NBA Playoff Picks

[Habib]

Celtics may actually win the championship this time -- Lakers are not really healthy this year.

[Drew]

The only one not really healthy is Bynum. That hurts them a little, but even if he is 100% healthy, their best lineup is with him on the bench.

Kobe also isn't healthy, but as we're seeing, that doesn't really seem to matter lol.

I'm really excited for this series, I think it'll be fun and competitive. Let's just hope the Lakers pull it out!

[Habib]

The Cs are just really good defensively, I mean, look at what they did to the Magic. And honestly right now the Lakers bench sucks balls, the only good player they have on there is Lamar Odom. The Cs clearly have a better bench.

Kobe was great in the Suns series but Phoenix hardly played any defense, he will not get those same wide open looks against the Cs. I look forward to the series though. Reality tells me that the Celtics will win it but my mind and heart tells me that LA will win.

[Drew]

Hardly played any defense? Were you watching, man? lol They were swarming Kobe...he was just making some incredible shots. Farmar also played pretty well in a few games in that series.

I think it'll be LAin 6. I think they'll win the first two at home, pick up one of the games on the road and then close it out at home. Celtics are looking pretty good, but I think based on their experience two years ago, the Lakers are really gonna bring it.

[Habib]

Dude, I watched all of the games wire to wire. There is not a single defender in that Suns team. Kobe will be a lot more inefficient against a disciplined Celtics defense. He shot 52% from the field in the Suns series, look for that percentage to drop to around 40-45% against a Celtics defense.
And oh yeah, for some strange reason, I actually think that the fact that the Celtics do not have home court advantage favors them actually. To me, they play a lot better on the road than at home -- they have been a terrible home team all season long (although they have improved in the playoffs) -- they just dispatched the two teams with the best regular season record without having home court advantage and they did it rather convincingly.
It will be a dogfight series. Yes, LA is mad that they lost to Boston in '08 but Boston is also mad that they lost last year's championship because of KG was hurt.

[Drew]

People also are forgetting (myself included for some time) that Ariza was out in 2008 with a broken foot. Most people know Bynum didn't play at all, and he's still limited now, but him being out there at all I think will provide a little bit of a physical boost inside for them. Not necessarily enough of one to push the edge in their favor against all the C's bigs, but it won't be as bad as it was two years ago.

And the Ariza thing. With no Ariza, that means they really didn't have anyone there to hound Pierce the whole series, and Kobe had to take on that role sometimes and it wasn't the best scenario for them obviously. But now with Artest, he'll be given the task to guard Pierce. Then Gasol has gotten better and KG has declined (even with his most recent resurgence) to the point that I think that matchup favors the Lakers.


And are you serious man? Pretty much every shot he took in that fourth quarter was heavily guarded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhqZIxBusWs

[Habib]

Please Drew, I do not want to believe that you are about to compare the Celtics team defense to what Grant Hill was doing in that 4th quarter. You are joking right?

I just feel that collectively as a team, the Celtics have many options. Honestly if you neutralize Kobe and Pau that is pretty much all you need to do. The Cs on the other hand have PP, Allen, KG & now Rondo (he has made quantum leaps of improvement from '08).

We will see though. From what I see, Lakers are not clear cut the favorite this year to win the championship -- last year they were -- it was not even close. To me, the Celtics play much better defense and seem to get stops whenever they need to. Furthermore, they have proven that they really do not care about home court -- as I said before, they just knocked off the two teams with the best record in the league.

Lakers have not proven (yet) that they can win high caliber teams on the road like the Celtics this year. Do not be surprised if Boston wins it all, it could really go either way and there is no favorite in this one.

[Skinny Bastard]

I agree with your observations regarding defense.
Defense and the bench are going to carry the Celtics through this.

My pick: Boston in 6

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[Habib]

These girls in your spoilers look so tasty, yumm.

[AYHJA]

I haven't been watching the games as closely as I would have liked to this year, but from what I have seen, Kobe is still Kobe, and more Kobe than the one that lost in the finals when Gasol was just a mid-season acquisition...

How as Odom fared in the playoffs this season..? If he's been meh or soso, I expect him to have a breakout series as he almost always does...He'll come off the bench and get 14 and 10 and pretty much seal the deal for the Lakers...My guess is that if the Lakers lose game 1 in a close one, they'll win the series in 6...If they win game one by any margin, I think they'll win in 5...