I’ve been harping on matchups everywhere when it comes to the Lakers and Celtics… so let’s just dive into my biggest question:
Who will guard Ray Allen?
The Lakers have been starting Derek Fisher, Kobe, Odom, Gasol and Vlad Radmonovic. Will they go with Fisher/Rondo, Kobe/Pierce, Odom/Ray? That puts Gasol on KG… and me just typing that caused KG to pass out with delight. KG would decimate Gasol. Pau is as soft as it gets. He’s soft-serve ice cream on a hot day. KG can do what he wants, when he wants with him. So I have a hard time thinking they’ll do that.
Would the Lakers consider Fisher/Rondo, Kobe/Ray and Odom/Pierce? Still leaves them with KG on Gasol. And don’t forget Perk on Radmonovic. Perk is strong enough to back him down.
Jon Barry suggested Kobe/Rondo so Kobe could float around on D and double team. I taped a segment last night for Around the Spectrum (which will air tonight at 7pm if you want to hear it) in which Zach Harper of FantasyInsiderOnline.com and TalkHoops.net said Odom on KG would be the best matchup for the Lakers.
Do you see where this is going? Does anyone see a matchup here that favors the Lakers? If its Odom on Ray… then can’t you see Ray blowing by him and getting to the hoop at will? If its Kobe on Ray… then can’t you see Pierce doing the same to Odom? And once those guys get past their defenders… is there ANYONE on the Lakers front line that frightens you? Will the Lakers have to change their starting line up? Will Turiaf start to bang with Perk? Will Farmar or Vujacic start to give them another perimeter defender?
If the Celtics are aggressive and attack the rim, they can probably average 105 ppg in these finals. That’s more than enough to win it all.
Herald: Long time coming for KG | Rondo right on for Eastern champs | Sports world has a new hub | As good as it gets | Globe: Just what Doc ordered | 2 approaches, same result for Kobe, Pierce | Daughter combines Red, Green | Ainge sweating it out in Florida | Souza: C’s, Lakers once again talk of NBA | T&G: Rivalry reborn | Eagle Tribune: Celtics finally – and luckily – found themselves | Daily Breeze, CA: Nothing unites LA like Lakers run | Detroit Free Press: Trade Rip | SI: Thomsen-Pierce, C’s complete turnaround | Pierce on other side of rivalry now | Rivalry renewed | ESPN: Top 10 C’s-Lakers moments | Classic-Revisit the rivalry
And for those of you who want one more look back at the Eastern Conference Finals: BostonSportz has a multi-video look back. And for those of you who REALLY want to look back: WhatIfSports put together an all-time Celtics and all-time Lakers team… and the Celtics won in 6.
Isn’t this straightforward?
Rondo-Fisher
Ray-Kobe
Pierce-[the equivalent of a fart]
KG-Odom
Perk-Gasol
I guess they could try starting Turiaf (putting him on KG) and move Odom to covering Pierce; personally I never saw how that would work. I mean I can just see a KG/Pierce pick n roll; if they switch they’re really screwed and if they don’t well Pierce will have the jumper or be able to turn the corner (just watch out for flopping fish in the lane).
Btw, just so you don’t think Jon Barry had an original idea, Jeff Van Gundy posited the same thing about Kobe on Rondo right after game 6 of the ECF.
That’s my point… there’s going to be a mismatch somewhere in this lineup. And the mismatch won’t work the other way because their big guys aren’t strong enough to muscle past Pierce or KG.
I just hope Rondo brings his real D to this series. Van Gundy did a great job of pointing out how his poor positioning allowed Billups to blow by him. If he squares up…drops down into Cobra stance…then no one will be able to get by him.
If Kobe does play roamer….and Rondo is struggling…you will see plenty of Eddie House. That’s the beauty of this series….LA can’t pressure the C’s like Detroit.
Yeah… I’m thinking that this might be an “Eddie House” series. Their guards are quicker…. the matchups might favor more House than Sam
This is going to be a lot like the Cavs series. Will LA’s role players be able to make jump shots? Fisher might get his…but I’m hoping those foreigners don’t go off.
First man off the bench – Poz or Luke Walton – who’d you rather have?
Poz…. easy
You guys kill me…Pau is soft, blah,blah…Pierce and KG are unguardable and Ray can blow by anyone we have…hmmm…our bench is 4 deep…Pau held his own with Duncan ( much better low post than KG)..if KG settles for his medium range stuff, then it doesn’t matter who’s on him, if he hits he hits…Rondo scares me…NOT AT ALL-cobra bullshit…he’s a little queer…Pierce is an SOB, no doubt…the reason you had success v. Detroit is their age and lack of fire…Sheed could give a shit, Billups wasn’t 100%…the rest are old…Rip was the only one who looked like he could still play, but he got hurt too…
Why don’t you turn the tables and figure out how the hell you’ll stop us from scoring 100+ a night…our outside shooters are better, roll players are well-defined, far-superior Coach (under-fucking-statement of the year) and we have the best player on the planet that made Bruce “I’m the only man in the NBA who can contain Kobe” Bowen look like a CBA rookie…House? Posey? Are you kidding! Take off those green colored glasses, put down the kool-aid and be real…Your Big Three need to shoot lights out for you to win…simple as that…you play like you did in Rounds 1 and 2!?…and its a 5 game series…
God its alraedy fun and we have 4 days till tip off!
