An offer of congratulations to the LA Lakers…

Congratulations for beating the Orlando Magic, a team that was one game away from losing to the KG-less Boston Celtics. Sure I may offer a biased opinion in this post, but if you ask any person in their right mind (one with basketball knowledge) who would have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals if Kevin Garnett was on the floor, they’d most definitely say “Celts in 4″. Not only that, but if the Magic were good enough to beat the Cavaliers in 6 games, then the Celtics would’ve swept their asses too.

Which brings us back to the series in question, and the team in question: the Los Angeles Lakers.

We all know what happened in last years NBA finals. The Celtics kept it exciting for a couple of games, but then decided to really play and absolutely spanked the Lakers in the rest of the series. What was so different about either team this season?

The Celtics lost a key player off the bench in James Posey, and lacked Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe in the playoffs. The Lakers? They acquired Adam Morrison and remained the same in all the important roles.

But let’s take a look deeper: Rajon Rondo improved on last year’s playoffs by averaging a triple-double in the 2009 playoffs. Mix that in with the improved play of Kendrick Perkins and the consistent play of the Big Three and that spells out another Lakers stomp in the Finals.

Ask anyone. If the Celtics were healthy, the Lakers wouldn’t have stood a chance.

So congrats to them, this one was a gift.