Jun 9, 2008 11:30 am US/Eastern
Column: Get Ready For L.A.
Reporting
Dan Roche
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Kevin Garnett blocks the shot of Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers during their game at Staples Center December 30, 2007. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Getty Images
I'm here in Los Angeles where the weather is absolutely perfect. However, things aren't so perfect for the Lakers as they gear up for at least Games Three and Four.
I watch this series and the one thing you can't help but notice is just how good the Celtics are. The ultimate team. Yes, it certainly begins with Paul Pierce and his heroics, but it goes much, much deeper than that.
Paul has been brilliant so far and Sunday night he was at his best - again. 28 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds as well as a key blocked shot(lefthanded no less) down the stretch. Pierce has been dominating at times.
After that, it's been everyone. K-G, Allen, Powe (how unbelievable was that 21-point performance?), Rondo (16 assists in Game 2) all the way down the line to Doc Rivers.
And now, we come to Los Angeles. You can expect Game Three to be extremely difficult in many ways. We saw many calls go Boston's way in Games One and Two and that won't happen here. Kobe will get every call, I mean every call.
However, after watching Detroit and Cleveland, my question is - are the Lakers that good? Or, maybe my question is, does L.A. match up well with Boston? I don't have that answer yet. I see how good Kobe can be and if he hits his shots out of the gate then things will be different.
However, I watch Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol and I can't help but wonder if they don't match up with the likes of Garnett, Perkins, Brown, Powe, etc. I just haven't seen anything from them yet.
Now I keep telling myself that in the NBA things change dramatically from "home court" to "home court". You scratch your head and say, "how can one team look so good on their home floor and then so bad on a visitor's floor?" But, I also saw a Celtic team that has grown up a lot from playoff series to playoff series. Look at how different they played in Detroit than they did in Cleveland and Atlanta.
With that said, perhaps we see L.A. get off to a big lead in Game Three. Huge. But then maybe we see the Celts come back, chip away and maybe pull one out? Could happen.
We'll see, but at least we know that the Celts are in good shape no matter what happens out here.
Enjoy the ride.
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