A change has to be made in my NBA finals prediction. You see there was something that should have been figured in but was egregiously overlooked by yours truly. It happens to be a tiny bit important too. It’s the schedule.
Have you taken a look at the schedule? It’s preposterous! Two three day breaks? The 2-3-2 system to save on travel — basically — just for the media? How did the NBA get away with planning this thing?
So here’s how this helps/hurts the teams. The extra days of rest give the older legs of the Celts some needed recovery time. There won’t be any need to worry about playing the Big Three for longer minutes because of the time off but, on the flip side, Kobe Bryant could very well play an entire game now considering that when he steps on the floor Thursday, it will be the first time he’s played in a week. You don’t think he’ll be riled up and ready to tear about Boston?
As for the 2-3-2 oversight, there wasn’t bigger news aside from a crippling injury to a key player (that’s right, I don’t care if Tony Allen isn’t playing for Boston) that could have changed my prediction. With this realization, I’ve got to go with Lakers in 5 now. Again, it’s fairly obvious that the Celts are weak on the road and the Lakers are too strong in L.A. so I can’t possibly see them losing Game 3, 4 or 5 at the Staples Centre. They’ll also take either Game 1 or 2, like I said previously.