I hope that the Basketball Gods have this Shakesperian tragedy written for the Celtics. The Celtics have been exposed. Did anybody see the look on Paul Pierce’s face during Game 6? He looked shell-shocked. They thought they had given the Lakers the knock-out blow in Game 5, and didn’t expect the Lakers to come out with both barrels bucking. Well, times have changed. Nobody is scared of the Celtics anymore.
The pieces are in place. I was wrong about this series—I didn’t think the Celtics would battle like they are, and that’s an amateur mistake on my fault. And I could be making a mistake by counting eggs before they hatch–but Champions don’t get blown out like that in a game which could result in them getting a ring. They just don’t. The Celtics, once again, were punked, because the loudest dude thumping his chest during an altercation is never the toughest. And the Lakers, as well as the NBA, has figured it out.
Tonight, win or lose, will be the end the Big 3 “era”. Tom Thibodeau has already accepted the Bulls job. Watch the game tonight–Thibs is the one controlling the entire defense, because Doc Rivers never really figured it out. Hell, Doc Rivers may not even be there next year, after all, controlling so many egos and clowns can be taxing. The Celtics will be another year older next year too, so it basically comes down to this: one game for to achieve basketball immortality.
For the last two years, any time the Lakers have been pushed into a corner, they came out swinging and handled their business. Game 6, if the Lakers were impostors that some had began to think they were, the Lakers would have folded like a house of cards. They instead rose up and they buried the Celtics. That was the response of a champion.
With the loss of the goon Kendrick Perkins, the lanes are going to be free for the likes of Pau Gasol and the hobbling Andrew Bynum to do work. And if Gasol is going, and we get some bench points, the Lakers are almost impossible to beat at home.
I feel supremely confident about this game, and Lakers Nation should to. We’ve stuck with our team through the depths of the 2008 Finals, and now he were are, on the precipus of the mountain top once again. I have a feeling that the Basketball Gods brought the Celtics and their fans with us, only to kick them down the mountain again. But, this is why we play the game.
Lakers by 12+. Artest locks down Pierce, Bryant with a virtuoso performance, and Gasol rises to the occasion. We don’t need anything more. We’re better than this team and in their black hearts, they know it too.
Enjoy the game, guys. And as always, GO LAKERS.
Follow me on Twitter, @fictionalDJ