The Lakers are going down. Kobe takes a quarter or two off every game so the Celtics need to keep it close then let loose the dogs when Kobe checks out.

That's a good one. We must not be watching the same games. Phil likes to rest him the last 2-3 minutes of the 1st and 3rd quarters, and the first 2-4 minutes of the 2nd and 4th.
Now does Bryant take off some defensive possessions? Heck, the entire team does that.

Dwayne Wade
LeBron James
Dwight Howard

Kobe Bryant is about to join the front-running losers above.

Eh, he's well ahead of that class. Didn't you watch the Nike puppets last year? He's got 4 championship rings to LeBron's 0, Dwight's 0 and Dwyane's 1.

I'm talking about the here and now. The Celtics are playing better team ball and have been stopping their opponent's star player.

Those 4 rings are are going to weigh Kobe down if he brings them to this game. The Lakers are very beatable!

Fair enough.

That's one.

TR, I got a question for you. Most of the folks I know who want Boston to win this series either hate the Lakers or like Boston's "physical" style.
After L.A. won game 1, one such person complained about the refs. From my point of view, they called the game the way they should have called. Physical or not, you have to be able to defend and rebound without committing a lot of fouls. Neither team avoided fouls (Boston 28 to L.A's 26, but Boston shot more free throws, 36-31), but L.A. was better at executing offense and clearing the boards.
From game 2's box score: total fouls even at 29. Free throws favored L.A. heavily: 31 of 41 vs. 20 of 26.
Not that I agree with every call. In any game, there are going to be some missed calls and some absolutely terrible ones. But from where I sit, the refs called both games the same way.
Fair or unfair?
Do you agree with my friend that calling the game tight takes Boston out of their game? If so, how did Boston manage to win game 2 when even more fouls were called?

Ray Allen made it rain. That's eight!

I'm not going to second guess the refs. Laker fans are trying to come up with excuses for their failure. The Celtics played great defense instead of watching Kobe. The Celtics are no more "physical" than the Lakers. If the refs called everything, Ron Artest would get a technical in every game.

Not this Lakers fan. I think both games were called fairly. Maybe a little too tight, but as long as it's even, I'm okay with it. And you're right about the physical game. I think the term is way overused and is more about perception than reality.
Ray made it rain, all right. That won't happen again. Rondo upped the tempo, and that got the L.A. defense out of sorts. They were scrambling the entire first half.
Going into game 3, both sides have something to worry about. Garnett and Pierce haven't been much of a factor. For the Lakers, Odom has been invisible.
I expect the refs will let some things go tomorrow that were being called in games 1 and 2. The players have to play through those rough spots and ignore the bad calls and non calls.