Can the Lakers win a game under a total of 180 points?

[Bahku]

The Lakers not being an elite defensive team won't matter because the Celtics are NOT a great offensive team.

Don't throw regular season stats at me, I'm talking about the playoffs.  Playoff basketball is a totally different beast than the regular season and it is the only thing that is relevant right now.  The bottom line is the Celtics score in the 70-80 pt range just as often as they do in the 80-100 pt range.  Hell I've even seen them put up a pathetic 69 pts.

There's another bottom line ... the Lakers can't play defense. Including the playoffs, the Lakers are 5 and 19 in games where they scored under 100 points ... that's horrendous! For that reason alone, I'd be terrified if I were a Lakers fan. The Celtics are a defensive Monster, and the Lakers very rarely win if they score less than a century ... we don't even have to put up huge offensive numbers to win this thing, just play the defense we've played all year long. Defense wins over offense, this team has proven it, and the Celtics of Bill Russell's era proved it. Tough to score points when you can't get the ball to the basket!

Keeping the Lakers under 100 ppg is one thing, but YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCORE that many points to beat LA.  BOS is not a great offensive team at all, and against a coach like Phil Jackson they will struggle to score.  How many low 70 and 80 point games have we seen from the Celtics thus far?  They will struggle just like the Spurs did, even more if Jesus Shuttlesworth goes MIA.

Your basing this on teams they've played other than the C's, not the Celtics, who allow fewer points than anyone in the NBA. Defense wins games, plain and simple ... it always has, and the Celtics are the best team defensively ... period. Not only have they dominated every team in the West, but your team hasn't even beaten us this year.

You can say that everything's different for the playoffs, and I'll agree that the intensity is different, but not the basic rules and disciplines of the game. Until the Lakers prove that their offense can overcome our defense, it's all just conjecture. Oh, and there's the fact that out of every meeting between Kobe and Pierce over the years, Paul has dominated in scoring ... yes, Pierce has scored more points on Kobe than Kobe has on him .... "bottome line" stuff.

Regular season, regular season, regular season.  How many times do I have to tell you guys that none of that is relevant?

There is a reason why the Celtics struggle to score points in the post season.  It's because teams have had time to gameplan against them and have exposed the weak Celtic offense for what it really is.  They are so heavily dependent on ISO plays from Pierce and KG, it puts a heavy pressure on all of the Big 3 to score (especially against a good offensive team).

If Jesus Shuttlesworth goes MIA the Celtics will not win this series.  They need him scoring 15-20 ppg every night, otherwise they will lose the same way the Spurs did.

How can you say that?!? Of course it's relevent, extremely relevent ... it's why we have home-court advantage! By the way, I included the Lakers playoff records in those stats, but regardless, the ultimate bottom line here is that defense wins games, and the C's have the better defense. Nice discussion, though, OOTD ... I enjoy good discourse like this!

[BballTim]

If you play Kobe like you did Lebron Kobe will torch you.  The last thing you want to give Kobe is wide open jumpshots.  He is capable of knocking those down at a high percentage unlike Lebron.

  I doubt they'd play Kobe the same way. LeBron does a much better job of getting to the rim and finishing inside than Kobe. You don't need to give Kobe as much of a cushion.