I can now fully appreciate that the Celtics are the best defensive team I have ever seen. In fact, I had an inkling after the first two games in Boston. Their defense was so suffocating I was having trouble breathing. And I can admit now that the Lakers have some of the worst defense the league has ever seen. Who is their defensive coach? Brian Shaw? The Spurs and Jazz must be shaking their heads in disbelief. How could they lose to this Laker squad in the earlier rounds of the playoffs?

And now the Lakers have to retool for next year. Bynum will host the middle but I wonder if he will be enough. Hopefully he will allow the four other players to get out and at least put a hand up on a shooter. And maybe the Lakers will grab a few more rebounds. Offensively they will probably be fine. With one of the best offensive efficiencies in the league, I imagine they will work Bynum in with no problem.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a deal that sends Lamar out for a strong forward like a Ron Artest. That would help supply the Lakers with some grit. Also, if the Lakers don’t make any noise in the Finals next year you can be sure that Kobe will opt out of his contract with his 2009 opt out clause.

Congratulations Celtics. But couldn’t you have ended this in 5 to save us from Game 6?

But aren’t we forgetting somebody. Ummmm… like the rest of the freaking Lakers, whom without the Lakers couldn’t even be called an NBA basketball team. Five players are needed to start this game. And there should probably be some sort of bench to replace the starting five. Imagine five players alone trying to play a whole 48 minutes against the Warriors? And a few extra players are certainly necessary when injuries happen.

How good are the rest of the Lakers? Good. This team is deep. From spots 3-10 they can all play ball. They are more experienced in the offense as most of the team has had a couple seasons in it and understands the complex cuts and rotation of the triangle. They are stronger with the ball, think of Fisher, Odom, Jordan Farmar or pre-injured Bynum. They rebound better, think of Odom or pre-injured Bynum. They are shooting better than last season, think of Vujacic and Radmonvic. They play better defense, think of Turiaf, Walton and pre-injured Ariza. The team also has young legs (barring Derek Fisher) which is an obvious advantage. And last and most importantly, they all believe in each other. It can be seen on the bench as the Lakers cheer on their team mates.

So without the rest of the team, this years Laker squad could never had hoped that they would make as much noise as they have. Kobe and Pau would be one hell of a two on two squad at the local gym but they couldn’t do squat on their own in the NBA. It takes a team effort.

The NBA has its hands full as it tries to get rid of flopping in the NBA. If MTV can’t get rid of the god awful Punk’d series, how does the NBA think it can get rid of flopping? It is too much of a judgment call for referees. NBA fouls should be black or white not gray. Think of the controversy if BSlim’s favorite ref, Joey Crawford, who already missed an obvious foul of Derek Fisher on Brent Bary in the closing seconds of Game 4, missed making a flop call. That could start a civil war between Texas and California.

So does the League undermine the calls of its refs? Does fining a player a few dollars out of their pocket really change the game?
Something should be done, but just like canceling MTV’s Punk’d series, it seems impossible.

NBA, you’ve been Flop’d.

Chances were slim of these two teams getting a top three pick. Only two of the West Coast teams had better than a 1% chance of any of the coveted picks. Although the Bulls were able to take advantage of their 1.7% chance. The Sonics were the one Western Conference team to get a Top 3 pick, but they had better than a 17% chance of doing so. Unfortunately for the Sonics, their emotional battle with the city and the possible relocation from Seatle to Oklahoma doesn’t make them a huge threat to the Western race for a few years.

A close call for the West. Thank you Eastern Conference. Thank you.

Playing major minutes in the fourth quarter Sasha has proven his worth on this talented Laker roster. Taking a huge charge against Milsap. Ouch! That had to hurt.

But seriously, I always thought Sasha was a one dimensional player with a great three point shot. Yeah Sasha has some pesky defense but I thought he should take that back to Slovenia.

But this year I have seen intelligent passing. Great sharp shooting. And hardcore defensive covers.

Sasha, I’m sorry. You have come of NBA age.

Can’t we all blog along? I think that is what Rodney King would preach. I try not to read too many comments on Sports Blogs but sometimes I can’t help it. And what have I discovered in these comments, a ridiculous amount of racist and hate remarks littering them. It blows me away. If you can’t comment nice don’t comment at all.

Snoop and Kurupt have dropped rhymes about the Lakers. Makes up for these songs by the Lakers of the eighties. At least it was anti-drug.

Who cares that the home teams are winning? NBA sure doesn’t. This is the most fun and exciting playoffs I have seen since I can remember. 20-1. It’s a blessing for David Stern.

Jeff Van Gundy has a “man-crush” on Manu Ginobli. Who knew that Jeff was so damn funny. I hope he never coaches again and just does booth work for the rest if his career. He’s better at it anyways.

