NBA Finals: Game 1 Thoughts

1. That NBA championship trophy logo on the floor of the Garden is GINORMOUS. And ridiculous.
2. The Celtics aren’t quite as bad as people think they are.


3. The Lakers aren’t quite as good as people think they are.


4. Paul Pierce does not need to be compared to Willis Reed; I know he got hurt, came back, and had a great second half, but he’s still not Willis Reed.


5. Paul Pierce did do himself good by playing as well as he did in Game 1. He’s not a Celtic great, but he’s trying to be.


6. Props to Kevin Garnett, too. He had a monster game, but still settles for too many jumpers (though he did make a ton).


7. The Celts did a great job putting two players to Kobe, as they did to LeBron. The Celtics D was really, really good.


8. The Lakers need to get Kobe the ball on the move more, instead of giving it to him in an iso situation and getting out of the way.


9. Confidence is key in this series, especially for the bench guys and role players.


10. Holy cow! Was that a Sam Cassell sighting?


11. Boston’s bench guys and role players have an advantage because they’re more athletic than the Lakers’ guys.


12. The Lakers’ bench guys and role players have an advantage because they’re smarter players than Boston’s guys. Uh, except for Sasha. He’s kinda up-and-down.


13. Somebody might want to tell Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol that they need to box out and rebound. Might want to get everybody else involved in that, too.


14. While we're at it, tell Pau he's just going to see single coverage from Garnett the rest of the way; he'd better figure out how to draw some fouls.


15. And if Garnett's on Gasol, Odom better own Kendrick Perkins.


16. Best Laker of the night? Derek Fisher. He deserves to be remembered in Lakers’ lore as one of the great contributors. They shoulda never let him go a few years back.

Quick notes:

I can’t stand the tie-ins between the NBA Playoffs and summer movies. As much as I like most of the movies advertised, it just doesn’t work for me to cut commercials featuring clips from Transformers, Indiana Jones, and Hancock with highlights from the playoffs – it’s a little blatantly commercial for my taste…

I thought the Zohan commercial that was a take-off on the “There Can Only Be One” commercial series with Baron Davis and Adam Sandler was a great idea... Exectution lacked a little in that it wasn’t funny enough to last as long as it did.

Did you know the NBA is auctioning off game-worn jerseys from the Finals, along with other memorabilia? Ah, to have some disposable cash… how awesome would a Bryant or Garnett jersey be? Maybe I can pick up a D-Fish.

LOVED the Magic-Bird “There Can Only Be One” spot. If they didn’t do it, it would’ve been a travesty. Can you believe it’s been twenty-one years since those guys squared off in the Finals?

BTW, can we get this match-up? How awesome would that have been back in the day?