NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Lakers - Starters

Every day following up to the NBA Finals on June 5th between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, I am going to focus on 3 key matchups and compare those matchups to each team to help make an overall decision to who will win the 2008 NBA Finals.

Today, I am going to compare the matchups between the Celtics and Lakers' Starters. Just to remind you, Boston played the Lakers only twice this year and beat them twice, 2-0, but that was before Pau Gasol was traded to the Lakers. I will determine whichever team has the better starting line-up by their matchups in each position, their regular season stats, their playoffs stats, how well they have been playing in the playoffs, their talent and importance to their team.

Point Guard: Derek Fisher (LA) vs. Rajon Rondo (Boston)

Fisher: 2008 Season - 11.7 points, 2.9 assists/2008 Playoffs - 10.0 points, 2.2 assists
Rondo: 2008 Season - 10.6 points, 5.1 assists/2008 Playoffs - 10.5 points, 6.6 assists

Fisher (33) and Rondo (22) both had similar stats in the regular season and playoffs with Rondo averaging a few more assists. Both players have big roles for similar reasons because Fisher and Rondo are their teams' only true point guards. Throughout the playoffs they have managed their games very well and got the ball to their scorers. Although Fisher is a veteran that has more experience since this will be in his 5th NBA Finals with the Lakers, Rondo just being in his second season is a very mature player for his age and with his speed he can get by Fisher and penetrate the ball to his teammates. Advantage: EVEN (0-0)

Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant (LA) vs. Ray Allen (Boston)

Bryant: 2008 Season - 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 31.9 points, 6.1 rebounds
Allen: 2008 Season - 17.4 points, 3.7 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 14.2 points, 3.4 rebounds

Although Bryant (29) and Allen (32) are All-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers, Bryant is the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player and has been better than Allen in the regular season and playoffs by far. Allen will get assitance from his teammates to help guard Bryant since Boston had the best team defense in the NBA during the regular season and playoffs, but nobody has been able to slow down Bryant and I don't know if anyone will. Their importance to their teams are very high since Allen will be Boston's x-factor in the series, but he is not the most important player to the Celtics and Bryant is to the Lakers to win a championship. Allen is a very good player, but he is not as good as Bryant because Bryant is arguably the best player in the NBA and was the best player this season. Advantage: LAKERS (0-1)

Small Forward: V. Radmonovic (LA)vs. Paul Pierce (Boston)

Radmonovic: 2008 Season - 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds

Pierce: 2008 Season - 19.6 points, 5.1 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 19.0 points, 5.1 rebounds

This matchup between Radmonovic (27) and Pierce (30) is already over and the NBA Finals hasn't even started yet. I don't need to talk about the stats of each player because Pierce is an All-Star, a future Hall-of-Famer and the captain of his team while Radmonovic is an average, NBA role-player that will never come close to becoming as good as Pierce. Pierce is Boston's best one-on-one offensive player that take his defender to the basket and/or can knock down the jump-shot will cause defensive problems for the Lakers. Expect Pierce to dominate this match-up over Radmonovic because there is no comparison, Pierce overall is just a better player. Advantage: CELTICS (1-1)

Power Forward: Lamar Odom (LA) vs. Kevin Garnett (Boston)

Odom: 2008 Season - 14.2 points, 10.6 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 14.7 points, 10.3 rebounds
Garnett: 2008 Season - 18.8 points, 9.2 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 21.1 points, 9.8 rebounds

The matchup between Garnett (32) and Odom (28) will probably be the best matchup in the series for many reasons. Garnett did average more points than Odom during the regular season and playoffs, but since Bryant takes so many each game for the Lakers, Odom doesn't shoot as many shots to score as much as Garnett. Their importance to their teams are very high since Odom will have be Los Angeles' x-factor in the series, but he is not the most important player to the Lakers and Garnett is to the Celtics to win a championship. Throughout the playoffs, when the Celtics have needed a big game from Garnett, he comes through with a big game. Since this may be the last time Garnett will make it to the NBA Finals, each game is huge to him and he will not go through this series without being a factor. Advantage: CELTICS (2-1)

Center: Pau Gasol (LA) vs. Kendrick Perkins (Boston)

Gasol: 2008 Season - 18.9 points, 8.4 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 17.7 points, 18.9 rebounds
Perkins: 2008 Season - 6.9 points, 6.1 rebounds/2008 Playoffs - 7.2 points, 6.8 rebounds

I know that Pau Gasol (27) is the Lakers' secret weapon to win the NBA Finals because they lost those two games to the Celtics before Gasol was added to their team, but this matchup against Perkins (23) will be much closer than most people think. Gasol had much better stats than Perkins did during the regulas season and the playoffs, but they way Perkins held his own against Detroit in the last round really impressed me. If Perkins can keep himself from getting into foul trouble and play the way he played against the Pistons, that would be huge for the Celtics. I have no doubt that Gasol will outplay Perkins, but don't think for once that Gasol will dominate Perkins in the NBA Finals. Advantage: LAKERS (2-2)

Even though at the end of the player matchups it was tied 2-2, I picked the Celtics for three reasons...

1. If Perkins did get into foul trouble Boston can bring in veteran P.J. Brown (38) off the bench to play defense against Gasol. Also, if Los Angeles went small the way they like to do, the Celtics could go small too and let Garnett play center. Garnett is the Defensive Player of the Year and could shut down Gasol until Perkins could come back into the game. If Odom got into foul trouble, Los Angeles could bring in Ronny Turiaf (25) off the bench but if Boston went small too, Gasol would have to play defense against Garnett. Gasol's biggest weakness is he doesn't play good defense for a center and Garnett would get him in foul trouble pretty fast. The Celtics can win the NBA Finals with Perkins on the bench, but the Lakers can not win the NBA Finals with Gasol on the bench.
2. Now don't think I'm going to forget what Bryant could do to the Celtics and give them lots of troubles. I just believe that since Boston has the best team defense in the NBA this year and has the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year (Garnett), they could slow down Bryant and keep him from taking over a game. You can't stop Bryant, but if any team could slow down Bryant it would be the Celtics.

3. Even when Boston and Los Angeles played against each other twice during the year, the Lakers got blown out in both of the games. In the first game, they played in Boston and the Celtics beat the Lakers by 13 points, 107 -94. The second game that was in Los Angeles, the Celtics beat the Lakers by 19 points, 110-91. I know Pau Gasol is a good player, but can he make that big a of a difference when the Lakers lost by an average of 16 points in those two games? Sorry Los Angeles, I don't think so.

Starters overall advantage: Boston Celtics