Match Preview - LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics

The LA Lakers will take on the Boston Celtics on Friday in a rematch of the 2010 NBA Finals. The match starts at 6:30 AM. Both teams stand as a perfect example of how the only thing constant in life is change itself. How the mighty have fallen! Neither of these two are a lock to even make it to the playoffs this year, contending for a title is a completely different matter. It would be one thing if the two teams were healthy, but the Celtics have just lost Rondo for the season and the Lakers are having problems with Dwight Howard‘s nagging back and shoulder issues.

The Lakers are in the midst of a 7 game road trip. They are currently 3-1 on this trip. Although they expect to be without Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, they will have Metta World Peace back for this one. World Peace punched Brandon Knight and was suspended for one game. ‘World Peace punched Knight’, we ought to have a T-shirt with that on it. Gasol has had a partial tear of his plantar fascia and is expected to be out for around six weeks. Even Kobe is playing with elbow tendinitis and urging Howard to bite the bullet and play tomorrow. The loss of Rondo hasn’t spelled doom for the Celtics just yet. They are 5-0 since they lost Rondo and 0-5 in the five games prior to that.

Here’s how the starting lineups stack up -

Avery Bradley vs Steve Nash

Bradley is averaging 8.1 points per game with 1.2 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 1 steal. But he’s doing all that in 24.9 minutes and now that Rondo is out, expect his numbers to climb up. Nash is averaging 11.9 points and 7.8 assists with 3 rebounds per game. He may be old, but he still trumps Bradley. And now that the Lakers are without Howard and Gasol, expect Nash and Kobe to step it up.

Advantage - Lakers.

Courtney Lee vs Kobe Bryant

Lee is averaging 7.5 points per game with 1.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds. He faces the daunting prospect of containing Kobe as he tries to guide his team into the postseason. Bryant is averaging 27.5 points per game with 5.4 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. At the tender age of 35, he is averaging 38.7 minutes per game.

Advantage - Lakers.

Paul Pierce vs Metta World Peace

Pierce is averaging 18.5 points with 4.1 assists and 6.2 rebounds in 33.8 minutes of action. While World Peace is averaging 13.2 points with 5.7 rebounds. Peace is one of the best defenders around but Pierce can score on just about anyone and any time.

Advantage - Celtics, unless World Peace makes away with Pierce’s shorts.

Brandon Bass vs Earl Clark

Earl Clark has been a silver lining for the Lakers, coming out of nowhere and helping lend some much required depth to their frontline. With their all star big men out, Clark will see many more minutes. He’s averaging 7.5 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist in 21.1 minutes of action. His counterpart on the Celtics, Bass, is averaging 7.5 points with 4.9 rebounds in 25.9 minutes.

Advantage - Lakers.

Kevin Garnett vs Robert Sacre

The Big Ticket is averaging 15.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in 30.2 minutes of action. Sacre averages 8 minutes in this season thus far and scores 1.6 points per game in that time. Provided that Howard does sit this one out as all pointers indicate, Sacre will have to face up against Kevin Garnett, not something a green big man wants to go up against.

Advantage - Celtics.

The Lakers have the advantage in the backcourt but the Celtics have Garnett up front who will look to exploit the hole in the defence of the Lakers, as the rest of the Celtics look to get to the rim without Howard or Gasol to protect it. Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash will need to step up big if the Lakers are to pull off a win.

Kobe has said of Howard – “We need some urgency. Dwight has never been in a position where someone has driven him as hard as I have, as hard as this organisation has. It’s ‘win a championship’ or everything is a complete failure. That’s just how we do it. And that’s foreign to him. When you think about it, there aren’t many organisations that look at it that way. There are only two that can really honestly say that’s what they live by: Los Angeles and Boston.”

I would include the Spurs in that conversation too, but they are so consistent that missing the championship for a year or so doesn’t deter them as they will just come back the next year to contend again. The Lakers stand at the 10th spot in the West with a 23-26 record and are desperate to climb back to above .500. The Celtics are holding on to the 8th spot in the East with a 25-23 record. Expect a tough battle.