Who do the Lakers NEED to stop to beat the Celts (if anybody)?

in my opinion, the lakers need to contain paul pierce... i was at the game at staples center this year when the lakers were beaten decisively, and the standout performance was by pierce. the thing with pierce is he's not only dangerous in boston, but LOVES playing in LA being it's his home town, and he always brings the "A" game... another side note, is that it seems when pierce was going off at Staple Center, Kobe took it as a personal challenge, and began hoisting up some pretty ill advised shots, and the combination of pierce and tony allen did a hell of a job in defending... to the laker advantage this time around, tony allen has an achilles injury and is out for the remainder of the playoffs...

another player that might become an X factor is Kendric Perkins... he's a big, strong body and can bang around in the paint, and that is one thing that Gasol and Odom may have trouble with, because even though they are "long", they in my opinion are out sized in that regard... maybe the lakers can somehow utilize mbenga in this aspect, because agree with me or not, mbenga does a great job on the defensive end in clogging the paint and in rebounding... his downside is he gets a little antsy on the offensive end, and may throw up ill advised shots...

so for me, containing Pierce is a must, and it's important to not overlook Perkins.

the Celtics are in the same position that San Antonio was in if all three of their top players aren't shooting well there in trouble. if one has a bad game there in trouble the difference between the Lakers and the Celtics is they can rest Kobe and the team continues to score points with him on the bench. which means he is fresh in the third and fourth quarter he's hard enough to stop when he's tired no less when you give hem plenty of time to rest.

the Lakers have a much better passing game there also little more organized. I think it will be close but I think the Lakers will take in 6

They need to stop Pierce. He lights up the Lakers at 27.9 PPG. Ray Allen has been too inconsistent for me to say that he's finally back to form. KG is great but tends to shy away in crunch time and you know that this series will come down to some close games. Pierce has shown that he wants the ball and is able to deliver in the clutch.

Realistically any team can beat the l. a. Clippers. i'm going to ruin it down a thank you to do this. First you ought to put in a brilliant take care of to adhere on Chris Paul. no longer announcing take out your commencing PG for a 6'5 take care of yet throughout the direction of the sport you desire a 6'4-6'6 take care of on Paul for a minimum of 20 minutes of the sport. then you definately want him to apply his length and get takeaways from Paul. then you definately ought to close down there shooters, and you ought to get rid of Jamal Crawford from making and growing to be his gained photos. then you definately ought to fasten down the paint and rigidity Blake Griffin to bypass or take mid selection photos which he has greater yet while he's taking 10 a sport he will in basic terms make 2 or 3. the purpose of the sport to overcome the Clippers is defence. in case you carry them to under ninety factors interior the sport then you definately can win. seem at Boston they have given up 80 4 element with 11 minutes of sport time left. they are able to attain a hundred and ten this sport.

The role players, remember how the Pistons crushed the lakers despit Kobe and Shaq going for about 73 every game.

Rajon Rondo,

sound funny but if they allow him to penetrate and create mismatches it will allow the other players on the Celtics to get their games going.

**EDIT**

I really can't believe how many people think the Lakers will walk over the Celtics. The Lakers are not a real strong team playing physical basketball (which is the Celtics strength) and the Celts have done well against Finesse teams all year... I think Laker fans might be overlooking this just a bit.

1) Ray Allen's shooting 40% from the floor in the playoffs.

2) Pierce has scored over 30 ONCE in the entire playoffs... and only 7 times in the regular season... so he's not going for 35 every game... stop exaggerating.

3) Again, Garnett isn't performing NEARLY as good as you say he is... and on the road, he looks afraid to go near the basket.

Pau Gasol can guard Garnett. He's always played Garnett tough. Odom can also stand in there with Garnett, and will probably draw the assignment.

Kobe, Odom and Gasol are just as good, if not better than Pierce, Allen and Garnett... and the Lakers have a MUCH better bench and roleplayers.

So don't go ahead and mail this one in yet.

Well there is no argument,give KG the dam ball he has carried the Celts to this point ,the offense should go thru him that would free up Pierce and Allen on the outside for better looks. Pierce has show up at times,but where would they be without KG.

Paul Pierce needs to be stopped if the Lakers want any success at all.If he scores over 22 ppg, it is over for L.A.

The Lakers need to stop Paul Peirce if they can do that then that limits there offensive rythm