1. Get Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett going in general, to the hoop in particular. The Celtics can't afford a repeat of Game 3 where Pierce and KG fired jumpers that just didn't fall.

2. Hurt LA's guards in the most legal way possible. And by that I don't mean injure. Rather if the Lakers decide to employ full court pressure the Celtics guards must run them into Kendrick Perkins or P.J. Brown. Those types of screens can be devastating.

3. Play Eddie House. Celtics fans tend to overrate House because he runs around like a maniac. But at this point his weaknesses (dribbling, initiating the offense) are Cassell's weaknesses. And House can contribute in other ways - deflections on defense, running a bit, even hitting the boards. Also I'm sold on playing House and Posey at the same time.

4. More Leon Powe. Realistically Powe is not likely to have another performance like Game 2. However, if given minutes it won't be like Game 3 either. He has a knack for rebounding and getting to the line. Both are good.

5. No Sam Cassell. #3 covered this in a way but I just wanted to hammer it home.

6. Keep Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom out of a rhythm. Gasol's numbers have been solid at times. My concern is that he has shown flashes of what he can bring to the table. It will be important for the Celtics bigs to keep up their physical play.

7. Own the boards. +1 is not enough. I know what you're thinking - it was enough in Game 2. Fair enough. I just prefer the 13 rebound advantage from Game 1.

8. Don't let Sasha Vujacic or anyone not name Kobe Bryant get hot. Kobe is going to get his. We know this. Yet someone else has to step up if the Lakers are going to win.

9. Get the ball to KG on the block. Even if he doesn't want it there. And if that means more House with Ray Allen to space the floor, well that will have to do for stretches.

10. Don't panic. The Celtics are up 2 and lost a close one on the road. Now is not the time to throw Tony Allen out there to defend Kobe Bryant.

In the end the Celtics don't have to do all of these to win. That's in a perfect world. And I like the idea of ten items to discuss. If Pierce and KG can get it going on the offensive end everything else might fall into place.

Yesterday Brian from SportsHubLA answered a few of my questions. Today Andrew from SportsHubLA gave me three ways to beat the Lakers and three ways to lose to them. I'm pretty sure Doc Rivers and company will cite this post at some point in the Finals. Enjoy.

Three Ways to Beat the Lakers

1) Make them a perimeter team.

The Lakers were sixth in the NBA this season in both three point attempts and three point makes.  They’re certainly capable of shooting the rock.  It’s also no question that if they get accustomed to launching from outside, the Lakers aren’t nearly as good a team.  Their strengths come close to the rim, in penetration, good spacing, and crisp passing.  When things are good, jumpers come from the inside out.  When they don’t, the ball just moves around the perimeter. 

2) Get physical. 

The Jazz enjoyed the most success (relatively speaking) in the playoffs against the Lakers.  They were also the team that made a continual effort to beat up the Lakers, particularly Pau Gasol.  When he caught the ball in the high post, they hassled him.  When he went up for a rebound, they bumped him.  At times, that style of play took Gasol out of the game, a scenario that sometimes repeated itself against San Antonio.  To his credit, the lanky Spaniard (is there a more gangly player in the NBA?) tended to bounce back at big moments, but he can be bothered.  As can the entire team.  Given the space to run their offense, the Lakers are almost impossible to stop.

3) Get on the glass.

Utah earned themselves endless second chance possessions by crashing the boards hard and consistently throughout all six games.  They didn’t convert on enough of them, but it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. Against San Antonio, L.A. either kept the rebound battle close or simply won it, which led to a shorter series.  You do the math.  For what it’s worth, the Lakers were better glass eaters than Boston during the regular season (by 2.2 pr game) and remain so during the playoffs (1.1) 

Three Ways to Lose to the Lakers:

1) Overplay Kobe.

Simply put, the Lakers move the ball too well and Kobe is too good at both recognizing the double and finding the open man.  There is a very clear diminishing return to trying to throw bodies at Bryant.  It might work for a trip or two, but over the long haul, it won’t.  The last time the Spurs were in town, they gave it a shot, and as a result Gasol and Lamar Odom were able to roam free like big cats on a wild life preserve.  Nobody bothered them. 

Along those lines…

2) Ignore the supporting cast.   

I’m not just talking about Gasol and Odom, but everyone else down the line.  The more players the Lakers can get into double figures, the more likely they are to win.  LO is going to get his, as will Gasol.  But when Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Vlad Radmanovic, and/or Derek Fisher go off, forget about it.  The Lakers have an extremely multi-dimensional attack.  If Boston allows it to go off with all guns blazing, they’ll have trouble keeping up. 

