Despite having slightly longer odds at most betting agencies, the LA Lakers have taken out the 2010 NBA finals crown ... woo hoo! It was an ultra-close final 7, and an ultra-close final game to top it all off. For those that like the feeling of sitting on the edge of the seat, the NBA playoffs finals provided plenty more excitement than those disappointing conference semifinals. Here's how it went down!

Game recap

Final score:

Boston Celtics 79

LA Lakers 83

Point scorers:

• Kobe Bryant, 23 points
• Paul Pierce, 18 points
• Pau Gasol, 18 rebounds
• Paul Pierce, 10 rebounds

The Lakers were constantly struggling to get ahead in the game ... but in the end Artest, Gasol and Bryant hit a dream run of points and free throws to clinch the match and the NBA finals.

Odds On, Odds Off…

The Lakers odd were around 1.87 - 2.16 when they won their final match ... so congrats to all that cleaned up on the team with the longer odds!

Cheers and Jeers

• Apparently the Lakers aren't content with their two wins in two years ... everybody, the team included, is talking abut a 'three-peat' already! Sit back and enjoy for a bit, people!
• Apparently many business owners in blocks surrounding the arena where the Lakers played the winning game woke to mornings of smashed windows, minor arson and motor vehicle damage ... sigh.
• Much of the talk around the Lakers now surrounds the upcoming draft, who'll be staying and who'll be going. Derek Fisher may leave the Lakers (although the pundits don't think that's wise), while Andrew Bynum's injury run may spell seeing his backside from the Laker's office door.
• The Celtic's performance is still being lauded - they had a surprisingly good run through the playoffs, and many are reporting it as 'just one win short'.

The Tweet-Offs

Twitter hasn't run as hot with NBA news since the World Cup matches started (which is a bit of a pity for the Lakers and the Celtics!). But people have been pretty quick to jump on the Lakers bandwagon ... Celtics fans are strangely quiet on the micro-blogging platform!

--- kikibby562 Q:LA LAKERS! A:NBA Champions<3.

--- DavidLMcConnell Lakers beat all the haters and Boston bean-loving Celtics. (Truthfully they were worthy adversaries.) But we now expect a "three-peat"!

--- gastonia2695 Waking up with disgust, Lakers won - how unhappy it makes me

--- traditionalbill So La celebrates Lakers victory with rampaging violence and burning taxi's. In other words, like a typical liberal protest march...   (Party pooper!)

Given the record in the conference finals, it looks as if tonight's game will be the last one of the NBA Playoffs ... and it also looks very much like Boston will probably create a repeat version of the conference finals history. However, the Lakers have the home court advantage for this match, and that's made a difference in the past ... it'll be a nail biter, and today we check in to see which way it might go!

Will this face start to become a familiar sight?

NBA Finals Games So Far

There was a lot of nastiness in the reporting over the conference semifinals - it seems that a bit of bad luck in basketball can break whole careers. Then we saw what desperation to avoid that situation could do for a team in the conference finals. Will that spill over into the Lakers' performance tonight? Hmmm...

Current standings:

NAB Finals

Boston Celtics: 3

LA Lakers: 2

Odds On, Odds Off…

There's certainly a range of opinions expressed in payout terms over what tonight's outcome will be.

Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers

Lakers: 1.87 - 2.16

Celtics: 1.74 - 1.97

Cheers and Jeers

• Okay ... perhaps we can concede to the wisdom of the Associated Press, who last time we met were predicting a Lakers-Celtics final. Perhaps they should just let the journalists decide who's going to win the NBA Finals, and skip the games altogether?  
• If you haven't yet seen it, check out the video of Paul Pierce accidentally punching the referee in the face during game 4, instead of punching the air in celebration. As Mastercard would say ... Priceless!
• It seems that massive advertising airplay time during the NBA Finals does not always a box office hit maketh ... Grown Ups with Adam Sandler and Co has been drilled during the Finals ads, but Brandfreak reminds us what was in the same position last year - it was Year One.  What? Exactly.

