Ryantific: Hi Hon. That’s a awfully green shirt you are wearing to cover your tummy that holds my son, a future Laker fanatic.

Wife: Huh?

Ryantific: I’m just saying, do you really think you should be wearing such a GREEN shirt in this Purple and Gold house?

Wife: Huh?!

Ryantific: Such a CELTIC GREEN shirt?

Wife: You’re an idiot.

Which of course is true, but that does not change the fact that I might be heart broken if my son were to grow up a Celtic fan. I learned to watch the Lakers from my old man (It’s his birthday! So happy bday pops!). But what if I don’t do such a good job raising my son and he prefers Bird highlights over Magic highlights. Would I kick him out of the house? Possibly. Would I never talk to him again?:. No. The fact that he is watching NBA bball (hopefully there is still NBA at that time. Thanks Lebron.) even if it’s the C’s, means that he understands tradition. And I can even get down with that. I might root for Artest to pop Pierce in the mouth but ultimately I couldn’t imagine a better sporting event. The tradition and dominance that is Celtic Laker basketball is the best. The only NBA event that might be more exciting this next year is the Lakers Heat finals, but that has special circumstances. (I just don’t want the Dream Team 2011 to succeed.)

So, my wife, go ahead and wear green. I will accept my son for who he is even if he loves to watch Boston ball. Maybe he will perfect his jumper form from old Larry Legend footage. Heck, I wouldn’t complain about that, since my jump shot form is just ugly. I mean ugly. Really ugly. We’re talking Fugly.

Boston might consider a new logo for Game 7.

If you’re an avid follower of the Bias, or have had the unfortunate luck of knowing me for an extended period of time, you’ve no doubt heard me rant and rave about everything from HGH to the horrendous officiating in the NBA.

But if there’s one thing I bang on more than LeBron James and Joe Crawford, it’s ESPN and the bandwagon media, and how quick they are to judge and dismiss teams after one game, one quarter, even one play at times.

But when it comes down to it, momentum, and what happened yesterday, and this “what-you’ve-done-for-me-lately” take on sports is garbage more often than not.

Momentum is weak-sauce media speak when it comes to championship series, because much of the media has never played the game, isn’t clever enough to come up with something of substance, and has grown numb to the one-game-at-a-time cliché pitched by the players and coaches. But when it comes to sport being played at a championship level, particularly a shooting-percentage game like basketball, momentum only matters within that one particular game – basketball is a game of runs as they say.

But when we’re talking about a seven-game series, that’s being played every two, three, even four days, on opposite sides of the country, between two of the most storied franchises in NBA history, you might as well throw momentum out the door.

Think about it. Has momentum ever carried over from that Monday blacktop game to your Wednesday pick-up battle, with the same crew of players on the court? Has momentum ever played a part the following week in that Monday night co-ed softball league of yours? Probably not. Either you’re good, or you’re not. Either you’re on that night, or you’re off. That’s it.

And when you’re talking about a game being played between what could be four or five hall of famers, momentum is even less important. If I were wrong, the Cleveland Cavs would be holding a parade right now. But they’re not.

It’s why no team had won back to back games in this series prior to the Celtics’ Game 5 victory in Boston.

So what does matter you ask?

What matters, for lack of a better analogy, are the four Hs: and I’m not talking that 4H, our A-town and Indiana hick readers.

• Hall of fame experience/leadership
• Heads-up plays
• Health
• Home-court advantage.

I’ve been preaching it from the beginning of the playoffs, and that’s why the Lakers should wrap up their second straight NBA title on Thursday.

And it’s also why they won big, and I mean really big, on Tuesday.

Consider:

Hall of fame leadership/experience: Kobe Bryant learned from Game 5′s me-against-the-world approach and got his teammates involved early on. By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were balanced in the scoring column and had a double-digit lead. And the team that wins the first quarter has won all six games of the series (which shows just how unimportant momentum is considering that team was coming off a loss in five of the six games).: Bryant and Derek Fisher have been in the NBA for 14 seasons. They’ve each been to the NBA Finals seven times. That is leadership even the Celtics’ Big Three has trouble competing against.

Heads-up plays: These are the game-changing plays, Jordan Farmar diving for loose balls, going around and then over KG to put home two big buckets, Kobe giving up an open layup to a soaring Shannon Brown to get the crowd into it, encouraging Ron-Ron to keep shooting and get out of his funk.: The stats speak for themselves: The Lakers had 13 steals to only eight by Boston, had a 52-39 edge in rebounds, and an 8-4 edge in blocked shots. Ballgame.

