For the Celtics
1. Garnett is slower, but seems to talk even more trash and somehow appears angrier than ever.
2. If possible, Pierce appears fatter and less athletic
3. Rasheed Wallace is on the team... which was a huge negative during the regular season, but seems to be working for them in spurts during the playoffs.
4. Rajon Rondo has gone from a complimentary player to the best player on the team... arguably playing better than any point guard in the playoffs this year.
5. The Celtics before were hungry and had 3 veterans who had not yet tasted playoff success. Then ran roughshod through the regular season and pounced on a soft Lakers team after struggling during the early rounds of the playoffs.. This year they sleep-walked through the regular season, turned it up in the playoffs and put down the two other best teams in the league with relative ease in the early rounds.
6. The Celtics had HCA.
7. The Celtics had James Posey, who had previously made a cameo appearance during Miami's championship run. He is that kind of defensive-stopper/3-point marksman that has marked successful teams like Detroit, the Spurs, etc. The Celtics have no obvious replacement for Posey and no obvious person to guard Kobe.
For the Lakers...
1. Andrew Bynum will be playing, but he's not 100%. He's actually kind of a liability at times because of his lack of mobility on help defense and rebounding.
2. Ron Artest will be playing instead of Trevor Ariza. Ariza played his role better on offense, but Artest will bring another dimension on defense. Artest will be able to defend the fatty Pierce better than Ariza would and creates some matchup issues for the Celtics. Do you use Pierce, your best perimeter defender, on Kobe and a physically over-matched Ray Allen on Ron Artest? Do you do put a defensively-deficient Allen on Kobe and hope to shut down the rest of the Lakers? Do you put Rondo on Kobe and put Allen on Fisher? Very interesting, and I'm sure Tom Thibodeaux will have the right answer.
3. Oh and did I mention that Artest and Bynum do wonders for the Lakers' physicality. Let's be honest Perkins/Garnett just physically and mentally abused Gasol/Odom in 2008. Gasol/Odom are simply mentally weak players and they were in over their heads with that matchup.
From that outlook, it seems like the Lakers will probably win. However, I think it'll largely depend on health. If the Celtics have to rely on a very limited Rondo or Nate Robinson, they lose their biggest edge in the series -- point guard. If Bynum logs big minutes and isn't more effective, the Lakers will give up big points to a team that already plays the best defense in the league.
Then there's always the personality factor in play. Will Kobe try to be the hero if the Lakers offense struggles after playing poor defensive teams in the earlier rounds? Will Artest submit to his role or will he try to become more of a story in key moments? Will Odom and Gasol cave in because of pressure and physicality and defer excessively to Kobe?
1. Garnett is slower, but seems to talk even more trash and somehow appears angrier than ever.
2. If possible, Pierce appears fatter and less athletic
3. Rasheed Wallace is on the team... which was a huge negative during the regular season, but seems to be working for them in spurts during the playoffs.
4. Rajon Rondo has gone from a complimentary player to the best player on the team... arguably playing better than any point guard in the playoffs this year.
5. The Celtics before were hungry and had 3 veterans who had not yet tasted playoff success. Then ran roughshod through the regular season and pounced on a soft Lakers team after struggling during the early rounds of the playoffs.. This year they sleep-walked through the regular season, turned it up in the playoffs and put down the two other best teams in the league with relative ease in the early rounds.
6. The Celtics had HCA.
7. The Celtics had James Posey, who had previously made a cameo appearance during Miami's championship run. He is that kind of defensive-stopper/3-point marksman that has marked successful teams like Detroit, the Spurs, etc. The Celtics have no obvious replacement for Posey and no obvious person to guard Kobe.
For the Lakers...
1. Andrew Bynum will be playing, but he's not 100%. He's actually kind of a liability at times because of his lack of mobility on help defense and rebounding.
2. Ron Artest will be playing instead of Trevor Ariza. Ariza played his role better on offense, but Artest will bring another dimension on defense. Artest will be able to defend the fatty Pierce better than Ariza would and creates some matchup issues for the Celtics. Do you use Pierce, your best perimeter defender, on Kobe and a physically over-matched Ray Allen on Ron Artest? Do you do put a defensively-deficient Allen on Kobe and hope to shut down the rest of the Lakers? Do you put Rondo on Kobe and put Allen on Fisher? Very interesting, and I'm sure Tom Thibodeaux will have the right answer.
3. Oh and did I mention that Artest and Bynum do wonders for the Lakers' physicality. Let's be honest Perkins/Garnett just physically and mentally abused Gasol/Odom in 2008. Gasol/Odom are simply mentally weak players and they were in over their heads with that matchup.
From that outlook, it seems like the Lakers will probably win. However, I think it'll largely depend on health. If the Celtics have to rely on a very limited Rondo or Nate Robinson, they lose their biggest edge in the series -- point guard. If Bynum logs big minutes and isn't more effective, the Lakers will give up big points to a team that already plays the best defense in the league.
Then there's always the personality factor in play. Will Kobe try to be the hero if the Lakers offense struggles after playing poor defensive teams in the earlier rounds? Will Artest submit to his role or will he try to become more of a story in key moments? Will Odom and Gasol cave in because of pressure and physicality and defer excessively to Kobe?
