Road warriors or road wimps?
May 16th, 2008, 9:46 am · Post a Comment · posted by Alex Kreitman
The two No. 1 seeds in the NBA playoffs hit the road tonight for Game 6 matchups where they can each win their series and advance to the conference finals.
But there’s a problem for the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. Neither team has won on the road in this round and the Celtics are 0-5 in the entire playoffs away from home.
In the conference semifinals, teams are 20-1 at home, the only loss came when Detroit beat Orlando.
I have been shocked that the Celtics have been so poor on the road since they had the league’s best road record in the regular season.
I’m picking the Celtics to win tonight and clinch the series for a few reasons. First, Daniel Gibson won’t play for Cleveland he’s a pesky player that seems to step up when you least expect it.
I also think the Celtics have finally gained some confidence in the playoffs. Kevin Garnett is money with his jump shot and the rest of team finally knows that. Plus, Paul Pierce really stepped up in Game 5 and I only expect him to take over and shine.
Rajon Rondo was a surprise stud in the last game, but I don’t know why I say surprise. All year he has been under constant criticism and been a question mark, but he’s done his job. He feeds the Big Three and scores himself without turning the ball over a lot. I’ve been impressed with him this season and he seems to keep getting better.
The only player not heating up for the men in green is Ray Allen. He’s shooting just 34 percent for the series and needs to find his niche from outside the paint. Allen is a tremendous jump shooter, but hasn’t found his rhythm. Look for him to find nit tonight from beyond the arc. He’ll be raining 3’s as the Celts flood into the conference finals.
I’ve said this before but I really want the Lakers to win their series because I’m hoping for a Celtics vs. Lakers NBA finals. I think it would be awesome for the sport, but each team needs to figure out how to win on the road to make that happen.
As I wrote Thursday, I’ll be attending my first NASCAR race Saturday and I’m getting more and more excited. I plan on documenting the day with a video that I’ll post on my blog Monday.
I’ve got to go to the store tonight and buy some food for grilling tomorrow and get some beer. We’ll be staying overnight in a campground outside the track. It should be a lot of fun. Perhaps we’ll even roast some marshmallows and make S’mores after the race.
I don’t have any NASCAR gear, but I might have to purchase at least a shirt or something to fit in.
