Does It Get Any Better Than This?

Does It Get Any Better Than This?

This isn’t what the NBA wanted, is it?  Conspiracy theorists will tell you that commissioner David Stern and the league wanted LeBron James playing in the NBA Finals, not the Boston Celtics.  Whether or not that’s true, no one in the NBA offices in New York can deny that tonight’s winner-take-all game 7 between the Lakers and the Celtics is the perfect storm.

After 82 regular season games and countless playoff games, it all comes down to this.  One game between the league’s two most storied franchises to decide who will be crowned champion.  Delicious!

Regardless of the outcome tonight, history will be made.  This will be the fifth time that these two franchises have met in a game 7 to take home the trophy with Boston winning all of the previous four.  In fact, Boston has never lost a game 7 in the NBA Finals to any team.

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 Meanwhile, Lakers coach Phil Jackson is 41-0 in his career as a head coach in series where his team won game one as they did in these finals.  Something’s got to give.

We have heard so much during this glorious playoff run by the Celtics that this starting five has never lost a playoff series.  That starting five will not be in tact tonight thanks to the torn MCL and PCL in Kendrick Perkins right knee.

Perkins loss can be lamented by Celtics fans or even the players themselves but it shouldn’t have a huge impact on the winner of tonight’s game.  The Lakers are playing with a limited Andrew Bynum which levels the playing field from an injury standpoint.  Plus, this is what Boston got Rasheed Wallace for during the offseason – a moment such as this.

The formula is a very simple one for the Celtics if they are to win an unprecedented 18^thNBA title tonight.  They must defend and they must rebound.

It has been mentioned many times before including here that the team that wins the battle of the boards wins the game.  After the Lakers crushed Boston on the glass by a 52-39 margin in game 6, the better rebounding team improved to 6-0 in the series.

We should assume that Kobe Bryant will have a big game offensively tonight and that would be okay for Boston.  What the Celtics will need to do is limit the effectiveness of the rest of the Lakers, specifically Pau Gasol and Ron Artest.

Good defense creates for missed Laker shots.  Missed Laker shots provide for defensive rebounding opportunities.  Defensive rebounding opportunities provides a chance for Boston to get the ball into Rajon Rondo’s hands and create in transition where he is most effective.

If Boston does these things tonight, they will win.  If not, it’ll be close but no cigar for the Celtics.  And somewhere up in heaven,  Red Auerbach wouldn’t like that.