By the way Bigmck…i hope its like the Cav series…we’ll sweep you.
How the fuck is this gonna be like the cavs series dumbass. Oh and btw have any of you faggots actually seen us play in the playoffs. Well ive seen you bitches play and it sure was hilarious
lets go over the recap WHY e are favorites
1. Lakers 4 Denver 0; Celtics 4 Atlanta 3
we beat a 50 win playoffs team in 4 games, whereas the “best team in the leauge” was taken to 7 games by a 37 win atlanta hawks team!!!!!!
2. Lakers 4 Utah 2 Celtics 4 Cavs 3
Again we defeated a 54 win team in 6 ON THEIR FLOOR and it took you guys 7 games to beat a superstar and a band of role players
3. Lakers 4 Spurs 1 Celtics 4 Pistons 2
Do i have to say more? We dethroned the champions, you beat, uh, an inconsistent pistons team that could have easily beat you but the didnt turn on their damn switch
I’ll give you one in your favor so you dont go bitching
Lakers 0 Celtics 2
but, you did this when we didnt have a superstar in Pau Gasol, and we had a bum at our center(Kwame Brown)
So no bitches stop saying you’ll beat us that easily. like inferno said, how the fuck are you gonna stop us from scoring 100 a night. And Kobe isnt gonna let a bunch of fags like you win
Amen my brotha-from-anotha-mutha!
Yeah…. Pau ‘held his own’ by letting Duncan average like 25 and 15 for the series. That’s real tough D.
Like I said before: Kobe can score 40 for all I care. The Celtics will make it so he’s taking nothing but jumpers. There’s no way the rest of the Lakers have the sack to step up and score more than 50 a game.
Meanwhile… the softest front line in the league (Gasol, Radmanovic, Odom) will get abused all night long.
I really hope Kobe goes off in this series. I really hope he averages 40 a game and shoots like 60% Because I don’t want the media to take anything away from the Celtics win this thing. I want them to show the world they can beat the team with “the best player in the world” playing at his best level.
[...] to not conflict with Celtics game Hoopsworld Garnett will finally get his shot Red’s Army Who will guard Ray? A lot of people will be wrong Perkisabeast It was worth it Indy Star Bird can’t miss on [...]
@LakersAlldayandnight
Really, you’re going to play the Kwame Brown card? Show me where he is in this box score:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=271123002
He didn’t play and y’all lost by 13. You know who did play? A. Bynum, decent Center whose career may have been ended by the inept Lakers medical staff.
Yeah, Brown played in this game:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=271230013
But he wasn’t the starter, Bynum was again.
And before you claim that even Gasol is a massive upgrade over Bynum, try these numbers on for size:
Gasol as a Laker – 0.624 TS% – 16.68 Net Possessions/48 Min
Bynum – 0.646 TS% – 21.36 Net Possessions/48 Min
Yes, if Bynum recovers fully the Lakers will be potent, but to completely throw out what happened in the regular season is a mistake. The Cs drank Bynum’s milkshake, and will do so to Gasol as well.
Oh yeah, and we played pretty good defense on Kobe, he was 15-46 FG shooting in those two games. Geez, that’s LeBron-like brickatude.
“it took you guys 7 games to beat a superstar and a band of role players”
Lakersalldayandnight are you talking about the Cleveland series or the Lakers series? Cuz I got the C’s in 6 over Kobe and the Gang.
Funny how LA fans are quick to point out how old and injured the Pistons were…yet fail to realize that’s the same knock on the Spurs (I’m betting Manu’s injury was equal to Billups). And we didn’t get the benefit of the worst call of the playoffs.
reds also can be said for the laker’s side so who is going to guard. Odom is not better then KG but i think Odom has more quickness to his game to the rim and those long arms of his can cause KG to take difficult shots
wow, could the lakers fans here have less class? “faggots”? “rondo is queer”? i mean, i really hope you’re not a representative sample of l.a. fans, you two, cuz you’re just pathetic. if you’d make your points without all the crap and insults you might get someone to listen. are you really so insecure that you have to base your arguments on sexual orientation? isn’t l.a. all open-minded and accepting of different lifestyles? please grow up, then maybe we can talk basketball. as it is, you’re an embarrassment to the lakers and their fans.
rvr sorry for those laker fan ashing this site like that i used to be like that but i stopped now cause it just make’s our fan base look horrible
We don’t have to worry about who’s guarding Ray if he’s not hitting his shots. He has looked good the last few games, so I hope that continues. I know he doesn’t like kobe and that usually motivates his game too.
