|
|
|
|
|
The Zulewski report
By Tom Zulewski June 2, 2010 |
|||
|
|
|||
|
One thing for sure everyone is counting on Thursday night's NBA Championship opener to be a hum dinger with elbows, frothy mouths, and a lot of fire in a lot of bellies. For the visiting Boston Celtics there will be more growl coming from them and not from having an empty belly because they'll have fire in those from the likes of the Celtics Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo. The Lakers didn't do too shabby against the Phoenix Suns in the last series and look forward to the same type of performance with their hired guns, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum. As everyone has hyped up the reasons for the growl, fire in the bellies, and frothy mouths which is due to the last time these two teams met in the Finals in 2008. From the way the Celts rocked the Lakers world in that series the Lakers expected to take home more than the NBA Championship trophy plus a few heads to mount from their hunting expeditions at TD Garden in Boston but it was not to be as the Celts had a say in that matter and looking at that roster the Celtics bring into the fabulous Staples Center Thursday night it's the same faces with the same enthusiasm as last time. The Celtics expect the same kind of basketball bloodletting and then some in this series as the Lakers who were on that final bus ride from the Garden in that final 2008 game loss for the championship remember being pelted by Celtics fans with every kind of debris that those fans in green paraphernalia could get their hands on in their long ride to the airport. Laker head coach Phil Jackson said it was the longest ride of his life and the players said there had to be some kind of pay back from that experience and that Finals experience. During that series too the Lakers reminisced about how Kobe's famous pointing and gesture toward Rondo after some on court frustrations. That was one of many physical confrontations that presented itself in that 08 series and this Finals which opens up in just hours will be no different. With additional cast members the likes of the Celtics Glen Davis, Kendrick Perkins, and Rasheed Wallace and for the Lakers, Ron Artest, Derrick Fisher, and LaMar Odom this will be a tighter series than maybe the 08 rendition. But it could only mean whatever you remember of 08 will be ramped up times two. This might be the series for the ages and it's almost to be guaranteed to be a match up that will rival the ones from years past, Kareem and Magic versus Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish and Dennis Johnson, or earlier Bill Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. The head coaching could be as fascinating as the ones where you remember those glory days of K.C.Jones for the Celtics and Pat Riley for the Lakers. This time the Celtics Doc Rivers has come into his own with flashback likes of Tommy Heinsohn and Red Auerbach and he brings a zest and drive and game plan with him that brought success throughout this post season like the times when the Orlando Magic almost got up from the mat and when they were down three games to none and almost evened it up at three a piece but the Celtics reached down and pulled off game number six to win the series to get here. The Celtics since then have rested up after getting banged up a bit from that series and are ready to roll for the start of this series. What else can you say about head coach Phil Jackson that hasn't been said, his players play for him, they like what he presents to their game strategy and failure is not in their script. The Los Angeles Lakers could very well grab that championship trophy this time. One thing for sure this series will be unforgettable and maybe a highlight film for the ages, with these two teams and all the match ups involved look for this one to go the full seven games. Tom Zulewski does the report each week for Sportstalk radio |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||