Let’s go back to 2008. It’s Game 7 between the Celtics and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semis. Paul Pierce and LeBron James are having one heck of a personal duel, both shooting at will. When the smoke cleared, Boston prevailed and went on to win the Celtics’ unprecedented 17th NBA championship.
Last year, Boston lost to Orlando in the semifinal round. The Magic then advanced and faced Cleveland in the conference finals en route to their league finals appearance with the Lakers.
Another classic match-up will happen this Sunday when Boston’s Big Three will meet King James and his Cavaliers. Both teams have been rested for three days and the break will do well for the tough series ahead. I personally would like the Celtics to prevail and hopefully meet Los Angeles again for the NBA title.
Cleveland fans are worried as LeBron’s right elbow has been bothering him. But elbow injury and all, King James still remains as Boston’s biggest stumbling block.
To borrow some words from Chicago’s Derrick Rose, “a huge mountain to climb.”
Boston got healthy at the right time. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are back from assorted foot and knee injuries and Coach Doc Rivers had been wise to limit and control their playing time. Ray Allen has been in target mode, Rajon Rondo, Glen Davis and the rest are happily contributing.
In going over Miami in five games, Pierce overtook Dennis Johnson for 9th place in the Celtic’s career playoff scoring list.
There’s no place like homecourt and Cleveland will have the advantage in a possible Game Seven. It is very likely that this series will go the distance and statistics will favor Doc Rivers. He has never won a playoff series in less than five games.
Which team is older? Boston has six players on their roster aged between 32 and 37.
On Cleveland, four are aged between 33 to 38. All of these guys are significant contributors on their respective teams.
Rasheed Wallace, 35, and Michael Finley, 37, can have their shining moments for Boston but Cleveland has the more potent pre-historic players in Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. It all comes down to pacing and coaches of both teams should make the most of their big men rotation. This should also favor the Cavs with the ultra-hyper Anderson Varejao in the equation.
One interesting mix to this series is forward Leon Powe. He was on the 2008 Boston championship team which battled Cleveland in the semis. This time, Powe has switched jerseys and will fight the Celtics for the Cavs. I say Boston in seven.
* * *
The Philippine national basketball team, a.k.a. Smart Gilas has been looking far and wide for candidates for naturalization. Americans and most recently, a Slavic prospect has been eyed. To the people bankrolling the team, we don’t have to look beyond the horizon. Have we tried checking our Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Middle Eastern neighbors?
We have quite a number of these nationals permanently residing and controlling our economy. Why not recruit from these countries? They could easily pass as Filipinos. A 7-footer from Shanghai could easily pass as Chris Tiu’s distant cousin. Or maybe a banger from the Middle East who could look like Japeth Aguilar.
Or maybe someone from Spain who could be mistaken Greg Slaughter’s nephew. The possibilities are almost endless, why not consider this. And this will even make our national team look like a real Philippine team.