had several players shoot better then they were in that series. Some of it was the Lakers perimeter defense back then not being very good but other was the players were just hot and a six game series isn't a huge sample size. Just as Posey on offense played better then he actually was in 2008, I strongly believe KG missed a lot of shots he normally hits in 2008. So despite KG declining since 2008, his offensive scoring efficiency may be better in 2010.

That being said, Perkins did play hurt in that series and miss a game. And while House was a very good 3 point shooter and Tony Allen isn't.... Tony Allen is the much, much better defender then House.

Despite no longer have a truly elite defender like KG in 2008...this Celtic team may be better defensively when they put their mind too it.

1) KG has declined noticeably on the defensive end but it still at least very good. The real question is how many minutes can he play in the finals without getting tired or worn out. He is older but the celtics are better with him on the court more.
2) Pierce is still good defensively and very good on the boards...when he puts his mind to it.
3) Ray Allen is actually still a decent defender who doesn't commit lots of fouls so he is a decent guy to have on Kobe even though Allen isn't a threat to block any of Kobe's shots.
4) Perkins.... He is a little overrated defensively since his help defense isn't that good but as a 1 on 1 post defender, he is normally very good. If Bynum was 100% healthy, I'd be concerned so it will be interesting to see the level Bynum is at.
5) Rondo. Very good defender.

Now off the bench.
1) Tony Allen... When healthy, a better defender then Posey was in 2008. Allen's weakness is perimeter shooting. He isn't brutal from the perimeter like Rondo 2 years ago but he isn't nearly good enough for team's to respect him. Allen can slash to the hoop and score near the basket so teams do have to pay attention to him.
2) Rasheed Wallace. An effective defender near the basket but certainly not a guy you can count on for rebounds...even when he is putting forth the effort.
3) Davis... Surprisingly not a bad team defender for a guy with his size.
4) Daniels. -- certainly no Kobe stopper but a decent defender
5) Nate Robinson... normally a weak defender during the regular season but he showed against Orlando that when he gives maximum effort that he can be surprisingly effective. If asked to play 25 mpg, I wouldn't trust his defense but for 8-12 minutes it might be pretty good.

The 2008 team played with a very old Sam Cassell and Eddie House who were both bad defenders even though they put forth decent effort. And Rondo will be playing more minutes now then he did back then.

I don't underestimate the Lakers... They have a great team that is clearly better then the 2008 Lakers and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they beat the Celtics in 6. The Lakers are very well balanced on both ends of the court with lots of star power and a smart player in Fisher.

In my opinion, these are clearly the two best teams in basketball and only Cleveland with a healthy Lebron on top of his game is even close to either of these teams.

[Fencer reregistered]

No...NOT epic. Tradition.

Not a lot of highlights there from Lakers Finals victories over the Celtics ...

... oh, never mind. I do think you got them all.

[Fencer reregistered]

Get those brooms ready cause we'll be taking out the trash in 4. Say what you want but Im certain Ill be right.

I disagree. Kobe will go off in a game or two, accompanied by one or more of your forwards. The Celts aren't going to win this in a sweep. Besides, the refs wouldn't let it happen anyway.

As for the Lakers sweeping -- I'm going to pretend you weren't dumb enough to seriously suggest that.

[Celts17Pride]

Will the real Odom show up consistantly?

I think this one is the key to the series. Big Baby will be covering him most of the time. If Odom plays big then the Celtics could be in trouble.

[DEEP3CL]

All you Celtic fans here spewing cheerleading garbage...........I'm gonna be so far in you guys asses for days once this thing really starts.

Your green mildew infested minds are still reveling in 08......... you suckers expect me to take you seriously ?

Pfffft......... please.

[Danny Darko]

You don't need to remind me about the whole defense thing. These are the Boston Celtics you are talking about. They, not the Lakers, are the team with the hardnosed, dominanting defense.

That's funny, I could swear our Defense was #2 and you were #3 this year in opponent Field Goal %. Weird.

[The Skyhook]

I wonder if the Celtics are going to bait the Lakers to do something foolish and get technicals while they don't. If they do something like that it could work in their favor. The Celtics know they can't afford to be T'd up. That could be the case or it just might break the record for most techincals in the NBA Finals.

