Earlier today, the Silver Screen and Roll High Council convened to eat tamales and ruminate on a certain Game Seven being played tonight. It was a feast for the senses as well as the intellect! We read some tea leaves and chicken entrails, we consulted the Vegas line (which favors the Lakers by seven points), we even dusted off an old Parker Brothers Ouija board to seek guidance from the spirit world.
Are you ready to see the future before it happens? If so, gaze at our forecast after the cut. As always, you're encouraged to use our predictions as the basis for life-altering, retirement-postponing, marriage-wrecking monetary wagers. And don't forget to register your vote in our schmancy pregame poll! Do it for democracy.
Josh Tucker
Will the Lakers win Game Seven? Yes
How confident are you of the above prediction? 60%
What will be the margin of victory? Eight points
Who will be the role-player hero of the game? Jordan Farmar
Will there be a major officiating controversy? No
Freestyle! I'm not willing to be confident about anything anymore, when it comes to what to expect from the Lakers. I am, however, confident that if they play the kind of defense they're capable of (as they did in Game Six), they will win. It's that simple. I think the problem has been that Boston's defense has become too much of a focal point, in that as their defense got better and better, the Lakers as a team started focusing more and more on how to beat it. They need to stop that. They need to completely forget about offense. If they focus on defense, the offense will take care of itself. They seemed to get back to that defensive focus in Game Six. If they can maintain that in Game Seven, it's Banner number 16. Boston fans will claim their team might have more to say about this game than that, but I say they can suck it. If the Lakers play with the right focus, I don't think there's anything the Celtics can do to beat them. It's all up to L.A.
Saurav Das
Will the Lakers win Game Seven? Yes
How confident are you of the above prediction? 50%
What will be the margin of victory? More than 10 points
Who will be the role-player hero of the game? Lamar Odom (or Nate Robinson, if Lamar doesn't show up and the Celtics win)
Will there be a major officiating controversy? Any big game, there's going to be major complaints about the whistle. Whether or not they will be valid complaints is yet to be seen.
Freestyle! As Magic Johnson said. "Lakers, Celtics, raaahhh!" Game Seven of an NBA Finals between these two teams: what could be better? As C.A. said yesterday, momentum means nothing in this series, it swings too quickly to determine anything. However, these Lakers now know they can dominate the Celtics. Whether the confidence attached with doing so is a good thing or a bad thing is still to be seen. The stars will win this game, but for Los Angeles Odom will need to, for at least one night, live up to his potential and be one of the Lakers' stars. Kobe Bryant will be there, so will Pau Gasol; but a jump shot is too streaky an offensive weapon to rely on, thus Odom going hard to the basket has to be a staple play, generating points and hopefully getting the injury-shorted Boston big-man rotation into foul trouble. If this game is close, I'm trusting Kobe to bring it home.
C.A. Clark
Will the Lakers win Game Seven? Yes
How confident are you of the above prediction? 75%
What will be the margin of victory? Seven points
Who will be the role-player hero of the game? Sasha Vujacic
Will there be a major officiating controversy? No
Freestyle! I gave at the office.
Dexter Fishmore
Will the Lakers win Game Seven? Yes
How confident are you of the above prediction? 80%
What will be the margin of victory? Nine points
Who will be the role-player hero of the game? Farmar
Will there be a major officiating controversy? No is my prediction, but I fear the possibility.
Freestyle! The Celtics are going to play much better and more energetically than they did in Game Six. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen will look for their shots early and often and at times will give the Laker defense fits. Rasheed Wallace will actually drain a few threes, mitigating the net damage to the Celtics from the Kendrick Perkins injury. And it still won't be sufficient, because I expect to see a Lakers team play one of their best games of the year. The offense will be clicking, Kobe will strike just the right balance between attacking the hoop and distribution, and the bench will rise up and outplay their Celtic counterparts. Boston will be good enough to keep this from being a blowout, but not quite good enough to make it really close at the end.
Wondahbap
Will the Lakers win Game Seven? Yes
How confident are you of the above prediction? 100%
What will be the margin of victory? As long as it's +1 Lakers, I don't care.
Who will be the role-player hero of the game? Ron Artest
Will there be a major officiating controversy? Ummm, hope not. Giving a yes-or-no answer in this series? With the way these refs have been lately? That's hard to say.
Freestyle! With a win tonight, both teams have the chance to put themselves into the "great" team realm. For the Lakers, that chance might be greater considering they have a chance to repeat, and vanquish the pain of 2008. By bringing home title number 16, they will take their place alongside the all-time great Lakers teams, including the Showtime Era Lakers and the Shaq/Kobe Three-Peaters. There's also a lot on the line for Kobe's legacy. Whether you agree or not, there will be plenty of haters lining up to take their swipes at him should the Lakers lose. Tonight, the Lakers will play with the urgency they need and place themselves where they belong, and Kobe will become bulletproof. Tonight, they'll be ready. Tonight, there will be no fourth-quarter letdown. Tonight, we celebrate.