It doesn’t really matter which direction you turn to, the Lakers and Celtics are being covered non stop on every channel, in every newspaper, in every magazine, on every website, and even from every car window in the form of a flag.

This has been the highly anticipated matchup of a lifetime and is back for the first time since 1987. Fun fact: I was born in 1987, in November, and have never first hand experienced the Lakers – Celtics rivalry. I’m looking forward to getting my cherry popped.

Anyway, this series will be all about matchups and taking advantage of certain opportunities for both teams. The Lakers have had the matchup advantages in every series so far, except the point guard position. Fortunately for the Lakers, the Boston Celtics starting point guard is even less experienced than the Los Angeles Lakers point guards and the back up point guard, Sam Cassell is finally on his way to outer space as he approaches the age of retirement.

The matchups being heavily discussed are of course that of the big three in Boston. The Boston Three Party, the Three Amigos, or whatever other lame name you can come up with for a team of three overly hyped players that have never won anything in their careers.

It’s time to start pairing players up though.

From past experience, I will have to assume that Kobe Bryant will be given the opportunity to defend Ray Allen. Because Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are both able to assume the position of the shooting guard at any time, it would not surprise me to see a switch come into play quite often. The starting small forward for the Lakers has been Vladimir Radmanovic, but don’t be surprised to see this change. Radman has not been known for his defense, and in fact, has been made fun of as the opposite of a good defender, the Space Cadet.

Paul Pierce has a along history of going off for big games agains his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. Fortunatley for LA, there is a strong arsenal of quick and athletic guards and small forwards to keep up with Allen and Pierce. The Lakers best defenders all actually happen to be in that category. The best defenders on the Lakers are obviously Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, and Trevor Ariza. Ariza hasn’t played too many minutes since his return from injury however I’d expect to see Phil Jackson use him more in this series as he will be more fresh and ready to go. Sasha Vujacic is a pesky defender that get’s under his opponents skin, perfect to throw at Ray Allen. Dont be surprised to see a fight break out at some point between the various guards and forwards.

I truly believe that both guards spots and even the small forward position go in favor of the Lakers. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are obviously more capable of scoring than our bench players, but the Lakers are a team that the Celtics haven’t seen yet. The Lakers are a perfect blend of smooth, free flowing, half court offense with the starting line up and high intensity and energy off the bench. Boston’s bench is qutie old and quite truthfully, unable to keep up with the Lakers young studs.

Overall, every position so far besides center and power forward will be at the Lakers advantage at some point. We all know Pierce and Allen have to rest at some point, and with a lack of a bench, the Lakers will take complete advantage.

The power forward position is one that most people don’t seem to understand. I’m going to make things quite obvious, Pau Gasol is the Lakers starting center and Kevin Garnett is the Celtics starting power forward. WHY WOULD THEY BE GUARDING EACH OTHER?

KG is quite a tall fella and has the longest arms in the NBA. Lamar Odom is only one inch shorter than Garnett and has the second longest arms in the NBA. In terms of body structure, these players are identical. In terms of skill and offensive capability, they are completely different. Kevin Garnett is a great post up player with his back to the basket as he lowers his shoulder on the turn around and nails the 15-20 foot jumper. He is a beast with this shot and whether Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom guard him, it makes no difference, he won’t be stopped. Lamar Odom will however do a great job at protecting the basket and limiting his ability to dunk the ball and put in easy lay ups. Also, LO7 will have to work hard to avoid KG picking up offensive rebounds as we all know Gasol is quite lazy on the boards.

When KG switches to the defensive end, he can do whatever he wants. If for some reason Doc Rivers decides that KG is better suited to play defense against Pau, I’d be very appreciative and allow Lamar Odom to cruise on the three point line, catch the ball, and drive past Kendrick Perkins time after time for an easy deuce. If KG is guarding Odom, he should still be able to run the same play over and over however KG is a bit quicker and will defend the dribble penetration a bit better.

I truly think that the KG matchup with Lamar Odom is an even advantage for both players on their respective end of the court and neither will really be able to stop the other from doing what they do best.

The final matchup is that of the center position. Since I’ve already explained that I believe Lamar Odom will be playing the power forward spot guarding the like of Kevin Garnett and PJ Brown, LOL, when he comes off the bench, Pau Gasol will have the liberty of posting up Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby Glen Davis!?!? Alright, so this seems like it could potentially be the best matchup of all for the Lakers. Forget about who’s going to stop Kobe, who in the world is going to stop Pau.

Yes, I know what you’re all thinking. Pau Gasol is a soft player and really has no chance at dominating Perkins or even Glen Davis. You however my friend are wrong. Pau may be a finnesse player and often avoids and contact, but he does have a sweet little hook shot a great quick turn around. The ability of Pau to shoot from 10-15 feet from the basket will stretch the defense even more than the triangle already does, and will force the Celtics to give up plenty more offensive boards than they have so far in the playoffs.

Simply put, if there is any advantage in this series, it’s in the Lakers favor. The superstar names are wearing green, but the superstar players are wearing the Purple and Gold. Who knows which one of the Five Potential Unexpected Heroes for the Los Angeles Lakers will step up in which game.

Although I’ve already reviewed every matchup, I’d like to point out that the Lakers have three big advantages in this series, in no particular order, with any one being more important at different times. I will be writing about these three advantages tomorrow, so come back and take a look, but a quick preview has been requested:

1. Lakers bench > Celtics bench
2. Phil Jackson > Doc River
3. Kobe Bryant > Celtics Big 3
4. Kobe Bryant’s drive to win the title >  Celtics Big 3 drive to win the title (this may be a separate point but keep in mind that Kobe has the fire in his eyes and his heart is set on a title, he’s not letting it go)