Bravo

This is a little late, forgive me, been away for a while. The Lakers have now won their 16th NBA title putting them just one behind the Celtics. While watching this series, choosing which one to pull for was about as hard as deciding whether i'd rather die by drowning or by bleeding to death...they both make me cringe.

In the end I would say I did pull for the Lakers, only so I didn't have to listen to Boston fans for another season (while I am a Redsox fan I will wholeheartedly admit the fan base is like the vuvuzelas at the world cup). But as the series came to a conclusion and the Lakers made just enough plays to win, one main theme that emerged in my head was how much credit the Celtics deserved.

This was a team that was left for dead after a terrible second half where Doc made the decision to limit their minutes and save them for the playoffs and what a brilliant decision that was. Had the Celtics won the title you can make an argument they would have been one of the most improbable champions ever. In truth, this was a series of two champions the Celtics of '08 and the Lakers of '09 for the most part. The prize for the winner was walking away with bragging rights and declaring themselves the real best team of the last three seasons.

There was a lot of talk about Kobe being thrown into the same category as Jordan but forget it. By no means did Kobe lay an egg like he did in '08, but he was not Jordan, he was not the reason the Lakers won. The reason they won is because they had slightly more energy than Boston; they were younger. How else can you explain the huge shifts that these games had from one to the other? Legs and airplanes.

It was ironic that the hero of this postseason was not Kobe, but Ron Artest that made the difference with his defense of Pierce and Pau Gasol suddenly growing some nads.

What the Celtics did prove is that they were true champions, while this season it is only Eastern Conference Champs, one might wonder what could have been had KG not been hurt last season. They may have been looking at a possible three-peat, all three over the Lakers. But instead now it's L.A. that will pursue it's three peat, and maybe Phil Jackson pursuing his fourth career three-peat (wow). But it's truly the slimmest of margins that this is so, and while the Lakers get the parade, banner, and ring--we would be remissed to not truly appreciate what Boston did...they just simple ran out of gas.