AND the only pressure defense they have is that spaz sasha. He may give Sam and Eddie some troubles, which is why I like Pierce bringing the ball up the court when Rondo is out.
Fish on Rondo
Kobe on Allen
Vlad Rad on Pierce
Gasol on KG
Odom on Perk
They’re going to use the same thing they used in the last two games of last series. Everytime he got the ball Timmy got doubled or tripled. Odom is a terrific helper, and will double KG anytime he gets it and will be there anytime Pierce drives. And Fish will be helping all over as well.
And also, the matchups go both ways. KG won’t be able to guard Pau because Pau is much bigger and good at those over the top shots. Likewise Perkins can’t guard LO, he’s too quick. If they switch, Perkins can’t guard Pau. Allen can’t guard Kobe. Pierce and Rondo are gonna be helping, and Rad and Fish will hit their open shots.
hahahahahaha… this is hilarious… I feel bad for the readers that are subjected to reading match up analysis written by someone that doesn’t do any scouting reports. Allow me to break it down for you, and i’ll link later so you can head over to http://www.LABallTalk.com and learn how the Celtics are going to struggle on both ends.
KG/Lamar is an obvious match up, consider it a done deal. KG has one inch on Lamar and they have the 1st and 2nd longest arms in the NBA. Lamar can guard KG but KG will struggle having to step out to the 3point line and then defend the dribble penetration.
Rondo/Fisher is quite obvious as well, that’s why there is a point guard!
Pierce and Allen will be rotated on by Kobe, Radmanovic (who doesn’t play center in case you didn’t realize that when you paired him up again Perkins) Ariza (who should be good to go in this series), Walton, and Vujacic. Kobe is the best perimeter defender on the court (Garnett is the best paint defender) and Vujacic is a great defender as well that nobody really knows about. Ariza is known for his defensive abilities but we are not 100% sure that he is capable of playing big time minutes. Radmanovic is sloppy and will be the easiest to take advantage of for the Celtics. O yeah, and Ray Allen flying by Odom?? I don’t know that I’ve laughed that hard at a horrible match up breakdown in my life. I’d like to see Ray Allen take over like that!
Perkins/Gasol will be interesting to watch. Perkins is a big body thats tough to compete against and Pau is a pretty soft rebounder. Perkins has the rebounding advantage, but obviously Pau’s shot will dominate over Perkins.
All I can say is that when the benches come in, the Celtics are knee deep in it. PJ Brown, Sam Cassell and whoever else you throw out there competing against our bench is a joke. Good luck and I really hope to see a better match up breakdown some time soon. One with a bit of logic and common sense.
I agree, rvr…. it’s sad to see poor sportsmanship among fans. I can accept that the Celtics are a good team and this will be a great series, but this is the most on sided match up breakdown with no thought behind it and that’s what gets the fans riled up. Either way, LA has a lot of disgustingly rude and obnoxious fans, don’t let them get to you and don’t let them represent what the Lakers truly stand for.
Defense wins championships bottom line the Celtics are better then the Lakers. The real ? is will Kobe continue to play team ball? Yes he is a team player or will his ego take over. By the way Ainge has the the advantage in his matchup.
Its pretty simple the matchup break down in my eyes
fish rondo
kb ray
rad pierce
odom KG
gasol perk
our clear advantage is on our 2 best players, pierce and KG, that is why we are saying that we have good matchups against your laker team, our 2 most dominate players are going to be guarded by players not nearly as talented offensively and defensively as yours, you have the clear advantage with kobe, no doubt, but ray can still shoot lights out and will force kobe to stay honest defensively and lets not forget the great and im not kidding great job ray did defensively in the 2 games we played against KB24 this year.. I CANNOT WAIT TIL THURSDAY IN BEANTOWN!!
and I would like to add that the Spurs did not pose as much of a threat with matchups as we do because the Spurs did not have good players to force radmonovic and walton to play defense, rest assured Pierce will do that, and Garnett is head and shoulders a better passer out of double teams than Duncan is and will be hitting open players under the net all the time, so dont think an Odom and Gasol double team on KG down low will take him out of the game, perk is going to have many many free dunks
Odom will not be on KG, they are going to do the same thing they did the series against the Spurs. They’ll put Odom on Perkins (like they put Odom on Oberto) so that he can help.
Spurs were old and injured…satisfied…we’re also missing our up and coming center who was having a break-out year…I haven’t mentioned that either …
…as for the “worst call”…it was an obvious make up call…the DFish jumper hit the rim and the shot clock wasn’t reset…I’m sure no one here saw that either…
Sorry rvr for my crude, distatsteful comments earlier regarding the homosexual player Rondo…by the way, what’s his middle name…??? Does it start with a “V”???
