[Tyguy]

I like the celtics in this series. For the first time in the playoffs the lakers will be playing a team that actually plays defense. Not only that, but the best defensive team in the nba. The key to stopping the lakers has always been to contain or shut down their big men. Up until now the lakers big men have had a field day. OKC had o big men, the jazz have no legit 7 footers, and boozer has always been a sieve defensively. Amare has the same defensive woes as boozer, and the suns implemented a zone to junk the games up. Perkins and Garnett are totally different beasts defensively. Perkins allowed the celtics to stay home on their defensive assignments by effectively single covering dwight howard. I'm expecting both bynum and gasols efficiency to go way down with perkins muscling in the paint with bynum, and gasol having to contend with the length of garnett. Rondo will also be an interesting situation. Fisher has no shot of containing rondo.

You might see the lakers match kobe up against him because they have nobody that can stay in front of him, and at least kobe has a length advantage. Dealing with rondo is a full time job though because he is the celtics catalyst and Kobe will need energy for the offensive end. It should be noted that Perkins only needs 1 more technical that will give him a one game suspension. That could really tip the momentum for the lakers. If I were LA I would do everything I could to get under his skin because they have no replacement for his low post defensive presence.