Only The Strong Will Survive

Well folks, the dog days of the NBA have begun all pretenders are sputtering and collective dreams of extended vacation plans in the Bahamas, Tortola, and a European trek. 

Coaches whose teams are in contention start to try and get into the psyche of opposing teams with subterfuge tactics through the media. Van Gundy is the latest culprit saying the Celtics are using injury as an excuse when Jameer Nelson is out.

Excuse me...The Celtics were without the majority of their team for the last month and he equates losing Jameer Nelson to that! 

Come on Stan to paraphrase Mark Jackson "I thought you were better than that".

The Magic have their own problems with being ousted in the first round  every year to the Pistons with Howard so they have a lot to worry about. The Magic were lucky to escape with a victory, I know a win is a win is a win. 

But in this case a win was not a win. The last two times the Magic beat the Celtics they were not at full strength. The Magic should be leery of their soft victories in the last two games against Boston. Celts will beat them in a seven game series.

Lets get to the meat of the matter with the true challengers:

Lakers:  They have the ultimate weapon in the self proclaimed 'Black Mamba'; his skills and basketball intelligence put him above almost every player in the NBA except Bron Bron who is a close 1a.

Bryant now has a solid supporting cast:

1. Pau is his better Kukoc

2. Odom his poor man's Pippen

3. Derek Fischer playing a shorter version of Ron Harper

4. Trevor Ariza supplying the slack for his Pippen

5. Bynum is his Shaq Lite

And of course to Phil Kobe is the reincarnation of Micheal in game only. Is anyone else creeped out by the Lakers similarities in personnel to the running of the bulls. 

The bench is lacking with veteran presence and that is the Achilles heel of the Lakers. They will win the west but with Boston or the Cavs waiting in the East I cannot anoint them champs. 

Even if they have the advantage of being the only team to beat the Cavs at home and they did sweep the Celts in the regular season.

I believe they would  beat the Cavs but the Celts would be another story because the Celtic bench in the absence of KG, Tony Allen and Scal have been somewhat successful.

The Cavs are the legitimate threat to the Celtics in the East. Everyone knows that LeBron is the engine that drives the Cavs. To tell you the truth he does not scare me, Mo Williams does not scare me, it is Delonte West that scares me.

He still has a chip on his shoulder about the way he found out about the trade. He was in the Bahamas when he found out. He still feels slighted, and he is hell bent on destroying the Celtic guards.

I still think the East is to close to call because these teams have not won on each others home court. It has to be done if they meet in the finals. To close to call.

So here you have it folks, coming out of the West the Lakers they have no legitimate threat to the western conference championship. The Celtic win over the Spurs without Garnett proved that.

So the NBA championship series will pit the Lakers vs. you fill in the blank.