If we make it to the finals...

[WW1MR]

...who's going to be there with us and which remaining team out west would you want to face?

I don't like to get ahead of myself, my motto is more "one day, one game at a time," BUT assuming we win the series against Detroit, who will we face in the finals? The Lakers? The Hornets? Or the Spurs? I'd personally bet on LA being in the finals at this point cause they've already advanced to the third round, and Kobe wills his team to victory and they have a great supporting cast of Gasol/Odom.

Now, the second part of this question: of the three remaining western conference teams, who would you rather face in the finals. By this I'm more interested who you think will be an easier matchup for the C's, as opposed to wanting to play the Lakers for the sake of nostalgia. Personally I don't give a darn about recreating a Celtics/Lakers rivalry... I just want to see banner 17 go up, and therefore I want to play whoever will make that easier to accomplish.

So, I'd feel like of the three I want to play the Spurs. Honestly, the Lakers are wicked good... just having Kobe gives them a good chance of winning every single night, kinda like Lebron but with Pau Gasol and Odom etc. instead of Wally and Delonte and Ilgauskas.

For some reason I don't think we'd match up well with the Hornets. I think they have a good chance of beating the Spurs tomorrow if David West plays. They're young, the push the ball, and obviously they feel that they can beat anyone. CP3 is the best point guard in the league and I think they'd give us the same kind of problems as Atlanta on a much larger scale.

So that leaves the Spurs. As I said, after tomorrow we won't have either Duncan or Chris Paul's team to worry about, but call me crazy, of the two teams I'd pick the slow down, defensive, veteran team over the ally-oop, fast break, never-been-there-before-nothing-to-lose team. As I recall, of LA, SA, and NO we only lost to NO during the regular season. If you think Wally gave Ray problems, imagine what Peja will do. Duncan/Parker/Ginobili/Horry/Bowen are nothing to scoff at, but of the three teams that are left I'd take the Spurs. That's my two cents.

Thoughts?

[BigAlTheFuture]

Out of the three, I would want to play the Spurs. They are getting really old and I think we match up pretty well against them. Kobe is slightly better than Lebron and has a much better supporting cast. We don't match up well with the Hornets at all.

[wdleehi]

Get past Detroit 1st.

[wahz]

PP can defend Kobe better than he can Lebron. Kobe's decision making is not in the same class as Lebron's. Id hate for the lakers to get there but we can beat them.

If we can beat Det, we have agreat shot. 8 more wins. Play every game like its your last, and have the coach have faith in House, PJ, and Powe and not stick with anyone who is ice cold and making poor decisions and we can win it

[Scribbles]

Get past Detroit 1st.

I have to agree, let's worry about beating the Pistons. 

[WW1MR]

Get past Detroit 1st.

right right I know... as I said in my post, take it one game at a time. We need to concentrate on beating the pistons before we worry about the finals.

I tried to make it clear that the main point of my post was to speculate on which team would come out of the west and which team would be a better matchup for us IF (and that's a big IF) we make it past Detroit.

wdleehi, your response was a practical if not obvious observation. But I'm curious to hear your speculation on the three remaining western conference teams:

A) which one will make the finals?
B) which team would you rather face ASSUMING the Celtics do make it to the finals?

come on, really! If it were the beginning of the playoffs, or the beginning of the season and we'd won nothing it might be a little premature to speculate about the finals matchup. but having won 66 games, 2 hard-fought and closer-than-they-had-to-be playoff series, including beating last years Eastern Conference Champions, and sitting 4 hard-fought wins away from the finals, I think it's acceptable to look ahead to the POSSIBILITY of being in the finals. Or you can take all the fun out of the thread and out of following teams around the league with a dismissive answer that does not even consider the original topic.