Top 5 Reasons the Celtics Will Beat The Lakers

[Spilling Green Dye]

I have my own top 5 (though similar in spots):

1)  Rondo is better than he was in 2008, and much better at countering a defense that puts a SG/SF (Kobe, Lebron, etc) on him.  On the flip side, Derek Fisher is worse than he was in 2008, or at least slower.

2)  While the media has said that the Lakers are better this year than in '08, and all they cite for the Celtics is that they are older (and therefore are implying worse), they are ignoring one enormous fact:  In '08 it took the Celtics 7 games to beat the Hawks and 7 games to beat the Cavs.  This year the Celtics beat a much better Cavs team in only 6 games.  Beating a much better team in less games = The Celtics are definitively better this year than in '08

3)  The Celtics offense, especially Ray Allen, has been much more consistent and flexible this playoff run.  Outside of part of the "comeback" game against the Lakers in '08, and the blowout game 6, Ray was cold.  The Celtics offense also stagnated.  This year the Celtics are more balanced, more efficient, and attack where there are mismatches.  

4)  Combination of Kobe showing up too much and the Laker bench (mostly Odom) disappearing.  If the Lakers find themselves down by double digits, Kobe will attempt to take over.  Whether he hits shots or not, the Lakers offense will eventually struggle and his teammates will stop doing the necessary things to win.  I have seen this consistently happen with the same result.

5)  Composure.  The Celtics can perform on the road, in the dark, in outerspace, in complete silence, while listening to Celine Dion on max volume, or any other adverse condition.  If the Celtics get down by 10 points, will they panic?  Doubt it.  If the Lakers get down by 10 points, will they panic?  Kobe might.  If you were a Laker fan, do you really trust Ron Artest to not hurt your team at some point during a physical, intense, and loud finals series?  I wouldn't.  

[Pucaccia]

The #1 reason?

Good beats evil.

I wish I wrote that.

[Pucaccia]

I have my own top 5 (though similar in spots):

1)  Rondo is better than he was in 2008, and much better at countering a defense that puts a SG/SF (Kobe, Lebron, etc) on him.  On the flip side, Derek Fisher is worse than he was in 2008, or at least slower.

2)  While the media has said that the Lakers are better this year than in '08, and all they cite for the Celtics is that they are older (and therefore are implying worse), they are ignoring one enormous fact:  In '08 it took the Celtics 7 games to beat the Hawks and 7 games to beat the Cavs.  This year the Celtics beat a much better Cavs team in only 6 games.  Beating a much better team in less games = The Celtics are definitively better this year than in '08

3)  The Celtics offense, especially Ray Allen, has been much more consistent and flexible this playoff run.  Outside of part of the "comeback" game against the Lakers in '08, and the blowout game 6, Ray was cold.  The Celtics offense also stagnated.  This year the Celtics are more balanced, more efficient, and attack where there are mismatches.  

4)  Combination of Kobe showing up too much and the Laker bench (mostly Odom) disappearing.  If the Lakers find themselves down by double digits, Kobe will attempt to take over.  Whether he hits shots or not, the Lakers offense will eventually struggle and his teammates will stop doing the necessary things to win.  I have seen this consistently happen with the same result.

5)  Composure.  The Celtics can perform on the road, in the dark, in outerspace, in complete silence, while listening to Celine Dion on max volume, or any other adverse condition.  If the Celtics get down by 10 points, will they panic?  Doubt it.  If the Lakers get down by 10 points, will they panic?  Kobe might.  If you were a Laker fan, do you really trust Ron Artest to not hurt your team at some point during a physical, intense, and loud finals series?  I wouldn't.  

Very good

[BballTim]

1. Rondo is a freak of nature compared to 2008. You can argue that KG has lost a little, but Rondo has improved exponentially.
Barring injury, who the heck is going to cover Rondo. 

Rondo has improved exponentially and is a top 5 PG-- though the Lakers have just gone through teams that have Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams and Steve Nash.  All of whom IMO have a better offensive game than Rondo. 

  Westbrook and Williams had very weak supporting casts and Phoenix put up about 110 a game against you. Stopping Rondo with Pierce/Allen/Garnett in the game is a bit different than what the Lakers have done so far, and their defense hasn't been good enough in the playoffs to beat the Celts.

[BballTim]

The Celtics are playing better in the 2010 playoffs than 2008 play offs.  Are the Lakers?

Are the Lakers playing better in 2010 than 2008?  Yes.  Are they playing better than the Celtics?  That remains to be seen.

  I don't think the Lakers have played as well in the regular season or the playoffs than they were in 2008. The Celts were obviously worse in the regular season than in 08 but we've been much better in the playoffs against much better competition.

[TitleMaster]

while listening to Celine Dion on max volume

I don't know if anyone can survive that.

I'd rather someone assault the sound engineer in the studio.

