Worrying about life reduces your ability to live it. Concern may be necessary to determine what path one must take to conquer worlds, but too much is only cause for more concern and has no benefit. Unfortunately, it seems that falling into this concern is self-perpetuating. Being a better person requires energy and strength that one must dig incredibly deep to uncover. At an earlier stage in life it is often much closer to the surface, but with age comes tragedy, and that courage and strength can wither, disappear, and consume itself so that a new and deeper reserve must be found. Among every person's everyday life is the necessity to improve their own situation on an everyday basis. The motivation to do such is found in the process of mining one's strength and courage; it becomes easier to improve a life with more courage and strength. Likewise, it becomes easier to find the well with a better life. In this sense, it is also self-perpetuating. However, it requires energy and effort that the more negative tailspin does not. The ability to search one's soul and find motivation may or may not be in everyone; it is not clear. Whether it is a part of one's DNA, one's destiny, or is a power that can be found only in spirit, only attempting to do so can find each person their own answer.

Lakers vs. Magic Finals Preview

It may seem odd that I start to write a Finals preview in a year in which my team made an exit before the Conference Finals, especially since one of the teams playing is my team's rival while the other team caused the exit. However, I have become more involved with the NBA than ever following the impressive title defense of my Boston Celtics. This has been a tumultuous season and playoffs full of ups and downs for many teams, mine included, and I hope that the Finals live up to a very exciting playoffs. 

This season's finale will feature a battle between the NBA purebred Lakers, featuring Kobe Bryant, and the newly determined and focused Magic, featuring the freak of a center, Howard. The Lakers lost an embarrasing Finals last year to my Celtics, while the Magic suffered and even more embarrasing defeat last year to the Detroit Pistons after leading the series 3 games to 1.

There are a number of different factors of basketball that affect the game. It can be impossible to determine which are most important to the game which is why it is so difficult to determine a winner in advance. However, it can be revealing to look at each team individually and observe Even if no team ever holds an advantage in every category it may be possible to determine a favorite with this method. I've determined that these ten attrubuts are most important; others may disagree. However, given these attributes, I have attempted to determine a favorite.

-Defense: Magic

The Magic were this year's #1 defense thanks to Garnett's injury. There is no comparison here. The Magic have not been quite as dominant in the postseason, but have played well enough. The Lakers cannot match the shotblocking of Howard, and apart from Ariza and Kobe in stretches, are sub-par defenders on the perimeter.

-Depth: Lakers

This is a blowout. The Lakers bring Odom, a sure starter on almost any team, off the bench. The Lakers bench must outplay Orlando's in this series to avoid an upset.

-Shooting: Magic

This one was really tough. The Lakers are a pretty good shooting team, but the Magic's 3's win this one. Look for the Magic to play outside a little more even in this series.

-Versatility: Lakers

The Magic's Lewis and Turkoglu are nightmares for teams with their unique combination of size and skill. However, the Lakers are even worse. Bryant is too big and strong for smaller guards while being too fast and quick for forwards. Odom's size negates the size of Lewis. Odom is capable of defending Lewis, while Lewis will have a tougher time with Odom inside. Pau Gasol, likewise, can play much further out than most big men and can stretch Howard from the basket.

-Fatigue: Lakers

The Lakers have played decently long series throughout and have had physical battles all the way. However, they have an advantage over Orlando. The Lakers did play tough series against Houston and Denver, but Orlando has had it even worse. They played a tough series against Philadelphia in the first round. They followed this with a seven game series against Boston. Perkins' strength kept Howard working hard and the rest of the Celtics tired out Orlando's perimeter players. They then played a six game series against Cleveland in which they had to guard the most dominant athlete in sports today. After watching Pierce guard Lebron successfully last year, I know how tiring that can be. Also, Kobe took it easy during the regular season in order to save something for the postseason. He similarly picked his spots in the playoffs and distributed to save energy.

-Teamwork: Magic

The Lakers are a strange team. Sometimes they work well together, but it is still Kobe's team whenever he wants. The Magic do a much better job of distributing the ball. They take a lot of threes while sprinkling in enough touches for Howard. The Magic get the nod in this category.

-Experience: Lakers

The Lakers are more experienced at almost every position. They also went to the Finals last year while the Magic were sitting at home.

