Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers Host the Boston Celtics in game 6 of the NBA finals. Boston leads the series 3 games to 2.  

Typically you would hear my comments live and direct, but this sports contributor recently lost his voice. Blame it on the raucous USA vs England World Cup game I watched (it ended in a 1-1 tie). Cheering from a packed room divided evenly between England and USA supporters, every play was worthy of a scream, a shout or a yelp. (AS I said last week, I have a soft spot for my home team.) However,today I turn from soccer to a wholly American game - basketball.

These are the themes to follow for tonight’s game:

Bench play

As the players prepare for game 6 lets not forget game 4 of this series, which was perhaps one of the greatest examples of the bench taking control of a game in NBA history. THe Celtics had a 36-18 advantage in bench scoring. The Celtics bench came through in the 4th quarter just as Doc Rivers was preparing to put his starters back in. Glen Davis, Nate Robinson, Tony Allen (who provided key defense on Kobe Bryant) and Rasheed Wallace (who plays stellar defense on Pau Gasol) scored on their first nine possessions in the 4th quarter of game 4. Without that effort we would not be sitting here talking about the possibility of the Celtics winning a championship tonight, in L.A.

On the flip side, where is the Lakers bench? They have gone rather silent. With Andrew Bynum, the Lakers center playing limited minutes Ibecause of a bum knee, more has been expected out of Lamar Odom. Now, I have a soft spot for Lamar since we went to college together, so it hurts me to say he has not met expectations. If the Lakers are going to have a big game tonight he MUST factor in heavily. That means that the underperforming Sasha Vujacic, Shannon Brown, and Luke Walton need to match the intensity of Jordan Farmar who plays an excellent game when he gets the chance.

Rebounding Advantage

This one is simple. Check your stat sheet for each game - the team that grabs the most in this series is the team that wins the game. In game 5 the score was 96-89, and the Celtics won by outrebounding them, 41-34. A lot of this falls on Andrew Bynum and his sore knee, if he is out then that frees up the lane for the Celtics players to snag rebounds. Bynum is really the key to this series and it is a sad thing that he is not 100 percent. If he was, the Lakers would have this one wrapped up by now.

Kobe vs. the World

One person cannot beat a team and this was evident in the last game. A great player is one who makes everyone around him great. Are we seeing that from Kobe? He can pretty much score at will but what was everyone else doing when he scored 23 points in a row in game 5? Basically standing around and watching. The chit chat between Kobe and the rest of his teammates is disconcerting. Imagine always being told what to do or why you messed up that play; this is pretty much what Kobe does. They say he was frustrated Sunday night because his teammates were underperforming. Well, if trusted them perhaps they could have a series lead instead of their backs against the wall. As soon as Kobe gives up the ball he immediately wants it back. That is not a champion. That is a ball-hog. lets see what Kobe shows up tonight.

Boston’s Big Four

Boston has four big-time players, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. When one of them breaks out and has an outstanding game, they are okay and might win, when two of them do, they are even better. When all four of them play up to snuff then they are unbeatable. A li'l boston chatter that a friend told me last night: At the beginning of the playoffs Celtics coach, Doc Rivers, showed them a long video spliced together of the many time they didn't help each other up after getting knocked down by the opposition. Rivers sets the tone for this team - lets see if they play with that sense of teamwork tonight.

The Greatest Laker of All Time

Finally, what does this season mean for legacies? On the line are the legacies of the Lakers and Celtics franchises,and for Kobe, who is making his pitch to be known as the greatest Laker of all time. All the while Magic Johnson, THE greatest Laker of all time is sitting in the announcing booth chuckling a little too much when the Lakers came up short. Why? Well, his Lakers did what no other Lakers have ever done: they beat the Celtics in the finals - twice.  

Both coaches preach teamwork, but the difference is in the details. Do the teams practice what they preach or are they bad followers of that old-time basketball religion?

Tonight they step into the Cathedral for game 6 - all eyes avert from the World Cup for one more day, it is basketball time and the championships are underway!