Lakers, Celtics Looking Good for Another Showtime Final

Frank Doyle assesses the likelihood of another Celtics v Lakers NBA Finals Series. It’s high.

The challengers are struggling to land a glove on the Champs, and anyone who was thinking of new colors at the NBA Finals this year is going to have to think again. The Celtics and Lakers are odds-on NBA betting favorites to meet in the finals and right now Orlando and Phoenix look like they’ll be lucky to dodge the broom.

The Lakers’ price to advance to the finals is much shorter than the Celtics’, even though the Celtics’ two wins came on the road. The reason why is that Orlando has at least kept the games close while the Suns, after the high of beating San Antonio, are getting wiped out. The Suns are failing utterly to stand up to the Lakers in every sense, and it’s costing them greatly.

The consensus after the series against San Antonio was that this was a Phoenix team that learned how to play defense. How quickly they forget. It was the same old Suns against the Lakers who were able to score at will and set themselves up for a return trip to the NBA Finals.

Where the Lakers seem very likely to meet their traditional foe, the Boston Celtics. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Orlando. Orlando is standing proud and doing its best but these Celtics have been around the block and they know what they’re about. The advantage of a veteran team is that it knows what it takes to win.

The cruellest example of that was when the Magic’s JJ Redick didn’t call timeout immediately while in possession in the final seconds of Game 2 but dribbled to half-court instead. The moment got to him, in a way it wouldn’t have got to a more established player.

More important than that, veterans can play defense like Boston does because they’ve checked their egos at the door long, long ago. Garrett, Pierce and Ray Allen have all played on teams that won nothing for years. When a chance comes, they’re going to take it. They all remember vividly what it was like to be hungry.

All the indicators currently point to a showtime final matchup between the Lakers and the Celtics. The LA crowd were chanting “we want Boston” in the fourth quarter of Game 2 and it looks like they’ll soon get their wish.