Health: When Kendrick Perkins went down, I think the Boston Celtics season went down as well. While I’m contradicting myself a bit here by even hinting at what’s going to happen in Game 7, the injury to Boston’s blue-collar center puts a serious dent in the C’s frontcourt attack. While Perkins hasn’t done much at the offensive end, his absence at the defensive end allowed Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to get free that much more on Tuesday night, and Gasol and Odom are the key to the series in my eyes. In Game 6, they combined for 25 points, 23 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 blocks, a pretty good all-around night considering how balanced the scoring was and that L.A. finished with only 89 points.

Home-court advantage: Unlike in 2008, the Lakers have home court in these playoffs. And unlike in 2008, the fans are actually giving L.A. an advantage. Since moving to Staples, I’ve argued time and time again that Los Angeles doesn’t have a home-court advantage other than the familiarity of playing there because their fan base could care less about the game itself. I’ve been to Staples: for a Clippers game. Beers are 2 for $20. At a Clippers game! Guys like you and me can’t afford to be there when the Lakers are in town. So you get fans like, I don’t know, look at Tuesday’s lineup: Christina Aguilera, Puffy, Andy Garcia, Spike Lee, Dane Cook, Diane Lane, Josh Brolin. In other words, not Lakers fans. You have Jack, and then you don’t have Jack.

But over the past three home games, I actually witnessed a standing ovation. And tonight, the crowd was as vocal a crowd as I’ve seen (heard, whatever) at Staples. And that happened before the Lakers started running away with it, so it wasn’t a fair-weather thing for once.: For all those times I’ve heard people say Pau Gasol was soft, I wanted to say L.A. is soft. Gasol was no softer than L.A.’s home crowds in years past. But now both of them are scrapping, showing emotion and producing in the clutch. In fact, Gasol has been the best frontcourt player in these playoffs. And L.A., next to Oklahoma City, has had the best home-court advantage. 10-1. Hard to argue with that.: Heck, I even saw L.A. fans sporting “Boston Sucks” shirts in L.A. this weekend, and they weren’t WCBias’ shirts. I also saw a one-year-old girl and a puppy wearing Kobe jerseys. It’s clear times have changed in L.A., and if Laker Fan has anything to say there won’t be any repeats of 2008. Not in their house.

We find out Thursday, when the Lakers shoot for 11-1, back-to-back titles, and a chance to save Ryantific from having to stomach the World Cup, not to mention a case of Budweiser Select 55, if the Celtics win.

Somebody get up in Jesus' face.

Initial thoughts from tonight’s 103-94 victory by the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals:

• Who was the best fighter in the gym tonight? A. Hillary Swank. B. Sylvester Stallone. C. Ron Artest.
• Who’s guarding Ray Allen?
• Lakers are up 2-0 if someone gets a hand in his face. On second thought, you could have put Michael Jordan on Allen and it probably still wouldn’t have mattered.
• Props to the Lakers fans for actually cheering tonight. Remember those moments in Games 6 and 7 Laker fan.
• If Allen goes off like this again, it’s time to put Artest on Ray-Ray and put Jesus Shuttlesworth on the ground. That was ridiculous.
• If I have to watch another Sienna mini-van commercial, I’m going to puke.
• At least we didn’t have to watch Joe Crawford give the gavee away.
• But, really, those two “fouls” on Kobe Bryant, were those really playoff, check that, Finals fouls? That inadvertent head bump of Allen? Then Kobe gets hacked, Rondo comes away with the steal, flops out of bounds, and it’s a foul Bryant? In LA? Really?
• Kobe looked like Reggie Miller there at the end of the first half. Unfortunately Ray Allen looked like Jordan for two halves.
• Andrew Bynum outplayed KG, Big Baby and Perkins combined. If you would have said Bynum was going to score 21 points (as many a Kobe tonight) in the series I would have been surprised. Only bright spot for the Lakers tonight.
• Nate Robinson = Skee lo. What if he was a couple inches taller.
• Finals bet: Lakers win, Slim (not a big fan of raw fish) buys a sushi boat for Ryantific and I. Celtics win, Ryantific buys a case of Budweiser Select (blah), and we dust it during a World Cup game – from the back of my Sienna mini-van. Yeah, soccer. I went there.
• Kobe’s jackknife, pump-fake shot is pretty sick. That’s a true signature move that the haters can’t give credit to MJ and the Hall of Famers before him.
• Those ABC Wipeout commercials also got tired. And when Carmelo Anthony was in the promo saying “players need to sacrifice their bodies,” I got a good laugh.
• Also, if I see another Mr. Spy vs. Mrs. Spy movie (Knight vs. Day or Mr. Mrs. Smith or whatever it was called), I’m going to puke: in my mini van.
• Should Doc Rivers have benched K.G. down the stretch? Who would have thought that would have ever been a legitimate question.
• Lakers need some R&R (Ray Allen and & Rajon Rondo). Unfortunately the series picks up in Boston on Tuesday.
• And why is the NBA Finals 2-3-2, when the rest of the playoffs is not? Seems kind of strange to me. Seems like it gives the visitors a edge, especially in a balanced series like this when the visitors are likely to steal one of two on the road.
• Where’s Tim Donaghy when you need him? Get that dude on the floor in crunch time.

