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NBA Playoffs – Finals Preview

By khandor

 

 

(1) BOSTON CELTICS (H)

(2) LA LAKERS

By the Numbers

QIR – #1 (6)
Points Differential Rank – #1
Points Allowed Rank – #2
Rebounding Differential Rank – #3

QIR – #10 (30)
Points Differential Rank – #3
Points Allowed Rank – #19
Rebounding Differential Rank – #8 

Basketball Acumen

Home court advantage. Should be betting favourite. Team D is THE story, fuelled by KG. Must turn Kobe into volume shooter; clamp down elsewhere. Key Match-up: Thom Thibodeau vs The Triangle. Will win the series with a Positive (+) Rebounding Differential.

Betting favourite. Quickness and size at all positions. Top notch offensive execution. Rebounding & interior D questionable without Bynum. Must get points from multiple sources, not just the MVP. Key Match-up: Team Rebounding Differential. Lakers’ year is 2008-2009.

Who will win

“No Rebounds, No Rings.” – Pat Riley … Ubuntu: I am what I am because of who we all are … Celtics in 7. 

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This entry was posted on June 3, 2008 at 10:46 am and is filed under Analytics, Basketball, NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “NBA Playoffs – Finals Preview”

  1. xtro Says:
    June 3, 2008 at 2:53 pm | Reply

    Lakers in 5 or 6. Kobe is MVP.

  2. NBA Finals - Who ya got? | Cuzoogle Says:
    June 3, 2008 at 3:39 pm | Reply

    [...] from Kandor’s Sports Blog: Celtics in [...]

  3. khandor Says:
    June 3, 2008 at 4:36 pm | Reply

    xtro,

    Thanks for your comment.

    I’m an aficionado of the Triangle Offense & the coaching style of Phil Jackson, and can certainly see how the Lakers have advantages in this series which might tip the balance their way, including the MVP.

    However, when assessing both teams comprehensively there appear to be a number of important factors in favour of the Celtics …

    e.g.

    * Rebounding Differential (in general)
    * Boston’s ability to keep LA off the offensive glass (which the Spurs couldn’t do)
    * Home court
    * The absence of Andrew Bynum & the limited contribution of Trevor Ariza
    * Boston’s depth at the 4 & 5 positions
    * Boston’s three solid scorers (Pierce, Garnett & Allen) vs LA’s two (Kobe & Gasol)
    * Boston’s interior D vs the Laker’s interior D (without Bynum’s shot-blocking)
    * Boston’s good Karma … e.g. NEXT YEAR is the Laker’s SEASON OF DESTINY, as a team, not this one (which was about Kobe Bryant’s MVP and getting the Lakers pointed in the right direction, again) … THIS YEAR has been about CELTIC PRIDE and the inter-connectedness of

    Danny Ainge/Red Auerbach/Bill Russell/Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce/Ray Allen/Leon Powe/Doc Rivers & Ubuntu.

    Orville Wright … WE not Me … Basketball is a Brotherhood.

  4. So… NBA Finals, huh? Who you got? « With Malice… Says:
    June 4, 2008 at 11:03 pm | Reply

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  5. History in the making … 1 down « Khandor’s Sports Blog Says:
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