The NBA Finals: And the Winner Is…

By: D.K. Wilson

By June 19 either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics will be handed the Larry O’Brien trophy. When this occurs the two teams will have combined to win exactly half of the NBA championships - 31 of 62 - since the league’s inception.

But the question is:

Which team will win number 31?

The “Big Three” equals one Kobe. Think about it. Los Angeles can game plan to stop Paul Pierce. Or Ray Allen. Or Kevin Garnett.

But they cannot stop all three. And if one of them gets off every game his efforts combined with what ever the other two give Boston will, points-wise, be equal to or surpass the output of Kobe Bryant. Then add rebounds and assists, blocks and they easily contribute more to their team that Bryant does his.

How-ev-a.

The Lakers have their own Big Three.

Who is going to stop Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and Pau Gasol? Well, no one stops Kobe - no, Paul Pierce is not going to keep Bryant from - to borrow a U.S. Postal Service phrase - delivering to his appointed rounds. Odom is a matchup nightmare and dominates whomever he plays against. Gasol will more that likely be facing off against KG. Garnett is not as physical defender as were Carlos Boozer and Tim Duncan, so Pau will do his share of scoring.

Which Big Three has an advantage?…

I’ll say Lakers by a nose.

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The bench is the bench is the bench - except when it’s the Los Angeles bench - or is that Boston’s? The Lakers have a banger in Rony Turiaf and they have scorers galore in Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar. But, then again Boston has bangers in Leon Powe and P. J. Brown and scorers such as Sam Cassell, Eddie House, and James Posey.

LA uses its reserves to maintain leads, grow leads, and make up deficits. The Celtics have enough veterans with rings - Cassell and Posey - to nullify whatever advantage the Lakers have. House and Posey are capable of lighting it up from 3-point range, while Cassell should be able to use his experience to ward off the younger Farmar. Powe and Brown will play Turiaf to a standstill.

Against popular opinion, I’m taking the Celtics bench over the Lakers bench.

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Pau?… Los Angeles lost both regular season games to the Cees. But that was before the Gasol for Kwame, a draft choice or two and a prayer trade. LA was 35-20 B.P. (Before Pau) and 34-8 after, including the playoffs.

Gasol brought flexibility to the Lakers. On offense he can post up, pop out and hit elbow jumpers, and is another in a line of excellent Lakers passers. Defensively his length poses problems for opponents and he’s tougher than the average Euro big man. If he takes the ball to the rim instead of flicking up some of the soft shots he was against San Antonio, he could pose serious problems for Boston.

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Rondo vs. D-Fish ———- is a huge matchup. The talented, young Rajon grows with each playoff game, while Derek Fisher is the rock on which all Lakers, including Kobe, stand. Fortunately for Rondo, he has the Bog Three to lean on. But he still must be proficient in leading the Celtics for them to prosper.

Fisher, on the other hand, is what he is - and that is steady and clutch. Fisher will hit the dagger three, come up with the key steal, and just play a very good all-around game.

As much as I like Rondo’s progress, Fisher has the advantage here.

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And the NBA wants - who to win?

Boston, Boston, Boston. David Stern would absolutely love to hand the Cees the Larry O’Brien in the Fleet-Toronto Dominion Bank North-not the Garden Center. KG, Ray-Ray and Paul —— or Kobe? You know who is seen as the good guys. Kobe has Eagle and the whispers of another Vanessa, KG and Pierce have loyalty with Allen’s professionalism.

The Celtics have the ghost of Red Auerbach with his nine titles versus Phil Jackson with his nine titles. Hand the trophy to Phil and make him the new King of Coaches?

No way. It is not happening, not this year at least.

Oh yeah, and we have “Ubuntu” versus —— Kobe’s legacy. There is only one Michael Jordan and if Kobe puts on a consistent, game-by-game show for the ages, Jordan will be back-seated and, to a degree, replaced by his 21st century evolutionary newer, better model.

Mike and Red can’t go away yet - Ubuntu is the favorite and Jackson knows this. He has already commented on Auerbach, planting the seed in officials’ and the NBA league office officials minds that the ghost of Red is in play, and the league better make sure he gets out of play real quick, or there’s going to be some of that  wry but very revealing of the NBA’s inner-workings Jackson comments in postgame press conferences - or maybe between quarters as he did in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs when he plainly blasted the officials to the tune of no fine from the league.

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So, with all that, who the hell is going to win this damn thing?

Tell you what. I have two outcomes. It Los Angeles gets one of the first two games in Boston, this thing is not coming back East. But if Boston wins both home games in the 2-3-2 home and away set up, Boston wins in six.

And that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

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D.K. Wilson is a freelance sports writer. He is better known on the internet as "DWil," and writes for Sports On My Mind.

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