I actually don’t have that much confidence in my prediction but I can’t stomach the thought of Kobe winning so it’ is more wishful thinking.

Lakers in 6. Kobe versus the Big 3 are a wash. Its the advantage of having Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson that topples Boston. I’ve thrashed Phil in the past but he earns every nickel of his salary in the post-season. Going up against Doc Rivers is just not fair to Doc.

The Lakers have the pedigree, the best coach, the best player, the better overall team. The Celtics have struggled through the playoffs, The Lakers are 12-3. Did I mention they have the best player on the planet? I don’t buy into this mystical home court advantage. If the Pistons can win at the Garden, the Lakers sure can. So yeah, the Black Mamba gets his fourth.

Its kinda sad watching Tom Thibodeaux’s defense effect Kobe’s play versus the CELTICS. Ayers has a good rep, but we had better and ran him off.

The Lakers got jobbed… badly. Not only was every call going the C’s way, but phantom calls were being whistled, and there was a complete lack of calls for the Lakers. A few of my favorite Tom Donahoe calls:

In the first, Kobe is called for a defensive and offensive foul. Interestingly enough, what Kobe did to Ray Allen to get his offensive foul, Allen did to Kobe before Kobe fouled him.

Early on in 2nd quarter Farmar drives, is grabbed from behind, misses the shot as a result, leading to a fast break three the other way because of lack of whistle.

Also in the 2nd Ronny Turiaf blocks Powe’s shot – a clean stuff. Lakers get the rebound and push the fast break. But no, they called a foul on the follow through of a clean block.

Later on Gasol converts an extremely tough alley oop. KG has an arm in his side, then hacks his arm. No And1, yet Turiaf was called for the follow through on a clean block?

Late in the fourth, Kobe drives, Pierce grabs him, blatantly – the announcers even say it – yet no foul is called.

40-10. Call it both ways. I thought Bill Simmons and Tom Donahoe were calling this game.

I didn’t mean Tom Donahoe as in former Bills GM. I meant Tom Donaghy, the dirty ref.

I missed a good bit of the first quarter, but saw the rest of the game.

-Like several other guys here, I don’t have a dog in this race, although I am a KG fan from way back and am sorta rooting for the Celtics to win as a result. That said, I thought the refereeing very unfairly favored the Celts. I didn’t see the first two fouls on Kobe in full context, but the replays made them look marginal. It’s not like he didn’t do anything, but that kind of contact is routinely not called. The third one, plowing into a Paul Pierce screen, wasn’t very debatable. But I thought Kobe got a lot worse then he gave. He was getting bumped, pushed, hand-checked and man-handled every time he put the ball on the floor. He made a few tough shots in those cases, but he missed most of them. If he gets half those calls, it’s a different game. None of the reffing with regard to other players seemed that bad to me - none of the other Lakers are as dynamic as Kobe and the Celts have a much easier time controlling them when they can keep Kobe in check by using such physical tactics.

I will disagree a little with some of the criticism of the Turiaf call on his block of Powe. It wasn’t just a little contact on the block—he could not have gotten the ball without clobbering Powe, so i don’t have a problem with the foul call.

—In the fourth quarter, with their big lead, you could see the Celtics assume the game was over and they stopped playing. Their body language betrayed the absolute lack of focus and purpose. I remember on one play, after the Lakers had already cut the 24-point lead down to 16 or so, Pierce was called for a foul and just started laughing. Not the sarcastic kind of disagreement you often see, but the kind of laugh that suggested he didn’t care because it didn’t matter since the game was over. I thought then that it was a very bad sign for the Celts. The Lakers didn’t just give up because they were down by 24 points. Once you shut it down like the Celtics did, it’s really hard to turn it back on, which is why you have to keep playing hard, even when you have a big lead in the fourth quarter.

—Paul Pierce is really establishing a legacy for himself in these playoffs and in this series. I don’t buy into the whole “faker” thing from game 1, but obviously, he wasn’t nearly as badly hurt as he made it seem. That said, he was provided the Celtics with terrific all-around play. I’ve always considered him an excellent scorer, but he’s also shown a terrific flair for leadership, as well as good defense and playmaking, in the finals. When the Lakers cut the lead to 2 points in the last minute, it was Pierce who got himself to the line to make it a 2-possession game. If he keeps playing like this, he’ll have a Finals MVP award to go along with a ring. At that point, I think he puts himself in the HOF discussion, even though his career up to this point has been very good but not great.