Kobe can attract so much attention on the offensive end, but teams must recognize that the Lakers are dominant when balanced, and Kobe will play in a way to make it happen.  He’ll still take shots that aren’t quality, but the number of CIFSPG (Cringe Inducing Forced Shots Per Game) has gone down considerably.  If the defense gives him 18 looks, that’s what he’ll take.  But if that’s the case, he’s likely to have set up his teammates for a lot of great shots, and LA is likely to have piled up points. 

3) Let them open up the floor. 

When the Lakers are playing well, the offense allows for a great deal of space.  They’ll run slip screens with Kobe and Gasol, cut off Gasol in the high post, move off Kobe’s penetration, or let Odom lead them on the break.  Force them to put it on the floor more, and they’re vulnerable.  Relative to the alternative, they’re not a great one-on-one team.

Trevor Ariza

I remember when New York drafted him out of UCLA. He was in the mix during Larry Brown’s disastrous run as head coach in the Big Apple. And the Magic absolutely fleeced the Knicks in the Ariza for Steve Francis trade. Yet when Ariza was dealt back to his hometown (Los Angeles) for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans I barely noticed. Still he is intriguing for several reasons:

1. Ariza is listed at 6-8.
2. All of the sudden it’s his 4th season in the Association. And yet Ariza won’t be 23 until the end of the month. There’s a strong chance that we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
3. He developed a reputation as a strong defender. In fact there was some talk about him covering both Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker in the Western Conference Finals.

In reality Ariza played a bit part (10 minutes) in the Conference Finals in his first return to game action since breaking his foot back in January. I’m not sure what to expect from him. Can he really envision minutes, particularly given Sasha Vujacic’s solid play? I don’t know. But much like Andrew Bynum, Ariza could give the Lakers an added dimension next season.

Kobe Bryant

A couple months ago I wrote that LeBron James had surpassed Kobe Bryant as the best player in the NBA. In my defense LeBron averaged 30 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks in the regular season. Of course Bryant went on to win his first MVP and steer the Lakers to a 12-3 record in the playoffs. The scary thing is that Boston can’t simply dare him to shoot from the outside like they did with LeBron. Kobe is lethal from all over the court. As a side note he may currently be the most polarizing figure in the NBA right now. That’s no small accomplishment. What else is there to say? The guy can flat out play. Expect a ton of Kobe praise on newspapers, blogs, radio, television and any other kind of media. And yes his playoff stats – 31.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 50.9% from the field, 81.4% from the line - are off the charts. In fact I’m hesitant to mention his struggles from beyond the arc (29.5%) because he may read this and make a point of setting a playoff record from deep. Let’s move on.

via www.nba.com

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The Lakers are Tall

LA’s roster lists 7 players at 6-10 or taller. And 4 of them are 7 footers. [Green Bandwagon Update: Three of the 7 footers (Bynum, Ilunga-Mbenga, and Mihm) are not a big part  of the Lakers right now. I should have mentioned that earlier.] That’s outrageous. Also if you follow that link to the roster check out 6 aspects:

1. The non-stop music that is part elevator, part mystery/drama, part porn, part I don’t know what.
2. Luke Walton is tanned and then some. I could maybe see him signing in Phoenix. Possibly Miami. And that’s it. Of course that’s all moot if someone drastically overpaid him.
3. Turiaf’s beard would beat the hell out of Gasol’s.
4. Coby Karl narrowly edges Chris Mihm in the “anti Luke Walton look” competition.
5. Vujacic “The Machine” had short hair at one time.
6. Actually click on the players’ bodies (that doesn’t sound right) to hear their introductions. Somewhere John Mason is dying for the Pistons to integrate something similar on Detroit’s website.

Only the best analysis at Green Bandwagon.

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Last Saturday I was hoping the Celtics would come back to Boston with the series tied 2-2. That's exactly what happened. And yet now I am disappointed. I've narrowed my disappointment down to three reasons:

1. In my last post I ran a poll about whether or not the Celtics would win game 5. There have been spurts of participation and throughout it has been close to 50-50. While I'm assuming that some of those who responded don't like the Celtics the end result feels a lot like how I view this team right now. I have no idea what to expect from this group on any given night.