-Speed: Lakers

The Magic are a fast team. Howard is one of the fastest centers in the game which makes him a nightmare in transition. Alston is faster than Fisher, but the rest of Los Angeles' guards are faster than he is. Pietrus is a great athlete. However, the Lakers hold the edge. Odom is fast for his size, as is Gasol, which will negate some of Howard's advantage over most teams. Bryant is likewise very speedy, and Ariza is much faster than Turkoglu.

-Strength: Magic

This one took some thought, but the mental edge I believe the Magic have in this category gets the nod. Howard's strength inside is unmatched by the Lakers and the size of Turkoglu is hard to ignore.

-Height: Lakers

The Magic are a pretty big team. Lewis is really a 6'9" small forward. Turkoglu plays point at times and is 6'8". However, the Lakers are bigger. Bryant is 6'6", Ariza is 6'7", Odom is 6'10", and the Lakers round out with two 7 footers in Gasol and Bynum. The Lakers get the nod.

The Lakers hold an advantage in 6 categories compared to 4 by the Magic. However, this is not the whole story. Sometimes matchups determine a series.

-Point guard: Magic

Alston and Johnson have an advantage over the Lakers 3. Fisher is too slow to guard Alston and hasn't played well offensively. Alston and Johnson are more experienced and better point guards than Farmar or Brown. Also, Jameer Nelson might make a comeback. Although I sincerely and fully believe he will not be a factor in this series, the potential along with the already given edge gives the Magic a rather large advantage in this series. Also include the effectiveness of Turkoglu when he plays the point in the fourth quarter.

-Shooting guard: Lakers

Bryant is one of the two best players in the world today. This is a clear advantage for the Lakers.

-Small forward: Magic

But it's closer than you might think. Turkoglu is tough to defend. However, Ariza has made great strides offensively with his 3 point shot while playing fantastic defense. Also Odom can move down to the 3 spot.

-Power forward: Lakers

Whether the Lakers play Gasol at the 4 or Odom, they are better than Lewis for this series. Lewis cannot defend either in the post while they can defend Lewis. Lewis might be able to expose an advantage on the dribble if Gasol is at the 4.

-Center: Lakers

I believe that if the Lakers are intelligent, than Bynum can defend Howard. The key to defending Howard is to get beneath him before he can get just a couple feet from the rim. Bynum should have the strength to do this. Also, Howard cannot defend Gasol in the poast as effectively as he normally does. Gasol is too skilled and is quick enough to get points on Howard. Howard is simply too limited offensively for me to give him the edge in this series.

I think it's clear that the Lakers are a better team. Whether they will play like it is another matter. The Magic are hot, and should get at the very least 2 wins in this series. I predict that Lakers win this series in 7 games with a potential for up to 4 road wins in total in this series.

Saturday was sixth months since Kate died.

Moving On

One of the worst feelings in sports is when a season ends. This is because you know that everything will be different a year from now. Stars grow older, stars grow, players emerge, players submerge, rookies impact the game, injuries happen, and rosters and coaches change. This will never be more true in my mind than after this Celtics season. Last season something magical happened. I watched a team with three legitimate Hall of Fame candidates who had failed to achieve postseason success completely sacrifice individual fame in order to win a championship. It didn't hurt that the ride along the way was as exciting as it can possibly get. Then this season was just as great. We lost our best player, and boy did we respond. I will never forget the words, "Heart of a Champion." This team, simply put, displayed it for an entire season. They responded so well to the target on their backs. They lost KG, then Powe. They never quit. They came up big again and again. They participated in the greatest first round series ever and sent the Baby Bulls home packing, delaying a coming out party.

The thing is, I know next season will be different. Who knows if KG comes back at all? Who knows if Pierce has anything left in him? I am not as worried about Ray, although Reggie's fall was sudden and severe. We will still have a growing Rondo, but we may lose Powe, Marbury, and Big Baby. Things will be different. I don't know that we will have the swagger, if we will be able to respond next season. It's the ending of an era in Boston, even if we hold on for a few more years.

Magic Defense Proving Formidable

The Magic had the regular season's most efficient defense this season, large in part to KG's injury for nearly a third of the season. I add this fact because as impressive as their defense has been, the addition of KG to Boston would have easily vaulted them over the top. This being said, the truth remains that Orlando had and has a very good defense this season. This has never been more evident to me than in tonight's game.

