If you've read my prediction about the NBA playoffs, you'll see that i was right. If the lakers were to stop the celtics, they needed to stop Paul Pierce. They didnt and now they go to their 2nd straight Finals loss.

Now, most people are really happy (and there's something evil with that happiness) about Kobe and his team losing. This may be alright but - we have to be objective and impartial about this - Kobe is a great player. Sure, he's got attitude problems but all in all, you pick a guy in the NBA that you want to put in a 1 vs 5 situation, trust me, youll be picking this guy.

Now, enough of that already. Let's go to the Celtics' side.

During last year's off season, I was very excited to know who won the Garnett lottery. I was hoping it would be the Mavs, but I opened NBA.com and wow, there it was, Garnett was going to Boston, and the turnaround began.

Garnett's presence and playing skills gave the Celtics the best record this season, but believe it or not, the key role went to Paul Pierce the day the playoffs began.

Game 7 of their first and second rounders prove this. Pierce gave them hope the time they were feeling low.

This is the very essence of Basketball now. A Paint cluttered with big men trying to stop a smaller guy from scoring. That's all there is to it. It doesn't matter if you've got a good outside shooter (Sorry, Allen). It doesn't matter if you've got the best big man (Sorry KG). What Matters is if your shooting guard can attack the basket and create.

This 6 game series was filled with lots of those moments from Pierce and just a few from Kobe. If you take Garnett and Allen out, the games would still have been close. But if Pierce was out, it would have been doomsday celtics. See, Pierce (and Kobe) has this ability to push even if others are down. They are almost unstoppable. The only person that can actually stop them are their own selves.

Now, Pierce doesnt know it but he believes he is unstoppable because Garnett and Allen were there. This is where Kobe failed. He looked at his teammates as if they were second raters to the other team. I was waiting for him to go God Mode. He didn't. In the end, it wasnt the Celtics that stopped Kobe, it was himself.