the lake show

jeb,

My point about RA is that Boston needs him to score against LA and not just be a good defender and intangibles guy.
I would expect Pierce will have some trouble scoring against Artest and Boston gets very little offensively from Perkins.
Ray can't have 1 or 2 FG's made games against LA.
3 of his last 6 games he has made only 1 or 2 FG's and 4 of the 7 last year against Orlando he had 3 or fewer FG's made.

jeb65 wrote:i predict there will be more predictions

jeb,

It's predictable you'd say that.

bob

.

tj

He will score. Thats one thing he will do. PP will be fine against artest. Anyway I am gonna try and follow sam's lead and worry about the next quarter against Orlando.

Bob

I'n not saying I'm for casting so to speak

Yes, we will have plenty of time to discuss/debate a Lakers/Celtics series.

Unless he was sick or something, I can't believe how ineffective and timid Rashard Lewis is in this series. (Another guy that is not up for the battle mentally).
Since April 1st, Lewis has scored over 20 points in 1 out of 18 games. Pathetic, especially for a guy making over $18m/year.
Boy, I bet Orlando misses Turkoglu...

TJ,

I wrote a whole big damn thing and then this site blew it up and I have to re-write it. From now on, if I write a long one (and I am too verbose at times) I'm going to copy it before I submit it.

Shaq vs Bynum this season:

Shaq - 11 points, 5-8 shooting
Bynum - 4 points

Shaq - 13 points, 5-9 shooting
Bynum - 7 points


Howard vs Bynum this season:

Howard - 24 points on 10-14 shooting, 12 rebounds
Bynum - 8 points on 4-7 shooting, 8 rebounds

Howard - 15 points on 6-14 shooting, 16 rebounds
Bynum - 5 points on 1-5 shooting

Shaq vs Perk in EC Semis (6 games):

Shaq - 13.5ppg (season average was 12.0ppg)
Perk - 6.7ppg

Howard vs Perk in EC Finals (through 2 games:

Howard - 21.5ppg (obviously helped by his 30 pt game 2)
Perk - 7ppg, 3.5rpg (season average 10.0ppg and 7.6rpg)

I'm not bringing Bynum into this to do a "value" matchup between him and Perk. What I'm trying to do is show that the expectations from players differ based upon their roles. Perk's scoring and rebounding are way down in the playoffs (his blocks are up, though) and his opponents are doing well on average and yet everybody is calling him a beast and applauding his play. We don't need, nor do we expect, Perk to be a rebounding and scoring monster for us to win. Bynum is beset by other expections.

If Perk continues to score and rebound at this lesser pace against the Lakers (we're not there yet and neither are the Lakers but, for conversational purposes) and holds Bynum down to levels comparable to what he did against Shaq and Howard, Perk wins that matchup.

bob

.

Tj

I am still a young jedi and let my passions rule me ever so often. It's a good thing we got Sam around to temper all out emotions with perspective.

TJ,

As I mentioned to you, off the board, I've been experimenting with going onto an Orlando Magic forum. I started prior to this series, so I definitely didn't go to gloat; in fact I positioned myself as a Boston fan who wanted to wish them all the best. And I guarantee I have never initiated a single inflammatory post. In fact, I've gone overboard to be fairly benign in asking them things such why they thought we weren't seeing more of their twin towers because a lot of people on this board consider Gortat a "Celtics killer." I guarantee I haven't written a syllable that sounds remotely like gloating or taunting.

I was being fairly well accepted until the Celtics won Game One. I was then being tolerated until the Celtics won Game Two. Now I'm a Yankee Scumbag who ought to go have my prostate checked; and I'm in cahoots with Stern in biasing the referees in favor of the Celtics.

I've told them that, when the last thread I started (on the subject of the psychology of basketball) dies down, I'll just leave their board and reappear next spring to invite them to our Florida party (which I'm intent on having). But they keep responding, so I keep replying politely, which seems to irritate them all the more.

Hey, if the net result of my little experiment was to attract a classy guy like "nyce" to post on our board, it's been worth it.

Sam

Two articles from the LA Times. One was referred to at BDC and I found the other one when I went to read the first one. The first one discusses Lakers vs Celtics. The second one discusses Bynum, his condition, and how important he is to the Lakers vs Boston.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-plaschke-lakers-20100520,0,4077026.column

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-heisler-lakers-20100520,0,4917451.column

bob

.

bob,

That just happened to me too. I find that if I preview the post first, I don't have that problem of losing what I just wrote.
You don't need to convince me that Perkins is playing unbelievable defensive bb.
I don't worry too much about Bynum because he will not be in the game when it matters the most. Bynum rarely plays in the last 6 minutes of a game.

jeb,

If I knew your address I would ship you a case or two of eggs as a peace offering, in case we have a minor dust up down the road...