2. Every time the Celtics have an opportunity to establish themselves as a group of guys people should fear they seem to take a step backward. It has been a maddening sub plot to the the 2008 playoffs. Monday night was no exception.

3. The Celtics still don't have a rotation. That strikes me as troublesome.

Random Thoughts on the Series/Tonight's Game

- If Boston's point guards continue to struggle the ball has to go through either Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett on every single offensive possession that one of them is out there. If they are both out I'd like to see them run the pick and roll as well.

- Antonio McDyess has been awesome. He hits that mid range jumper with consistency, contends on defense, rebounds and won't back down from anyone. Detroit fans must look at him sometimes, then look at Rasheed Wallace and then enter a confused state.

- Count Rip Hamilton on the list of guys - Joe Johnson and David West are a few others - that I drastically underestimated. He's deadly from all over the court and is a lot tougher, nastier, and more physical than I realized.

- Paul Pierce has labeled this a must-win game and I'm not sure I entirely agree with him. There are 2 Celtics teams. One of them I can envision winning games 6 and 7 to advance to the Finals. The other one I have very little faith in. Which one is going to show up tonight?

In the playoffs Leon Powe has appeared in 15 of Boston’s 17 games. His minutes played per game are as follows (home games bolded):

24, 14, 6, 22, 23, 15, 20, 13, 28, 15, 6, 4, 0, 7, 8, 3, 0

Including Powe’s 2 DNPs he is averaging 14.1 minutes in Boston’s victories and 9.57 minutes in Celtics losses. On top of that Boston is 1-1 in games Powe has not ventured off the bench. At this point I can think of two relevant questions:

1. Why is Powe playing inconsistent minutes?
2. Do the Celtics need Powe?

As is the custom here at Green Bandwagon I’ve decided to initially tackle the first question with complete nonsense:

The Top Five Reasons Leon Powe Has Been Banished to the Bench

5. Powe told Jeremiah Rivers that Georgetown was a garbage program. As a result young Rivers chose to transfer, creating some turbulence within the Rivers family.

4. Powe makes Barry Bonds look like Grant Hill. Sorry I just read Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Anti-Hero.

3. Kevin Garnett hates Leon Powe.

2. In a tradition as old as the NBA itself P.J. Brown and Powe fought a win or go home cage match. Brown won due to a steel chair provided by Glen Davis in a thinly veiled attempt to win playing time. However, Powe refused to go home and everyone, KG included, was afraid to enforce that stipulation. Brown did get Powe’s minutes though.

1. Secretly Doc Rivers runs the Leon Powe Fan Site and he recently learned that fewer minutes for the former Cal standout, and a subsequent bitter post, led to increased traffic.

Of course there are probably better, more realistic reasons for why Powe is on the bench. Off the top of my head I can think of several:

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Arron Afflalo – A rookie out of UCLA, Afflalo may be best known for his collegiate career and announcers stumbling over his last name for some inexplicable reason. To be honest I was a little surprised to see that he played in 75 regular season games (12.9 MPG) and 9 of Detroit’s 11 playoff games thus far. Afflalo entered the Association with the reputation of a defensive stopper that could score as well. Playing 9 minutes per game in the playoffs to this point Afflalo’s statistical contributions have been modest across the board. For what it’s worth he is further along than his former Pac-10 rival Gabe Pruitt. Remember him?

Chauncey Billups – Billups appeared in 3 games against the Orlando Magic but for all intents and purposes was only a factor in 2. Allegedly he is healed and ready to go. Regardless Rajon Rondo should attack the 11th year player and test that hamstring. On the flipside Billups is a match up nightmare for Sam Cassell, Eddie House and Rondo. That’s why I’d like to see the former Celtic work on the defensive end of the court. In closing check out what I wrote about Billups prior to Boston’s first game against Detroit, way back in December:

"On a team full of Celtics killers he might be the number one guy. He's a big point guard that creates all types of match up problems. And we all remember how the Ricktator shipped him out of town after 51 games. But here's my question. Why did it take him so many teams to finally emerge as a player? Billups is not a system guy like Matt Harpring who just had to catch on with the right team. I know his field goal percentages were rough over those first four seasons (39%, 35%, 37%, 34%) and point guards take time to develop. But you're lying if you saw this coming. Finally, Billups is yet another player that was robbed this year. Robbed of the chance to dominate Sebastian Telfair four times a season."

I enjoyed that Telfair joke. And if you click on that old post you’ll notice I recycled the pronunciation point about Afflalo. In closing Billups is supposed to be good friends with Kevin Garnett. Check that best friends. For some reason Tyronn Lue always stands out for me in that story.

