I’d say NOT great (but confused) article by Abbott, who sums his article up by saying:

“If the regular season is any guide, there’s a championship in the balance.”

He never tells us why the regular season even should be a guide, but it’s not hard to see how confused he is about the dynamics–and I can go from memory. I still remember the disappointment. I’m sure that Lamar still remembers his “football” move against Ray Allen. I certainly don’t remember Kobe being “outsmarted” by Doc Rivers due to the advice of Thibideau.

The first game was Bynum’s first big time test, not Kobe’s–and he flunked badly–worst game of the year for him. The main defensive problem was that Bynum didn’t switch on defense very well–and Kendrick got dunks. The offensive problem was that Andrew was not yet ready to play the triangle role of distributer and was not able to execute down low–otherwise Kobe would have had some assists–and a path to the basket.

Kobe was still coming to the rescue rather than using his teammates. In the second game, the Lakers just weren’t ready–even though they should have been–and Kobe was still unsuccessfully trying to be Superman. He was not the victim of diabolical Thibideau.

Abbott did notice that the early season Lakers were struggling even as the early season Celtics were rolling, emphasizing their veterans rather than building a team, like Popovich would have been doing. Doc was playing the veterans long minutes while Phil was experimenting and exploring.

Now let’s switch to Laker late season and playoffs with Pau Gasol vs. the Celtic brain trust. Roles are reversed. The Lakers seldom lose–even against the elites. The Celts are struggling. Why? Because the Celts have not fully integrated their players into a team concept, and think one-on-one defense/offense.

Abbott apparently doesn’t think too much of his own argument.

He’s picking the Lakers to win the series!

Regarding how the Celtics would attack the Laker defense, this season has revealed that point guard penetration has caused the most trouble for the Lakers. Also, other than Garnett and Pierce, Rondo is their only player that can create off the dribble and cause the defense to collapse off the outside shooters. Thus, even though Rondo is not Iverson, Williams or Parker, I think Boston will look to get him in the open court and hope he can disrupt the defense. Otherwise, it is difficult to see how the Celtics will be able to score enough against the Lakers.

Therefore, I think Fischer plays Rondo, not Kobe (fearless prediction). Of couse, Kobe straying off Ray Allen is not a pleasant thought, but letting Rondo loose would open things up for everybody else.

On offense, if the Lakers move the ball and keep good spacing, their superior firepower (all 5 players can score on both first and second units) will tell eventually (and because the offense, in the Triangle, can run through Pau, Lamar or Kobe).

Boston has looked close to collapse all playoffs long, but nobody has been able put real pressure on them. If the Lakers win one of the first two, they win the series. Otherwise, it will be very difficult.

He mentions that the Spurs tried the same tactic and still lost. We’ll see what they employ on Thursday.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-32-261/When-the-Celtics-Played-the-Lakers.html

Interesting. By “crawling” do you mean posting, or just lurking? I read celticsblog often but have never posted a comment there.