Pau Gasol was looking like a Sleestack again tonight, and that's a good thing for Laker nation. (Getty Images)

Initial thoughts from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 102-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday:

• The only bad news out of L.A. tonight: UCLA’s John Wooden, 99, in “grave” condition.
• This is exactly why the Lakers brought in Ron Artest. Getting physical with 2008 NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce from the opening tip. Pierce had 24 points, but 11 of those came in the fourth when the game was out of hand. Ron-Ron also hit 3 of 5 treys for 15 points as a bonus. R.Artest = Rodman (during the Bulls years).
• Home court will prove to be the difference in this one, even if it doesn’t go seven games. Getting this first win sets the tone for the series and lets them know they can be a physical, defensive team too.
• Surprised anyone got to 100 points tonight in this defensive, physical struggle –28 fouls and 27 free throws in the first half.
• Good to see Kevin Garnett looking like K.G. again. But at times, it looked like K.G. was playing by himself out there.
• All of the hype about Kobe Bryant guarding Rajan Rondo? Yeah, seemed like he was guarding Ray Allen a lot tonight. Not sure what the “experts” were talking about.
• I’m not sure Rondo can slice and dice the Lakers, especially in the post with Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom helping out, like he did the Cavs and Magic.
• And why didn’t the media make a bigger deal about who’s going to guard Kobe? He is the best player in the league right now (another 30-point game tonight). And the Allens don’t have the length to guard him. The Celtics better get Pierce or someone bigger on Kobe, or he’s going to go nuts every game. And if you double him, Gasol is going to go even nuttier.
• Get Scalabrine some PT.
• Bynum gave the Lakers 28 minutes tonight. He also had 10 points and six boards, not bad for a guy who was reportedly done.
• Officials for this one? Joe Crawford , Derrick Stafford , Joe Derosa. Really? Yo David Stern, why not invite Jim Joyce out here while you’re at it?
• In an non-NBA Finals note, WCBias.com is up to #575,682 in the rankings. Up from a mill a few months ago. Creepin’ on ah come up yo!

The NBA Finals tip off tonight between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, and to commemorate the game our boy Ryantific cranked out a couple Official WCBias NBA Finals Shirts.

They’re only $13.99, so get them while they’re hot … and support the free content on WCBias!

And for our East Coast fans, we have a couple shirts too, so hold off on the comments and letters to the Ed.:

Don’t believe me? ESPN just reported it. Lead story on SportsCenter tonight!

Apparently, you can make trades during the postseason now.

Additional breaking news, from EastSidePN: Durant was reportedly suspended for the previous game, too.

Does that mean the Oklahoma Thunder must forfeit that last victory over the Lakers?

Guess Los Angeles should roll through the rest of the series – unless Kobe is traded to the Bulls – now that the next best player in the NBA isn’t with the Thunder no more.

Figure it out ESPN.

If YouTube removes the video above, watch it here.

Yo Doc. KG and Paul Pierce aren't in the game. Can I get a shot now? PLEEEEAAAAAASE!

I know there’s an award for NBA Coach of the Year. Now it’s time we honor the NBA’s Worst Coach of the Year – or if we wanna come up with a fitting acronym, we could call it the DOC (Dumb Ol’ Coach) award.

Come on Doc Rivers. I know you were in the running for the Coach of the Year award a year ago, but what’s going on of late? I know injuries are holding your team back, but that coaching job tonight in a 128-127 loss at Chicago was brutal. Straight up brutal.

Your Celtics, the defending champions, have been taken to a seventh game by the Chicago Bulls (losing three of the four games that went OT, which is when coaching actually matters in the NBA). And this ain’t your playing days’ Bulls. This is a college team, albeit a damn good one, playing its best basketball of the season.

