Wednesday, June 18, 2008

NBA Finals Recap

1. Anything is Possible. Kevin Garnett is a lunatic. Just wanted to put that out there.

2. Just a reminder; No more Kobe/MJ comparisons. Stop it. The Lakers lost by 39 in a close out game. Really? Imagine MJ and Pippen losing to Utah by 39 in a crucial Game 6 or 7. You can't can you? I couldn't either.

3. Doc Rivers made me look like a fool. Worst coach in the NBA? Lakers in 5 because of Phil Jackson's advantage over Doc Rivers. Oops.

Building on that point, in my mind going into this thing I had Lakers in 5. I got caught up running errands and such and couldn't do the breakdown before Game 1. When I sat down to do the breakdown I realized that the teams were closer in talent than I realized and that if Ray Allen wasn't done then Boston would probably have an advantage.

4. Well Ray Allen wasn't done after all, giving Boston that advantage.

5. What's next? Well before I get into that, I want to say something about the draft. Imagine if the Celtics got the #1 pick in last year's draft. They probably take Kevin Durant and don't trade for Ray Allen, which set everything off. That said, the Bulls have the #1 pick this year. There have been rumors of the Heat dangling Dwayne Wade for that pick. I say they should definitely take D. Wade and use him to lead all the young talent they have instead of drafting someone who may or may not be good (Although Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley look like locks.)

Alright, that had nothing to do with the Celtics and Lakers. You have to wonder if both of these teams will be back next year. For the Celtics, their chief contenders seem to be the Pistons and Cavs. However, the Pistons are probably going to get broken up and the Cavs' role players are getting older and are trash anyway. Plus they're coached by the worst coach in the league Mike Brown. (Yea, that's who I meant to pick).

For LA, you have to wonder about their chances though. Does Phil Jackson want to coach them again? Is Phil Jackson a good coach for this team? Will Andrew Bynum make that much of a difference? The Lakers toughness inside was exposed by Boston, which is surprising since it wasn't exposed by the Spurs. They also can't play defense, besides Kobe Bryant. And one thing I did get right in my preview is that Pau Gasol isn't the superstar people have made him to be.

The Spurs probably have one more run in them. The Hornets will continue to get better. Utah will also be a tough team to defeat. Even the Rockets, if Yao and T-Mac can hold it together will give them a run for it.

Also, has Kobe been exposed as well? This is his second straight Finals appearance where he came up short. Besides Phil over Doc, one of the main reasons why I expected the Lakers to win was because I figured Kobe would average 35 + points in this series. Instead, he averaged a little over 25. Not going to cut it.

If the Lakers and Celtics make it back, I hope it will live up to the hype this time. Honestly, this series wasn't that exciting for me. I'm sure Lakers and Celtics fans ate it up, but for everyone else it was decent at best.

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