Anyway…you won’t hear anymore hurtful words from me …keepin it clean from here…
By the way…hell of a breakdown from Lakers Blog…learn something Redsarmy?
Thanks inferno and I’m sure that your tasteful apology is appreciated among these Celts fans.
Lakers fan wrote that they will have Odom on Perkins the same way they had Odom on Oberto. There was a reason for that, it was because the Spurs didn’t have a single player that can match up against Odom. Robert Horry was there best shot at defending him and he couldn’t even do that, so Phil Jackson took advantage of that. I said that from the beginning that the series would be determined by Lamar.
Let’s not forget that match ups don’t work one way. Each team has 5 guys and the coach decides which guy guards which guy on the opposing end. If Pau guards Perkins on one end, that doesn’t mean that KG can’t guard Pau on the other end while Perkins switches to Lamar. In fact, Lamar would be the best defender on KG, which I am sure we will use, and Pau will be the best defender on Perkins (in the starting line up because Ronny Turiaf actually matches up best with him). Also, this is a 7 game series, the coaches will make adjustments if they see that certain match ups aren’t going their way. Coaching advantage obviously goes to the Lakers, especially with how badly Doc has coached in the playoffs, and this will be a series of mind games, I’m sure.
Truth is Lakers Blog…I have been participating in this site since the start of the playoffs and only after repeated “Kobe rape” comments and/or “criminal” slander did I resort to the gutter mouth…ok…old news-on to the series…
I can’t see any other match up (from our end) other than Lamar on KG…Pau will do well v. Perkins…although C fans see pau as a “soft” Euro-turtle, he can certainly defend the very limited arsenal that is Perkins…lamar won’t shut down KG, but he’ll at least be a presence…
As far as Kobe…i think we have the luxury of putting him on the scorer of the moment in spots, but I’d like to see him on Pierce, especially in the “garden”…with the Truth’s energy and intangibles at home we can’t let him get off…I’d rather have Ray show me something, plus except for that one game, they lost all of his + 20 performances…
Coaching…well just look at Game 6 and his insertion and faith he had in the bench and the way he allowed the team to “naturally” chip away at the 17 pt. lead until close enough to get back to a normal set…Great stuff…its not about just having hired guns…we’ll see how it all plays out…Thursday can’t come soon enough…
Lakers Blog im only calling out the fuckers that cant shut up about th rape trial (ie that bastard tim) and all these celtics fans that keep talking shit about the Lakers. Seriously thy think their all intellegent and the rets of the fans in the leauge are ignorant. Newsflash: Every prediction you said about us was wrong. I remember early in th season when alot of people here said we would’nt even make the playoffs. What a retarded prediction. Next off alot of idiots said utah in 6. We kicked their asses in 6. And now against the champs. Spurs in 5 i think i saw a spurs in 4 somewhere. So make all your dumbass predictions you dumbasses. Cause as always, you’ll be wrong
Bigmck, Kobe and Lakers in 6
I did predict Utah in 6 I was wrong stop living in the past yet we have the advantage at Gm-PG-SF-PF-FB {Fanbase}
Goodguys in 7
Lakers Blog – I see where you are coming from and I think Odom would do a much better job defending KG. However, Odom is possibly the best help big man in the NBA. He admits to leading the league in defense 3 in the key, but goes on to say that you could ask any Laker and they will tell you he is always there to help. I think they will put Odom on Perkins and Pau on KG because Pau’s length can disrupt KG’s shot (especially the fade away) and because it will allow LO to rome around, helping on not only KG but also either Pierce or Allen (whoever Rad is on).
Have Lamar cheat off Perk. We are at our best when we force teams to double our stars so they can make the extra pass. Plenty of easy lay-ups or open jumpers to be made.
LA plays an inferior defense. People get caught up with match-ups. Match-ups are an individual concept. Holes will need to be plugged on both sides. The difference is when we help we get back better than any team in the league. What we learned playing against Joe Johnson and King James has prepared us perfectly for Kobe and CO. Furthermore we play far better defense at home… which brings us to….
The purple and gold will have to deal with starting a series on the road. Win first two and Celtics should be able to grab 1 of the middle three in LA, where Truth will be an assassin. This sets everything up for a great 2 game Green-takes-all home stand.
Boston in 6
Vlad will guard Ray, he can’t guard anyone else except for Cassell maybe. Kobe is a good perimeter defender, he gets all over you like hotel maid. So be careful Pauly, when you post up on Kobe, that isn’t a hand check you feel per se………………..
Vlad has no chance on Ray-Ray. And should that happen who guards Pierce? Kobe? Fish!?! Point being Vlad is going to give all of Lakerdom fits when they see what their defense becomes because he cannot guard anyone on the Green front line.