Celtics Win—Lakers Just Aren’t Tough Enough
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 by Steven Mitchell
It was a fun series to watch, and I think it is obvious that the better team won. Leading up to the Finals, all that was talked about was how the greatest player on the planet was going to propel his team to the championship by sheer will. The only problem is that too many pundits were confused about who was the greatest player on the planet.
Here is an article from just before the Finals which shows just what I am talking about.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=417797
I guess some of these guys have forgotten that basketball is still a team sport. As a team, the Lakers looked pathetic in their attempt to hold off the inevitable last night. The Lakers defense and rebounding were non-existent as they were man-handled. Man-handled is the appropriate word for what happened last night and in this whole series. The Celtics played tough hard-nosed defense and the Lakers are just plain and simply a soft team filled with finesse players.
Kobe, Odom, Gasol, Radmanovic, Vujacic and Luke Walton are all finesse players. Derek Fisher is probably the only tough player on this team and that is not enough to get it done.
In Game 6, the Lakers managed only 2 offensive rebounds. Rondo had 2 offensive rebounds by himself in last night’s game. With the likes of Perkins, P.J. Brown, Pierce, Posey, Garnett, and yes even Ray Allen, the Celtics out muscled and out played the Lakers. I always thought of Allen as a soft player, but he played impressive defense when guarding Kobe, and he takes the ball to the rack much more often than many think. Garnett and Pierce get after it no matter where they are on the court, and the role players such as House, Posey and Rondo are in the opponents’ faces every minute they are on the court.
The Celtics played as a team and not a collection of talents like the Lakers. They played team defense and team offense. The Lakers relied on Kobe or Odom or Gasol going one on one, with an occasional kick out to a spot up shooter. The defense was soft and the rebounding was soft. Kobe, Odom and Gasol were boys among men on Tuesday night.
Kobe did not will his team to win; Kobe was suffocated by tough TEAM
defense. Recent history would have led many to not even consider the following statement before the series started, but the Lakers do not have the heart of a champion.
