The NBA Finals start tonight between the two teams most familiar with championships. The Lakers and Celtics again renew their rivalry, except this time with the Lakers coming in more confident than in 2008. Kobe Bryant has addressed the media with one simple message- he's here to win. For the Celtics, the message is to keep it up. They have beaten the Heat, Cavaliers, and Magic to get here, and have won each in an impressive fashion. Here are my keys to the series:
For the Lakers, it's the play of the big guys. Andrew Bynum needs to play like he is 100% and keep his presence in the paint to counter the countless big men of the Celtics. If Gasol, Bynum, and Odom can contain Garnett, Davis, Perkins, and Wallace, they will easily win the series. However, if the Celtics have big games in the paint, it could get ugly for the Lakers.
For the Celtics, someone will need to step up as the obvious leader of the team. For the last two series, it has been Rajon Rondo, but I think it's Ray Allen or Paul Pierce that needs to have a breakout series.
As for the media, I was horrified when I realized that again it was the Lakers and Celtics playing for a championship. I remembered that week leading up to the series in 2008 where any and every media group exhausted the storied meetings throughout history. However, I was quite pleased that the media focused more on the 2010 series rather than the history that they bored me with hour after hour in '08.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment