RIP Jose Saramago

1922-2010.

My Lit 13 class would not have been memorable if not for your "Blindness."

The First Day of Classes

I do not have any clear picture of what is going to happen during the first day of my classes. I spent the weekend preparing for this: designing my blueprint for class order and discipline, laying out the requirements, making my powerpoint presentation that comes with images and icons that should be interesting for third and fourth year high school students, and psyching myself up and making the mental preparations necessary.

But Wednesday will be the first day that I face a real classroom situation, my encounter with my actual students who will be with me for one year. I will be there, facing them, giving them instructions, telling me what to do not only in my subject, but in their life during the next months. I will be there directing their future, forming their values while building a good relationship with them. I will be there not just to teach my Christian Living Education, but also, more importantly, to teach them that life is worth living, that the future is worth looking forward, that everything in this life has a reason.

Shorthanded may I be (I know everyone is), I am ready to present myself and be there for them. And perhaps, in the end, I might say that I chose the right path.

But right now, I feel that it is the right one for me. Onwards to the first day of school.

RIP John Wooden

Perhaps the greatest college coach in basketball history.

Bringing It Down To The Finals

I officially trashed my non-biased analysis which appears to be biased after all. Before the Conference Finals even ended, I have already made my analysis of the upcoming Lakers-Celtics battle, thinking that with the performance of both teams against the Phoenix Suns and the Orlando Magic respectively, it was already a sealed match. I have broken down the seven-game series into five aspects of the game, and looked at who gets the advantage in each aspect.

1. On the offensive side, it seems that the Lakers will take it. They have the best scorer (and playmaker during the recent games, mind you) in Kobe Bryant. Plus, they have the bigs (and Ron Artest) who could go on the paint and score easy lay-ups. Boston, on the other hand, mostly gamble on long range shots with the exception of a few, like Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen.
2.However, the Celtics will have the advantage in D. To admit, the Purple and Gold have just let the Phoenix grab three-digit scores in the course of the whole Western Conference Finals. Gasol went soft during the last four games, allowing Stoudemire to posterize him and Robin Lopez to play like him. The team also drew a lot of fouls in the process, giving the Suns easy scores from the charity stripe. The Celtics, on the other hand, brought their best out and returned with their famous team defense. Rajon Rondo led the way in defense during the Eastern Conference Finals, and the team, even those on the bench, followed suit. With that, the Lakers might find themselves in a difficult situation in forcing the ball inside.
3.The bench could be the turning point and the deciding factor during the Finals. While the Lakers backups were mercurial (remember that it was Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar who brought the Lakers down, scoring 1 out of 12 field goals in Game 4), the Celtics bench have been too active and unstoppable at times. Glen Davis hustled and scored from the outside. Kryptonate did his job in scoring 13 points through perimeter jumpers, and Rasheed Wallace emerged as a top performer.
4.I have to give the backcourt advantage to the Lakers because of Kobe Bryant, the frontcourt has to be taken by the Celtics because of Kevin Garnett. We could put the "unstoppable" stamp for both of them, simply because of their great performance and leadership during the playoffs. 'Nuff said.

I was not able to finish this one. But then, had I been able to, there would be two conclusions:

1.That the Lakers will win if they were able to break through the Celtics defense and have Kobe and Gasol take over both from outside and inside.
2.That the Celtics will win if they were able to hold the Lakers offense and keep the bench at a mercurial level.


I'm trashing all this in place of two things: first, the drama that exist within the Lakers' story, and second, the problems that they are facing. I have read several analysis, and these "non-objective," unbiased stats won't be able to say anything about the real battle within. Even most of the Lakers and Celtics fans have already resigned to the fact that this will be a perfectly equal match up.

But then, I disagree, as I was able to see the cracks and crevices which could emerge and altogether let the perfect plane of equality fall. And I believe that those who were really good at watching over the Lakers and the Celtics have seen these too.

For two years, this is what Kobe Bryant and the rest of the '08 team have been waiting for. Remember that the Lakers suffered the biggest losses of their lives during 2008, when they blew that 24-point lead to put up Celtics 3-1 in game 4 of the series, completely turning the tables to Boston, and the 39-point massacre that the Big Three did to Kobe, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom. This was probably the largest swords which stabbed the heart of the Lakers, and this is the largest and most painful wound, so large that not even the 2009 championship completely cured it.

But now, the Lakers have the chance to avenge their 2008 humiliation. They were like former school nerds trying to play the game on the bullies of the past, using stilts to reach them and school supplies to hit them. Kobe and his squad has been waiting for this for two long years. The Lakers now come in with a slightly different roster and a greatly higher level of maturity and gameplay. Three of the best teams of the West - the Thunder, the Jazz, and the Suns respectively - have gotten every bit of Laker gameplay: Ron Artest's tough D, the bigs' post presence, Elmo's pullups from beyond the arc, and Kobe's clutch plays. So far, the Lakers have played pretty tough team games down the stretch, and it is only then that they were able to secure good wins this summer.