The Celtics have dealt with more adversity than any team I can think of in recent memory this season (for a legitimate contender, including San Antonio). They have dealt with the huge injuries of KG and Powe, the lack of frontcourt and overall depth, and the mileage on Pierce and Allen from long, productive years carrying teams with no talent around them plus a long playoff run last and this year. They dealt with a surging Bulls team and now have run headfirst into the best defense this season. They worked very hard to overcome being outplayed in most of the first 5 games to come out ahead 3-2. Their heart and determination have carried them far, and their offense, while sporatic (their outside shooting has been abysmal for the most part) has been efficient.

However, the Celtics ran into a myriad of problems in the second half of Game 6. The Celtics outplayed the Magic in the first half, and for most of the third quarter. They were the aggressors at every level in this game for that time, and it appeared to me that we had a win coming. However, the Magic clamped down, and for nearly 15 minutes we completely lost our offensive rhythm because of it. The problems run down like this.

-Paul Pierce is getting doubled everytime he touches the ball. Pierce has done a great job of not turning the ball over against the many traps he faces. However, it has greatly lowered the number of looks he is getting. Most of the time, he doesn't even attempt to beat the trap, instead swinging the ball to Rondo. I think at some point he needs to beat a double team on consecutive tries to put it into the defense's head that he can. 

-When Pierce gets rid of the ball, Rondo has not scored consistently enough as a result. This is because of his lack of outside shot. The Magic are leaning heavily on this fact, and Rondo has yet to make them truly pay. He is not driving to the basket enough when he gets the ball. It doesn't matter who the Magic put out at point, if they swing to double Paul and Rondo gets the ball, he can easily get to the rim. No point guard on the Magic can stop him. The problem is that the reigning Defensive Player of the Year is sitting back, waiting to stuff Rondo. Rondo needs to drive anyway and either find a way past Howard's outstretched arms or he needs to draw him and then dish the ball off to a post player whose presence Howard has vacated. This will force a rotation of a player on either Pierce or Allen at some point, and they must convert. This leads us to our next problem.

-Ray Allen is ice cold. He has been terrible this entire series after being a god in the series against the Bulls. He has to get going in some manner. If he isn't hitting his outside shot, then he needs to get into the lane much in the manner that Rondo needs to. He can hit that running floater before Howard gets to him, he just needs to take it. He seems reluctant to pull the trigger.

-We have yet to get a game with Pierce and Allen both playing well in these playoffs. It's quite ridiculous. If we could just get this to happen, with the way Rondo and the frontcourt are playing, we would win easily. If Allen is hitting his outside shots, then the Magic at some point have to consider not doubling Paul everytime he touches the ball. If Allen is shooting well, then I would suggest running a pick and roll with these two players with House on the floor. Either you double Pierce and give the shot to Allen, or Pierce drives. You can't bring a player off House to double or he'll kill you. If you depend on Howard to block, you will at some point fail. Either through fouls or Pierce beating him with a layup or pass, the defense cannot win out against this situation.

However, with the way things are, it's unbelievable how well we have fared. Big Baby and Perk have been absolute monsters in this series. We've gotten enough from our bench. Right now you almost don't need to guard either Rondo or Allen, and that just is not acceptable.

A Team of Fighters

I have been a Boston fan for all of my sports life. I started watching sports heavily at the age of 11, when the Chicago Bears went 13-3 with their three losses coming against the defending Super Bowl champs and both games against Green Bay. That season was quite magical in itself, and forever drew me into sports. From that day on, I became a sports nut. It did not hurt that the World Cup followed the next year, that the White Sox had a great season in 2000, or that the Celtics drafted Paul Pierce that same year... Little did I know that this Celtics team would grow fonder in my heart than the Bears, than the White Sox, or how important a championship would one day mean to me and the Celtics following.

Watching the Celtics is not always easy, even now. However, in past years, it was much harder at times. There were great moments to be sure. My hatred for the Pacers at one point could not have been consumed by Emperor Palpatine himself. We played the Pacers a couple of years in a row in the playoffs and the combination of Reggie Miller and Jermaine O'Neal proved too much for Pierce to overcome on at least one occassion. I struggled watching my team lose a game. Every game meant so much to me, and momentum swung in my head much more heavily than reality warranted. I grew to believe, somehow, that a team featuring Tony Delk at point, a combination of Battie and LaFrentz at the bigs, and three point shooting from Walter McCarty,  who couldn't even get on the court in Phoenix with Nash running the point just a few years later, was capable of winning a title. Ifelt that the 28 points it seemed that Pierce posted nightly would be enough to overcome every obstacle. Obviously, I was wrong. I was young.

