NBA Finals Predictions: Saving the best for last

Even with those beloved Blackhawks a mere pair of wins away from claiming their first Stanley Cup of my lifetime in a series that's featured three intensely competitive games to kick off the final hockey contests of the season, there's no denying that this NBA Finals promises to be the best finale for the sport in a number of years—even superior to the last time these two clubs played a couple of years back. 

So if you were expecting me to whine about our umpteenth meeting between these two franchises for the NBA Championship, I'm sorry to disappoint. Lest we forget, this was, after all, the exact matchup I had in my pre-season picks.

So do I stick with what I said then? Well, the video there—if it hasn't made your browser crash (and sorry if it did)—should be a pretty good indicator of what I'm really hoping for. Although, any Laker in tears should suffice.

But before we get to my selfish desires, here's an updated look at how the experts and the non-expert (READ: Me) stand after last round's picks heading into the final round:

1. (2) Sergio Gonzalez, CBS Sports: 12-2 (5)
2. (2) Tim Legler, ESPN: 12-2 (4)
3. (5) Kenny Smith, Yahoo: 12-2 (2)
4. (7) Chris Broussard, ESPN: 11-3 (4)
 5. (2) David Thorpe, ESPN: 11-3 (3)
6. (5) Ken Berger, CBS Sports: 11-3 (2)
6. (1) John Hollinger, ESPN: 11-3 (2)
8. (14) Nunzio Ingrassia, CBS Sports: 10-4 (4)
8. (8) Johnny Ludden, Yahoo: 10-4 (4)
10. (9) Henry Abbott, ESPN: 10-4 (3)
10. (9) Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports: 10-4 (3)
10. (14) YOURS TRULY: 10-4 (3)
13. (9) Chad Ford, ESPN: 10-4 (2)
 13. (21) Marc J. Spears, Yahoo: 10-4 (2)
15. (12) Greg Urbano, CBS Sports: 10-4 (1)
16. (14) J.A. Adande, ESPN: 9-5 (3)
17. (14) Jalen Rose, ESPN: 9-5 (2)
18. (22) Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo: 8-5 (3)
19. (14) Chris Sheridan, ESPN: 8-6 (2)
19. (14) Marc Stein, ESPN: 8-6 (2)

And yes, I did drop the Ball Don't Lie boys from the standings since there haven't been any formal predictions from them that I've seen (Dwyer has stated his Los Angeles picks in a couple posts, but that's about all I've caught). Additionally, Yahoo's still somewhat sketchy with their other experts (Adrian Wojnarowski had no ATL-ORL pick and now Kenny Smith is absent from their Finals picks), but this deal's tipping off tonight, so here's what we've got for now:

Not much variety at Yahoo:

The ESPN crew's nearly a 50/50 split:

And then we're back to the West Coast tilt with the picks from the guys at CBS Sports:

OK, now here's my twisted logic:

Boston Celtics over Los Angeles Lakers in six games

We could start here and just leave it at that. Boston always seems to win these series in which they're underdogs in six games every time. But honestly, that's going to require at least one win in the Staples Center—where the Lakers haven't lost since ... what, last year's playoffs? So how's it going to happen? Well, I'm not counting on Kobe to be anything less than Kobe (and that's been pretty unbeatable so far), but the X-factor for me remains the injured Andrew Bynum. He averaged a double-double against Boston in the regular season meetings between these two teams—one game being a one-point win and the other being a one-point loss. So with Bynum hurting and preparing to undergo surgery at season's end—win or lose—how much more superhuman can Bryant be in this series? I'd go into individual matchups, but even then, I can't imagine that those will remain consistent from game-to-game. There's speculation that Paul Pierce might be on Kobe at first, but who's guarding Bryant first is probably pretty irrelevant since at the rate he's been playing, there really is no guarding Kobe. But when Bryant himself is on defense, I'm not so sure the Lakers have any easier assignments. While I can see Kobe limiting the slashing through the paint that Rajon Rondo would likely exploit against the older, slower-footed Derek Fisher, that strategy also could find Ray Allen taking on a critical role if he's running Fisher off picks. Oh, and then there's the uncertainty of what to expect from guys who weren't around for the 2008 version of this meeting, namely Ron Artest and Rasheed Wallace—although I suppose Kendrick Perkins is the guy who would be most affected by a technical. Still, I ultimately imagine that the two teams will split the first two games in L.A., Boston takes two of three in their own house, and then seals the deal back at Staples. There may be a blowout or two within those first four games, but as the scent of elimination nears, I'll be fairly shocked if this series does not provide the best and most entertaining basketball of this post-season.