From the Lakers' bench

Predicting the NBA finals makes about as much sense as the sentiment among social networking sites that Steve Nash and his Suns should be in the championship instead of Kobe and his Lakers, because, well, Nash is better looking and has never won it all before.

Remember the 2008 finals, when the Lakers were heavily favored after breezing through their Western Conference foes? No one predicted the Lakers' impending matchup headaches with the Celtics and no one saw Boston's complete dismantling of a team that was coming into the Finals with a lot of momentum.

The Celtics' core this year is identical to their championship-winning team two years ago: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo. They boast a better bench this time around. But keeping the web's sense of illogic, I believe the NBA championship will come down to maturity and frankly, the Lakers don't have as many whining babies as the Celtics.