No National Media Love / Experts Picking LA

[RMO]

I believe the "experts" made the same predictions in the 2004 finals.

[libermaniac]

Wow, I'm surpised too ... 8 out of 8 "experts"?  The C's were favorites in Vegas going into the playoffs, so it's surprising that's changed. Funny, if you throw out the first 2 series, we did as well against Detroit as could be expected (e.g. if we had won handily in first two series and beat Detroit the same way we did, then everyone would be picking the C's).  How much do those first two series matter at this point?

I wonder what the betting line will be.  Even despite the poor series vs. Cle and Atl, the C's were still favorites in Vegas to beat Detroit.  It might be the same in this series.

But, I prefer this too ... the "us against the world" mentality will only help.

[CoachCowens]

Losing the ESPN poll too. 

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=3507

The Celtics as underdogs, this is great. This championship is going to be so sweet.

[knyce004]

Every "NBA Expert on ESPN has picked the Lakers to beat the Celtics in the Finals.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/series?series=lalbos

I have the Celtics winning in 6 games.  I understand why the "experts" might go this way but, I think they overestimate the competition in the West which has declined as the regular season and play-offs have progressed. 

Somehow I believe that last night's game was a breakthrough for our team and that they are peaking. 

Please post any other "Expert Predictions"

I was at the 2007 game where Magic hit the hook to win (McHale should have hit the free throw and the Lakers called a time out without posession of the ball!!!) A C's victory would be sweet sweet revenge.

[footey]

I was just about to post this. All 8 take the Lakers, and 7/8 take them in 5 or 6 games. I love it. All the pressure on them now, all the disrespect on us.  We easily handled both games this year, and while they didn't have Gasol, they did have Bynum. 

Celtics in 5.

[illantari]

Every time they do this, we prove them wrong.  So hey, go on predicting guys.

[sk7326]

Lakers deserve the pick.  They have looked better than us in the playoffs.  But on the other hand this is a team that (admittedly pre-Pau) we dusted twice in the regular season.  They have not done a good job stopping Pierce either.  Defense has done a great job on Kobe in their 2 meetings.  Ignore the points, but his <40% FG percentage against Boston is key.  Celts will give him a ton of different looks between Pierce, Posey, Rondo and even KG in spots. 

[Hoops]

I believe games 1 and 2 will decide the series. If Boston holds serve at home, they win the series IMO. If LA steals one, then they're likely to win 3 games before Boston, putting the Celtics in a very difficult (though not impossible) position.

[LakerLanny]

Who cares what they think.

Most of those jokers picked the Pistons to win in 6.

I would be more concerned if the "experts" did pick my team as they did in the Lakers case.

These are the same fools who actually gave Chris Paul MVP votes over the legendary Kobe Bryant, give me a break.

This should be a great series, to me it all comes down to the first two games.  If the Lakers win one or both of the first two, you can kiss it goodbye as they will not lose at the Sistine Chapel of Basketball, Staples Center until probably around Christmas of next season.

[LakerLanny]

I believe the "experts" made the same predictions in the 2004 finals.

And they would have been right if the NBA had not blatantly fixed the series in favor of the Pistons through the use of corrupt officials.

4 Jump Ball Violations to open the first 4 games of the NBA Finals?  Please.

Lakers shooting less FTs with Shaq and Kobe than a jump shooting team every game?  Please.

There is a reason the Pistons haven't won another title since.  They haven't had a Finals series rigged for them since, with players calling their own fouls or any average college/high school refs, the Lakers would have won that series in 4 or 5 games and anyone who watched it knows that to be fact.

[Redz]

Who cares what they think.

Most of those jokers picked the Pistons to win in 6.

I would be more concerned if the "experts" did pick my team as they did in the Lakers case.

These are the same fools who actually gave Chris Paul MVP votes over the legendary Kobe Bryant, give me a break.

This should be a great series, to me it all comes down to the first two games.  If the Lakers win one or both of the first two, you can kiss it goodbye as they will not lose at the Sistine Chapel of Basketball, Staples Center until probably around Christmas of next season.

Celts have actually done a nice job winning in the Forum (I mean Staple's  Center or whatever...the Forum may be Sistene Chapel, but the Boston Garden was...well, what's the word for a dump where a lot of great things happened- The Garage Mahal?)

Celts have ended any doubts they can win on the road.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Even though Chris Broussard picked the Lakers, he sounds like he likes the Celtics better, he's even admiting that he's torn and might want to change his pick in the next few days.

[Redz]

The Celtics answered the last of my questions in the 4th quarter last night.  It won't shock me if the Lakers win, but I don't see any reason the  Celtics can't beat L.A..  Both teams have every reason to be confident in their chances of winning.  Really a dream match-up.

[Las Vegas Asian]

Wow, I'm surpised too ... 8 out of 8 "experts"?  The C's were favorites in Vegas going into the playoffs, so it's surprising that's changed. Funny, if you throw out the first 2 series, we did as well against Detroit as could be expected (e.g. if we had won handily in first two series and beat Detroit the same way we did, then everyone would be picking the C's).  How much do those first two series matter at this point?

I wonder what the betting line will be.  Even despite the poor series vs. Cle and Atl, the C's were still favorites in Vegas to beat Detroit.  It might be the same in this series.

But, I prefer this too ... the "us against the world" mentality will only help.

Vegas has the Lakers -180 to win the series or a probability of 64.29%. Game 1 line has the C's favored by 3pts. Looks to me more like a slightly weighted coin flip than a heavily favored finals. I'll trust the unbiased oddsmakers before these so called ESPN "experts" any day of the week.

[cdif911]

Wow, I'm surpised too ... 8 out of 8 "experts"? 

First off, I do believe the celts will win this thing and prove the "experts" wrong - its hard to say we're the underdog though, when you consider 66 wins, no major injuries, gaining tons of playoff experience - at best its a push - but regardless

on the expert thing - one thing I'll say is its nice to see all the experts agree, when they disagree it proves they are less of experts than if there is unison.  Its like the idea that if you took the smartest 100 people in the world and asked them an opinion question.   You'd hope they all have the same opinion (say should America socialize healthcare 100%? (do not I repeat do not try to respond to this or we're going into lockdown!)), thus reassuring their intelligence.  Of course, you'd probably get a divergence, which shows perhaps intelligence plays no role in opinion or public policy, but I digress... as I've said before, anything negative about the c's is lockerroom material, and hey its fun for us to go against the experts