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Kobe Bryant wonders why I am such a bandwagon fan. AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
As much as the Celtics ripped the Lakers the other day, deep down inside I still have some hope for the Lakers to pull it out.
Like most people in this city, the spectacle of game four at the Staples Center disgusted me. It was incomprehensible how the Lakers could let a 24-point lead slip away in the NBA Finals. Now is not the time for them to pretend this is any other regular season game. These games determine who will be remembered forever and who will be merely a footnote in history.
So forgive me for not taking the route of Vic the Brick and being irrationally positive after seeing them do absolutely nothing to this point in the Finals. Forgive me for being a clown and jumping off a ship the Lakers have already jumped off long before I declared them dead. Forgive me for thinking their comeback in game two was moot since they still lost the game.
But there is hope for them.
I spoke to my mother who is an ardent Laker-hater after they traded away Shaq. Don't worry. I've already given her grief about it.
She told me Friday afternoon that it is for certain the Lakers will win game five. And crazily enough, I almost believe her.
The Celtics have proven throughout the playoffs they lack the killer instinct on the road. Why else would their series against the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers go seven games?
Add to the fact that starters Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo are hobbled, and it just looks more likely the Celtics will just take a night off to lick their wounds waiting for their two home games to close things out.
Or maybe not. I don't know. Just when the series looks to be figured out everything turns 180. So the Celtics could blow the Lakers out tonight. Or the Lakers could make their last gasp and claw their way back into the series.
Who the hell knows? All I can say is mom knows best.