As I grew older, the Celtics success waned some. Antoine Walker came back and helped push us to the playoffs. However, what would come would horrify and sicken one who had tied his beating heart to his team. I suffered through one of the worst seasons in Celtics history. I couldn't even bear to watch Pierce have to beat triple teams at times to try to get a bucket. My superhero was human, and didn't have even the will to try to carry a team this bad. Jefferson had not blossomed, Green couldn't play a lick of defense, and Telfair had been an epic failure. The only hope that sprung from this season was that we had a 25% chance of winning the lottery and getting the number one overall pick which we would have surely spent on Kevin Durant. Having KD and Pierce team up would have been a magical process to watch, but what would unfold, I believe, was much better.

We lost the lottery. We failed miserably. We didn't get the number one overall pick, or the two, or the three. We were stuck at fourth. As lucky as the Bulls have been in recent years at winning in the lottery, we were unlucky for one year. My hopes were crushed. My heart broken, I turned my attention towards other things in life. I couldn't bear to watch. Then news broke through. We had traded our draft pick and some other assets to the Sonics for Ray Allen. At first, I didn't know what to think. It didn't make sense to me to have two potent scorers together in the lineup when we didn't have a post presence other than a still developing Jefferson. We were so young, as well, besides Pierce and Allen. While I had faith in West, I felt we could do better at point. Then the mother of all trades happened, all thanks to Kevin McHale, a former Celt great. We traded away a great young nucleus for Kevin Garnett, and immediately validated the move for Allen. The only question to be heard was whether this team could learn to play together, but I was confident. Garnett was lauded for being so unselfish, and Allen had worked well with Rashard Lewis, even if the team had had success. To me, this was still Pierce's team, so it all worked out.

The season which would unfold was one of the most magical that I will surely ever experience in my life. I watched them step up again and again against every challenge and topple every challenger. I watched them defeat Detroit. I saw them send Lebron packing. Even the West's challengers were no match for my Celtics team. Our defense smothered everyone into submission while we got a steady flow of points from our Big Three. Even if our bench was completely untested, as were Rondo and Perk, it was enough. We were growing together.

The turning point of the season came in a game against Phoenix. The Suns had grown quite an attitude, and we had played a week maybe earlier and Phoenix had played very chippily. I wanted the C's to pound this team into submission on their homecourt. To start off the game, I believe Bell got into a scuffle with Rondo, and Rondo fought back. It was a great moment from an avid supporter. It was Rondo's first coming out party. He became a man at that moment. The Celtics went on to completely throttle the Suns high-flying offense and win the game handily. 

Our next opponent came a couple days later. It was none other than the Houston Rockets, whom were sporting a 22 game winning streak at the time. I felt it appropriate the Celtics would be the ones to stomp on them on their home court. Once again, the Celtics stepped up. At this point, I knew that we were the best team in the league.

The playoffs have been well documented for last year. It meant a lot to a lot of NBA fans in general, to watch Garnett, Pierce, and Allen get their titles. They did it in dramatic fashion, as well, with 7 game series against the Hawks, Cavs, and Pistons. Garnett and Allen struggled early, and Pierce stepped up. Then came a great finals against the Lakers, in which Pierce completely dominated the world's best player in Kobe Bryant. 

Posey, our team's second best player in the playoffs, left that offseason, as did Brown, whom got us over the hump of Detroit while Allen and Garnett struggled. Questions of our bench loomed as we started off our title defense. It was impossible to believe, but this season came to mean as much as last season. Last year had been tough. We had our struggles, and our fight and determination got us over it. It was easy to label because of the well documented winning struggles of our Big Three. However, this season redefined fight. Early on, we dominated. However, it seemed the spirit was gone from our team. I really do believe it. We seemed disinterested. Our defense grew sloppier. We played more one on one basketball. I grew frustrated with the style of play we were exhibiting. At some point, someone figured out we weren't unbeatable with how we were playing. We struggled some, enough, to light a little bit of a spark.