It could be the last games of the conference finals coming up very soon … yikes! There's one thing to be thankful for, though, and that is the fact that the conference finals weren't as much a clean sweep as the semi-finals were for most teams. Heads rolled after those performances - and I for one felt terrible that a couple of piece of bad luck out of quite good playoff performances could have such harsh repercussions for so many!

Conference Finals Games So Far

Thank Dog the conference finals have turned out to be more interesting than the pundits expected! Jameer Nelson scored 24 of Orlando's 113 points in the last Eastern conference game, and Dwight Howard got 32 for the Magic in the previous matchup. Westside, Amar'e Stoudamire took the Suns to their first wins of the Conference finals, but in the last matchup Kobe Bryant's points and assists proved too much for the Suns.

Current standings:

Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics: 3

Orlando Magic: 2

Western Conference

LA Lakers: 3

Phoenix Suns: 2

Odds On, Odds Off…

Nobody wants to call the Lakers and Suns game! There's a bit more of variance in odds for the Magic/Celtics game … does your gut feeling match up with the bookies'?

Orlando Magic v Boston Celtics

Magic: 1.90 - 1.97

Celtics: 1.87 - 1.92

Los Angeles Lakers v Phoenix Suns

Lakers: 1.91 - 1.91

Suns: 1.91 - 1.91

Cheers and Jeers

• So, despite the fact that even the Associated Press were anticipating a Lakers-Celtics final last time we posted, there have been some interesting developments. Told you it wouldn't be that straightforward!
• Apparently Tom Thibodeau's future rests on a game six win for the Celtics. Gosh, basketball writers can be drama queens!
• People may not like the Cavaliers, but they love Lebron James… Bleacher Report published 10 reasons that Lebron James should becomes a New Orleans Hornet (rather than heading to New York or Chicago), including 'Most loyal and jubilant fans in sports', 'Chilling with Dwayne Carter', and because the next playoffs would then echo this years Saints win at the Superbowl :-)

The Tweet-offs

The Phoenix Suns have a lotta love in the Twittersphere … 'Suns lost' even made it into the Trending Topics list for today. Here's what the rabble thought…

--- OT3PLUT RT @flymrwhite: The Suns played hard but the #LAKERS won...Period. Get Over It and stop hatin. You look dumb if your makin excuses

--- jacemck @RealGranthill33 LA's gotta be terrified of a game 7 after that one. Go Suns

--- lanova33 Gonna get a 60 minute full body massage RIGHT NOW!! Need it after that Suns game...\

--- hydro88wr The score for the lakers-suns game is tickin me off

So, all but one of the matchups for the Conference semifinals was a clean sweep … with that disappointing record for three of the teams, there has been a lot of talk of upheaval in the ranks. Here's what we've got to look forward to for the Conference finals of the NBA Playoffs!

Conference Semifinals Recap

After fairly even results from most team in the first round (ALL the Western Conference teams headed into the semifinals with only a two-game win in the first  round), the number of clean sweeps in the semifinals was amazing! Here are the results:

Cleveland 2, Boston 4

Atlanta 0, Orlando 4

Lakers 4, Utah 0

Phoenix 4, San Antonio 0

Odds On, Odds Off…

Here's the magic numbers … or perhaps the Celtic numbers … for the upcoming rounds of the Conference finals!

Orlando Magic v Boston Celtics

Magic: 1.86 - 1.96

Celtics: 1.82 - 2.08

Los Angeles Lakers v Phoenix Suns

Lakers: 1.9 - 2.03

Suns: 1.9 - 1.94

Cheers and Jeers

Nnn, nn, nn! There's still plenty of guessing and gossip going on in the sewing circle of the NBA Playoffs - here's the not-so-quiet whispers:

• Mike Woodson has 'officially' been dumped as the Hawks coach after their unceremonious dumping from the Playoffs this week. Despite Woodson's six seasons with the Hawks, in which the team won more games that the previous year every time…
• In the wake of that dumping, speculation has been flying through the air like dung, wondering if Mike Brown has also been dumped as the Cleveland Cavaliers coach. Owner Dan Gilbert says no … but they are going through an "evaluation process".
• Kobe Bryant says the Lakers' focus has shifted from simply defending their existing title to actually winning another one. Look out!