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Cavaliers Blogs to Check Out
Cavalier Attitude 
Waiting for Next Year
And One
Fear the Sword - This one dropped off the face of the blogging world shortly after the blockbuster trade. The same goes for Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots.

Starting Lineups
Rajon Rondo vs. Delonte West
Ray Allen vs. Wally Szczerbiak
Paul Pierce vs. LeBron James
Kevin Garnett vs. Ben Wallace
Kendrick Perkins  vs.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Schedule Notes
Cleveland closed out its first round series Friday night and had three days to prepare for the Celtics. Boston of course went the distance with Atlanta and did not wrap up round one until Sunday. I’ll give Cleveland the edge but it helps that Boston is home.

Season Series
1. The Celtics lost the first game of the season series in overtime. This game was memorable for several reasons:

- Ray Allen played 49 minutes. At the time this was a big deal. Of course as the season progressed his minutes came down. But that was a little frightening. He also took 25 shots, which was easily his high for the season. In fact Allen only took 20 shots two other times and that has not happened since January.

- While Rajon Rondo finished with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, he was also atrocious from the field (1-9). This game single handedly prevented people around the country from recognizing how much Rondo can bring to the table until the third Pistons game.

- The Celtics should have gotten it done down the stretch as Ray Allen missed a few free throws late and Paul Pierce could not come through on a possible game winner.

- LeBron dropped 38 points and was huge from the line (14-15). That’s the kind of stat line I’d hate to see as we move forward.

- Drew Gooden was on fire – 24 points (11-15 from the line) and 13 boards. Big Z also chipped in 15 and 15.

2. LeBron sat out the rematch less than a week later and the Celtics won a pretty dreadful Sunday afternoon game, 80-70.

3. LeBron James – 33 poinrts, 12 assists, 9 boards and 5 steals. That coupled with Kevin Garnett’s absence led to a 114-113 victory for Cleveland. On the bright side the King had 5 turnovers.

4. The Celtics handled the new look Cavs in one of those games where the final score (92-87) made it look a lot closer than it actually was.

Long story short the home team won every game.

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Lance Allred – The Cavaliers signed him to a couple of 10-day contracts and then eventually brought him in for the remainder of the season. However, Allred only saw action in three games and I’d be incredibly surprised to see him out there. Having said that Allred is a lot more interesting than many end of the bench guys because he had an unorthodox childhood (huge understatement), has 80% hearing loss and should probably hate Rick Majerus. Hat tip to Hardwood Paroxysm for the previous link. Also check out HP for an interview with Allred. Seriously the brief poker game anecdote is awesome.

Devin Brown – Since entering the league in 2003 he has played in Utah, Denver, San Antonio (twice), New Orleans and now Cleveland. That journeyman persona was only enhanced when Brown joined the squad shortly before training camp. Every team in the league has a guy like Brown. He is the player that does a lot of little things to help the team win, is appreciated by the coaches and is not well known beyond the home fans. You think he was a part of Will Malice’s Unsung Player Day? Of course he was. Embarrassing aside. Occasionally I’ll watch a Cavs game and for a split second I’ll think Brown is LeBron James. The same thing happens with Adonal Foyle and Dwight Howard. We’re talking a split second here and I’m definitely not proud of it. I should probably keep that to myself actually.

Daniel Gibson – The former Texas Longhorn came to prominence when he caught fire in game 6 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons. Gibson finished the game with 31 points and five 3-pointers. That shooting prowess was on display again at the Rookie/Sophomore game over All Star Weekend in New Orleans. Gibson did battle injuries this season, is more of a 2 than a 1 and will probably hate the Cavaliers during the off season, as is the custom with Cleveland’s recent restricted free agents.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas – Big Z averaged 14 and 7 and put forth a huge effort – 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks - against the C’s back in February. While I respect his game I also like his slow, deliberate place. That’s how Boston prefers to play. Finally I’m always amazed by how much he towers over everyone else on the floor.

LeBron James – He rose to prominence in the era of AAU, high school stars jumping straight to the pros, blogs, ESPN News, a zillion magazines and an oppressive amount of hype. And yet starting sometime after last year's All Star Break you could make the case that the hype has not been enough. Does that ever happen? Seriously he averaged 29.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.7 assists and was an afterthought in the MVP race. That’s outrageous. On top of that he may be the strongest guy in the league. I don’t need to write too much more because he will be a huge topic of conversation throughout the series. But I’ll close with this. If you watch a few James interviews, post game press conferences or really anytime he speaks you'll notice that he references his role as the leader of the Cavs a seemingly disproportionate amount. Watch for it.