Then the unspeakable happened. Garnett went out with an injury a week and a half before I would be traveling to Boston to see my beloved team. It was diagnosed at a week to two weeks, and it became clear it would be the latter, but I still hoped to see Kevin play against Cleveland. We played two, maybe four games before we came home to host the Cavs. We found our identity much quicker than I could have imagined. The game started off slowly enough. Neither team found a rhythm to start off the game, but the Celtics were establishing themselves inside. Then Lebron got on a breakaway. There was no way we could reach him. He reared back to shut up our crowd... and missed. The crowd exploded. You know you are great when you play away and miss a dunk and set the crowd on fire. It rattled him. I am sure of it. The unrattleable James was rattled, and went on to make three or four mistakes, including a steal by Rondo which turned into a highlight play on the other side of the court. We were off and running. We won the game easily. We had overcome our first major test since the injury of Garnett, and we had done it impressively. The loss the following day against the Cavs was easily dismissed as fatigue while playing against a very good team.

We had our struggles, but we held on to the 2 seed to start the playoffs. We had to play against an upstart Bulls team which had played very well down the stretch. I dismissed this team I had watched at times this season, believing a four game sweep would be a kind result. Boy was I in for a shock. The Bulls came out like Rocky Balboa, taking every punch the Celtics landed and just kept coming. Gordon and Rose couldn't be stopped. Either could Rondo, however. We fought and fought and fought and refused to go down on our homecourt. Then Pierce missed a free throw to ice the game. We went to overtime and lost, even though Rose fouled out. Stunned into silence, I lost faith in a series win based off of one game. It was back to the little kid days for me, but they weren't there to stay. Even when we showed our champion's poise and clinched a hard fought win in game 2, I didn't gain any faith in our team. A game 3 romp did little to improve my mood, but this was probably because I missed the game. Our bench just appeared to be no help, and Pierce didn't have the same fire he had last season. I didn't think we could do it. We should have won game 4. We didn't execute to end the game. The funny thing is that the Bulls shouldn't have let us be in it, either. Colossal coaching failures resulted in us staying the game, but we threw it away with a coaching failure of our own. Game 5 became another slugfest, as both teams just rained shot after impossible shot. The willing suspension of belief was not enough to believe this series. Game 6 was a game we should not have been in again, and most certainly should have won if not for Rivers for once showing coaching errors he had not shown since against Atlanta in the first round the year before. Tony Allen played in consecutive offensive series down the strech, as did Scalabrine on defensive series. A seventh game would certainly cause hearts to stop beating, but after 3 overtimes, we were headed that way.

Our whole season came down to this game. Last season we had obstacles, but this year we had the Himalayas. Garnett out. Posey gone. Powe out. No bench help, and all this against a lively Bulls team that believed it would win. I hated Vinny Del Negro's whining. I hated Noah's hair. I hated that he had stolen a pass from the Finals MVP of last year, taken it downcourt, and caused a frustration foul from an exhausted Pierce, causing him to foul out. I was ready for the dogfight of the century. It turned out to be something different, and more painful. We dominated from the opening tip. However, for three quarters, the refs kept the Bulls in. When they gained momentum, the refs switched their favor. It was weird. NBA officiating is so scripted. We finally showed our championship pedigree, and sent those mongrels packing. We finally grabbed ahold of our destiny and wiped the filth off of our shoes. This series win validated our entire season. We had overcome an unbelievable obstacle, and had sealed a legitimate memory of this title defense.

Hopefully, it's not over. We are down 2-1 right now against the Orlando Magic. We play tonight in Orlando, which I will miss. After hosing the Magic in game 2, they responded by hosing us in game 3. We desperately need a win tonight to grab homecourt advantage. This team has been through so much in the past two years. Some would say too much. Too much of this pounding causes normal mortals to crumble. I have faith, though. Faith in a collection of individuals that has been through it all. A team full of fighters that will refuse, just as they have time and time again, to go out quietly. They pay homage to the heroic deeds of old, and even if the stakes are nowhere near those of the 300, I believe they have every inch of that fire in them. This team,  simply said, cannot go down to a Magic team with no relative experience, with no real talent, and with a headcase of a coach who makes me ashamed for basketball. They have no charisma outside of Howard, who has lost some of his sheen with his elbow to Sam Dalembert's head. This team, like animals coming out of hibernation in the spring every year, will simply come back tonight and take the wind out of the Magic's sails. 

Even if the Celtics fall in this series, it will not be without a fight. This season has been defined by that. Even if we fail to win a championship, this title defense has never been matched. The fire we have shown is unlike that of any team in history, and my memories of this season will likely match those of last season's magical run. 

Now let's beat on some Magic.