Well, no more football until late July, so, I guess it's NBA and MLB until then.

The big key for LA will be Bynum's health. If he can only play 10-15 minutes, LA loses. We need his presence inside defensively. If Bynum can stay relatively healthy for the series, and Odom plays well, I don't think this series lasting more than 6 games. I say Lakers in 6, maybe 7.

Rondo is going to be a tough match-up for LA, but we did do a good job against Nash in games 5 and 6 of the WCF, so, I'm not overly concerned.

It's going to be a great series either way. I'm pumped.

Thoughts?

GO LAKERS!!!


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No way Kobe loses to the same team in the finals twice, he's too good.

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Personally, I hope the Celtics sweep the Lakers.

GO CELTICS!

And no, I'm not even a basketball fan.

LOL!

The way I see it, Kobe is at the point where he is legitimately in the conversation for the greatest Laker of all time. For him to be elevated ahead of Magic, Kareem, West, etc., he has to beat the Celtics. Once he does that, he is the clear cut number one Laker of all time and I think the Kobe vs. Jordan debate is officially on.

My honest prediction, Celtics in 6 games.

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RIP Tom
RIP Tone

Jordan wins based on on/off court ethics, number of titles and originality.

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Kobe pulls a Lebron and the Celtics win the series.

Now that my beloved Magic are out of it I will be rooting for the Lakers to hopefully expose another cry baby team from Boston!

Celtics in 6.

And no way, even if he wins this finals, is Kobe on par with Magic yet. I understand there is a debate, but its a poor one. Magic was magic, Kobe is stellar, but I still think he legitimately belongs behind Magic. Take it from someone who watched Magic and Bird battle in the day. ;)

He's in the discussion of greatest player of all-time. I think he's got all-time Laker in the bag.

Lakers will beat the Celtics in 5.

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The way they are playing right now, this series doesn't go back to LA for the last 2.

Lakers making it look easy...Kobe is on his game right now man. Fun to watch!

There is no comparison between Kobe and Magic.

Magic was a player who lined up at CENTER for the Lakers once and put up ridiculous numbers. He could play ANY position on the floor and be a superstar at it.

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Heck, I've pulled for the Lakers since Jabbar and Magic (My Arse Got Infected Coach) Johnson were on the team. They've always had dynamic players on their team.

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Your right, they are just too tall for the Celtics and Garnet looks like he is 100 years old out there. I don't think KG ever came back from his knee injury. Without a solid performance from Garnett, I don't think the Celtics have a shot. I honestly thought this series would come down to Rondo, but it won't matter how well he plays if they don't get some solid play inside. One thing is for sure, the Lakers are much tougher than in 08. While I don't by into 'redemptive' wins (I think 08 was 08 and 2010 is 2010), you can certainly say that the two teams are very much different from two years ago.
Still, all that being said, I look for the Celtics to win the next game and make a series of it. Really if they can split the first two in LA, they will be in great shape. They are going to have to drastically improve though if they want a shot at winning even a single game.

I was thinking the same thing when Magic had to play Center......I want to say that happened in the playoffs right?

Kobe is one of the greatest Lakers of all-time already........probably thee best Shooting Guard the Lakers franchise has ever had.........but not a better overall player than Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Don't know how we're only down by 6. LET'S GO LA!!!!

Ray Allen went crazy that first half... 7/8 from the 3 point line... man is on FIRE!

Way to go Celtics!

Lakers may yet end this thing in 5, but I've got a feeling we have ourselves a series. I see Boston with a 3-2 series lead heading back to LA. Lakers in 7. (rooting for Boston in 5 though haha)
Things that concern me as a Boston fan:
1. Garnett still sucking hardcore
2. Ray Allen got hot which is the only reason we were in that game
3. Can't count on Kobe and company to get into foul trouble every game
4. Lakers seem to be able to block shots at will
Boston was lucky tonight to steal that game. As crappy as the Lakers played, I never got the feeling the Celtics played that well either.

