Congratulations to the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for making the NBA Finals! It’s a dream match-up that waxes nostalgia for those that discovered the league during the 1980s like myself. Kudos to the NBA schedule makers this year; up until now there was at least one playoff game on almost every night. The hype gets to build for another few days, which leaves everyone lots of time to make their Finals prediction.

Meanwhile, let’s see how I see this past week’s two-on-two match-ups. Then the last two games of the first round are presented.

The premise: (Feel free to skip down if you have been here with us before!)

The rules are simple. 64 of today’s biggest stars, plus some fantasy forces and a few players of the “x-factor” ilk have been chosen to participate in this exercise. Assume each player is in perfect health and in peak condition, based on their current age and abilities, as well as their ability to work with a team mate. Players are teamed up randomly and each match-up is also determined randomly. Suppose these pairs of players play each other in a game of two-on-two: games to 11, two points for a three-pointer, and losers out (this is a change from last year’s one-on-one tourney where it was winners out). You can make your comment after each article, or if you like, send me an e-mail at alvinl@droppingdimes.com. Please vote just once for each match-up. If you are so inclined, feel free to make up an imaginary commentary of how you see the battle going down and I will try to include your input in future articles. You have one week to vote, then the results will be published and a new pair of match-ups will be announced. So check back here every week! The players will randomly get a new team mate each round.

Last year’s one-on-one champ, Kobe Bryant, has not been included in the field of 64. Due to his one-on-one prowess, it seems too likely that a Kobe-Player X team would always win. So Kobe, hit the sidelines. I’m sure if Kobe knew about this, he might be a bit miffed at the lack of an invite, but surely he has bigger fish to fry than us!

Review of last week’s match-ups:

Round 1, Game 13: This one’s a tough one to call; too bad I didn’t get any help this week. No worries! Andrei Kirilenko and Gilbert Arenas are certainly the more “sexy” team, and this tourney assumes everyone is playing at full health. Agent Zero would be one sick playa in this kind of game. Pau Gasol and Rip Hamilton had a much deeper run in the playoffs than their counterparts. Both of those guys are all-stars and would excel in any type of game. Gasol’s offensive game is much more polished than that of AK-47 and Rip has extended his shooting range over the years. It’s a close one…Winner: Pau Gasol and Richard Hamilton. I just feel they would work together better.

Round 1, Game 14: Jason Kidd and Jose Calderon certainly have the edge in ball-handling skills. However, Rashard Lewis is an extremely tough player to defend and he would have a decided advantage against either player. Add in the fact that his partner, Monta Ellis, has become an established scorer. Calderon may be the fan pick to lead the Raptors next year, but the most die-hard Calderon guy would concede his defensive quickness is lacking. Winner: Rashard Lewis and Monta Ellis.

And now on to this week’s match-ups.

Round 1, Game 15: Dirk Nowitzki and Shaquille O’Neal vs. Ray Allen and LaMarcus Aldridge
Wow…Dirk and Shaq??? Pretty deadly. Ray Allen has been up and down during these playoffs. Aldridge is a nice up and comer but is that enough against two MVPs?

Round 1, Game 16: Zach Randolph and Kevin Garnett vs. Ben Wallace and Jason Richardson
Is there enough respect for KG that he can move on to the next round no matter who his partner is? I’m not sure how Zach’s game would translate in this type of game. But he has KG on his side so maybe it doesn’t matter! J-Rich had arguably his best year in his first season as a Bobcat. But Big Ben is clearly in decline. Does he have enough to keep KG relatvely in check? The Celts got by the Cavs in the second round, but it took seven games.

See you next week. Drop a comment, it might win you a sweet HP HDX Dragon computer package.

Previous match-ups:
Round 1: Games 1 and 2
Round 1: Games 3 and 4
Round 1: Games 5 and 6
Round 1: Games 7 and 8
Round 1: Games 9 and 10
Round 1: Games 11 and 12
Round 1, Games 13 and 14
Round 1, Games 15 and 16