2010 NBA Finals...Finally excited again. Let me first start by saying that, if you care, one of these days I'll attempt to put to words my disillusionment with the NBA lately. Even with those feelings, I'm excited for these finals. Let's get into it.

The Lake Show has got to impress you. Love em or hate em, they are a very good team. Put the Daddy on record as saying that one of my favorite players, Artest, has deteriorated much faster than I anticipated. Ariza would have been better on this team. Anyway, Artest is still a nasty, tough dude. He single handedly obliterates that "soft" moniker for the Lake Show. Since he's slow now, he's a better defender against players like Pierce. It's going to be tough for the Truth.

Do you put Kobe on Ray Ray? That is tiring. I'd love it. I'm rooting for the Celtics. It allows Rondo to get off and keeps Kobe from resting. Phil will have decisions to make, that's for sure. Doc's job is a bit easier. Figure out how to limit Gasol….guess, what Doc? you got The Ticket (http://www.celticsblog.com/2010/6/1/1495867/garnetts-shutouts). If he continues on this path, Celtics in 6 fellas…

I predicted Celtics in 6 on Twitter a few days ago... and I'm sticking with that.

GIT IT.


P.S. I think Phil needs to just constantly switch whom Kobe is guarding. He definitely can't guard Ray all the time or he'll get too tired and beat up from the screeners. He'll just have I'd probably start Kobe on Rondo since he may or may not be injured, and then when Allen goes out put Kobe on his replacement?

HOWL to DaDDy for the link - very interesting and compelling stats on KG's D this postseason.

I can't wait for tonight. This is a great showdown as the general consensus in terms of who people think will win and who people are rooting for seems about split 50/50. I always get excited for the NBA Finals, but with KG & the Celtics invovled, it's a whole nother level. And there is no one I'd rather see them take down en route to a title than the Lakers. How is D-Fish gonna slow Rondo? Will PP be able to get his against Artest, the man who's defensive style is perfect for shutting down The Truth? Will Kobe have enough real help? Will Beantown's offense slow to a crawl toward the end of the game? Can KP stay away from a Tech? Will KG look like Cleveland series KG or Orlando series KG? Will Odom & Gasolina look soft v. the C's once again? Will someone punch Vujabitch in the face? Let's Get It!

Go Celtics go!!!
Man, I hate the Lakers.

This Finals has got a number of story lines to go off but the main one for each team is Ring Number 2 for the Big 3.. i mean 5. (C'mon you all know w/o Perkins Celtics don't beat the Magic) And for the Lakers it would be ring number 5 for Kobe Bryant putting him 1 behind Jordan and putting Kobe on track to win 3 championships in a row Twice. Oh yeah Jordan did that.

Had Mavericks/Celtics in the Finals and Mavericks in 7( Believe i tied CW in the playoff predictor so didn't get my redemption yet.) Now that it's Lakers/Celtics i got to go with the Celtics because KG needs another ring. Celtics in 5 but Kobe averages over 35+.

KG is KILLLLLING me. Put it in the hole.

Yikes, that sure sucked. KG looked awful out there. Well, so did most of the Celtics I guess.

The Celtics are really in trouble now. Phil Jackson coached teams are 47-0 in playoff series' where his team won Game 1. Uh-oh.

No Defense at all from the Celtics last night. Still stand with Celtics in 5!

Sweet job KG…oh man are his legs gone and his confidence completely shot. Thanks a lot Dwight for the second of those two, you steroid taking monster. Why don't you and Lebron go to the Detroit Lions together and see how dominant you really are?

Ugly, ugly game one. Exactly what I expected. Hey Tim Donaghey, can you give us some insight as to why Ray Allen can't stay on the court? Oh, because of David Stern ya say? Thought so…Anyway, Gasol (2nd on my list of players I would never root for even if they played for the Wolves, right behind Vujacic and in front of Duncan) was a beast. His post game comments were very innocent, but in true reporter fashion, twisted and thrown at KG as inflammatory. Good job, hope it pumps the old man up. I'm all for a call to Rashard Lewis to get KG some of those PEDs he had last year.

Kobe (sigh)…..just stop. Good thing Pierce and Allen can do him in on offense as well. Can you imagine Lebron's defense inside of Kobe's body? Ick. I'd hate him even more. I'm so jealous of all these good players in these finals. At least we have Rubio, kind of. And Anthony Randolph, probably. And Hollins. With those three we'll for sure have more alley oops than any other team.

Alas, I digress. CW, I don't think that stat about Phil being up 1-0 is very useful. The Celtics also have never lost with this starting 5. What about that? Neither mean much now. When Phil is up 1 - 0, his team usually has home court and is usually the better team. The Celtics just played terribly. The Lakers have a lot of momentum from the Phoenix close out. Game 2, I'm sure, will look pretty different. The Lakers may still win, but it will look very different if Ray, KG, and Rondo come to play, even a little bit.