Tj

cheers mate. I'm glad your back. we both love our teams but having you and sky and my beloved mg (and donald) around has forever altered my perspective and helped me grow into a better man.

J. Egg. B.

Sam,

LOL at your Orlando board experience. I wonder how long they would have tolerated a Celtics fan that is more of an 'in your face' fan? Even though the Orlando fans are bitter, I am sure you represented Celtics fans quite well.

Bobheck

Great articles. Thanks. I really like the first one. It's hard to believe that this may happen for all of us again and in such a fashion as this where the two styles of our beloved teams will yet again be in such contrast if we can both make it there.

bobheckler wrote:

jeb65 wrote:i predict there will be more predictions

jeb,

It's predictable you'd say that.

bob

.

You guys are so predictable.

tjmakz wrote:
A big question is, will Boston have enough offense to keep up with LA with Artest guarding Pierce for the whole series?

TJ-

glad you're back.

Artest on Pierce is the single biggest difference from '08. Pierce destroyed the likes of Vlad Radmonovich and Luke Walton and carried the Cs.

As I said on this board at the beginning of the year, this is the biggest reason Artest is a Laker now.

sky

think beFORE you CAST stones

jeb65 wrote:Tj

Man was Kobe passing well last night. when he does that and plays unselfish you guys are really tough.



it sure looks like we may find out and settle some old scores. Both teams are healthy and we will find out who is better. The best team wins a 7 game series every time.

Jeb- Kobe looked like he did in Game 6 vs Denver last year and Game 5 vs OKC this year. If he brings that mindset into a series against the Cs (which he better, as his repeatedly jacking jumpers over a doubling KG in '08 was one of the reasons the Cs won), they are going to be much tougher for the Cs to defend.


And I agree. This will be the rubber match. Best 2 out of 3. Hopefully both sides will be as healthy as possible. And the best team will win over the course of 7 games. I can't wait.

jeb65 wrote:sky

think beFORE you CAST stones

Jeb-

not casting stones. you know me better than that.

Once the Finals are officially set, I'll post a full analysis that entails all of the differences between '08 and now- and there are a lot of them:
Rondo's development, Baby's play, Sheed, Shannon Brown, Lakers increased physical and mental toughness, etc, etc.

I'm just saying the addition of Artest is the biggest difference, as Pierce was the one who killed the Lakers and they have replaced two terrible defenders with a guy who guards Pierce better than anyone in the league. That doesn't singlehandedly mean the Lakers are winning the series. It just means it's the biggest difference from '08 as far as personnel. The other starters for both teams are all the same.

Hi,
Bob, thanks for the links - interesting read.
I think that the first article by BP is just to stir some controversy. I believe Lakers will be prepared for Celtics as they can be. They had 82 games in the season plus some playoffs. What else you can do: ask Celtics to play 5 games in mock-up finals? On top of that I don't doubt that PJ will cleanse all traces of "walk in the park" attitude before the finals.
But before that, let's see if PP and Co. can keep his promise to close out Magic.

AK

PS- I was at the game last night, which was a lot of fun.

When the Lakers went up by about 15 with 5 minutes left, the chant started:

"We Want Boston !!!" "We Want Boston !!!"

I'm sure we'll start hearing "Beat LA!!!" "Beat LA!!!" this weekend in Boston.

Both teams need to take care of their business with ORL and PHX, but it looks like most of the people on this board are going to get their desired matchup for the Finals.

I can't wait.

Being a part of this board with you guys will make it even more fun.

jeb65 wrote:sky

think beFORE you CAST stones

You drink a little too much coffee this morning, buddy ?

Should have started with a magarita instead. Take the edge off.

sky

you were sposed to notice that FORE and CAST were capitalized hence to indicate predictions...as usual my funny way of talking gets goobered up.

A pun my friend.

jeb65 wrote:sky

you were sposed to notice that FORE and CAST were capitalized hence to indicate predictions...as usual my funny way of talking gets goobered up.

A pun my friend.

jeb,

"goobered up"? Now you're beating on peanuts? Is there no end to your list of victims?

Ok, fine, but you better leave the damn beer nuts out of it or you're going to have to deal with me.

bob

.

et tu brute?