Here comes a plethora of NBA posts in the next few days or even hours, starting off with last night's NBA Finals rematch between the Celtics and Lakers. First of all, the Lakers did not beat the Celtics last night. They beat a “Celtics-Iceberg,” on the surface it looked pretty good, with all five of the Celtics starters from last years NBA Finals starting once again for the Celtics. But below the surface this was not the true Celtics team. This was a team missing three centers! The Lakers only have two centers, Andrew Bynum and Theo Ratliff, on their roster. The one center the C's had, Kendrick Perkins, has played in all of nine games this season. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Celtics started the game missing their backup point guard. This loss has been extremely understated this season. If Nate Robinson were even six feet tall, nobody would think of him as a point guard. He has good athleticism and can heat up shooting, but his game, especially his mindset and his court vision, do not reflect that of a true point guard at all. Still, he brings enough to the table that he is not the worst option as a third string point guard, it's just easy for people to forget at times that this offense would probably flow much better with Delonte West running the show rather than Nate. But then of course, with the Nate Robinson injury, the C's were forced to call on their fourth string option, Avery Bradley, freshly called up from the D-League. Since the 'tics were hindered at the 1 and 5 positions, it's only fitting they were missing backup 3 man Marquis Daniels as well, who brings a mixture of some size and athleticism that Von Wafer does not. This is a Celtics team who lost game seven last year because they got killed on the boards, and are winning this season because they move the ball so well. If you take away three centers, two point guards, and throw in the fact that Paul Pierce, the team's leading scorer, missed Wednesday's practice due to illness, it's pretty easy to explain the Celtics loss.
All injuries aside, maybe the biggest factor of this one was the Lakers had to win. They needed this game and while the Celtics would have enjoyed sweeping the season series with the team that ended their hopes of an title hopes last season, this was not a must-win. The Lakers came into last nights contest a combined 0-5 vs. the Celtics, Heat, Spurs and Mavs. They had to prove to both their critics and mostly themselves that they were still a team who could go on the road and beat the NBA's best. If they had lost this game, it would've been time for the Lakers to go into panic-mode. Instead, Lakers fans can breath a sigh of relief because their team proved it is good enough to win when it has to, and Celtics fans can breath a sigh of relief as well. This game showed that the injury bug, possibly the Heat and maybe, maybe the Bulls, are the only things that will stop the Celtics from raising banner number eighteen to the rafters following this season.
(Do not think I forgot Ray, more to come on the record.)
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