One thing for Boston though, LA is nearly impossible to beat at home and Boston did just that tonight. It was truly strength against strength. So the question is, is Boston better at home than LA is on the road? Should be quite interesting.

I agree that Boston takes 2 out of 3 at home, and LA wins in 7.

I'm still fired up about the officiating. The NBA needs to add a rule for flopping, badly. 3 out of 5 of Kobe's fouls were complete you-know-what.

Is KG hurt? Exhausted? He's horrible on both ends of the floor right now...

The Lakers are absolutely dominating inside, and I don't see any signs that it will change. I don't think Ray Allen has another game like that, and that said the Lakers 3 point shooting will come around. It's going to come down to Lamar Odom though. He needs to start showing up offensively...

I still stick w/ Boston in 6....

The officiating can be argued both ways though, so don't be giving the "treatment" to just Kobe. It was both sides of the ball, horrible calling last night on things that were clearly BLOCKS, and not fouls. I can recall 2 or 3 blocks that were called fouls against the Celtics... so, it's both sides. Not just the Lakers getting the shaft.

KG needs to get his head right, and into these finals... I don't know what's wrong w/ him.

The Celtics, like they said last night, when they drive and go underneath with that extra pass, they are just as dominant. If they start doing that more often, while the Lakers have the size, Celtics still do well inside when they make that extra pass.... just my .02 though.

I dont see Ray-Ray nailing 8 more 3's in a game either... but they'll have to respect him, regardless.

The Celtics need to start rebounding better... some of the attempts to rebound last night were down right ugly.

Want a sig bet until the start of football JP?

Straight up bet, you create any sig you want me to have, if Lakers win, I create you any sig I want you to have if Celtics win.

Deal.

I got a bad feeling about this already.... LOL

LETS GO CELTICS!

P.S. How did you become a Lakers fan, when you LIVE in boston? Same for Miami, wth is up with that lol.

My dad is a Dolphins fan, so that's what happened there. He's not really a fan anymore but he grew up watching the 70's teams.

Not 100% sure how I'm a Lakers fan. I have an uncle that lives in LA and he came by to visit in 1999. I figure that he got me into the them, plus the fact that they won 3 straight around that time.

I have 2 possible sigs in my head. One involves Tim Tebow, the other Kobe.

I've got a couple rolling around in my head as well...

one involves the city of boston in the background w/ Rondo and Pierce....

Or maybe I'll have the city of Boston, that crazy picture you have of yourself ... with Pierce and Rondo....

Oh it's going to be great.

1. They do have a no flopping rule which I have seen them enforce a couple times already in the playoffs.
2. Bad calls went both ways, the officials are not letting guys play. Until that changes, expect the bad calls to continue.
3. Kobe is like Jordan in that 95% of the time the calls go his way. He usually complains every single time down the court that he's been fouled. The fact that he had 5 fouls last night is long overdue. The guy gets away with a lot of beneficial calls and no honest Lakers fan can deny that. For what its worth, I thought 1 or 2 of those fouls was iffy, but like I said, the officials are calling this one really tight.

Those would be some ugly sigs JP.

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KO-BE BALLIN TONIGHT!!!

K, well... I'm done watching the finals after tonight. If this is the best refs they can come up with, I am sorely disappointed. It was ridiculous, and not just toward the Celtics, but both teams. Bet is still on JP, I'm just not going to watch anymore of the games.

This is over in 5. This was a must win game tonight. Celtics can't have 1 guy do all the scoring. Ray Allen went from magnificent to a turd tonight. Garnett came alive but got little help. They came back from too far down to fall short at the end; this was a will-breaker if you ask me.

The refs are horrible....just horrible.

How about Fish though!!! Gotta love that man. Just balls out there. Love that guy to death. So pumped right now. Big time win!

Looks like Pierce's prediction was spot on...except with a little twist?

