The Final Four Go To War.

Posted by Sean Doyle, May 15, 2010

Image by Colin Doyle

And then there was four. Beantown's Rondo. O'Town's Superman. Hollywood's Black Mamba. Phoenix's um, ...Steve Nash? Well Nashty doesn't need a damn nickname (I think I just gave him one). He's got two MVP's and ticket to Springfield any time he chooses to hang 'em up. (Though at the rate he's going don't expect that to be any time soon.) What's more, all four of these stars are surrounded by excellent supporting casts and quality head coaches. So how to pick a winner? Hmmm...

First let's look at the Regular Season records of our four finalists:

Orlando Magic: 59-23

Boston Celtics: 50-32

L.A. Lakers: 57-25

Phoenix Suns: 54-28

Nothing really stands out here. Only perhaps Boston which had a brutal second half of the season after an epic 23-5 start (The C's then finished up barely .500 @ 27-27). But barring that second half swoon, all these teams have relative parity with respect towards their records. So let's look elsewhere. How about their records against each other?

Lakers vs. Suns regular season series 4 games: Lakers win 3-1 outscoring the Suns by 45 total points in the three wins for an average margin of victory of 15 points. Uh-oh, Nashty! Advantage Lakeshow.

Now to the Boston Rondo's.

Orlando won the season series 3 games to 1. In fact, the O-Town Magic have been so dominant down the stretch (winning 28 out of 30 games!!!) it is difficult imagining anyone beating them right now. But I still put my bills on the Celts. They are battle tested, have one helluva coach, and an emerging superstar named Rajon Rondo.

It's Celts v. Lakeshow.