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.

Kobe Respnds to Schilling Slander

So how does Kobe Bryant respond to the questions of motivation, leadership and chemistry brought forth by blow hard Curt Schilling's 38 Pitches blog? By being a New York Yankees fan, of course.

"You're asking for my response to it? Go Yankees."

"Look, I know my team," said Bryant. "After all those bleeps, we almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history. It seemed to motivate the team pretty well."

There's one high and tight for ya, Schill.

The best part of it all is that Bryant admits to his tirade and the players did respond reasonably well to it, albeit half of a quarter later.

"They're used to it and we all have thick skin around here on the team," Bryant said. "That's just how we, we're brutally honest with each other. Our team is built for that. We all love it."

And if the Lakers are in the process of going down again tonight in Game 4 at home, expect a repeat performance from Bryant. They've come back from 16 twice against the Spurs to win and came within points of coming back from 24 against the Boston Celtics in Game 2.

Schilling is a JERK-of-all-trades

With respect to T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times, I stole the title of this post. Simers wrote an article this morning condemning Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for comments made in his blog following Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. Schilling was in attendance and sitting in seats ridiculously close to the Los Angeles Lakers bench and shared his criticisms on Kobe Bryant in his blog, 38 Pitches.

"From the first tip until about four minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy (Bryant) bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren't doing, or something they did wrong. No dialogue about 'hey let's go, let's get after it' or whatever.

"He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team . . . as a fan I was watching the whole thing, Kobe, his teammates and then the after-effects of conversations. He'd yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a 'whatever dude' look."

Aside from the fact that I think blogging by athletes in general is a bad idea for a number of reasons, Schilling is already known as the blow hard of all blow hards, the asshole of all assholes, a jerk-of-all-trades if you will. He created his blog as a way to refute press reports about him and tell his side of the story. That is fair and acceptable enough. However, he has instead used it as a public forum to start conflicts with the media, management and even other players like Barry Bonds, making comments on issues that are none of his business.

I know you could turn this around and say I am being hypocritical because, well, isn't that what I am doing? The difference is that Schilling is a public figure and knows the media reads his blog solely to find tidbits of information to publicize.

Now he wants to comment on team chemistry and make insinuations on certain looks and comments on a sport he knows absolutely nothing about? Do you know how insanely crazy Schilling would get if Gilbert Arenas made comments on his demeanor inside the Boston Red Sox dugout in his blog the next day after being given tickets right next to it? While Simers' article comes off as a bit biased because he is a columnist in L.A., the general concept of his anger and justification for it are spot-on.

Schilling should keep his mouth shut. He is not a news reporter or basketball player, he is a baseball player--one that throws fits when the media makes false accusations or insinuations about him. How does he think the Lakers or Bryant feel about his comments?

And while taking his dump on Bryant and Pau Gasol ("saw a seven-footer who grabbed like four rebounds and spent the entire game whining about getting fouled"), he gives props to his Boston Celtics pals Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. How purely biased is he going to get? I wonder who got him the seats? Why was he next to the Lakers bench anyway? Bill Beli-cheat got the seats right behind Doc Rivers. Wait a minute...Boston athletes by each bench, all of whom love and support each other...are all of these teams in cahoots? I mean, Schilling has nothing better to do anyway...

There Can Only Be One

Say what you will about this blog, but you cannot deny that I have been more on than off over the last month. As further proof, I remind you of this post from last Thursday. I also provide the image to the right that went along with that article and the following submission which one of my readers, Chad, pointed out aired on ABC during the tail end of the third quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals this weekend.

If you didn't believe me at the time that the NBA was trying to fuel this series by its past rather than the merits of its current players, this should be enough proof for you.

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.