Part 1, Celtics Are Like Pacquiao, Kobe And Friends More Like Mayweather
The best athlete does not always win.
That’s why they run the race, play the game and fight the fights.
Ask Kobe Bean Bryant all about that as he and his Lakers teammates drag their backsides back to Los Angeles to reset, down three games to two, against the Celtics.
Ask Kobe Bean or, as LA Times hatchet man-columnist TJ Simers, labels him, “Our Ballhog Kobe.”
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Whether Boston wins the NBA title or not (my faith in Gang Green is solid, trust me as I’ve been praying to my Arno;d “Red” Auerbach, John Havlicek, Jojo White and Satch Sanders bobbleheads before each scintillating game), it is abundantly clear that Doc Rivers squad is the superior team.
Los Angeles has superior players, with Kobe Bean Bryant and Pau Gasol leading the way, but the Green and White has a more cohesive team.
See Paul Flannery, weei.com, on how it could be down to the wire when Boston shot 56 percent to Lakers poor 40 percent. You spell it T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K.
“Nike Twins” Kobe Bryant and Manny and Jinkee Pacquiao pose together (Teampilipinas.com)
The Celtics just want victory in a dedicated, desperate way that was probably underlined Sunday night when Laker thug (and Manny Pacquiao fan) Rob Artest dropped a driving to the hoop Kevin Garnett.
Down went “The Big Ticket” like a tall building which had been dynamited into oblivion.
Small guy Rajon Rondo took physical exception to the assault, shoving the much bigger, bulkier Artest and nearly sitting him down for an eight count.
Coaches and boxing trainers call that what it is, the will to win.
Which is why I reject the notion that Pacquiao, a great boxing talent but more in the Paul Pierce upper echelon than in the Kobe Icon/Superstar region, has no chance to beat more naturally skilled Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr.
Sitting at ringside Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Philly boxing nut Marc Abrams, he runs 15Rounds.com and has about 12 other jobs, was his usual, glib self.
“Mayweather is going to massacre Pacquiao,” Abrams said.
I think was trying to raise some White Gorilla ire but I didn’t bite. I do vehemently disagree.
I concede that Mayweather has more tools but so does Kobe.
Yeah, I know basketball is a team sport but isn’t boxing at least to the point where the bell sounds for the opening round?
And isn’t it also clear that Team Pacquiao has a lot more going for it than does the fractious Team Mayweather?
It doesn’t sound in the realm of stability when Mayweather’s head trainer, Uncle Roger, faces a court date which send him back to jail.
Team Pacquiao has its rows, its jealously and its daily bickering but, at the end of the day, it’s all in the family and all for the betterment of Manny.
?We?ve got spats with our team all the time,? Pierce said. ?We always have spats. But the good thing about it, we always clean it right up.?
It must be noted that this, in a nutshell, is what makes the Celtics so unique. They fight all the time with each other ? in practice, in the locker room, during games ? and sometimes it does linger. In the Orlando series, Rivers had to call a timeout after Rondo and Ray Allen continued to argue about a set several plays after it was over.(Flannery, writing for the Boston sports radio talk station.)
Ray Allen after Game Five in Boston:
“We know what we need to do to win.”
Allen and his teammates show spar, show fire in the belly when the Lakers, excluding Kobe Bean Bryant, go flat.
Veteran Allen, again:
“We have a great big chemistry out there.”
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee PG Rondo said it a different way:
“We get the ball in the hole, somehow, some way.”
Pierce hit 12 of 21 field goals even while Kobe Bean Bryant was burning the net with 19 points in the third quarter and 38 overall.
I don’t know if Pacman can beat Mayweather in a one on one basketball game.
Mayweather may scoot and score like Rondo on Pacquiao.
But, when they get into the ring, a Mayweather victory is no slam dunk.
Next, Part 2 on the Mayweather-Pacquiao intangibles
