When the Celtics Played the Lakers

Links (6)

How Long Until Tip-off?
Published 6/2/2008 by Kurt at Forum Blue And Gold
... • Henry Abbot just broke down the first couple of Lakers/Celtics games from this season over at True Hoop. It’s a great piece, he noted that the Celtics essentially used the same defensive strategy on Kobe that the Spurs just did — keep him out of the paint, make him a jump shooter, go under picks, don’t foul, dare him to shoot the midrange. It’s as good a theory as is going on how to slow Kobe. ...

Let Kobe Get His?
Published 6/3/2008 at CelticsBlog
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop has a fantastic breakdown of how the Celtics attacked the Lakers defensively in the two meetings this year (of note without Pau Gasol). The idea was basically to cover Kobe mostly with just one defender (and Ray Allen at that), cut off driving lanes, and try to make him beat you from outside. The thinking is that you turn him into a jump shooter, and while he will do his damage, at least he won't be killing you at the line and setting up his teammates in the process. However, there's a strong word of warning. The only reason Doc Rivers and ...

Truth is Truth, to The End of Reckoning
Published 6/3/2008 by Jack (noreply@blogger.com) at The Shamrock Headband
... next step. If the Lakers lose this series (and they certainly can) it will be on him, fair or unfair, and for a guy who has already been demonized for blowing up a championship team to soothe his own ego, among other things, a loss here will re-open the floodgates of doubt. Part of this is because the Celtics' best (perhaps only) shot of winning this thing is for Tom Thibodeau to draw up some sort of deKobeizing defensive strategy, such as the one explored by Henry at TrueHoop in this fantastic post from yesterday. If the C's are able to neutralize Kobe by making him regress ...

The Truth Hurts
Published 6/5/2008 by Sturminator (noreply@blogger.com) at Bob's Blog - Live from Lewisville
... have been four names mentioned prominently here: Cashner, Hunt, Aaron Hicks and SoCal high school pitcher Gerrit Cole. Georgia prepster Ethan Martin could still figure into the mix as well. But we'll stick with the guy in the Rangers' backyard for now. Last week's projection: Cashner And, lest we forget, the main stage is about to go Lakers and Celtics on us. Love it. I think I am rolling with Kobe and the Lakers in 7 dramatic, amazing games…. What has happened with Kobe v Celts this year? … The grand totals show ...

BDL Finals Predictions: Celtics vs. Lakers
Published 6/5/2008 at Ball Don't Lie
... Kelly Dwyer: I honestly, truly appreciate Henry Abbott’s take on the two regular season games between the Celtics and Lakers, and what he was able to squeeze from it. Partially because Henry’s brilliant, but also because I tried to do the same thing at about the same time he was writing his post. ...

NBA Finals Preview 2008
Published 6/5/2008 by nvr1983 at Rush the Court
... . As every talking head on TV has mentioned, Pau Gasol didn’t play in either game (before Chris Wallace and the Memphis Grizzlies gave the Lakers the Western Conference). I could go into a detailed analysis of what happened, but I’ll just give you the link to Henry Abbott’s excellent analysis of the earlier games. ...