The Finals Suck. Except for JVG.

Brilliant.

Honestly, what's there to say about this Finals? The Lakers' offense blows right now, their defense is even worse, Tom Thibadeau is pwning head cheerleader Doc Rivers, and every Celtic role player is having the kind of series that Jeff Foster used to have against the Pistons.

OK, fine, a few other things:
- Paul Pierce is a baby. You know how last night the announcers alluded to him showing no signs of ill-effect stemming from his "injury"? Well, that's because THERE WAS NO INJURY. It's like if my boss walked over to me at work and said, "Joey, I am so glad to see that you're not suffering any lingering impact from an injury that never happened." I can only imagine that Pierce was carried off the court and placed in a wheelchair during Game One because he badly needed Similac and breast milk. Yes, I am still mad about this. Hate, hate, hate, hate...

- The specter of a Boston championship--think about how many smug and annoying Massholes this will fuel--is made even worse when I consider how many self-absorbed, I'm-the-only-basketball-fan-left columns from the Sports Guy that I'll have to ignore on ESPN.com.

- A central struggle this season was my adoration of Kevin Garnett running into my loathing of Boston. True to the Star-and-Buc hater that I am, the latter won out. And I am borderline depressed that Garnett might win a title for that city, and that I will resent him for it.

- Game Two was so disinteresting for much of the second half that I was kind of perturbed that the Lakers even came back, only to still lose. It's like, get down or lay down. Maybe.

- Jeff Van Gundy should never coach again because he is far too good at what he currently does. That guy knows his shit and he's hilarious. When he apologized for Mark Jackson--see above--comparing Leon Powe to Dr. J? A classic.

A free-agent thought:
- I saw some advance material from the FD book. That site is familia, so I will acknowledge a potential conflict of interest. But honestly, the shit I saw is fucking awesome. Book is gonna be really cool, and a must-have for the NBA fan who considers himself to be in the vanguard and not slavishly tethered to the stodgy orthodoxies of the established punditry. It's this admirable and humbling manifestation of intelligent creativity. Just really smart and funny and insightful and even a little hood. Maybe very hood. I would suggest that you pre-order it now.