this series, like the 2006 WCF, is one in which there’s only one real rooting interest: shoddy engineering.

I’ll take the “ignore” option. I’ll be surprised if I see any of the Finals. The NBA can have their ratings bonanza, but it won’t be on my dime. To quote the great Aaron Stampler, “Fuck that”.

Let’s break it down, Dr. Jack Ramsey style:

Center: Pau Gasol vs. Kendrick Perkins
Pau looks like Gollum. I don’t mean that in the sense that “gosh, he’s ugly, like Gollum.” I mean he LOOKS JUST LIKE MOTHERFUCKING GOLLUM (that star was for you, ATS). I will hereafter refer to him as Smeagasol. Plus, he took max money without wanting to be a max player (max players should guarantee almost by themselves that their teams will be competitive). On the other hand, who the fck is Kendrick Perkins?
I’ll be rooting for: Perkins, I guess.

PF: Lamar Odom vs. Kevin Garnett
There have been questions about Odom’s passion and willingness to step up in the clutch. Plus he’s left-handed, which makes him very sinister.

KG on the other hand, has a history of coming up big in the clutch, and leading his team to inspiring first round defeats at the hands of Tim Duncan. Plus the Gatorade commercial with him makes it sound like he’s about to go out and gladiator battle with demons.
I’ll be rooting for: Garnett

SF: Paul Pierce vs. Vladimir Radmanovic
PP got stabbed. He almost died. That’s hard core. Vlad injured himself snowboarding. That’s weak.
I’ll be rooting for: Pierce

SG: Ray Allen vs. Kobe Bryant
Is there a more loathsome matchup possible?
I’ll be rooting for: The zombie takeover

PG: Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher
I like Rajon Rondo. He plays hard, plays D, doesn’t complain even though he gets in trouble for shooting. I wish he played for the Spurs, although Pop would probably still play the JV instead. I really dislike Derek Fisher, what with his flopping/0.4/Barry fouling ways.
I’ll be rooting for: Celtics

Celtics Bench vs. Laker Bench
Two words: The Machine. ‘Nuff said.
I’ll be rooting for: Celtics

Coach: Doc Rivers vs. Phil Jackson
Doc seems like a good guy who’s a little clueless when it comes to coaching. He is like Bizarro Phil, the exact opposite in every way.
I’ll be rooting for: Celtics

In conclusion, a fairly emphatic victory for the Celtics over the Lakers. Go Celts Go (ugh, it pains me to type that.).

I probably won’t watch much of the series if I watch it at all, but I am pulling for the Celtics. Yes, I hate them for all of the reasons you listed, but I would rather the Celtics get their first ring in over two decades, than have Kobe get his 4th ring.

I don’t want the Lakers to be able to hold anything over the Spurs. They are our rivals. The Celtics are just some douchebags from back East who slapped together a talented team at the last minute. Well, so did the Lakers and I guess they are douchebags too, but they are OUR douchebags, and we will be battling them for years to come. I don’t want the Lakers to feel too good about this season. I’d rather they freaked out a little like the Mavs in ‘06.

I would love to see LA go up 3 games in the finals and then the city of Boston pull out another miracle and win it in 7 games. That type of letdown would mentally break the Lakers.

Just thinking about the Lakers and Celtics in the Finals and that one has to win gives me a heart full of hate.

I would love to see Ronny Turiaf get a ring before KG, only because he makes the Lakers so much more human and not the well-oiled machine of shit they were from 2000-2004.

However, I would love to see Paul Pierce get a a ring and Finals MVP so people could realize that he was at least just as important as KG to Boston for the entire season. Yes, KG started the whole metamorphosis of the team into a winning club, but he never would have came if Ray Allen wasn’t traded to the team in the first place. They still can’t turn to him for consistent dominating performances like they could from Pierce.

first, like mavs v. heat, i will enjoy either team losing to some degree. one of them will be denied. not as good as both, but better than neither.

secondly, we can hope for a massacre (e.g. pistons v. lakers 2004) or a huge meltdown (mavs v. heat 2006). either one would be fun in some way, trolls to punish, etc.

i should cheer for the lakers, i have so many friends that i respect who like them, friends who would have cheered (at least publicly) for the spurs had the spurs advanced. i just have too many years of laker-hate. it was too strong to die off in 3 years of mediocrity. it just wasn’t mediocre enough to satisfy the hate.

i should cheer the celtics. what did any of those guys ever do to me? but ray allen is such a nancy-boy. kevin garnett has received too many favorable comparisons to tim duncan. and they are a sucky east team. east has had way too many championships in the past four seasons thanks to sissy western representatives. east sucks too much, they should have gotten zero championships since jordan retired (his first time, or was it the second?).

i usually let this kind of decision come naturally. i watch some games and discover who i want to lose by who i’m cheering for.

I don’t like Ray Allen, so Lakers. But I really don’t like Phil, so Celtics. Hhmmm, but Paul Pierce had that really low class moment of threatening someone with a gang sign, so Lakers. Derek Fisher, ugh… lame.

I know I’ll flip a coin. Heads Celtics, Tails Lakers.

