Lakers the surprise, Celtics predictable
After the Boston Celtics picked Kevin
Garnett and Ray Allen in the offseason to complete a super trio with Paul
Pierce, Boston
was expected to make it far into the NBA playoffs. The Lakers had a major
melt-down with Kobe Bryant ready to bolt to somewhere, anywhere. No one
expected LA to go very far.
One regular season later, and one
great trade by the Lakers, and LA should run over the best regular season team
in the NBA finals. But not just any NBA finals, but the most watch, most
anticipated NBA finals in years.
The San Antonio Spurs have
dominated the league for half a decade of boring fundamental basketball that included
smaller and smaller television ratings for the playoff finals. But now it’s old
school Boston
vs. LA basketball with major stars and major personalities. The league couldn’t
have asked for a better pair of teams to reignite the excitement around the
leagues seven game series.
During the period from 1980 to 1991
one or the other team was in the finals or both teams where in the finals
except once. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were the major characters leading
both teams to greatness but there were a number of players that fans loved and
watched as the teams fought one year after another.
This is how it should be, LA vs. Boston, Garnett vs. Kobe, and
the whole country waiting in anticipation for the start of the series. Can Boston wake up to play like
they did during the regular season? Can Kobe finally get over the hump without
Shaq? Is Phil Jackson really going to pull off another Championship win? We
will all watch as this series unfolds.