Well at least I don't have to explain how my pick failed to win the championship (article here on Deathrattle http://deathrattlesports.com/NBA-Basketball/News/2007-08-NBA-Regular-Season-Review-and-Playoff-Preview.html) since I only predicted the first round in each conference before I disappeared from Deathrattle in self imposed exile. But I will be honest here and tell you that my picks to reach the finals were in fact the San Antonio Spurs in the West and Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference, with the Spurs cementing their legacy by winning back-to-back championships. Hmmmm!!

From the time the Lakers and Celtics won their conference final, all the hype was about the renewed rivalry between the two. But you know, if you examine this "rivalry" it is kind of one sided, with the Celtic holding an 8-2 advantage (including wining the first 8), that has now went to 9-2. Is that the true definition of a "rivalry"? Maybe I should ask some Michigan Wolverine fans about that...? (Got any comments about this Nick?) By definition, this series did live up to their rivalry part of it, since the Lakers were never in the series after the first game, with the Celtics exposing all of the Lakers weaknesses (too many Euros?) and the only real drama out of it all was exactly how much was Paul Pierce's (series earned him true Celtic legend) knee was damaged when he was carried off the court in the 3^rd quarter of game one.

It was very apparent from the first game that the Celtic knew exactly what the Lakers strengths and weaknesses were and exploited them to the max. Without question Doc Rivers thoroughly out-coached the "legend" that is Phillip Jackson. Maybe all the claims of Jackson's coaching ability was that he was simply living off the coattails of Michael and then Shaq were true after all. One of the first examples of the coaching ability discrepancy was the fact that the Celtics knew that the Lakers had no intermediate shooting, and simply packed their defense into the lane so that Kobe had nowhere to drive once he was past the first defender. Both Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol were either unable or unwilling to take the open jump shot from 15-18 feet. The "Green Monster" defense led by Kevin "Ebonics" Garnett made it impossible for Kobe to get a good look at the basket. No seriously though Garnett was approaching Elgin Baylor status as an NBA superstar who could never win the title, so this victory is the final part of a story book season for him, going from that disaster in Minnesota to defensive player of the year and NBA champion in one season.

Couple the Lakers lack of interior shooting with their "Euro defense" on the perimeter, led by guard Sasha Vujacic (yea I would be scared of a defender named Shasha!) or Vlad "my favorite martin" Radmanovic, whose battle cry for this final was "how quick can I pick up 2 fouls and get back to the bench?" and you had the perfect mixture for defeat. Radmanovic's backup Luke (No I don't play like my dad) Walton, who had that "deer in the headlights" look throughout the entire series and you wonder how the Lakers even won a single game, let alone two. I guess the answer to that is Kobe!

Now next season the Lakers have high hopes that Andrew Bynum will come back full strength at the center position, which would allow Gasol to move to the Power Forward spot and Odom (if he is kept) to go the 3 spot. This would give the Lakers 3 players 6' 10" or taller on the front line, but does Jackson want Odom back, or would he prefer a better outside shooter and one-on-one defender (maybe Shane Battier?) at that spot? Bynum would make the Lakers much stronger inside, which Boston exposed as their biggest weakness in this series, but will Bynum be enough? Don't forget that the West had 8 teams that won 50 or more games last season, some of which (Denver and Phoenix come to mind) have personal/salary cap issues and could be broken apart. San Antonio will be a year old, Dallas could be revamped, and Houston has the Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady thing that has yet to show anything due to injuries. So the Lakers repeating as the champs of the West is not out of the question.

For the Celtics, unless a deep complacency sets in this team is more than capable of repeating, with only Sam "I am" Cassell (what is he 50?) the only real age problem. Garnett, Pierce and Allen are only in their early 30's and Perkins, Rondo, and Powe mere babies in their early 20's, they have the makings to win at least 1-2 more titles before the age factor comes into play. All in all I guess, being a life-long Celtic fan that I am happy for the 17^th title, that was won on the 17^th of June in the presence of number 17 John "Hondo" Havlieck. All that was missing was Red lighting up cigar at the end of it all, but I am certain that he was up above doing that very thing, enjoying vanquishing the Lakers one more time.

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