[GreenDreamer]

Rondo, like any player, could be shut off fom getting his points if you threw enough people at him.

You're talking about Rondo like he's some kind of offensive juggernaut. The guy average 13.7 ppg in the regular season and is averaging 16.7 in the playoffs which ranks him 32nd on the playoff scoring leaders. He's a good PG but he's hardly the offensive force that you're trying to portray him as.

Rondo averaged 13.7 ppg in the season on a team where the scoring was spread out. Moreover, it really wasn't "his offense" until the end of the season, when Doc had to basically hand the whole thing over to him out of desperation.... a move which ultimately saved the Celtics' season. No more of Pierce and Ray Allen thinking that they call the shots. In the playoffs he is averaging 16.7 ppg where Pierce is averaging 19.1 and Ray Allen is averaging 16.8. Are they dangerous scorers? I think that most would agree that they are. In addition to that Rondo is the guy who is responsible for getting everyone else involved, as evidenced by his 10 assists per game, which he gets very efficiently. To put that into context Rondo has 7 more turnovers than Pierce, our second leading assist man, while having 109 more assists. The central figure of the Celtics offense is not Pierce, or Ray Allen. It is Rondo.

Regarding the matchup, the Lakers will be the easiest one that he has had since the Heat series. Fisher is easy for him to defend, as he is really just a floor spacer. Rondo can get his rest against him in a way which was impossible agaisnt Mo Williams and Jameer Nelson, who were both the second options of their teams. Moreover, Fisher is actually a worse defender against Rondo than either of those guys. You need to be fast to stay with the kid. It is the number one requirement. Fisher is an old guy, who was getting smoked by Westbrook. Rondo is a better player than Westbrook, and is slightly faster as well. Farmar has never shown even the slightest ability to guard him. Brown might have a chance, but he is the type of guy that Rondo hoses down because of his own high BBIQ. A switch of Kobe onto Rondo really doesn't help you, because that means that Kobe is stuck running around after him, using up energy, while Ray Allen is working over the other guy.

The key difference that you will have to face, though, is that this Celtic offense is fundamentally different than it was the last time you saw it. Rondo is in full control out there. He is the one calling the plays, and he is the one running the offense. The coaches of the Heat, Cavs, and Magic all focused on one thing about Rondo which the media is only just coming to grips with: that Rondo has a great mind for the game. Change your look, and he reads it almost immediately. He will not only score points and get assists, but he will just as readily go through other people to get the basket. He sees the next pass, and the one beyond that. His ego does not demand that he be the one to take the shot or directly set the shooter up. He just sees what the defense is doing and sets up what will best defeat that defense, and he does that without hesitation. He is VERY good at it, and the opposing coaches and their players had a lot of respect for him after the series were over. They saw who was the conductor of the orchestra up close.

Once Rondo got the control he needed, everything changed for this team. You haven't faced THIS team before, just as the Cavs and Magic had not. In previous matchups, even if Rondo was running roughshod through your defense, Paul or Ray would demand the ball, or Doc would go away from Rondo because he thought that Rondo was a gimmick and "needed" the others more, and Rondo never really had the control of the whole show to begin with. That isn't the way it works anymore. It is HIS call now. If he is lighting you up, he will continue to do it. If you counter him, he will exploit the weakness created by the counter. I'm not just blowing smoke here, because it is exactly what he has done throughout the playoffs to this point. It is what Mike Brown was talking about regarding his "feel for the game." He knows where the points are in a way that few players do, and he knows how to utilize the other four Celtics to get them. He is a force multiplier, and you are going to understand this all too well yourself before this series is over.


Oh, and he isn't too shabby on the other end either.

[Danny Darko]

Kobe will gard Rondo, and he'll make him a jump shooter, which he's not. Also, you can be sure that Phil will know everything about the Celtics "new" offense. There's a reason he's about to start putting Red in the rearview mirror for rings.

[miggs]

I didn't say that Rondo didn't care about your on the ball defenders or bigs because he was "hungry". He doesn't care about them because they cannot stop him from doing what he wants to do. For example, Kobe can be as determined as he wants to be. The problem is that doesn't make him one bit faster, and that is what he would need against Rondo. Fisher? The dude has been getting smoked by speed guards for a while now. Rondo is the speediest of the speedy. Farmar? Nope. The only one who I could see possibly giving him an issue is Brown, just because he is so athletic. The problem with him is that he is dumb, and Rondo is very smart.