But will this revived Lakers squad, who struggled with various injuries and made several mistakes on both ends, work against the Boston Celtics? All two seasons long, the Celtics have been criticized for being too rusty. The Big Three are set to retire or decline (in terms of gameplay) for the next five years or so. Though packed with a lot of stars and former stars, they just managed to end fourth seed in the East. However, come playoffs and we see a different Boston Celtics, now a team playing defense as if the Big Three came back from the past.

Boston's team defense stole the show which was supposed to star the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic. They ripped both of these teams in six games. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce showed that they are a team that should be taken seriously, that each grunt, shot, post move, and tweet should be feared. During the span of the playoffs, they showed that they are real championship contenders. They showed that they are the real beasts of the East.

The Lakers now have to play the role of the dragon slayers. They have been consistently good, but the Celtics, in twelve quick games, went way above L.A.'s level of play. So the Lakers have to do their job here. Either they reduce the monster to individual parts, which means breaking the Celtics defense with strategic offensive plays, or be eaten alive. However, the slaying will be complete if they will play Boston's game, which means they have to defend their basket as a team. They should learn to utilize their default strong side zone, while learning to adjust and find solutions on the weak side. They should learn to shut the Celtics' potent scorers down while forcing turnovers and initiating fast break plays. And from here, we talk about the problems haunting the purple and gold.

It might be easy to say and think of that as the Lakers really doing it perfectly, but it would be hard to, because the Lakers have a few imperfections which necessarily have to be tweaked, for in their weaknesses and errors lie the strengths and perfections of the Celtics.

The backup players of each squad will be important, when the matchups within the first five will "cancel" themselves out in tough game situations. While Lamar Odom remains to be the X-factor, the Lakers, for the past games, had a bench that was mercurial, with no one really stepping up and forcing the ball inside. If this non-existence continues, then the Lakers will be facing matchup problems, and hence, problems managing player consistency. It would be fine for Kobe and Pau to play 40 to 45 minutes per game, but once they get their rest, it would be important to keep everything afloat and alright, and that is what the bench players need to handle. If the Lakers can cause problem to the Celtics' big backups , namely Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace, Nate Robinson, and the rest of the guys sitting out there, then they might as well have given the trophy to the Celtics.

And of course, we never leave this topic without physicality. The aging Celtics ironically got tougher and tougher as games progressed. They never settled for outside shots unless those who shoot are really sure of draining it. Their hard knock defense and hustle play made thin paper out of Dwight Howard and Shaq during the earlier matches. The bigs were forcing the ball inside as much as possible, while trying to grab each and every rebound from missed baskets. If there is a team that wants the ball so bad that they would bully their opponents, it will be the Celtics.



These two might be small factors, but they are so crucial that they could turn the tables around and force fate to favor the Mean Green Squad. And because these are the things that the Lakers need great improvement, I was led to think that they are facing an uphill battle. Yes, it is an uphill battle with problems to find solutions to, but once they do, they get to win the series.

The Celtics undoubtedly have the mental advantage over the Lakers, and they can use their memories of obliterating L.A. to pressure them. The Lakers' D during the past games have been really scattered, allowing Phoenix open shots from both inside and outside, an opportunity that Boston could seize during their offensive runs. The point guard position hasn't been totally filled up, and Rajon Rondo could own Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, or Shannon Brown anytime during the game. Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have been branded as soft defenders during the Finals series. When the match-ups cancel each other out, the Celtics still have the advantage because their bench have the potential to explode anytime.

But then, when we talk about the Lakers, we see a team that really knows how to fight and put their poker faces on until the clock runs out. The purple and gold can prove that they have really grown stronger on both ends, with Kobe and Pau still leading the way. They can play team defense better than the Celtics do, using the combination of Bryant, Artest, Gasol, and Bynum to stop them from scoring in the paint and escaping with open perimeters. Derek Fisher could be, as we ironically expect it, a great surprise. The three to five players coming off the bench could do their job and provide genuine assistance (N.B., Vujacic could explode). And Pau Gasol? Last time everyone heard of him about his Finals performance was that he acted like a real Kryptonite who stopped Superman. Perhaps he could tear down the Big Ticket and totally stop him from becoming a nuisance. Lamar Odom, now with less of the pressure and more of the talent, could become the key to the four greatest Laker wins in postseason history.

Los Angeles now moves through a tunnel with flashing lights, a continuous play of light and darkness towards the exit. It's either they take advantage of the light and find their way, meaning solving their problems, leveling the gameplay of the exploding Celtics, or completely succumbing to their weaknesses and becoming lost in figuring out how to break the Green Team. It will take a lot of effort and patience to get there, and will involve several ups and downs that need to be dealt with. And when I say a lot, I mean seven games, forty-eight minutes long of

And I believe that they can get there, that they can redeem themselves and get that back-to-back crown, successfully closing the NBA Season with their glorious title defense. They can give Kobe the fifth ring and move him a step closer to legendary (and probably a new shoe line). They can shut Paul Pierce's mouth off and force him into silence after all those ego-trips he made. They can close the decade with perhaps the greatest win they can have since 2002.

And though it might be hard for me to say it, taking into account the pressure put upon the million true Lakers fans around the globe, I am going to say it.

Lakers in 6.