Congrats to the Lakers!

The Lakers are repeat NBA champions for the first time in almost a decade. Of course, Kobe Bryant won the Finals MVP and is already talking about next year's playoff run. Kobe is truly one of the best competitors of our era and less night further cemented his place along side Jordan, Bird, Johnson, Russell, Kareem, and all of the other great NBA champions. As most people who watched it will tell you, last night was one of the ugliest NBA Finals games in history The Lakers somehow managed to win the game despite shooting a disgusting 32.5% from the field. As Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, and every analyst in America pointed out, rebounding was the true difference in this game. As Pierce also pointed out in his post-game interview: "It is what it is." It is kind of sad to think that this will more than likely be the last game Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett play as The Big Three in Boston.
Today officially starts one of the most exciting off seasons in NBA history. Next Thursday, the Wizards will select John Wall with the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft. After that, anyone's guess is probably pretty good (although Evan Turner does seem like a safe bet to complete a nucleus that now includes Andre Iguodola, Spencer Hawes, Elton Brand, and Jrue Holiday). We are only about two weeks away from one of the most exciting free agency periods in NBA history as well. On Monday morning, I will be all caught up with everything else on this blog so for the weeks following that I will be closely following the NBA draft. Some of us have been looking forward to this for about four years now. The time has finally come.
Also, I would be wrong if I didn't mention that Brian Scalabrine got in approximately fifty one seconds of playing time last night. That is fifty one seconds more than Adam Morrison has played in the last three rounds combined. Yet Mr Mustache was seen covered in champagne and beer during the Lakers victory celebration last night. Somehow that just does not seem fair.

Here are a few gems Ron Artest left us with after the game.