The Celtics were impressive

It hurts my heart to type this out, but maybe, just maybe, the Celtics are just a better team than the Lakers this year. All through the playoffs, right up the the finals, even when games were close and a case could be made that luck played a role, I have been confident that the Lakers were simply the better team in each series. Now I'm not so sure.

I don't know why the Lakers lost energy and momentum in thje second half, but you have to give the Celtics all kinds of credit. I'm sure Kobe will figure some things out and be more effective in the next game, but in this game both Ray Allen were able to guard him effectively and prevent him from getting easy shots. In the second half Odom, who had been so strong in the first half, seemed to disappear, but a lot of that can be attributed to the Celtics defense too. The Lakers looked like a bunch of guys on a playground who had just met one another and decided to play a little ball for the exercise. At least in the second half.

I never abandon all hope, but this just might be the Celtics' year, and you can't help but feel that Garnett, Allen, and especially Pierce, after years on losing teams, just might be more determined to get the ring when they're so tantalizingly close. The Lakers will be a very good team for a number of years, especially if Bynum comes back and contributes the way he did in the middle of the season before he was injured, and are likely to win some championships. But this might just be the Celtics' year.

Did I just write that? I do still have a shred or two of hope? Go Lakers!