After two days off, the Celtics return to practice today. Phil Jackson had his boys on the court yesterday. Everyone’s curious about the matchups. Here’s something I dug out of the Orange County Register:
The Lakers likely will start out with Vladimir Radmanovic on Paul Pierce — with Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza and Odom as other options. But if the Lakers want to give Sasha Vujacic extensively playing time once again with the idea that Vujacic can hound Boston sharpshooter Ray Allen the way that he did San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili last round, then Bryant will slide to small forward a lot and match up with Pierce.
If it’s Pierce, Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter said Bryant has to “stay attached, which is hard for Kobe to do.” But Winter also said: “You don’t want to put Kobe on Allen. Allen has always been very effective against Kobe. Kobe just won’t pay enough attention to him.”
Can I just say none of those guys slated to guard Pierce scares me. After battling LeBron James and Tayshaun Prince, Radmanovic will be a cakewalk. Now I thought Kobe was a great defender, but apparently Tex Winter doesn’t think too highly of his skills.
I’m getting flooded with emails asking where’s my in-depth matchup analysis and pre-series prediction. Please be patient. It’s coming. Now that John is off having his extra toes removed, I have to cover his morning shift. Expect the analysis tonight.
Keeping an eye on Vegas, the Lakers are -200 (Celtics +160) to win the series. I know the wiseguys are too smart to actually think LA is better, but this shows the money is flowing in on the purple-and-yellow. For the hardcore bettors, the C’s are favored by 2.5 in Game 1.
And don’t forget, tickets for Games 1 and 2 go on sale today at 2pm. There’s a 2 ticket limit and the cheapest seats are $30. Go to celtics.com, call 1-800-4NBA-TIX or go old school and actually wait in line at the Garden.
Today’s (Few) Links: Globe – Pierce Fans Turn Green | Big Baby Talk | Series Brings Back Memories | Herald – C’s Weren’t Built in a Day | Kobe Indefensible | Red Had His Phil | Vets Cut to Chase | Daily Dime - Pierce Loves Playing Lakers | Arenas Waiting to Opt-Out
C’mon Chuckles…Tex is talking to the press for God’s sake…he’s giving a hint of doubt (or hope for C fans) in typical Zen/Tao fashion…”Allow the enemy to know enough of your war plan to use the knowledge against them…” Its paraphrased really, but you get the point…Kobe can guard anybody, but this way, whomever he guards they’ll both have hope facing the Greatest Player on the Planet.
Just the first move in the Finals chess match…by the way, has Doc ever played chess? Its different than Checkers or even Chutes and Ladders…oh well…we’ll see.
that was good, I read it 3 times
Nevermind you took down the repeats posts and killed my joke i was setting up!!!! nice info though
Sorry Jester….I was having major problems with WordPress this morning.
Tex doesn’t think Kobe isn’t a good defender. He obviously is. He knows that Kobe has a bad tendency to disrespect his opponent and leave them. He loses focus at times.
I think what he said about Allen is absolutely right. I’m looking up career numbers right now for most of the match-ups. I’ll post them later on.
And they better put Kobe on Paul, or else it’s going to get ugly for LA.
Kobe is absolutely the only one from the Lakers who can guard Pierce. It will be amusing to watch him run around Radmanovic though.
Hey inferno, you can keep the Zen crap, ’cause we got a freshly activated Scaly. The thought of him coming off the bench forced the Pistons to fold in 6. No amount of meditation can enlighten you to his game. You’d better pray he eats too much between now and Thursday or you guys are even more screwed.
Scallie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!