The Cs, however, are playing their worst basketball in two years. And Doc isn’t even coaching anymore. Or maybe he just stopped coaching over the final two minutes Thursday, when it really counted.

Because until two minutes left in the third overtime, the Celtics did what they should have done – got the ball to Ray Allen, who knocked down another unbelievable catch-and-shoot jumper that I’m not even sure he looked at the rim on. SWISH!

At that point, it was 123-123, and Allen was up to 51 points on 18-of-32 shooting, hitting 9 of 18 from 3-point range – including three straight prayers that would’ve given Jordan, Bird and Magic H-O-Rs in a shooting competition.

So you’d think the Celtics would keep feeding that hot hand down the stretch, ehh? Nope.

Dude didn’t get a single – NOT ONE – touch over the final six possessions — making this the second-straight game Ray-Ray was helpless in the waning minutes.

• 1:57 Ray Allen makes 21-foot jumper (Rajon Rondo assists)
• 1:15 Glen Davis traveling
• 0:38 Paul Pierce bad pass (Joakim Noah steals, then the former Gator dunks on Pierce’s face!)
• 0:28 Eddie House makes 21-foot jumper (Rajon Rondo assists)
• 0:23 Rajon Rondo misses layup, makes putback
• 0:07 Derrick Rose blocks Rajon Rondo’s 12-foot jumper
• 0:00 Rajon Rondo misses 42-foot three point jumper

Congratulations Doc!

Hmmm. And da Bulls did everything they could to give that game away – Derrick Rose missing two free throws with 3 seconds left, Kirk Hinrich butchering a point-blank layup with 21 ticks left.

But the Celtics failed to finish off the Bulls because they failed to find the man with the hottest hand in the land.

What’s up with that Doc? How does a guy who dropped almost 5,000 dimes in his career, fail to draw up a play for his star shooter down the stretch? Without Paul Pierce (who fouled out late) or KG in the mix? B-R-U-T-A-L.

After the game, Doc summed it up by saying, “We just stopped playing.”

No Doc, you stopped coaching.

Note: Runner up for the DOC award this season? Last year’s COY, and another former NBA guard who I have had a ton of respect for, Byron Scott. New Orleans was the talk of the league last year, this year they became the biggest joke in NBA playoff history with that 58-point drumming the other night. Although, his players did stop playing down the stretch. But who’s fault is that? It starts at the top in my eyes.

1. Lakers vs Celtics – Being a die hard Laker fan, there is no greater a finals match up. The Lakers and Celtics own 31 of 62 NBA Championship titles, making them the most storied rivalry in all of basketball. It would be a great rematch of last years NBA finals with the Lakers a more complete team than last years.

2. Lakers vs Cavs – Also known as Kobe vs Lebron. The two superstars could actually leave their supporting casts at home and basketball fans would dial in to watch a best of seven one on one match up between the two superstars. 

3. Lakers vs Heat – D Wade vs Kobe. Not as great as Kobe vs LeBron but Wade and Kobe actually match up against each other more often then Lebron and Kobe. Wade is the current top NBA scorer in the League and Kobe can light it up on any given night. I’d predict a couple 50 point games from each of them in this very unlikely Finals match up.

4. Lakers vs Magic – The most intriguing matchup would have been the battle of the young centers, Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard. Unfotunately it may not play out even if these two teams make it to the finals becuase of the injury that Bynum suffered in January. Also with Jameer Nelson out for the season, the Magic don’t have the complete game plan to compete on the main stage as they did earlier in the season. 

Final Match Ups we don’t want to see.

There are a couple of  finals match ups that we definitely don’t want to see.

1. Cavs vs Spurs – The rematch of the Finals series from a couple of years could put us all to sleep. Spurs are too old now and LeBron would get his revenge for the embarassment of his first Finals stage when he was swept by the Spurs. I’m sure there would be some monster dunks by LeBron on Duncan’s dome.

2. Spurs vs anyone – Let’s face it… we don’t want to watch the Spurs in the finals playing anyone. The Spurs were a great team. But with Duncan starting to show some wear and tear and Ginobli still not fully recovered from his ankle surgery, they don’t have it any more to challenge the likes of the Cavs or Boston. They are the dark horse to win the Western Division Championship but there is no way they can win the championship.

3. Cavs vs Mavs – Really… Yeah, the only reason why I put this here is because it would drive me insane to hear “the CAVS vs the MAVS” and “CAVS MAVS Series”! No other reason. This series would suck.