Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The 2010 NBA Finals

Aloha... Here's my quick NBA Finals preview...
  • Perimeter Matchup - Rondo/R. Allen/T. Allen/Pierce for Boston vs. Fisher/Kobe/Farmer/Brown/Artest for LA..... We'll state the obvious first... Rajon Rondo should have a field day... there's no one on the LA roster outside of Kobe that can keep Rondo in front of him, and I seriously doubt LA is putting Kobe on Rondo for the entirety of the game... Ray Allen is a career 20+ ppg guy against the Lakers and Kobe always seems to bring out the best in him... that's a plus for Boston as well... For LA, Kobe should/will get his 30 per no matter who guards him (I saw Bruce Bowen and others say that Ray Allen will get the chief assignment, and I agree, I don't think Boston can burn Pierce on the defensive end for 40 minutes), and he's the best player in the series (obviously)... the keys here IMO are Derek Fisher (and his ability or inability to knock down open 3's in this series) and whether Ron Artest can keep Pierce under wraps... Advantage: Boston slightly across the board, but Kobe is capable of even-ing it up
  • Frontcourt Matchup - Garnett/Perkins/Sheed/Davis for Boston vs. Gasol/Bynum/Odom for LA... Pretty star-studded on both sides... THE key in this series is Pau Gasol... he was flat-out bad in the 2008 finals and was the reason IMO that LA lost that series... he has to be assertive and be the 20/10 guy he's capable of... Lamar Odom is the enigma (as he always is) but he needs to pick up the slack for Gasol if Pau doesn't show up again... Bynum is sort of a wash... I don't expect much from him at all when you combine the knee with lack of any sort of pedigree at this stage of the playoffs... for Boston, they're gonna need Kendrick Perkins on the floor... the technical foul situation didn't go away and if he gets another one, that's huge in that he'd miss a game, and he's one of the best post defenders in the league... KG was spotty in the Orlando series, and he'll need to at least show up on the defensive end... Advantage: LA on paper...
  • Coaching Matchup - Doc vs. Phil - 2 years ago? Would've been Phil by a mile... it's still Phil... but Doc has shown the propensity to step his game up lately... his rotation is settled... he now rides with lineups that are effective instead of blindly sticking guys in on a schedule... but Phil Jackson has 10 rings... done and done... Advantage: LA
While that isn't a "comprehensive" look at the series... it'll have to do... as stated above.. I think Pau is the key to the series... Boston can single him up (and they will) effectively, and it's going to be on him to assert himself on the block, I'll also throw it in that I fully expect Kendrick Perkins to miss a game in this series due to T's.... Kobe is playing on a different court than anyone else right now... and I expect that to continue.... In all, I'll say that Gasol shows up, Kobe goes off, and Rondo/Pierce/Allen don't quite have enough bullets in the tank... LA in 7

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