Lakers will take care of the Celtics

When I hear the term ‘Big Three’ used to designate the Boston Celtics trio of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce, I chuckle.  But when I hear them compared to some of the great trio’s in NBA history, something ESPN is guilty of doing every time they cover the Celtics, I can’t help but laugh out loud.

First off, if we are going to be completely accurate about the Celtics personnel, we need to start addressing the Celtics as the ‘Big Two,’ because including Allen right now on any list of great players or great trios, in the current stage of his career, is a joke. 

We are talking about a player who is shooting 40% from the field and 34% from behind the arch in the playoffs (compared to 44% from the field and 40% from 3 point range.)  I get that Allen had a passable regular season, but when the games have really counted, Allen has been a no-show.

In basketball, as almost any coach can tell you, the most useless player is the shooter that has gone completely cold and cannot play defense.  By any definition, Allen is the above player.  Not only has he cooled off completely in the playoffs, he’s wearing down on defense as well.  Want to know a major reason why the Celtics were forced into 7 game series against the (gasp!) Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers? 

It’s because Allen cannot guard the people that he’s facing.  In each of the last 3 series, the player he faces in man-to-man defense, Joe Johnson, Delonte West, and Richard Hamilton, have all had huge games.  If fatigue is Allen’s problem, perhaps its time for Doc Rivers, the Celtics coach, to put Allen in off the bench as a spark.

Also, in each of the legendary trio’s, great coaching was a huge aspect.  The great Lakers teams had coaches like Bill Sharman and Pat Riley as coaches, whereas the classic Celtics teams had, of course, Red Auerbach. Rivers, on the other hand, is nowhere near that ability level.  For one, all of the aforementioned coaches built there teams through hard work, determination, and knowledge of personnel.  All Rivers has done, so far, is make a few phone calls. 

Heck, I could build a winning team if someone gave me Garnett and Pierce.  But the reality is that Rivers coaching inconsistencies are about to be exposed by a true coaching mastermind, Phil Jackson. 

Rivers has been a badly flawed coach in the playoffs so far, being late to make defensive adjustments (such as putting defensive stud James Posey against the other teams hot player, a strategy that has taken Rivers a few games to figure out in each series.) 

Besides coaching, a big factor in the NBA finals is going to be age.  The Celtics ‘Big Three’ are all over thirty, with Allen and Garnett at 32.  Because the NBA playoffs are so grueling (if the Celtics/Lakers goes seven games, the Celtics will have played 27 games in the playoffs), age and stamina become huge factors, especially at the end of the game. 

Meanwhile, the Lakers are a fresher (they’ve only lost 2 games in the playoffs), more athletic, and younger team, with Paul Gasol just beginning to enter his prime.  Stamina might not be a big factor in the first few games, but by the end, the elder Celtics could find themselves running out of gas, especially on the defensive end, where the Celtics have been solid all season.
But the biggest reason why the Lakers are going to have an easy time with the Celtics is simple: they have the best player on the floor. 

Kobe Bryant so far in the playoffs, has started to emblematize Michael Jordan, the legend who he’s always been compared to.  Look at the similarities.  Like Mike, Kobe has taken over games when his team needs him most, such as in game one against San Antonio, when Kobe put up 25 in the second half to spur a 20 point Laker comeback win.  Like Mike, Kobe has done everything his team needs him to do to win, including playing defense, a skill that Kobe has always had, but only recently embraced.

The way I see it, the series boils down to this essential question: Who would you take with a game on the line, the aged Celtics ‘Big Three’, or Kobe Bryant, one of the most dominant players this decade?  I’ll take Kobe and the Lakers to dominate the series, and win it in five games.