Saturday, March 22, 2008

Dream 2008 NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics

Posted by Regnard Raquedan
Looking at the current standings of the Eastern and Western Conferences of the NBA, two legendary teams sit atop: the Boston Celtics at the East and the Los Angeles Lakers at the West. This may sound wishful thinking at this point in the season, but the prospects of a Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals is in the realm of possibility.

The last decade of Celtics basketball practically made it rather impossible for the the two teams to meet-- the best team the Celts fielded prior to this season was the Antoine Walker-Paul Piece duo that sputtered after reaching the conference finals. The Lakers enjoyed a dynasty early in the decade, but since have struggled to make significant play-off headway in the last five years.

Thanks to the shenanigans Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge pulled off in the off-season, Kevin Garnett is wearing Celtic green. That transaction made the Celtics relevant again (at least in the short term). On the other end, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum's emergence, plus Kobe's happy camper attitude all contributed to them being in the cusp of truly becoming an elite team.

I'm sure I'm not the only one pining for the much-awaited Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers match-up for the new generation. Somewhere in the NBA's office, David Stern is probably giggling like a schoolgirl when he thinks about that potential faceoff.


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14 comments:

  1. funny how the celtics getting KG by giving up their best prospect Big Al is a shenanigan. However, getting Pau for free wasn't pointed out. Yea I know you drink purple kool aid but please. You are a pot calling the kettle black.
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  2. So the KG trade was "shenanigans"?? So what was the Gasol trade?? Face it, the Celtics gave up an all-star caliber player to get KG. The Lakers gave up cap space to get Gasol. This had nothing to do with former teammates making side deals. The Celtics had the best offer for the Wolves. A stud PF, cap space, and 1st round picks. No one else could match that. But I'm sure that will be every Laker fan's excuse if the Celtics knock them off.
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  3. you're a joke. "Thanks to the shenanigans"??? The KG trade was the most legitimate superstar trade this entire year. Al Jefferson is a monster, the Wolves got $11 mil in cap relief, and got much needed 1st round picks back. It's really funny hearing a Laker's fan accuse the Celtic's greatness to shenanigans, when the only reason the Lakers are competing is because A) Derek Fisher landed in their lap thanks to the Jazz, and B) Pau Gasol was given to them for free.

    Lakers are the luckiest team of the year by far.
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  4. @all:

    Obviously you are all Celtics fans. Fine. But are you naive to think that the Ainge-McHale connection did not "facilitate" the trade? Larry Bird must be wondering why he did not sop gravy in the deal.
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  5. I love the (at least for the short term) comment when referring to the C's relevance. Ummm, have you noticed Kobe is about to turn 30? Guards age much more rapidly than bigs. I would venture to say KG will be leading us deep into the playoffs for longer than Kobe will. And once he is gone, Pau and Bynum get you an 8th seed in the West at best. Enjoy that.
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  6. @anonymous:

    Isn't the average age of the "trinity" of KG, Pierce and Allen amount to over 30? Another thing: I'd take the young Laker corps of Farmar, Bynum, Turiaf and Sasha over James Posey, Sam Cassell and PJ Brown.
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  7. Whether or not the McHale-Ainge connection helped is a moot point. Fact remains that one, it was the best package the Wolves could've gotten, and two, you do not trade a superstar and one of the all time greats to a team just because their GM was your teammate. McHale is a bad GM, but he's not retarded.

    Besides, the contention was not regarding the possibilities of a backroom deal amongst friends. Our problem is your bias and irresponsibility in reducing the Celtics record to some shenanigans organized by McHale and Ainge, while completely glossing over the much more unbalanced Gasol trade or the Fisher deal.

    The Celtics earned their record. Ainge stockpiled youth and tradeable contracts with the hopes of landing a big name in a trade, and he did just that. The Lakers were on there way to another mediocre season, first round exit, and Kobe trade before Fisher landed in their lap and Gasol was sent with a nice red bow wrapped around him.
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  8. Whoa buddy. I'm not downplaying the Celtics record completely. My issue is the KG deal leaves a bad smell. It's legit in all counts, but it makes you wonder...

    If you ask me, the Celtics were headed the same path as New York had Ainge not pull the trigger. While the Lakers were going to a first round exit, as you say, the Celtics were probably booking their summer fishing trips before the All-Star break.
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  9. Who cares how the trades happened? It's as pointless as saying Chicago got lucky when they got MJ with the 3rd pick - who cares?

    Anyway, both teams got lucky. The end.

    if you're interested, I'm running a three part blog on why Kobe won't win the MVP, and why that is a damn shame.
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  10. @ Chris:

    Sure, where can I find your blog?
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  11. First things first, Lakers will take care of the Nuggets, then Utah, and finally Shaq vs. Kobe in the West finals. In the East we can just snore the first round and maybe take a gander at the fianl 4: Boston vs Majic Pistons vs Cavs. Lakers will slowly work Trevor Ariz and more importantly Bynum back into the scheme of things and there will be the Lakers vs Celtics finals with the Lakers winning in 7. I think NBA and Stern will need diapers from all the high ratings=$$$$ excitement.
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  12. @paul:

    LOL! you're absolutely right re: stern's reaction.
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  13. Celtics once again own the Lakers in the finals: 9 fianls wins and only 2 losses. We own the Lakers.
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