NBA Finals Preview

If you did not know any better you would think it was the 1980’s. And I am not talking about the New Kids reunion again. I am talking about the upcoming NBA finals between the 80’s rivals the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Everyone loved watching the Lakers and Celtics in the 80’s competing for championships and now two decades later we will have a chance to see it again. This time instead of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird competing for a championship, it will be Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.

It has been four years since the Lakers have been to the finals, however, for the Celtics they have not been to the finals since 1987. Coincidentally, they played the Lakers in the 1987 championship and lost to them in six games. It was fun going back to my Lakers DVD this weekend and watching one of the pivotal games from that classic series where Magic Johnson ended the Celtics’ season with that “baby hook” shot. There are obviously different players in this championship round, but I do not think the outcome will be much different.

I did not think the Celtics would be in the finals this year. In the last round I predicted the Pistons would beat them in six games, but it was just the opposite. The Celtics beat them in six games because they finally won a couple games on the road. I emphasize the word “finally.” The Lakers closed out the Spurs faster than I originally predicted…they only needed five games to eliminate the defending champions.
So now it has come down to this…the Lakers and the Celtics fighting it out once again. Even though I predicted the Pistons to win last round, there would be nothing sweeter than for the Lakers to beat the team with the best regular season record, the team that was expected to be in this position since the beginning of the season and the team that has a long history with the Lakers.

Here is my prediction for the championship round: The Lakers will beat the Celtics in five games in this best of seven series. Now the Lakers are favored to win the series even without home court advantage, but they are not predicted to do it in less than six games. My feeling is that Kobe Bryant is just too hungry and he can taste his fourth championship. He is the best player in the game and no one can stop this guy. The Lakers also have the momentum going into this series since they just knocked out the defending champions. Their confidence should be high. They are a young team as opposed to the Celtics. They also have gone into other teams’ buildings and won important games.
Like I said above, the Celtics are supposed to be here. After the additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen they were automatically favored to win the championship going into the season. As for the Lakers, people wondered if they would even make the playoffs and if Kobe Bryant would still be on the team. As I see it, if the Celtics lose their season would be a tremendous failure no matter how many games they won in the regular season. If the Lakers lose, they still accomplished more than anyone could have imagined and they will be the automatic favorites to win it all next year when their center is expected to come back healthy.
The Lakers and Celtics have been in this position so many times that they have won half the championships in the NBA…the Celtics 16 and the Lakers 14. The question remains: will it be #17 for the Celtics or #15 for the Lakers?