Rondo, like any player, could be shut off fom getting his points if you threw enough people at him. The problem is that Rondo is an elite playmaking point guard. Throwing more people at him is doing him a FAVOR. He wants that, which is why it is so important to have a guy or two who can guard him man up, or a great shot blocker like Dwight Howard to patrol the paint. You have neither, which is going to be a big problem.

You have also missed the point regarding Ray and Tony, not to mention Pierce. Kobe will be stuck guarding a real threat the vast majority of his time on the floor, and will be guarded by a guy who can do a good job on him. single up, on the other end. He had a hard time dealing with the Celtics two years ago, and it will actually be worse for him this time around. Paul has hardly lost anything, and Ray can still shoot the lights out. Tony Allen, while not being a perimeter threat, is a physical player who cuts all over the place in teh halfcourt and drags people to the rim. Rondo is a nasty piece of work now.

Kobe was able to hide in previous series defending lesser players for long stretches, and only having to expend himself on the defensive end @ key points of the game. Jared Dudely, for example, did a fine job spacing the floor, but defending him was rather easy, effort wise. There is nowhere to hide now. On the other end the Celtics will be rotating FRESH defenders onto him, and ofcourse have the elite defensive bigs to back them up. There will be no oncourt vacations. He will have to play hard the WHOLE time. The moral of the story? The guys he will be going against won't have to work nearly as hard as Kobe does himself. In a 7 game series, that can wear a guy down bigtime. LeBron was totally exhausted by the time the second round was over, and he wasn't playing on a bum knee.

You don't need to remind me about the whole defense thing. These are the Boston Celtics you are talking about. They, not the Lakers, are the team with the hardnosed, dominanting defense. The one that has already stopped teams headlined by Wade, LeBron and Dwight Howard. Eastern Conference, in the trenches basketball. The Lakers are certainly a tougher team than they used to be, but are they tough like these guys? You have faced much softer defenses up to this point than what you will see in the Finals. The Celtics, meanwhile, have already knocked off two of the finest defenses in the league by going through the Cavs and Magic. They are used to the rough stuff. They LIKE it.

A lot will come down to the matchups. If you can stop Rondo from being effective, it will probably mean that you will win the series. If the Celts stop Kobe, then it is ours. The thing is that we have the personnel to do that. Do you?

Dude your replies are exhausting, first off, stop blowin your boy Rondo so hard man, you're gonna suck the 67% of health he's got left. As i said, even i'm a fan of Rondo, imagine that bein a Lakers fan. That should go to show you that i'm a basketball fan as well as a Lakers fan. But i digress, so Rondo is not the amazing offensive threat you seem to paint. I've watch the entire Celtics games in these playoffs so i'm well aware of Rondo's game. I think you're overrating him, thank God you're not the coach or your Celtics would bow down much quicker than in the 6 games as I anticipate.

You keep comparing your team's success only by saying how you beat Orlando but you seem to forget we're not a one man show (CLE) nor a team of shooters with no post game (ORL). Sure Howard is the best defender but TEAM DEFENSE is how the Lakers have been winning, i believe we're in the top 3 for defense in these playoffs right? Lakers have a complete team, on both offense and defense so your advantage with Rondo won't be as big an impact over the series as you think so, sure maybe for 2 games in Boston, Rondo will go off but other than that you'll see, we'll keep your boys on check.

[DubaLakers]

I don't want to listen to "experts," they steal all of our opinions off this board anyway.

This series is going to be difficult to watch, because it's such a perfect matchup. I'm nervous and anxious, as well as confident, and scared to death, lol.

Phil just get us a Game 1 victory where you are undefeated in a series after doing so in your NBA playoff series history, and we'll be well on the way to a B2B.

Go Lakers!

[DubaLakers]

Kobe's gonna ball up Pierce so bad he's gonna end up on a wheelchair again

Not happening, Kobe will likely guard Rondo and DFish will be on Ray Ray.

[DubaLakers]

No idea if this was already posted, but in 2008 our lockdown defender assigned to Paulette was none other than the flying tomato himself, Vladamir Radmonovic.