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Boston Celtics
Record: 66-16
Last Ten Games: 9-1
Points scored per game: 100.5
Points allowed per game: 90.3
Pace Factor: 90.9 (19th of 30)
Offensive Ranking: (9th of 30)
Defensive Ranking: (1st of 30)

Atlanta Hawks
Record: 37-45
Last Ten Games: 5-5
Points scored per game: 98.2
Points allowed per game: 100.0
Pace Factor: 91.1 (18th of 30)
Offensive Ranking: 106.9 (16th of 30)
Defensive Ranking: (18th of 30)

Hat tip to http://www.basketball-reference.com/ basketball-reference.com for info on the Celtics and the Hawks.

Season Series: The first time they met was early in the season (Boston’s fourth game) and the Celtics buzz saw was in full effect. Kevin Garnett finished with 27 points, 19 rebounds, 6 boards and 3 assists. In the words of Gob from Arrested Development, "Come on!" This was Boston’s easiest victory of the three. Their second meeting saw Garnett finally put together a KG like game after returning from the abdominal strain, as he dropped 20 and 16 and the C’s won by 10. It should be noted that Paul Pierce was officially in the "best basketball of his career" phase. Boston earned the season sweep in the finale thanks in large point to Sam Cassell. I’m not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand there are few statements more powerful than beating a team on its home court while playing the second team in the crunch against said team’s starters. It had to demoralize Hawks fans to see the Celtics first team having a ball on the bench while Cassell hit dagger threes and did his dance. Now that’s arrogance. But in the back of mind I can’t think of any better motivation for the Hawks. Well besides pride, contracts and the desire to win.

Last Time They Met in the Playoffs: Have they ever met? Not that I can remember. Oh wait. The following happened:

Story Line That Has the Potential to Get Old Fast: Doc Rivers played in Atlanta for 8 seasons. But based upon the whole A.J. Hawk/Brady Quinn experience from a few years ago I think the fact that Eddie House married Mike Bibby’s sister might have legs. There I said it. Let’s move on. A much better story is the time House dropped 61 on Cal. In fact his entire career at ASU was downright outrageous. Check it out. One more thing. Joe Johnson was drafted by Boston. Don't forget that.

Starting Lineups:
Rajon Rondo vs. Mike Bibby 
Ray Allen vs. Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce vs. Marvin Williams 
Kevin Garnett vs. Josh Smith 
Kendrick Perkins vs. Al Horford 

What’s the deal with Stoudamire?: In my recent post about the Atlanta Hawks players I wrote the following about him:

"From an outsider's perspective he is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. Lute Olsen is on the record as saying Stoudamire is a better shooter than J.J. Reddick, based upon their college careers. However, Stoudamire is better known as a streak shooter and a head case. In fact Olsen's biography, Lute! devoted a seemingly disproportionate amount of time to Stoudamire's time as a Wildcat when you consider all of the guys that have come out of Arizona. Whatever you think of Stoudamire there is no denying that he shot an abysmal 34.6% from the field this season, only played in 33 games and averaged just under 11 minutes when he did see time."

Well the other day a Hawks fan e-mailed me out of the blue to give his point of view:

"He is a riddle for sure. Shooters need playing time. I am not surprised by his poor percentages considering the minutes he is getting. If anybody can figure this riddle out they would have a very deadly weapon to add to a team."

That is a fair point about playing time, particularly since Stoudamire already has a reputation as a streak shooter. And maybe he did not deserve playing time. But it’s not surprising that Mike Woodson can’t give minutes to him. If I were a coach and a story surfaced that my general manager had tried to fire me three times well I would desperately try to make the playoffs. Long story short is Stoudamire going to make it in this league? And yes that’s probably way too much time to devote to him.

The Highlight Factory: That’s the Hawks’ ad campaign this season and I really like it. And regardless of what Marvin Williams, Josh Childress or anyone else on the squad not named Josh Smith does, it works because of Smith. He’s going to block some shots and throw down a few dunks that even Celtics fans will have to appreciate. On top of that this will be Smith’s first real exposure since the Dunk Contest he won, as he has been in basketball purgatory since entering the league. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but Atlanta has not been getting the national television call all that often.