I sure hope you are Right Daddy. I can't stand the Lakers. Game 2 will make or break this series I think. I don't see how they could win 4 out of 5 against the Lakers if they lose tonight.

Go Celtics.

Whew.

I'm glad the Celtics won, but ugh the garbage reffing saps the fun out of watching these games. Sooo many bullshit calls. The 4th foul call on Kobe when Rondo stole the ball from him, the 5th fouls on Artest & KG, pretty much all calls on Perkins. When Big Baby stuffed Bynum and they called a foul on him was probably the worst call of the game and that's saying a lot. The Celtics were playing aggressive and get punished for it by getting called for every ticky tack little thing. God these refs suck. The NBA sucks.

The only reason I watched the whole game is because Rondo is so amazing.

Big Baby was going all out on every play. Sheed played well. Ray Allen with 8 3 pointers, unstoppable in the 1st half but nonexistant in the 2nd.

Everyone on the Lakers besides Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum are terrible. Artest is soooo slow. In the 1st quarter he had the ball at the 3 point line and tried to take Perkins 1-on-1 off the dribble and Perkins just completely shut him down. It was hilarious. He's pretty much just Bruce Bowen at this point. You don't have to worry about him in the least bit, just don't leave him wide open.

KG looked like an unathletic Ryan Hollins out there. Bricking his jump shots, tapping rebounds back up into the air for no reason at all and not grabbing any of them, and generally just looking clueless. It's sad to watch.

Doc Rivers needs to play kryptoNate more. He's got skills. Go with Rondo/Nate/Ray Allen or Rondo/Nate/Pierce lineup once in a while. It works because Rondo can guard Kobe. If you ignored everything but on the court skills (age, contract, trade value, attitude, etc) I would trade Flynn for Nate every day of the week. They do exactly the same things, but Nate is better at everything. Sad.

Nice. I was going to come on and make the same post Roundhouse made about the refs being absolute HORSESHIT. Good god, they were beyond terrible. And it went both ways. Just brutal. I mean, damn... it was completely ruining the game.

Props to Roundhouse, Howl.

I guess all I have left to say is thank goodness the Celtics won.

GAME 2

Ish. What a completely garbage game to watch. Those refs should never be allowed to do a meaningful game again. The calls were SOOO inconsistent it was laughable. They completely took the flow of the game out and made it boring to watch. KG, Artest, Kobe, Sheed, and Perkins all got hosed the entire game. Of course KG looked terrible, he is too old to come in cold and out of rhythm. His only hope is a hot start and a flow from the beginning, which he attempted to do. I fully expect the Celtics to run some pick and rolls at home for KG early in the first. The home crowd will fire him up if he hits a few. That, along with less Perkins and more Sheed (more on this later) will open things up for Rondo even more. I also have an idea…Ron ArBowen, as someone so eloquently called him, is pretty slow. Because of that, why not throw out a Perk, KG, and Sheed/Baby lineup for five minutes? I think I could live with the small quickness advantage Artest would have over KG or Baby. Baby definitely can guard Artest. KG would do ok, but it sure would help his confidence to shoot over the top of Artest. How easy would it be to start the break for Rondo with three of Perk/KG/Sheed/Baby?…Man, I should be a big time coach, I’m brilliant.

I do really like Perk. He is just not progressing offensively. He’s just too uncoordinated. Rondo is basically two on one every time he goes to the hole because nobody guards Perkins. His passes are too crafty for poor Perk. I think a lineup of KG and Sheed half way through the first would pay dividends. Sheed can bring Bynum out the paint for Rondo. I do notice, however, that KG always hits Perk more easily than Rondo, for some reason. I think all of Perkins’ points were KG passes. I don’t know what that means…in case KG is reading this, it might boost his confidence a bit (can’t get any lower).

I like Tony Allen, but ugggh. Right now, he can’t drive to the hoop, for whatever reason. Roll with a Nate, Rondo backcourt a little longer, Nate can stretch the court. Nobody guards Tony on the court…


Subtle keys to Game 3:
- Ray Allen should go for 10 3pters. The best part of the game was Kobe’s reaction to getting pooped on by a Ray Allen 3 pter.
- Phil should just suit up Morrison. His bench sucks. If they keep sucking it makes it easier for the Celtics.
- Gasol needs more shots. The Lakers are silly to go away from him.
- In the crunch time, sit Ron. He goes crazy.
- Nobody wants to see Sasha Vujabytch parade around the court posing for Aldous Snow. Refs, let Artest stay on the court. Shannon Brown, stop sucking at everything except dunking missed free throws.
- Pau Gasol is playing well only because he has the worst hygiene in the NBA and nobody wants to be close to him. Ick. The Celtics have planned for him to co-star with KG in an Old Spice commercial Tuesday evening before the game. That should take care of him.

Daddy... you rock. I'm not even lying when I say your recaps are better than 85-90% of the mainstream media drivel out there. Not to suck up too much, but I thoroughly enjoyed this (like always.) You the man.