I Believe

I'll admit it. I'm a die hard Laker fan. But please don't confuse me with the uneducated homers who just guzzle beer, still think we have Derek Fisher, and don't know who we got in return in the Shaq trade. Team bias aside, I can still objectively analyze the game.

So with the dawn of the Laker postseason upon us, and with that in mind, I have a prediction... nay... educated guess... NAY... FACT to announce. The Los Angeles Lakers will make it to the NBA Finals.

HWAAAAAA?!?

I'm sure the only people that read this will be my friends who are also Laker fans and will agree with me just because they're die hard fans as well. But let's really look into this...

Western Conference Quarterfinals - Phoenix Suns:
The Lakers enter the playoffs as the #7 seed - which gives them the lovely pleasure of dealing with the Phoenix Suns. On the surface, this should be absolutely terrifying, seeing as how the Suns literally ran away with the Pacific division crown.

The Suns, manned at the point by Steve Nash, will run you up and down the court to death. They ran their way to an average of over 108 points per game during the regular season. This is problematic for the vast majority of NBA teams, as you tend to get quite winded doing this for 48 minutes. The Lakers were unable to keep up with the Suns this season and went 1-3 against them. But alas, dig up the ol box scores and something striking comes up. Every Laker loss to the Suns came during the 2nd game of a back-to-back. Furthermore, during each of those 1st games of the back-to-back, the Lakers went to overtime every single time. No wonder it was especially tough to keep up. Even the swiftest of Kenyans couldn't run two marathons in two days. Look for the Lakers to keep up with the Suns, if not slow things down completely and control the tempo of the game. Phil Jackson will impose the triangle at his will, and this series will become one of halfcourt sets, not fastbreaks.

Western Conference Semifinals - Los Angeles Clippers/Denver Nuggets
The Lakers will advance to the 2nd round to play the winner of the Clipps/Nuggs series. This is the easiest one to call. I mean honestly... I don't think I even have to argue or persuade much here. The Lakers have proven they can beat either of their teams, even on the road. And anyways, when was the last time either of these franchises advanced past the first round of the playoffs? I don't see any history happening here anytime soon...

Western Conference Finals - Dallas Mavericks/San Antonio Spurs
I'm typing this one assuming the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Queens both go down quietly in the first round, thus leaving the top 2 teams in the West to annihilate each other before the Western Finals.

Back in December, Kobe asserted himself against the Dallas Mavericks. In one meeting, Kobe single-handedly willed the Lakers to victory, draining impossible 3 after impossible 3 en route to 43 points. 8 days later, #8 finished off Dallas in just 3 quarters - pouring in 62 before the 4th even started, then sitting the remainder of the game. Suffice to say, the Mavs are Kobe's bitch. Expect more of the same from Kobe should they meet in the playoffs. The 7-game series is built for Kobe, giving him many opportunities to go off and single-handedly win games.

I'll admit it - the San Antonio Spurs have always had a great team. Hell, they were almost fun to watch today in their dismantling of the Queens. But notice my use of the past tense in my first sentence. The season hasn't been too kind on Tim, Tony, Manu, Curly, and Moe. Well fine its been pretty kind to Mr. Longoria... but that's beside the point. Ginobili isn't the same slasher he was this time last year, and Duncan is just a mess. Timmy is honestly playing on one leg with his plantular fossilitis or whatever the hell its called. As bad as it is now, it will only get worse through 2 more rounds of playoff basketball. Match him up with Kwame Brown, who happens to be playing the best basketball of his young career, and this presents a problem.

With those factors cancelling out, one could still argue about San Antonio's deep bench. But so what. Stick that bench out there with Tony Parker and you essentially have the New Orleans Hornets. You get a stellar point guard with a bunch of middle-of-the-pack guys who, regularly playing together, wouldn't even be in the playoffs. Unless David Stern amends the rules to let Eva Longoria come off the bench in a bikini as a distraction, this is a very winable series for the Lakers.

NBA Finals
Oh snap... look where this little analysis has gotten us. I'll hold off on this section for now, but rest assured that come June, this will have to be filled out as well as the Lakers continue their march towards the promised land (that's right - the Lakers are taking a team birthright trip this summer!)

Mission Statement

Plain and simple, this blog is the manifestation of an unhealthy sports obsession.

You will enjoy this blog if any of the following describes you:

-Your mood has a direct correlation to the winning percentage of your favorite team
-You who care passionately about every topic presented on Pardon The Interruption and wish the show was extended to an hour per day
-You go to baseball games not to cheer on the home team, but to cheer for your fantasy players who are on the visiting team
-You wish Barry Melrose would get back into coaching
-You think its only a matter of time before the Detroit Pistons implode and Sheed regresses to leading the league in technicals again and costing his team games
-You are willing to take to the streets to protest the absence of an NFL franchise in L.A.

I tried to capture all the key four-sport demographics there. What is to follow is a journey into the world of sports - from absurd to analytical - all with my lovely personal bias because hey... its my damn blog. Stay tuned... were going places here.