NBA Finals - Game 6

Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals leaves the series in a position that I did not previously anticipate. In addition to thinking the Los Angeles Lakers would be up at least 3-2 at this point, I also never would have predicted that they'd blow such huge leads to the Boston Celtics (in one case causing the latter to win the game) at home.

With the series 3-2 in the opposite direction, tonight's game holds obvious signifigance. Two prevalent questions will be answered. 1) Can the Lakers win a decisive game on the road? 2) Do the Celtics have the wherewithall to prevent a Game 7? Two other thoughts are pretty standard throughout the playoffs. The home team's bench plays better, and great players play their best in do-or-die situations.

With that said, you would expect the Celtics bench to dominate as they have in the past. Kendrick Perkins expects to play but is not 100%, and Ray Allen is still reeling from his child's illness which may lead to some increased opportunities for Eddie House and Leon Powe.

While Paul Pierce may very well win the MVP if the Celtics prevail, Kobe Bryant is the best player in this series. He's been dynamite throughout the playoffs but has struggled a bit with the multiple coverages and defenses thrown at him by defensive guru Tom Thibodeau. The question is whether or not he can overcome that adversity in a decisive game on the road.

On a betting angle, I took the Lakers (yes, again) +5. The Celtics have covered the spread for all five games in this series. That doesn't happen. Covering six would include a win tonight, and I must stick to my guns even if it means going flat even for the entire playoffs.

Ham Sandwich?

Sorry for the late post today, was down in Miami at an interview and away from the computer. Let's hope it was all worth it!

Now, let us discuss Game 1 of the NBA Finals. After sitting through three quarters of glory, my Los Angeles Lakers pick fell apart during the fourth. That's OK. More importantly, I was dismayed to see how the Lakers and Kobe Bryant especially handled the Boston Celtics' defense and rebounding. Granted they are going into the game undersized, but the Lakers are certainly more talented from top to bottom.

Even more interesting, aside from predictions and results, was Paul Pierce and his "injured" knee. I put "injured" in quotes because, let's face it, that seemed to be a bit of a ham job. You cannot have it both ways. You either get carried out (which was funny enough on its own) , put into a wheelchair and sit out the game or come back much later after being worked on, or you hobble your way to the locker room, get a cortisone shot and go back on the court.

To see Boston rally behind either an overblown (maybe even fake) injury really turned my stomach. Sure there are die-hard Celtics fans, but where have these people been the last decade? First there were the New England Patriots fans that appeared out of nowhere, then "Red Sox Nation" which encompassed all true die-hard Sox fans and soon all New York Yankees haters and now the Celtics are the big ticket?

If I had my own dictionary, front-runner and Bostonian would be synonyms. As would ham and Paul Pierce.

Back to the Future

No matter what you do, where you look or how hard you try to avoid it, you cannot help hearing the 2008 NBA Finals be compared to the 1987 Finals, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and every other time the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics previously squared off for the trophy.

It is in the ESPN promos, on the front page of every Web site and will undoubtedly be centrally featured both on pre-game montage videos and in-game statistics. The problem is...none of it matters. It doesn't matter that the Celtics have won a majority of the meetings or that the Big 3 are supposedly a reincarnation of the old Big 3. They aren't even this bad with Yankees/Red Sox series.

I understand games need to be advertised and hyped. I also understand that Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, James Worthy, A.C. Green, Byron Scott, Robert Parish and Danny Ainge are not on the court. So instead, let's concentrate on the guys who are and keep the spotlight where it belongs, on the accomplishments of two teams in 2008, not 1987.

Since when were Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Pau Gasol, Ray Allen and Lamar Odom not good enough to advertise a Finals series? Look at their shoe endorsement contracts and then tell me they can't sell product. Bryant in the Finals without Shaquille O'Neal, Pierce playing against the team of his youth, Garnett trying to prove he can win the big game, Phil Jackson trying to break (Boston Celtics Coach) Red Auerbach's record nine NBA titles. Which of those is not compelling enough for you?

I'll count the references tonight, from pre-game onward, and I doubt they'll fit in two hands. Honestly, I'm still surprised they haven't done the split-screen promo with Magic and Larry yet. Then again, there are two more weeks to go.

NBA Finals - Pick of the Day

The NBA Finals...after a week-long wait they begin tonight and the Los Angeles Lakers, almost suprisingly, are favored over the best defensive team and the team with the best overall record in the NBA, the Boston Celtics.

While I will still pick each individual game, the most important bet you can place on the Finals is the series bet. And for this series, I see the Lakers taking the title without question. Even though it is going off at -200, it is worth putting a double game bet on the line. (Ex. If you bet $20/game, put $40 on the Lakers at the series line).

It is tough to bet every individual game and doubling-up on the series allows you the comfort of knowing you have a straight-up, solid bet if everything else goes wrong. (Of course, the Lakers could lose...in which case you lose it all...but that is why this is called gambling.)

Tonight could very well be the best game of the series, think Suns/Spurs Game 1 in the first round. Coach Phil Jackson knows how important Game 1 is, especially when the Lakers get three consecutive games at home in filling out the 2-3-2 format of the Finals. We take the Lakers tonight with the minuscule +2.5 points (which could change to +2 by game time). If they're going to win the series, they need to start somewhere.

Kobe Bryant is NOW

Before I start this entry, I want to refer everyone to my LeBron James article from the beginning of the month. With that being noted, and regardless of my sentiments below, I do believe James is the future of the NBA. Unfortunately, he's not the present, because that is Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

What Bryant has done in these playoffs leaves little to be desired in terms of talent, athleticism, teamwork, execution, determination and dedication. He has transformed from a young, talented player who needed to be coddled by his coach and brought up and taken down by teammate Shaquille O'Neal to the man that provides the coddling to his own young, talented teammates.

Many continue to forget the most important factor in Bryant's playoff performance thus far which is the fact that everything he has done since the All-Star break is being accomplished with a torn ligament in the pinkie finger on his shooting hand. Bryant is injured and playing better than he ever has before.

I will not start comparisons to Michael Jordan because Bryant (and James for that matter) is his own player. But when you think of Bryant and watch him play the same words used to describe Jordan come to mind: clutch performer, perfectionist, teammate.

And while media types continue to praise GM Mitch Kupchak for this season's turnaround, I say we should look at Bryant as the real catalyst. While some saw his off-season antics as petty, insulting and rude, I disagreed. Bryant did what James needs to do, demanded help or a trade. He wanted to succeed as a Laker. He wanted to win more championships as a Laker. He wanted to retire a Laker.

It may have taken an injury to center Andrew Bynum to give Kupchak the kick-in-the-ass to make a deal for Pau Gasol, but now that he has, can we really question who was right all along?

You can see where I am going with this. It was Bryant. The league's MVP, the superstar on the best team in the NBA and the probable Finals MVP. He could also be only the second player in history to win both MVPs, a championship and a gold medal (at this summer's Olympic Games.) The other player? You guessed it...Michael Jordan.