Prologue:

Thank you, SilverScreenAndRoll.  Thank you for teaching me to look deeper into basketball.  Thank you for the stats.  Thank you for the analysis.  Thank you for the pre-game, thank you for the post-game.  Thank you for your class, your faith, your steadfastness.  This is my community.  This our community.  May our silver screen never fade, and continue to roll.  What a wonderful, wonderful, 2010 season.

End Prologue.

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The Celtics did everything right to cement Kobe’s legacy. If you are unwilling to admit it, so be it. They pushed, shoved, shot, hacked, blocked out, double teamed, triple teamed, and quadruple teamed their way to a game 7. Then, in game 7, they gave him more.  I'll be damned if they didn't find a way to give him more than he's ever gotten.

You see, last year, against Orlando, Kobe looked good, but not great. Orlando lost the series. Orlando came up short at home. Orlando was simply being Orlando. Nobody expected them to win, and when they lost two games at home to lose the series in five games total; nobody was surprised. The ratings were average. The tension was anticlimactic. Yes, Kobe won, but there would be no rewriting of the history books, because no one truly challenged him and his team.

Not these fucking Celtics.

Kobe found, in this series, what Jordan never could; a true, worthy, foe. Well, four of them, to be honest. There was Paul Pierce: ALL STAR. Kevin Garnett: ALL STAR. Ray Allen: ALL STAR. Rajon Rondo: ALL STAR.

Say the opposite and it is blasphemy to my ears. Though you hate them, inside of yourself, you know they are great. They had to be great to get where they were. Do you forget the history leading up to this series.

Dwayne Wade? Vanquished. Lebron James? Vanquished. Dwight Howard? Vanquished.

And then came Kobe.

And the came the Lakers.