Who's to say. I expect more from this team. I expect them to pull this out, but I also expected that they wouldn't lose game 3 at home. So whats that say about expectations? They aren't worth a hill of beans unless you go out there and prove your mettle.
I think the officiating has been poor both ways, but it has definitely favored the Lakers up to this point. Who knows though, maybe the next three games the Celtics will get the benefit of poor officiating. I don't think there is any bias or conspiracy, but I do think it has been tilted to one side in terms of bad calls. Its not like the Celtics haven't been aggressive either. Sometimes the aggressive team gets the calls, but I'd say both teams have been equally tenacious.
My level of respect for Gasol has gone through the roof though. I thought he should go back to Europe in 08 because he was so soft. This time around he has elevated his game and become a great player in the process. It's hard to not like a guy like that. He works hard, doesn't get into too much trouble, and he seems to be a class act off the court.

How bout Garnett last night? The guy was a monster. I was hoping the old Garnett would show up. Too bad it wasn't enough.

I disagree. I think in game 1 it did favor the Lakers a little bit, but games 2 and 3 (especially 3) it was all Celtics. The calls down the stretch last night were ridiculous.

All you ask for in officiating is for it to be consistent. Yeah, letting them play more or not allowing much may be an advantage/disadvantage to some teams, but overall if it's consistent the refs are doing their jobs. Not only are they blowing the whistle way too much, but it's been extremely inconsistent with pathetic make-up calls every 2 seconds.
Even the guys up here on WEEI in the morning, (biggest Boston-sports homers you'll ever meet, other than Tommy), were saying how it was even and if not even the officiating favored Boston in Game 3.

The officials need to step up there game. I realize it's a tough job and they are going to be the enemy every night no matter what, but you have to be consistent on both ends of the floor for both teams.

I just got to give props to my boy Fisher. I've loved that guy ever since .4. Everybody keeps saying, "not gonna be in the HOF, we all know that," but to me the guy is every definition of a HOF'er in the Post Season. The dude is clutch, tough, a leader, a class act, etc. etc. The guy does it all and has been one of the most underrated, under appreciated, under valued player the Lakers have had. Every time the Lakers play the Celtics the talk up here in NE on the radio is, "well Fisher is an ok player, but he's slow and small". And every single time, (especially in the post season), he finds a way to make a clutch play. He does all the dirty stuff for your Basketball team and lets Kobe get all the credit. The guy is all heart. He's the man. Love that guy.

This clip is priceless...

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To me, in any sport.... basketball, football, soccer, tennis, and even rugby (lol) the refs should be invisible. Not saying they shouldn't be there. But you should leave the game with the feeling that while the refs were there, and did their job, in the end.... it should feel like they had no value in either team having an advantage.

I know it's the nature of the beast, and yes I am a firm believer that Vegas etc. have some stuff to do with the outcomes of "some" games. That's just my .02, and no, I have no proof.... it's just my thoughts.

But meh, hope the Celtics pull out something crazy, but I just can't stomach another game of that type.

P.S. You be so crazy JP.

Game 4 tonight.......Artest has kept Pierce from doing anything in this series.......this is a must win for the Celts......if they lose this one then they could be done in 5?

This should be a good one.......hoping the refs do not get themselve too involved in the outcome.

This officiating is pretty dang lopsided for the Lakers. Garnett gets called for 3 second violation when there is 20 seconds left on the shot clock? Sheed gets called for a foul because Gasol fell down on his own without any contact? Yeah, get out of your dream world PR, your smoking crack if you think any game in this series has favored the Celtics for bad calls or fouls.

3rd quarter right now. I have a feeling from that smirk on his face, the Black Mamba will strike. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe put this game on ice in the 4th or nail a game winner.

Nobody can cover Baby?? WTF?

Phin, there were a couple calls early that went for LA that I scratched my head about, but there have been multiple calls that have not gotten called on Boston that should have. I've counted multiple offensive goaltends that were not called and plenty of 50/50 no calls that were called on LA.