Laker-Celts history and Will to Pauer victory keys
Posted by: SPQR on May 31, 2008 - 06:53 PM
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On the verge of the historic 11th match up with our most hated and ancient enemy, the ramifications of this series is as big as you can possibly imagine-for so many reasons. Formally the Celtics whipping boy, losers of 8 straight championships match ups to them, we are now their biggest fear, as we implacably march on in the quest to take from them the title of most decorated franchise in NBA history. The Lakers are only two titles away from tying them, and three from ascending the throne. The history and hatred, dirty tricks(all on Boston’s side),rough plays and broken hearts stretch back through 50 years of NBA history.
They built their legacy and dynasty on the bodies of the great Jerry West-Elgin Baylor Lakers of the sixties, and cost us what would have been our most impressive dynasty in Laker history. Without that Celtic team, our franchise would now have 7 more rings to its credit.
We returned the favor to a degree in the 80's. The Great Magic Johnson breaking the Celtic jinx and Larry Bird, as we made our own Showtime dynasty at the expense of a second Celtic one.
The feelings from those years live on, and both we and the Celtics know just how much history is at stake in this final. Do we drive another nail in their hearts, inch closer to relegating them to second place in all time NBA history, or do we fall another championship behind.
Every Celtic fan is fully cognizant that we are breathing down their franchises hallowed neck and they do not like it one bit. Make no mistake, the stakes here are apocalyptic in nature in the battle between these to rivals. It is nothing less than all time preeminence in NBA history. Every championship we win, no matter who we play is really directed at them. And the same holds true for Boston. This time the battle will be decided directly between us.
In looking at this match up, let’s start with what we know. They beat us twice, badly. They totally deconstructed ups both offensively and defensively. In the first game we had neither Drew nor Pau. I didn't put alot of stock in that game. The second game is a different story. We had Drew and were on a serious roll. I fully expected us to avenge the earlier loss. Wrong. The replicated the earlier wins with consummate ease, making us look out of sync and ineffective on both ends of the floor. At this point I realized the Celtics were a genuine point of concern.
On the surface this does not seem a good omen for our chances to succeed. But this dismal past is mitigated by the fact that in the cramped regular season, you have scant time to prepare for a team before you have to play someone else the next day. You can’t really focus on breaking a team down. Time constraints just don’t allow it. In a seven game series, you can. Every nuance of their offense and defensive sets will be microscopically examined. Our two losses will be looked at closely to see what they did and what we didn’t do. Celtic playoff losses will be examined and every weakness gleaned.
One of the big keys in my opinion will be the effort of Pau Gasol. In the second game, Perkins pushed Drew around and took him out of his game. With Pau's well known reputation as being soft, is there any doubt Perkins will redouble his efforts to put Pau through a physical torture test? When Pau's rebounding was a problem and costing us games, there was alot of talk about this issue here.
I pointed out that anyone that big and athletic should and could force himself to attack the board with more alacrity and brio in the playoffs. I used another finesse player, James Worthy, as an example of a player who time after time in big games and the playoff raised his rebounding way over what he usually averaged. Big game James had the heart and desire to put it on the line and do things he normally didn't want to when rings were on the line. After a talk to by Phil (and Kobe I suspect) after his pathetic 5 rebound performance in game 3 against San Antonio, Pau has shown the like Worthy, he can indeed use his will to power and do the things he may not normally want to do. He had 10 and 19 rebounds respectively in the last two games of West Finals. It is no coincidence that we won those games.
Pau once again has to show this will to power for us to attack Boston successfully.
If Pau has a five rebound game against Boston, I highly doubt we will win. If he gets ten or more, the reverse is more likely. Because of his past history, Pau will be a marked man. If he can't suck it up, and force himself to do what he must over just one last seven game series, he will prove to be not only soft but mentally not a championship caliber player.
Home court: Unfortunately this will belong to Boston. It throws a completely different dynamic into this series than the Lakers are used to. The Lakers must come out like a house on fire and win one of those first two games. With the 2-3-2 formant, I find it hard to envision us taking all three home games against a team this good and accomplished. I believe if we lose the first two games in Boston, we will lose this series.
Kobe: In both games Kobe shot 35 percent. This is way too low a point to shot ration for a guy we depend on for so much scoring. If Kobe finds that he cannot score effectively against this team, then he will more than ever have to trust his teammates and not force up shots. Needless to say, the rest of the team and bench mob will be tested as never before in this scenario. If this situation does evolve, and his teammates don't hit the shots that will be there for him, we will lose this series.
Ray Allen: The Celtics like the LA Lakers revolve around a big three. Pierce and Garnett, like Kobe and Duncan and Paul and other players of that caliber are really too good to d to stop, especially over seven games. The weak link here is Allen. As the Celtics have shown over the playoffs, when Allen is having problems, they can be beaten, even by the Hawks. As they have shown all year and in the last two Detroit games, when he is on, they are one of the hardest teams, if not the hardest, to beat in league. Unfortunately, it is beginning to look like Ray has found his game and his shot.
Kobe and Sasha (and hopefully Trevor) will have to replicate what we did in stopping Ginobilli. If Ray Allen goes off like he has the last two games, this will become a nightmare scenario for the Lakers, and it is very easy to see our defense crumbling up like a house of cards just as it did in the two regular season games.
It’s not going to be an easy task, but I guess that’s why the Celts won 66 games and are in the finals. I do believe this will be by far our hardest series, and our toughest matchup to date.
Who do I think will win? When I think of The Great Man being on our team, I believe we will. When I think of how we ripped through the hard West playoffs, I believe we will.
When I think this great Celtic team that won 66 games has home court, where they are almost invincible, I believe they will. When I think back on how beating us twice was child’s play for them, I believe they will.
Unlike our other series, I just don’t have a feeling or the strong confidence I felt against our other opponents. From day to day, hour to hour my feelings change. I guess you can say it is a sign of worry.
Anyway, there will be a lot more going on to decide this series than I have talked about. We all know how this thing goes, new vicissitudes, heroes and goats in every game on the trail to deciding the winner.
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