Some Closure as the Lakers got Rondo'd!

The Boston Celtics are the 2008 NBA World Champions due mainly to a Game 6 total team effort, but as Phil Jackson will tell you Rajon Rondo was the star of the game. Jackson's best coaching in the series came in his Kobe roaming off Rondo scheme early in Games 3, 4, 5. This worked extremely well in Los Angeles with the Lakers getting off to great starts in Game 4 and 5 because the Celtics couldn't do anything offensively. The scheme did not work however in Boston, where Rondo feels comfortable attacking the basket and shooting his jumper, and he torched the Lakers throughout Game 6. He started off slow missing some layups and open jumpers, but to his credit and Doc Rivers', Rondo kept at it. When Rondo is playing well the Celtics are literally unstoppable and they proved that as they had one of their best team efforts of the playoffs. Rondo does so much for the Celtics, sky for rebounds, creates offense, pesters the defense coming up with numerous steals, and a lot more. When he wasn't playing well, the Celtics had to heavily rely on House and unfortunately Cassell. House is terrific off the bench playing the role he did last night of knocking down open 3's, but he can't play point guard for an entire second half like he was asked to in Game 5. A super effort from Rondo and give him credit for persevering because the Celtics needed it, as he helped deliver Banner 17. I am all about the stats in Game 6's dominating Celtics performance and here is the first:
Rajon Rondo: 21 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 6 steals, 1 turnover

The reason why the Celtics are huddling around the Larry O’Brien trophy is shown by these stats (all in Celtics favor): Rebounds (48-29), Offensive Rebounds (14-2), Assists (33-16), Steals (18-4), Blocks (4-0), Turnovers (7-19), every Celtics player had a positive +/- and every Laker had a negative +/-

Total domination in a terrifically played four quarters by the Boston Celtics, as the Big 3 all showed up with Rondo, Perk, and the real "Bench Mob". Starting with Ray who rediscovered his stroke this series and made the Lakers and specifically Sasha Vag-e-itch pay, who played absolutely no defense. Game 3 Sasha let Ray blow by him and then sulked and in Game 6 let him hit 3 after 3, letting Ray rack up 7 three pointers. Unbelievable. Kevin Garnett showed us that "Anything is Possible" as he actually had a good game in the playoffs, dominating the first half offensively and anchoring a stifling four quarters of defense. KG set the tone of the game shoving Pau out of the way and laying the ball up on an early first quarter fast break. KG also delivered an amazing post game interview with Michelle Tafoya as he pulled off a brim low all I can see is the flo and closed it out by, for the second time these playoffs, saying, “you look good girl.” He screamed and cried and thanked every city ever in the world and his moms and it was amazing. He made up for getting snubbed by Stuart Scott who interviewed Paul and Ray during the celebration, but not Kevin. Speaking of Paul, Celtics fans could not be happier for any athlete ever. He struggled putting the ball in the basket early, but was creating offense, finishing with 17 points and 10 assists. He provided moment after moment in this series and in Game 6 drenched the coach he despised last year in orange Gatorade, something never done before in the NBA, it was cool. Paul has suffered through so many terrible Celtics teams and for him to win it at home, as the clear Finals and playoff MVP, was amazing to witness first hand. He was giddy on the sidelines during the last four minutes and was yelling at the top of his lungs when he received those two trophies. I first off didn’t think the Perk injury would hurt the Celtics that much, but his presence in Game 6 was huge. He picked up both defensive and offensive rebounds, beat up on Gasol and defended, blocked the shit out of Lamar Odom then got a lay up on the other end. Although he provided some amazing entertainment in street clothes sitting next to the coaches in his crazy outfit and insane fucking watch during Game 5 (I had a picture but it didn’t give a great shot of the watch).

Probably one of my all time favorite photos, I liked Kobe coming in to the series, but liked even more the fans chants of “You’re not Jordan!” which he clearly is not. Started of hot with 3’s then relied on them too much later on, and went on another huge field goal drought. It was an inexcusable performance by the regular season MVP and leader of the Lakers. He let them get blown out, along with awful coaching from the Zen master throughout the series. Kobe had 22 points, 11 in the first quarter, but HAD AS MANY ASSISTS AS HE HAD FOULS, AND HE ONLY HAD 1 FOUL! He disappointed me clearly with his post-game outfits although they were fine by the end of the series and put on his most dramatic “I’m a good guy” performances to the media as well. "Kobe ain't jack without Shaq!" The Lakers and their fans are excited for next year as they could be, but Andrew Bynum is not going to solve their numerous problems and he isn’t going to stop Chris Paul either. The Lakers play no defense and have some huge issues at small forward as Vlad Radmanovic or Luke Walton are clearly not the answer. The Lakers are solid with Fisher, Farmar, Vujacic, Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, and maybe Turiaf, but beyond that they have serious issues. Lamar was a huge disappointment and their bigs are still soft, and they can't defend the pick and roll at all. One player I do like on the Lakers a lot, Trevor Ariza. He has a huge neck tattoo and wears his NBA socks really well. He also had the new Nike Huarache's which he rocked at home, and has super hops can play a little D and will occasionally knock down an open jumper.
I said the previous photo was one of my favorites, only to be outdone by this one; here is my present to you my 10 readers…
I did attend Game 6 and had the time of my life. The streets and bars before the game were filled with people in green and they weren't even going to the game. Inside the TD Banknorth Garden was rocking, much more so than Staples I imagine. All of us Celtics fans in attendance got to witness our NBA team win the championship at home, which was pretty fucking cool. With that said, the amazing 2008 NBA Playoffs coming to a close, the All-Cool Team must go in a new direction, but never fear as there are plenty of topics to cover. Look forward to thoughts on the NBA Draft, the inevitable trade of Carmelo Anthony and potentially other super stars, maybe a little Red Sox and the amazing J.D. Drew!, as well as some cool mother fuckers like Baron Davis and Lil Wayne. The Boston Celtics are NBA WORLD CHAMPIONS!!! Peace!!!