this came true in Game 4

Firstly, perhaps I may have been a little loose with my superlatives. However there were a few shots that Bryant hit against Hill and Dudley where they were in his face and personal space. Kobe just seems to be getting his feet set and shooting very well.

Anyway games on now, so lets enjoy.

Airpod, if anyone, i would be one to hold up Phoenix’s new found defense, but i would never go so far as to call it “awesome”. It is at times adequate, and at other times appalling.
I would describe it as fragile.
It is definitely not something that you can hold to Kobe as an achievement that he beat Phoenix’s defense.
Grant Hill will look like a Sunday morning jog compared to Boston’s “Italian mother” smothering defense.

The Cavs would’ve beaten the Celtics if Delonte wasn’t banging Lebron’s mum and if Lebron actually showed up to play.

Orlando was a massive meltdown and they were not the same team that they were during the tail end of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Sure, the Celtics have improved during the playoffs, but I’d say they lucked out more than anything to get to the Finals. Lakers in 6.

If Pau plays well, Lakers can win, even if Kobe plays poorly.

If Pau plays badly, I don’t think Lakers have any chance regardless of how Kobe plays.

Pau’s definitely improved since 2008 (to the point that I think he’s the best big in the game after Dwight now), but I’m still unsure of how well he’ll handle the Finals spotlight.

Whilst I’ve been very impressed with Boston, I think the Lakers have improved enough to take home the hardware. Watching Kobe against the Jazz and Suns has been amazing. Those 15-28 foot shots will be going down. He did it against awesome defence in Games 5 & 6 against Phoenix with ease.

Kobe just looks to be in a really good rhythm at the moment. His 10 of 11 30 point games in the playoffs are a testament to that. And the game that he didn’t get 30 he had 24 and 13 assists.

I think Pau needs to step up, but against a more half-court oriented team that should be easier. Should be a great series anyway.

Their half court defense is hell of a lot better than full court. The Thunder & Suns got their wins by pressing, which is a non issue with the Celts.

Odom is playing well & Farmer is contributing solid minutes. Brown seems to have lost confidence, but having Sasha & Luke back makes the bench much less of an issue imo.

I expect Bynum will still be effective here. The bigs he’s facing aren’t nearly as agile as Amare & Lopez, and his lateral mobility isn’t going to be exposed as much.

The Fish is back, and the refs seemed content enough to let him muscle up a fair bit on Nash on D. Of course Rondo is gonna get some better quality screens.

Artest is, well, Artest.

A repeat Nate explosion is highly unlikely. The guy is as selfish as they come. The Magic let him get a few open looks and he got going. Phil’s a little more savvy than that. He’ll lock the little bastard down and Nate will do the rest by jacking up a bunch of ill advised shots till he gets hooked.

Besides, the Magic were absurdly bad yet still managed to take it to 6, even snatching one in Boston. Unless the Celts can steal a game in California I’m fully expecting the Lakers to return home to close it out in game 5.