The Tweet-offs

The Twits of the world have plenty to say about the NBA Playoffs, especially now that the probably winners field is narrowing…

--- CeloJ NBA Playoffs continues tomorrow and this is my last week of high school. And the best days of my life begin now lol.

--- nikitapino NBA Playoffs won't be the same without LeBron and the Cavs! Bummer! :(

--- Soulful_07 Im suffering from withdrawal lol RT @MissTreese: @Soulful_07 Cheer up Charlie...the #NBA playoffs will continue soon enough :)

--- alithegreatest BTW - NBA playoffs resume tomorrow. maybe we can get a break from the LeBron talk

We're past that never-ending stage of the NBA Playoffs, where East battles East and West battles West in a flurry of up to 56 games … all over a period of a couple of weeks! I don't know how the players have time to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom at that stage of the tournament. But now we're into the conference semi-finals, and most teams have played one or two games each. Ignore the Lakers/Spurs run of luck (the finals usually go to the  team you least expect!), and it's still anyone's game. Today we check out the NBA Playoffs story so far.

The teams

The NBA Playoffs commenced on April 17, with the eight teams from each conference set as:

Eastern Conference:

• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Chicago Bulls
• Boston Celtics
• Miami Heat
• Atlanta Hawks
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Orlando Magic
• Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference:

• LA Lakers
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Denver Nuggets
• Utah Jazz
• Phoenix Suns
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Dallas Mavericks
• San Antonio Spurs

First Round

The teams that have advanced to the Conference semifinals are bolded above. We saw some pretty one-sided games during the first round of the playoffs - the only matchup that made it to the full 7 games was Atlanta and Milwaukee. The Eastern Conference playoffs were particularly single-team dominated - Orlando had a 4-0 record against Charlotte, while both Cleveland and Boston won their first rounds 4-1. The Western Conference was a bit more exciting - every single matchup yielded a 4-2 result.

What do all those results mean for what really matters to us now … the bookies' odds?! They mean that it is an amazingly even spread for a lot of games … if the punters have an opinion, they're keeping it well out of the numbers. For most teams, the spread is only a few cents apart; Moneyline is offering odds that definitely favour the home teams, but most others are keeping it perfectly even!

Cheers and Jeers

Everybody's got an opinion … what are those opinions saying about the upcoming week of the NBA playoffs?

• Mike Ventre of NBC Sports says there are NO good teams in the NBA Playoffs this year … Lebron James and a couple of others are good players, but the team magic just isn't there … even for Orlando ;-)
• In many internet avenues, the NBA dancers have been getting more attention than the games of the Playoffs themselves! Given Mike Ventre's opinion, perhaps that is to be expected…

The Tweet-offs

One place where there is plenty of opinion to be found, though, is Twitter! Here are some of the 140-character soundbytes about the playoffs this week:

--- joeyjumpshigh Nary a great team to be found in NBA playoffs: msnbc.com Check out some of the dancers from the NBA.

--- mr2RaW4TV #Attention all teams left in the playoffs #justgiveup dnt prolong the inevitable #LAKERS will win the 2010 NBA Championship   (ROFL! Pretty clever Tweeter - we might have to award him the Tweet-off Trophy right now)

--- Woxel0r I think, the playoffs need a new system. Soo many great teams in east (cavs,magic,boston,miami) and in west? Lakers...#NBA

--- 31Murray RT @frankenteen: Ive tried, but the NBA playoffs just isn't a bandwagon I can jump on    (naw - party pooper!)

--- Lk4mRrItE79 What would life be like without the NBA playoffs?