Yeah yeah the Celtics and Lakers are getting ready to face off yet again for an NBA championship, but please spare me the rivalry renewed nonsense these franchises haven’t meet in the finals in over 20 years I have a hard time thinking Kobe and Lamar Odom wanna get a ring for the showtime Lakers and make them proud. Sure thats a nice added bonus but lets be real these guys are trying to win for them and for now, history is irrelevant except for of course when you take into consideration that this could go a very long way to establishing the legacy of one Kobe Bean Bryant. Over the course of the season I was one of the most adamant that Chris Paul should of won MVP, I can say it now, no matter how much it hurts, I was wrong. There is no one player more important to his teams success and it all starts with him buying into the team concept. I thought the Spurs might of been able to derail that train of thought but it only took Kobe the first half of game one to snap out of it and see what they were doing and how to attack it. So David Stern got what he wanted ( I’m stunned really you should see my face, sorry sarcasm button is broke again ) and 2 of the most storied franchises with 2 of the biggest fan bases have made the finals a perfect storm for Stern and the NBA. On one side you got Kevin Garnett everyones favorite player, seriously good luck trying to find someone say a bad word about K.G. and if you do manage to hear it you can literally feel the bitterness and jealously seeping through the words, teamed up with 2 more all-star vets who people actually wanna root for. On the other side you got L.A., yeah Hollywood will be out in full force which Stern will no doubt love but more importantly you got Kobe aka the black mamba getting ready to really put the game in a choke hold. People who know me know I’m a Kobe hater always have been, from watching him as a spoiled egotistical punk right out of high school to driving Shaq off the Lakers and the hate grew to an all time high when he snitched on Shaq when he was hemmed up with that mishap in Colorado. However at some point in the middle of the season, I’m not quite sure when it happened, I couldn’t allow myself to hate on the man anymore. Sure he comes across more smug and arrogant as ever, sure he seems to be forcing smiles and putting on a show as contrived and fake as can be but watch him play basketball and all the rest because moot. True no matter how good someone is at a sport doesn’t mean they are good people but Kobe will never be anything other than a basketball player in my life so thats all I can and am willing to judge him on, basically I’m making myself be objective because well he is that good. So while everyone is eager to try and restore the historic rivalry
or argue great defense vs. great offense my main focus is on Kobe Bryant and him trying to stake his claim as the best to ever play the game.

* Patiently waits for the Jordan Stan’s to come out with their preprogrammed thoughts and ideas of how since Jordan was the first player to convince them to spend over 100 $ on a pair of shoes, they fell for the not so subliminal advertising and literally wanted to be like Mike and after all Jordan started in a movie with Bugs Bunny so there no way anyone will ever be a better basketball player than him. *

Theres this theory some guy named Darwin came up with, something involving evolution, basically things adapting and getting better throughout time, whether you believe we evolved from cavemen or monkeys there is no denying that on some level evolution is real and in sports there is a very strong evolutionary process. People playing sports today are bigger faster stronger and more athletic naturally, add to the fact that athletes today spend the majority of their lives either playing or practicing their sport and it only stands that players on a whole are much better and more talented than players from 20 years ago. Theres more focus on the sport from a very young age and much less extracurricular activities to distract the athletes. So if the players as a whole are better than that means the competition is stronger and better which means if you don’t step your game up you won’t make it and will be left behind. Is there a bigger difference between Jordan and the second best player of his time than the difference between Kobe and the second best player today ( Lebron ) ? Hell yeah of course the overall level of competition is so much better than 10-20 years ago but theres isn’t a single facet of the game that I would say Jordan is more talented than Kobe at, not one. Like I said before Kobe’s stronger faster more athletic, Jordan was known for his great D and knack to score at will, sound familiar ? Kobe is a better pure shooter a better team player when he decides he wants to be one and this year he has made up his mind thats who he wants to be, he doesn’t want to just be that amazing unreal talent he wants to be the best player to ever have played this game and right now he is just one series away from achieving that goal. Now thats not to say that the Lakers winning the championship will automatically grant him that honor but if they win it the way I expect them to with Kobe playing the way I expect than yes this will not even be debatable with anyone who is either sane or rational, don’t need to be both, ones good enough to come to this realization.