After deliberating I went with Celtic Pride the classic nineties movie with Dan Aykroyd, Daniel Stern, and In Living Color legend Damon Wayans. If you haven’t seen it, see it. It is the comedic story of two crazed Celtics fans (Dan Aykroyd and Daniel Stern) kidnapping the best player in the NBA, Utah Jazz superstar Lewis Scott (Damon Wayans) during the NBA finals.

But it got me thinking that this lunatic plot line could happen. The Jazz have just squared up the series with the Lakers. The Spurs have done the same with the Hornets. This really is anybody’s series in the West. And the Celtics have a good chance to come out of the East. So a Celtics/Jazz series is not that far fetched. And I know some Celtics fans who would be just crazy enough to try such a kidnapping as Aykroyd and Stern. Who would the unfortunate Jazz player be? My money is on Deron Williams. The Celtics would have no chance of containing the muscular guard in a 7 game series. Rajon Rondo would have no chance to stop him. The guy is a beast on the drive. He’s got the body of D Fish with the slashing ability of Iverson. He would destroy the Celtics back court. Williams also has great court vision which was evident from the number of alley oops he set up on the Lakers last night.

If it is Celtics/Jazz in the finals and I was Jazz management, I would hire some extra security to watch Deron’s back through out the series. Celtics fans are that crazy.

The Rockets got the best of the Los Angeles Lakers this season. But the Rockets are a puzzlement, how on Earth did they win 22 in a row without Yao. With an amazing amount of guts. Tracy avoided his tendency to get injured, while pushing his team to victory. When his shots didn’t fall somebody else picked up the slack. Skip To My Lou finally proved that he can be a legit guard in this league. Offensively Houston is only 22nd in the league. But defensively they are number 4 in points allowed per game and 2nd in FG% allowed. Shane Battier does an excellent job on limitng Kobes shot selection. But if the Rockets can miracuously get past the Jazz they will be dog-tired, using everything they got to do it. Plus the Lakers are playing at a very high clip right now. The rest of the Lakers would have to play big to help out Kobe. Gasol would have a field day of high percentage shots. Lakers in 5.

The Jazz had the best home record of the NBA, so the Lakers would be very grateful of their home court advantage against the Jazz. But the Jazz aren’t invincible at home, the Lakers did give it too them on their homecourt back in March. The Stockton-Malone reincarnation of Boozer and Williams is scary. Boozer alone offers dreadful match ups for the Lakers whose only physical presence download is Turiaf. The guards will also have a tough time keeping D Will in front of them. The rest of the matchups are pretty close for the Lakers. AK47 is playing well again but can his length match that of Gasols or Lamars. The Lakers would have to bring a complete game to take the Jazz out. Lakers in 6.

Rockets or Jazz?

Rockets.

So what do you do if you are a Laker fan? Throw up your hands and yell “Halelujah! We’re back!” Made it to the second round for the first time since 2004. What a long and grueling wait that was! To wait four years to be considered the favorites to win the West. Wow… Whew… That’s a long… time. Wait a minute, that is nothing short of a miracle. It’s taken the Celtics 20-something years to get back to the level of respect they demand, and the Lakers just did it in four. I know the Lakers haven’t won anything yet, but it sure smells close… maybe this year. Definitely next year. It was a long dry spell when Magic retired and Shaq and Kobe came in and did their winning. I didn’t mind the days of Nick the Quick, Sedale Threat, Eddie Jones and Cedrick Ceballos. But I don’t want to see it again. Maybe Lakers fans have become spoiled and expect greatness all the time. So with the pressure on Mitch Kupchak… he got it done in four years.

So what do you do if you are a Nuggets fan? You throw your hands and cry “Trade Carmelo!” It is pretty clear that there are too many guns on that team. One named Carmelo and one named Allen. You gotta get rid of one of them. That has to be Carmelo. Iverson is a better scorer, more mature and more competitive. I didn’t see AI laugh when his shots weren’t falling like Carmelo was doing. And Iverson kept his mouth shut when he knew he should after Game 2, a tribute to his wisdom in this stage of his career. The only downfall is Iverson’s age, 32. This is his 11th NBA season. But like a small dog that lives for 15 years, Iverson is small enough to still have four more good years. Besides, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down being the fourth leading scorer in the NBA this season. He would’ve been second or third if he didn’t have to share the ball with Melo. So trade Melo for a center… an offensive center. Like an Al Jefferson or a Yao Ming.

WCBias’ Brian Milne said it best last night, “Iverson has never had a true center on his team.” And he’s right. He’s tried to do it with two different forwards. Chris Webber couldn’t help. Carmelo can’t do it. Let the experiment continue. Get a center before this old pup is gone.