Celtics vs. Lakers Finals: Same Story, Different Year

Many of us are not at all interested  in the Celtics-Lakers Finals — but many of us are.  Dylan Murphy from Pardon The Opinion has provided us with his take on the whole thing, and I have a feeling many of you feel the same way.

Pissed about the finals matchup? I am too. David Stern’s eyes may light up with dollar signs, but I for one have had enough of Kobe’s lower jaw and Paul Pierce’s remarkable ability to collapse always onto the floor after contact.

Under normal circumstances, Lakers vs. Celtics is an inevitably polarizing matchup. You’re either pro-Kobe and smack your lips as you praise his work ethic and skill, or you’re pro-Boston and, as Alan from The Hangover so eloquently put it, you love Allen, Pierce and Garnett as “the three best friends that anybody could have.”

In 2008, I fell into camp #2. I loved “ubuntu.” I loved the rejuvenation of Kevin Garnett. I loved Paul Pierce’s Willis Reed-like return from the wheelchair in game 1.

I hated Kobe Bryant’s inability to choose between his team’s or his own glory. I hated Phil Jackson’s reputation as the greatest coach ever while Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol were treated like byproducts as opposed to the products themselves. I hated Sasha Vujacic.

Yet my loyalties continue to dangle somewhere in the nebulous world of the in-between. First off, I cannot withstand any more of the Rondo fad. We get it.

He’s fast. He’s flashy. He’s a top five point guard. But frankly, he has done nothing remarkable. For anyone who watched basketball at any point during the season, the regular season was Rondo’s coming out party. And in a shocking turn of events, Rondo’s speed has proven to be too much for his playoff counterparts to handle. However, his success has somewhat depended on exactly that: his opponent’s speed. Just take a look at the stats (Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think my order of speed is unreasonable.)

Rondo vs. Jameer Nelson (fastest defender) 14.3 PPG, 8.0 APG

Rondo vs. Mario Chalmers (still relatively fast) 14.8 PPG, 10.2 APG

Rondo vs. Mo Williams (slowest defender) 20.7 PPG, 11.8 APG

If you don’t like numbers, think of it in another way. When Rondo had varying success against Chalmers and Nelson, it was like Denzel Washington’s initial tough and well-earned buckets at the beginning of the final showdown of He Got Game. But when Denzel’s age showed its colors and Ray’s athleticism and youth turned the game into a beating, it was like Rondo’s complete and utter annihilation of Mo Williams.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. I’m tired of the Celtics, ESPN and every other major sports media outlet trying to recapture the allure of the Celtics run in ’08. Yes, it’s remarkable because they shouldn’t be here, but nothing has changed. It’s still Kobe Bryant vs. the Celtics defense.

They say that this is the renewal of the NBA’s greatest rivalry, but this time there’s no one to root for. Kobe got his revenge last year. The entire Boston squad does not need a title to validate their careers. There’s no feel-good storyline. In fact, there are absolutely no new storylines. We just have the same song on repeat.