They say defense wins championships but then again they say the best defense is a good offense, so what gives ? The Celtics do have a great D no doubt about it but there offense leaves a lot to be desired and honestly I don’t see them having any chance here. I refuse to acknowledge Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen as the Big 3 and I won’t even give them the Big 2 featuring Ray Allen because both Pierce and K.G. disappear way too much. Offensively Pierce has to carry the Celtics and I mean really put them on his back at least twice probably three times if they wanna win, one problem he will have Kobe guarding him and will also draw the responsibility of guarding Kobe and we all remember how having to guard Lebron killed his offense in that series. There will be one game where K.G. goes off and scores 30 something points and gets 15 + rebounds maybe even he gets 2-4 of those points in the final 5 minutes but thats it expect just one of those games because K.G. is the anti-clutch. Leaving Pierce with the responsibility to get either 3 games or 2 and hope Perkins Rondo and Ray Allen can all come alive in one game. I actually expect Perkins to continue to play damn good basketball, this kid is gonna be damn good someday and so will Rondo but Rondo is a point guard he is asked to do and think too much and with Derek Fisher guarding him playing in your face pressure D I don’t think he is quite up to the task, not yet he is still a year or two away and no Sam Cassell is not the answer. I am predicting at least two huge games from Derek Fisher ( or at least one huge game and one where he hits a crucial jumper late to win it ) Paul Gasol probably won’t go off on any one game but will be solid throughout, Odom will be Odom and have one great game followed by one bad game, and the Lakers have the edge in the bench as I look for Sasha Vujacic to stay killing the Celtics with the 3’s. Basically the Celtics just don’t have enough firepower to pull this off. Ray Allen has seemingly come back to life but is it enough ? Unless somehow K.G. snaps out of this funk he has been in his whole career and develops and entirely new personality I just don’t see how they can keep up with the Lakers, especially considering how the struggled against the Hawks and the Lebronaliers.

The Hawks and Lebrons gave the Celtics trouble because of their speed and athleticism, the Hawks were too fast and loved to get up and down the court as fast as possible and it worked well, then when they had to settle down to play a half court offense they just gave it to Joe Johnson and let him do his thing, the Celtics had no answer and I got news for you guys Kobe > Joe Johnson. The Cavs played tough hard nose D and they had Lebron who gave the Celtics fits even though he couldn’t hit a jump shot, imagine what Kobe will do if the Celtics dare him to take those same jumpers they dared Lebron to take, imagine what he will do if they try and crowd him and do the impossible and try and stop him. No the Celtics plan will and should be to let Kobe get his but limit everyone else from going off, good plan….. in theory. Thats what they did with Lebron thats what the Spurs did with Chris Paul when they started to win games but there is a fundamental difference here, they are playing Kobe not either of those 2 guys. Give them another 3-5 years in the league and the game will come to them like it has arrived for Kobe. See both Paul and Lebron like to sit back and get their team involved and let the game come to them. So they spend the first 3 quarters of the game just hanging around trying to open things up for them to take over at the end of games, again a good plan…. in theory, however that plan often backfires and when it does it’s too late to do anything about it. The biggest difference in Kobe and those 2 is Kobe’s ability to recognize when he can’t wait for the game to come to him, it might only be the first or second quarter but he must enter attack mode and enter it now or it might be too little too late by the third or fourth quarter. Sometimes the D will play soft on Lebron early in the games as they know he is looking to get his team involved early and one of these days he will recognize that and decide to enforce his will in the first quarter and open up a big lead causing the D to focus on him and then he can get his teammates involved. Kobe has that killer instinct he knows when he is needed and he knows it’s not based on time but on the flow of the game, all this will come to Lebron and Paul but right not Kobe is the only one playing that has that ability.

So the NBA got what it wanted but I’m afraid they will be disappointed in the end as I don’t expect this series to play out nearly like they want it to or to match the hype the Lakers are just a better team than the Celtics and the Celtics have too many passive aggressive players to jump up and snatch this from the clutches of the Lakers and the Black Mamba. As for me giving in and admitting Kobe is the best it had to be done and it had to be done now because I don’t want to miss this window to recognize and appreciate what we are seeing now because we are just a jump shot and about 2 1/2 post moves away from Lebron realizing all this could be for him to have so for now just enjoy watching Kobe, the games best player.

LAKERS IN 5