[nickagneta]

5. Very loose rule of mine since Michael Jordan started winning NBA titles. The team with the best bald guy in the starting lineup usually wins. This rule isn't set in stone but it works an awful lot. Ray and KG are both way better than DFish so C's are going to win.

4. Another loose rule I have is when picking a game is the team with the most soft Euro players will usually lose. Boston doesn't have any. LA....well.....that's another story.

3. No Phil Jackson coached team will ever beat the team that Red Auerbach built. Every human not living in Southern California or Northern Illinois knows that when it comes to who is the best coach in NBA history there is only one answer, Red Auerbach. The Zenmaster might be great at coaching teams that have 2 of the best 5 players in the league in a watered down league to championships, but the spirit of Red will never allow the Boston Celtics to lose a championship to this pretender to the crown of best coach in NBA history.

2. All the best stuff is green. vegetables are good for you, they're green. Best baseball park in the world, Fenway Park is green. Best Dr Zeuss character was the Grinch, green. Best place to find presents, under a green Christmas tree. Money. The Hulk. The Celtics. Must I go on. I mean, is there anything in this world that is colored gold and purple and is considered good?

1. LA SUCKS!!

[bruinsandceltics]

Kobe is going to get his. That is a given. However, Pau Gasol is going to have a very tough time with Garnett, Wallace and Davis. The Celtics don't need to double down on Gasol and leave shooters like Derek Fisher or Jordan Farmar wide open, like we proved against Orlando.

Artest matching up against Pierce and shutting him down is also one of the biggest myths out there. I would be inclined to recommend the Mythbusters to test that because so many people believe it to be true. Sure Pierce has a bad game or two against Artest, but he does that against everyone. Pierce averages 20+ points which specifically playing against Artest in his career.

If the Lakers are going to win, they are going to need find a way to get Gasol open looks and easier scoring and have other role players step up and find ways to score.

[xmuscularghandix]

Our defense is dominant.

We’ve shown that we can win on the road.

LA has shown that they fall short on the road.

Our “old” team is resting and watching tape.

Paul Pierce LOVES playing the Lakers, and Artest.

Fisher can’t guard Rondo, Ray, Nate, or TA...

We’re not having the type of second half failures that allowed them to beat us earlier in the season.



WAIT, you only wanted 5 reasons!?

[CoachBo]

LA is not a great defensive team. They're good, but they aren't at the defensive level of the Celtics - when we want to play defense.

We'd better want to every game.

[snively]

rondo is a different animal than the other guys the lakers have seen

Would you care to elaborate?

Westbrook gave the Lakers more than they could handle, but the Lakers owned the rest of the match-ups in that series.  Jeff Green shot 33%, Durant shot 35%, Sefolosha shot 30% and James Harden shot 39% to completely let down their end of the offensive bargain and still the Lakers barely squeaked by. 

Rondo's game is a subtler, more skillful variation on Westbrook's, with less midrange game but equal amounts of speed and even better transition ability.  Barring an injury or an untimely cold spell or the sudden emergence of Andrew Bynum as a Dwight Howard paint defender, Rondo should wreak similar havoc on the Lakers, while the Big 3 are far less likely to submit the coordinated stink bombs submitted by the green/inefficient Thunder.

Combine that with a much more imposing defensive frontline than the pathetic Green/Krstic combo that had no chance against any of the Laker big men and you can see why Celtics fans are optimistic about our chances

[GreenFaith1819]

Defense.

Defense.

Defense.

Defense.

And More Defense.

LA is better, offensively and defensively, than 2008. But not better than us in the Defense department. An ugly game to us is a win.

And our Road to the Finals has been just a little harder, I think. No offense to PHX, OKC, or Utah - but only thing OKC had was Youth, not height.

Utah lost Okur, which severely depleted their height.

PHX, while extremely talented, just didn't have the defensive pressure, consistently.

[ACF]

1. Kevin Garnett
2. Rajon Rondo
3. Paul Pierce
4. Ray Allen
5. Kendrick Perkins

Not necessarily in that order.

[Edgar]

Jackie McMullen said that those who say the Lakers don't play defense are not paying attention.  She said the Lakers are a great defensive team this year.  Anyone have the stats on Laker defense v. Celtics defense?

I don't know the stats, but i agree with Jackie. I'm not one of the few who doesn't believe the Lakers play defense. I've watched just about every Laker game this year, and i can say that yes, they do play defense. Defense is their strong point this year. Offensively they're not nearly as explosive however. Scoring points on them will not be as easy as some may think, that's for sure.

Even latin broadcasters on TNT gave me that
Cs defense was WAY BETTER than phoenix and of course LA on last series
Cs defense is supperb ( or at least was last round)
No team can survive
do you think an injuried bynum or gasol will make you suffer

think again

Gasol is just a mix in betweeen Howard and Shard, more routed to shard, KG had a blast against shard
He wil dominate gasol...as usual
His pride is too big
and hes still better
he is
after this semis i still think so

hope

:p

[Edgar]

6) Crotor said so.