The Sports Bizzo

By Jon…

Ok, so I was completely wrong on my Finals prediction on two accounts. You guys, of course only know about one of them, so I’ll explain:

1. Here at the Bizzo, I submitted my picks to Co-Bizzo-in-Chief, Toph Miller, going with the Lakers in 5. He, I assume for variety, or merely a misprint, set my pick as a Lakers sweep. Either way, I was totally wrong, and I knew it after the first two games of the series. Whatever. That’s the brilliant thing about sports opinions and predictions. You can say whatever you want, as vehemently as you like, and when you’re wrong, you just change your opinion the following week. Most of the people you read who do this actually have credentials or at least a mediocre playing career under their collective belt. Me, I hold a degree in theatre from a small, unheard of little university in Fort Worth. And yet, my opinion is just as valid as any of those guys. I mean, for Christ’s sake, the only Bizzo staffer who’s come close on their Finals prediction is Ted, and he watches Sex and the City.

2. I chose the Lakers because I was poised to win some money if they lost to the Pistons in the Finals. Of course, Boston finally mustered up some balls, and took over a series, and shattered my hopes of winning $140 in a friendly Finals bracket with some buddies. So, the Lakers were a spite choice. Can you blame me?

Now, onto my actual thoughts on the series. I’m going to go ahead and stick with the list format here:

1. Kobe hasn’t been spectacular. Of course, the series is still going, so I may eat my words here in the next couple of days, but on the whole, he hasn’t that one, big, memorable game yet. Granted, it’s not entirely his fault, for two reasons:

a) the Celtics defense. I’m still not a fan of the Celtics, but they deserve some credit here. They’ve thrown a lot of people at him. Irritating people, like James Posey. I still hate James Posey for his role on the Heat team that beat the Mavs in the 2006 Finals, but he’s had a a good series. He’s a hustle guy who doesn’t get enough publicity. I’m not saying he deserves the publicity, but he should get some recognition. KG gets all the attention for his “balls to the wall” attitude, but he shrinks in big moments. Posey, though not being asked to carry or lead the team, has been pretty clutch all series. From covering Kobe to chasing down loose balls, he may be the most consistent performer the C’s have had in the series.

b) Kobe hasn’t had consistent help. The Lakers are falling victim to, what I like to call, Mavs syndrome. The Mavs syndome is when a team has one transcendent talent, like Dirk or Kobe, and then a bunch of second fiddles. The upside is you have a bunch of different guys you can rely on night in and night out. The downside is that you never know who it’s going to be, which is fine in the regular season, but not in the playoffs. Furthermore, it’s easy to game plan against a team with Mavs syndrome. You gear your entire defense at the best player and you make the other guys beat you. The Warriors threw a ton of different looks at Dirk, never allowing him to settle into any kind of rhythm. They forced the other Mavs to shoulder the load, and they couldn’t do it. Same with Kobe and the Lakers. The Celtics have devoted all their attention to keeping Kobe out of the lane, and it’s worked. If Kobe doesn’t get into the lane, Gasol and Odom don’t get the wide open looks in the paint. They actually have to go in and work for their points, and we’ve seen how well that’s turned out.

2. In a clash of Western Medicine versus Eastern Medicine, the Doc is actually beating the Zen Master. Who would’ve thought? In my Finals prediction, I had Phil Jackson force choking Doc Rivers across the Staples Center. But it’s Phil Jackson whose actually done the choking. He just doesn’t seem like he’s into it anymore. He’s won the title 9 times already. I don’t even think it excites him anymore.

Doc, on the other hand, is kind of like the Eli Manning of the NBA. He’s good at his job, but he makes questionable decisions. Now that Eli’s won the Super Bowl, no one cares that he makes questionable decisions, because he put it all together at the right time.

Once.

That’s all Doc has to do. One title will wash away all the bad seasons and poor decisions he made before. I bet Bill Simmons would give him a free pass for a year if he just brought home this one title.

3. Random thought: How is it that the Celtics have had a tougher time with the Hawks and Cavs than they’ve had with the Pistons and Lakers? If the Celtics were in the Western Conference, they wouldn’t have made it out of the first round. Ok, maybe the first round, but definitely not the second round. That’s a strange thing to say about a team that’s one win from the title, but I have my reasons.

The Celtics would’ve drawn the Nuggets in the first round. The Nuggets are like a more battled tested, dysfunctional version of the Hawks. That series could’ve gone either way. Either the Nuggets would’ve caught fire offensively and taken advantage of the Celtics inability to finish games, or they would’ve completely imploded like they usually do in the playoffs. I think the latter is probably more correct. But in the second round they would’ve drawn the Jazz. With as poorly as the Celtics were playing in the first two rounds, the Jazz would’ve dismantled them. Dismantled may be a little strong, but I think they would’ve won the series in 6.

4. I’m just going to put this out there. I had a vision of the final game of the series ending with someone hitting a buzzer beater to win it. It didn’t specify which team did it.

Final note: I checked out on this year’s playoffs several weeks ago. I’m just looking forward to the draft. I’m hoping to hell the Mavs do something to get a pick in this year’s draft. They need some new blood or something.

Man, I can’t wait till football season starts.