Here we go… it’s up in the air… it’s coming down. Oh, oh…, it rolled behind the couch.

Oh well, I guess this means I’m not going to root for anyone not named the San Antonio Spurs.

:-)

Go Lakers just because of my California roots.

I root for neither. I’m not like a Suns or Maverick fan rooting vicariously for another team to do something my team couldn’t.

I could take something from each of you, there’s truth to it all. But I’ll be ignoring the whole thing as much as possible, what with the media barrage of best finals matchup in years. Plus, I just can’t take watching the finals when the Spurs aren’t in it. It reminds me too much of how we lost, and I hate that feeling. So, happy thoughts it is. Maybe I could use some of Phil’s meditation tactics to block out the fact that we just got beat by the freakin’ lakers. As much as I don’t hate the lakers as much as when Snaq was on their team, man I hate the lakers just as much as when Snaq was on their team. It’s two different scales of hatred, but hatred nonetheless that I can’t really explain. I guess I just hate losing to any team. Man, this post took a turn for the worse.

lakers. why?

cos i like ronny turiaf
cos i think garnett is a complete fake
cos “ray allen, nba champion” sounds worse than “my mum, porn star”
cos i think kendrick perkins is a dick
cos kobe winning would be a big “fuck you” to shaq, and that makes me happy
cos boston entitlement can fuck off
cos doc rivers should NEVER be a coach of a championship team
cos an east team winning just wouldn’t feel right

I’ve said several (lengthy) times why I can’t root for the Lakers….and at the same time I can’t fathom how many times we’ll hear KG being mentioned in the same breath as Russell even though he’s not even remotely clutch, and he’s not even the best player on his team (Pierce is). KG shouldn’t even be in the same building with Russell as far as I’m concerned.

I think I’ll actually feel sorry for Pierce, as if the Celtics win it, right now the Finals MVP is KG’s to lose…Pierce has to totally dominate Kobe, and make KG not show up to even stand a chance….that sucks. Lose/Lose scenario both ways.

You should hear about what ESPN is saying regarding Derek Fisher vs. the Spurs :

Derek Fisher:

He’s the steadying influence that L.A. needed to unseat the defending champs, even though he did not shoot well. This was somewhat of a surprise after scoring and shooting so well against Utah. During the Spurs series, he averaged 6.2 ppg on 37.5 percent shooting. Fisher made up for it with solid defense and outstanding ballhandling, committing just two turnovers the entire series. He’ll give up lots of quickness to Rondo, but has long arms and a great sense of timing to contest jump shots. If he can keep Rondo from stripping him or deflecting his passes, the Lakers’ offense has a real chance to be more effective than any team Boston has faced.

Outstanding ballhandling and solid defense?? Um, forgive me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Parker abuse him at the start of every game, and they only started to contain Parker when 3 other Lakers collapsed the paint to prevent him from going in there? And ballhandling—kinda hard to commit turnovers when outta the 5 games, 4 of them he handled the ball about 3 times. :p

Man I don’t like Fisher :(

I’m between not caring at all and rooting for the Lakers. A little because they beat us, and I always prefer to lose to the champion. And more because of Ray Allen and KG.

I’m still sad for the Pistons, a team after my own heart.

I hate Kobe, but I he has some respect due.

I hate Garnet, he has no respect, no rings, yet thumps his chest like he is the man. Problem is, to be the man, you have to beat the man (Duncan). Garnet should take his place along with all the rest of the has beens in NBA history, Shawn Kempf, Karl Malone, Dirk, Kenyan Martin, etc..

Therefore, even though I hate the Lake Trout, they need to put the babys to bed forever. This would be a crushing career ending blow to Garnet. He will never have a better chance than this and he has to know that. I see this is as a Karl Malone situation where Garnet is jumping on another team’s back trying to win a championship. If he hits a game winning shot in this series, I will kiss my own ass.

I think I’m alone on this one but my love for Duncans legacy is forcing me to root for the Celtics. I don’t see KG challenging Duncan for greatest forward/center of his era much less the greatest PLAYER period of his era. But I can see Kobe challenging it… If the lakers are to win this year Kobe will have notched his 4th ring (tied with Duncan) and has such a young nucleus around him that he could very well win a 5th or 6th. 15-20 years from now I want people talking about Duncan as the best power forward EVER and the most dominant player of his era. I think shaq will be in the mix but bouncing from team to team will have hurt his legacy. Kobe needs to stay stuck on 3 with no finals MVP and as always I will be praying for another Spurs championship with Timmy being our rock.

On First Take today, Greg Anthony stated : “The Celtics basically have this round what the Spurs were lacking last round…a healthy 3rd option, as long as Pierce’s knee holds up. The Spurs gave the Celtics all the information needed to contain the Lakers and beat them. If you watch Game 1 of the Finals, and look at just about any game of the WCF, the Celtics are employing the exact same tactics that the Spurs did….they just have that 3rd, 4th guy or guy from the bench that can contribute steadily to prevent the scoring droughts that the Spurs went through, and that’s why they won. They can thank the Spurs for that.”

Isn’t Anthony usually a Lakers homer/Spurs hater?

i vote for paul pierce just because i don’t want allen to win it.